Why can't we confront Saudi support of the 9/11 attacks?
By: Mike Kelly
Columnist
USA Today Network
..... It's the nasty political problem that keeps on ticking. But it's not the economy. Or mass shootings. Or Ukraine. Or china. Or any of those other chronic dilemmas facing America.
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No, this is worse in some ways. It's the rising tide of evidence that Saudi Arabian officials helped carry out the deadliest act of terrorism in America on September 11, 2001.
..... The nation;s political leaders know this - or should know it. But they refuse to act.
..... If you've followed this column, you know about the Saudi links to 9/11. Over the past decade, the revelation have been deeply disturbing.
..... The FBI, as well as other law enforcement agencies - including local cops in New Jersey - have found evidence linking Saudi officials to the gang of Islamist killers who hijacked four jetliners on the morning of that Tuesday in September 2001. Some of those Saudi officials were members of the kingdom's intelligence services. Some even worked at the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C.
..... The Saudi assistance ranged from helping the attackers find housing to advice on how to navigate American culture. It's not clear whether the Saudis provided financial help. But that question is certainly at the top of the list of suspicions, not just by FBI investigators but by families of 9/11 victims behind a massive lawsuit against Saudi Arabia in federal court in Manhattan.
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Other media have also explored this evidence. In a segment broadcast last Sunday, [04/27/2025] the CBS news magazine "60 Minutes" detailed how a Saudi official who played a key role in helping two 9/11 hijackers, even took videos of Washington landmarks hat seemed more like targeting plans for the U.S. Capitol.
..... The existence of this video is significant - and not just because a Saudi official was behind it.
..... The 9/11 attackers acting on plans devised by al-Quaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, crashed two of the hijacked jetliners into the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center, another into the Pentagon and a fourth into a Pennsylvania farm field. It's that fourth jetliner that U.S. officials believe was headed to the U.S. Capitol. The hijackers who controlled the plane deliberately crashed it into an open field near Shganksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers suddenly realizing the deadly game, rose up and fought with them.
..... Nealy 3,000 people perished on 9/11, including 343 firefighters and some 100 other police and emergency workers just at the Trade Center in lower Manhattan. Since that day, nearly 3,000 more have died, most of them form cancer or respiratory ailments linked to the toxic materials released when the 110-story Twin Towers collapsed.
..... That's quite a dealt toll - to say the least. But its numbers are expected to rise even as more trade center office workers succumb to health problems. And let's not forget the nearly 7,000 U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan - two conflicts that, rightly or wrongly, are rooted in the 9/11 attacks.
Where are America's presidents on Saudi ties to 9/11?
..... Given this kind of history, you would think that U.S. officials might want to know the truth - especially when it comes to the links to 9/11 by an alleged close ally like Saudi Arabia. Well, think again. Starting with President George Bush's administration and continuing through the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden and, now, Trump again, top US. officials have gone out of their way to drag their bureaucratic feet in digging up evidence on the Saudis.
..... It's difficult to say whitey of these presidents played the greatest roll in the cover-up - or covering their eyes and ears.
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Bush had access to the earliest evidence that should have at least raised suspicions about the Saudis. but he seemed more focused on Iraq and Afghanistan. bush even authorized a special flight form the U.S. to help relatives of Osama bin Laden escape back to Saudi Arabia. And when it came to helping 9/11 commission with its collection of evidence on how the attacks were carried out, Bush's White House seemed more focused on pulling down the curtains than opening the windows to complete transparency.
..... Obama seemed distracted - or maybe disinterested. his administration seemed more caught up in domestic battles over health care reform, the Tea Party and his efforts to please foreign policy progressives by opening relations with Iran and Cuba.
..... Early in his first presidency, Trump seemed open to investigation the Saudis. He even met with relatives of 9/11 victims who were angry at the slow pace of the investigation into Saudi linked to the attacks. But Trump ended up devoting more time to his ill-fated efforts to establish peace in the middle East with the so-called Abraham Accords.
..... We also can't ignore that after T Rump left office, the Saudis offered cash to sue several of Trump's golf courses for the upstart LIV professional golf league. And then, of course, there was the $2 billion - yes, $2 billion - the Saudis handed Trump's son-in-
law Jard Kushner,a Wall Street neophyte, to start an investment firm.
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Like those before him, Biden also found ways to dodge the Saudi issue. It too a well-publicized threat by families of those who died on 9/11, to pull back their invitation for Biden to attend the annual memorial ceremonies in lower Manhattan, to get the president;s attention. Finlay, under pressure, Biden promised to declassify and release FBI reports that showed clear links to the Saudis.
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But it was really to late. At that point, more than 20 years had passed since the attacks. In many ways, America had moved on. Plus, it didn't help that the FBI's reports were heavily redacted and released at a pace that was somewhere between a glacier and a tortoise.
..... Now, nearly a quarter-century after 9/11, the soc-called "Saudi questions" is back in Trump's hands. Sadly, he has not shown any interest in pursing the evidence - or the answers. he has tariffs and bottom-of-the barrel approval rating to worry about.
..... But Trump is not the only U.S. politicians now who has ignored the Saudi links to 9/11/ just days ago, New jersey Governor Phil Murphy, traveled to Saudi Arabia to find ways to improve Saudi financial ties to the state's economy - including soccer's upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup in New Jersey.
..... Maybe Murphy forget that same 700 New Jersey residents died in the 9/11 attacks. Maybe he also forgot that more than 10 of the 19 Islamist killers who carried out those attacks found hiding places in New Jersey. Maybe Murphy ignored the reports - mainly by this columnist - of how the Saudis helped those hijackers, first in Northern Virgina and later in New Jersey. Or maybe Murphy did not bother to watch last Sunday's [04/27/2025] report on "60 Minutes."
..... Instead, Murphy was in Saudi Arabia disusing what was described in one report as "bilateral cooperation in global sporting initiatives."
..... Is that clueless? Of course. But don't single out poor Murphy. he is merely one of a long line of U.S. officials, from law enforcement to the FBI and CIA and the White House, who have ignored the "Saudi question." It's as if the U.S. government has taken on a persona of the legendary cartoon character Mister Magoo, whose inability to see left him decidedly stubborn and unable to fact his faults.
..... "It's been nearly a quarter-century of ignoring those links between 9/11 and Saudi Arabia.
..... It's time to take off the blinders.