9/11 Families United Statement on Newly Released Government Documents Related to Saudi Involvement in 9/11 Attacks
Washington, D.C. – 9/11 Families United, the largest organization of families and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, said tonight that the latest release of government documents related to its investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is a positive development that honors the Biden Administration’s commitment to transparency — and further illustrates the complicity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the attacks.
The following is attributable to Terry Strada of 9/11 Families United, whose husband, Tom, was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11:
“These documents reinforce earlier documents evidencing the role of the Saudi agents in the murder of thousands of Americans, including my husband.”
“Again, we find overwhelming evidence that elements of the Saudi government funded and maintained a robust network of radical clerics and jihadists who ultimately assisted in these attacks. There are multiple communications and points of contacts laid out in these reports that defy any innocent explanation.”
“For twenty years, 9/11 families and survivors have been calling for transparency from our own government so that we may pursue justice and hold accountable the actors responsible for the attacks. We will not stop our pursuit of accountability and justice and this new document release reminds all of us why this years-long effort is so important.”
BACKGROUND:
New Confirmation About Saudi Role
These new documents include revelations that:
- The FBI investigation developed evidence that clerics from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs (MOIA) were sent to the U.S. as an advance team to vet the support network prior to the hijacker’s arrival.
- A confidential human source told the FBI that Saudi cleric Fahad al Thumairy received a call from Malaysia around the time when key members of the 9/11 operation were gathered together for an al Qaeda summit, alerting him that “two brothers” would be arriving in the U.S. and needed assistance.
The newly released documents also confirm the joint assessment of the FBI and CIA that the Kingdom’s MOIA — a core component of the Saudi government created to spread the virulent Wahhabi brand of Islam — provided financial and logistical support to individuals in the U.S. and elsewhere who were associated with terrorism.
This effort indicates that the ministry’s work to spread the virulent Wahhabi brand of Islam around the world included the deployment of radical clerics to the U.S. to engage in activities that were in opposition to U.S. interests.
It is now clear that radicals associated with the Saudi government mobilized to provide an essential support network for the first arriving hijackers.
The FBI’s Whitewash Excuses for Closing the Criminal Investigation are Meaningless
These newly released documents include an FBI communication that purports to explain the rationale for closing the criminal investigation without prosecuting any of the suspects. This is a stunningly disingenuous attempt to minimize the evidence and whitewash the FBI’s own failures. For example:
- The summary of the evidence fails to even mention the most compelling evidence set forth in the actual investigative documents implicating as many as 7 Saudi officials in mobilizing a support network for the first arriving hijackers.
- It says nothing about the broader evidence that the Kingdom’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs, the arm of the Saudi government for which most of those officials worked, was deeply intertwined with terrorism and in establishing radical platforms in the United States.
- And it does not acknowledge the degree to which the FBI’s own mistakes rendered prosecutions impossible, such as the FBI’s acknowledged loss of key evidence; delays in pursuing leads that precluded the government from pursuing lesser charges; diplomatic considerations that unquestionably contributed to the failure to prosecute Saudi officials; the simple fact that the Kingdom would never extradite the suspects to face criminal charges; or the DOJ’s traditional reluctance to bring any high profile criminal case that is not a lay down hand.
In any case, the legal requirements and standard or proof for prosecuting an individual for a federal crime punishable by death have no bearing on the families’ civil claim against the Kingdom for aiding and abetting al Qaeda, which has only been strengthened by this growing body of evidence.
A previous declassification of files by the Biden Administration included the FBI’s 2016 investigation into the Kingdom’s role in the attacks. It contained a host of revelations that implicated Saudi officials, including diplomats working in the United States, who participated in a coordinated effort to mobilize an essential support network for two of the first 9/11 hijackers to arrive on U.S. soil, Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar.
For additional background please also see: 9/11 Families United Statement Slams Latest Saudi Effort to Deceive the American People Ahead of 20th Anniversary of 9/11
About 9/11 Families United:
9/11 Families United is an organization consisting of family members of those murdered in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as many of those who survived, were injured in or sickened from the attacks, a community that numbers well over 10,000. More information is at www.911familiesunited.org
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