Saudi Arabia May Be Tied to 9/11, 2 Ex-Senators Say
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: February 29, 2012
WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, questions have lingered about the possible role of the Saudi government in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, even as the royal kingdom has made itself a crucial counterterrorism partner in the eyes of American diplomats.
Now, in sworn statements that seem likely to reignite the debate, two former senators who were privy to top secret information on the Saudis’ activities say they believe that the Saudi government might have played a direct role in the terrorist attacks.
“I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia,” former Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of Florida, said in an affidavit filed as part of a lawsuit brought against the Saudi government and dozens of institutions in the country by families of Sept. 11 victims and others. Mr. Graham led a joint 2002 Congressional inquiry into the attacks.
His former Senate colleague, Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, a Democrat who served on the separate 9/11 Commission, said in a sworn affidavit of his own in the case that “significant questions remain unanswered” about the role of Saudi institutions. “Evidence relating to the plausible involvement of possible Saudi government agents in the September 11th attacks has never been fully pursued,” Mr. Kerrey said.
Their affidavits, which were filed on Friday and have not previously been disclosed, are part of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit that has wound its way through federal courts since 2002. An appellate court, reversing an earlier decision, said in November that foreign nations were not immune to lawsuits under certain terrorism claims, clearing the way for parts of the Saudi case to be reheard in United States District Court in Manhattan.
Lawyers for the Saudis, who have already moved to have the affidavits thrown out of court, declined to comment on the assertions by Mr. Graham and Mr. Kerrey. “The case is in active litigation, and I can’t say anything,” said Michael K. Kellogg, a Washington lawyer for the Saudis.
Officials at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, who have emphatically denied any connection to the attacks in the past, did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment.
The Saudis are seeking to have the case dismissed in part because they say American inquiries — including those in which Mr. Graham and Mr. Kerrey took part — have essentially exonerated them. A recent court filing by the Saudis prominently cited the 9/11 Commission’s “exhaustive” final report, which “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi individuals funded” Al Qaeda.
But Mr. Kerrey and Mr. Graham said that the findings should not be seen as an exoneration and that many important questions about the Saudis’ role had never been fully examined, partly because their panels simply did not have the time or resources given their wider scope.
Terry Strada of New Vernon, N.J., whose husband died in the World Trade Center, said it was “so absurd that it’s laughable” for the Saudis to claim that the federal inquiries had exonerated them.
Unanswered questions include the work of a number of Saudi-sponsored charities with financial links to Al Qaeda, as well as the role of a Saudi citizen living in San Diego at the time of the attacks, Omar al-Bayoumi, who had ties to two of the hijackers and to Saudi officials, Mr. Graham said in his affidavit.
Still, Washington has continued to stand behind Saudi Arabia publicly, with the Justice Department joining the kingdom in trying to have the lawsuits thrown out of court on the grounds that the Saudis are protected by international immunity.
State Department officials did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday on the impact of the court declarations.
The senators’ assertions “might inject some temporary strain or awkwardness at a diplomatic level,” said Kenneth L. Wainstein, a senior national security official in the George W. Bush administration. Even so, he said, “the United States and the Saudis have developed strong counterterrorism cooperation over the last decade, and that relationship will not be undermined.”
Saudi Arabian millionaire 'with links to 9/11 terror attacks' living in luxury London home while working for state oil company
By ALEX GORE
Last updated at 3:53 PM on 18th February 2012
A Saudi Arabian accused of having links to some of the 9/11 terrorists is working for his country's state oil company in London.
Abdulaziz al-Hijji, 38, works for the European branch of Saudi Aramco and lives in a posh central London flat, having left his US home in Florida just weeks before the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001.
Registration numbers of vehicles passing through a checkpoint at the Prestancia gated community in Sarasota, in the months before 9/11, and the identifications shown by drivers, suggest three of the terrorists had visited al-Hijji's home.
Terrorists: Al-Hijji is accused of having links with 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta, left, and Marwan Al-Shehhi
Mohamed Atta, a ringleader of the atrocities and the hijacker pilot who smashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower, was named as one of the men.
Marwan Al-Shehhi, who flew United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower, and Ziad Jarrah, who crashed United Airlines Flight 93 in a Pennsylvanian field, are also thought to have visited.
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All three men learned to fly at Venice Airport, less than 20 miles from the house at 4224 Escondito Circle.
A fourth man, Adnan Shukrijumah, an al-Qaeda operative on the FBI's most wanted list, with a $5m bounty on his head, is also believed to have visited the property.
Carnage: Thick smoke pours across the New York sky on September 11, 2001, from the World Trade Centre
In an email to The Daily Telegraph, al-Hijji wrote: 'I have neither relation nor association with any of those bad people/criminals and the awful crime they did. 9/11 is a crime against the USA and all humankind and I’m very saddened and oppressed by these false allegations.
'I love the USA. My kids were born there, I went to college and university there, I spent a good portion of my life there and I love it.'
The FBI also ruled out a connection between al-Hijji and the hijackers or the 9/11 plot but former US senator, Bob Graham - who chaired the US Senate intelligence committee at the time - said he has seen two secret documents which cast doubt on the FBI's claim.
He told The Daily Telegraph: 'Both documents indicate that the investigation was not the robust inquiry claimed by the FBI.'
Oil rich: Al-Hijji is said to work for the London-based European branch of Saudi Aramco, pictured above
The al-Hijjis are said to have aroused suspicion because of the 'manner and timing' of their departure from the US, having left behind a number of personal possessions, including three cars.
They moved to Saudi Arabia before settling in a four-bedroom detached house in Totton, near Southampton, in 2003, but returned to America briefly in 2005.
Al-Hijjis works for the Aramco Overseas Company UK Limited, based in New Oxford Street, London
Democrat Bob Kerrey to run for his former Nebraska Senate seat
Associated Press
Posted: 02/29/2012 12:01:00 AM CST
Updated: 02/29/2012 06:43:56 PM CST
OMAHA, Neb. - Former Sen. Bob Kerrey said Wednesday he will seek the Democratic nomination for the Nebraska seat he once held, reversing course just weeks after publicly rejecting a run he previously called a longshot.
Kerrey earlier this month had opted out of the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, saying not running was in his and his family's best interest.
"It just felt wrong," Kerrey, 68, said during a telephone call to declare his candidacy. "I wasn't happy with the decision."
The latest move by the 1992 presidential candidate and former Nebraska governor comes just a day before the state's candidate filing deadline. Coupled with Republican Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe's announcement Tuesday that she will not seek re-election this year, it gives new hope to national Democrats desperate to stop Republicans from netting four Senate seats this fall and regaining control of the chamber.
