FBI releases its first 9/11 documents on Saudi Arabia
Records: Officials had contact with terrorists
‘Now the Saudis’ secrets are exposed and it is well past time for the Kingdom to own up to its officials’ roles in murdering thousands on American soil.’
At last 9/11 families have taken a dramatic step toward justice.
A 16-page FBI document declassified Saturday night is a major win for families who lost loved ones in the attacks as they push to uncover alleged Saudi links to the 9/11 hijackers.
Key is that more documents are to follow and equally vital is lawyers for the 9/11 kin can finally speak publicly.
“Now the Saudis’ secrets are exposed and it is well past time for the Kingdom to own up to its officials’ roles in murdering thousands on American soil,” said Terry Strada of 9/11 Families United, whose husband, Tom, was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
The partially redacted FBI memo details links and contacts between the terrorists and Saudi nationals living in the U.S. two decades ago. It isn’t a bombshell, but it is a start.
Jim Kreindler, the court-appointed plaintiffs co-chair in the 9/11 litigation against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said in a statement sent to the Herald that the heat is on:
“This document, together with the public evidence gathered to date, provides a blueprint for how al-Qaeda operated inside the U.S. with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government,” he said. For example, he says:
Saudi officials exchanged phone calls among themselves and with al-Qaeda operatives and then
TERRY STRADA 9/11 Families United
had “accidental meetings” with the 9/11 hijackers, while providing them with substantial assistance to get settled, find flight schools, and become acclimated to life in the U.S.
Mutaeb al Sudairy, a Saudi Embassy official with diplomatic immunity, lived in the U.S. in 2000 with the key procurement officer for al-Qaeda who bought communications equipment for Osama bin Laden.
Sudairy had phone calls with another Saudi government official, Omar al Bayoumi, at the same time Bayoumi was helping the hijackers get established in San Diego. Witnesses overheard Bayoumi speak openly about jihad.
Saudi diplomat Thumairy, who provided hijackers with lodging and other help in Los Angeles, had contacts with other al-Qaeda operatives including Ahmed Ressam, the Millennium bomber who was planning to attack Los Angeles Airport on January 1, 2000, and two al-Qaeda operatives (the alKhalidi) brothers who are now detained in Guantanamo Bay.
Kreindler said the FBI release is a “crucial step towards finally bringing those responsible for the attacks to justice.”
Sadly, this has all started as the nation marked the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in one day. Many more have suffered since due to the toxic fallout from the toppling of the Twin Towers in Manhattan.
As the Herald has reported, two of the four jets hijacked that day by al-Qaeda killers took off from Logan International Airport in Boston. All those on American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 died.
But this court case, unlike others that were dismissed, is picking up speed.
“Today marks the moment when the Saudis cannot rely on the U.S. government hiding the truth about 9/11,” said Brett Eagleson, who was only 5 years old when he lost his dad inside the South Tower.
That tower collapsed after Flight 175 slammed into it, loaded with jet fuel and setting off an inferno.
He said these documents — and the next to come, “accelerates our pursuit of truth and justice.”