Rare second chance to grill Saudi officials on alleged links to September 11 hijackers
The families suing to expose alleged Saudi ties to the 9/11 terror attacks have won an almost unheard of second chance.
Lawyers for the 10,000 plaintiffs will be able to question three officials from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia next month — including two the 9/11 Commission cleared but FBI veterans say remain highly suspect.
“These depositions are the most important of them all. It’s big,” said Brett Eagleson of Connecticut, who was 15 years old when his dad died while working at the Twin Towers on 9/11. He’s joined in the lawsuit suing Saudi Arabia for damages in Manhattan federal court, while also seeking to compel the FBI to unseal secret documents.
This showdown has been 20 years in the making and the spotlight will be on the former Southern California al-Qaeda cell.
The first two 9/11 hijackers in the U.S. — Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar — arrived in Los Angeles on Jan. 15, 2000, without being able to speak English. Yet, records show, they made it to San Diego where they took flying lessons — and flunked out — rented an apartment, and attended a mosque.
They were both Saudi nationals. But how did they afford it all?
That’s what lawyers will ask Saudi officials Omar al-Bayoumi, up first June 9-11; Musaed al-Jarrah, next to be questioned June 17-18; and, last but not least, Fahad al-Thumairy, June 28-30. The interviews will take place by video with Saudi officials checking in from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Al-Thumairy was an imam at an LA mosque — that was funded by the Saudi royal family — and worked at the Saudi consulate, according to court documents.
“He had a reputation for extreme anti-U.S. views and was aligned and inspired a radical faction inside the Mosque,” retired FBI special agent Stephen Moore wrote in a court deposition supporting the lawsuit.
Moore added that while he was investigating the 9/11 attacks in LA for the FBI, he “believed” al-Thumairy and al-Bayoumi “were active participants in a terror cell associated with al-Qaeda that provided substantial financial and logistical support to” the two hijackers.
Those Saudis plowed Amerian Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. All 64 people aboard, including five hijackers, were killed. Another 125 victims on the ground also died.
Of all the 19 hijackers, 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia. They were all affiliated with al-Qaeda and hijacked four jets, killing nearly 3,000 people. The families suing also include those with family members sickened by the toxic fallout from the New York City attacks.
American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 — both out of Logan International Airport in Boston — slammed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan 18 minutes apart beginning at 8:45 a.m. on 9/11.
Flight 77, hijacked out of Washington Dulles International Airport, hit the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. Three children were on that flight.
United Flight 93 crashed last in Shanksville, Pa., at 10:03 a.m. after heroic passengers rushed the cabin and took control crashing the jet. Forty passengers and crew perished.
The families, as the Herald has reported, also want complete access to the Operation Encore Final Report, which was the FBI’s investigation into Saudi government ties to the 9/11 hijackers. Members of Congress are backing that push to force U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to open the books before the 20th anniversary of the attacks.
The interviews in this case will be kept secret under an order from the Department of Justice, for now.
“I lost my dad and my lawyers aren’t allowed to tell me anything,” said Eagleson. “The FBI and DOJ are forcing us to conduct this trial in secrecy.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2RnMM4T
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