Saturday, September 12, 2020

SENATOR TOM COTTON - AFTER 9/11 AMERICANS WERE UNIFIED AND OPTIMISTIC - THEN THEY FOUND OUT BUSH, CLINTON, OBAMA AND TRUMP ARE IN BED WITH THE SAUDIS.... Just follow the money!

 

Sen. Tom Cotton: After 9/11 Americans Were Unified and Optimistic About the Future

Tom Cotton
Tom Cotton
3:33

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) contrasted American unity following the Islamic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, with contemporary disunity, offering his remarks on Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

Marlow said, “After 9/11, we were all unified. We were all together. We were all standing as one — now, not so much. Could you compare/contrast that, and is there anything that we can learn from 9/11 and maybe start drafting off of today?”

Cotton replied, “It is a notable contrast — that for the days and months after 9/11, we were fairly unified as a nation. Even our political leaders — who have severe differences of opinion when it came to the direction of the country — were relatively unified. You could look at public opinion polls, even though we had just lost 3,000 Americans in the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor … Americans felt more confidence and more optimistic about the future of their country than they had at any time previously in my lifetime.”

“I think that’s unfortunately been lacking,” lamented Cotton. “No one in America is responsible for the pandemic we face. Plenty of leaders — Democrat and Republican alike — had missteps in it. We try to improve those to correct conditions.” The Chinese Communist Party is “ultimately responsible” for the coronavirus outbreak, he added.

LISTEN:

Cotton, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, reflected on his decision to enlist in the military after the events of 9/11 while he was studying at Harvard Law School.

“Like so many Americans, my life took a big turn on 9/11,” recalled Cotton. “I remember on the morning of 9/11, I was in law school sitting in evidence class. … I know it may be hard for your younger listeners to understand that back then — the days before the flood — we didn’t have Wi-Fi, and we didn’t have smartphones with text messages and social media. For the first hour or so, we didn’t know anything that happened.”

After leaving his class on the morning of 9/11, Cotton remembered seeing dozens of students “with shocked looks on their faces.” He then realized “America was under attack.” He stated, “I was going to go and be a lawyer, but from that day forward, I resolved that I wanted to serve in our military and go overseas to defend America and defend our freedom.”

Cotton remarked, “For the next month [after 9/11], the Old Guard took off its ceremonial uniforms and put on its combat fatigues, and they were in the Pentagon trying to recover survivors and then recover remains, and providing security for those other first responders there, so they have been on the front lines of 9/11 from the very beginning moments of it.”

As part of his military career, Cotton served with the 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, a unit focused on memorial and ceremonial services. Part of its mission is guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. After 9/11, the Old Guard was mobilized to help at the Pentagon. Sen. Cotton wrote a book on the Old Guard, titled Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arlington National Cemetery.

Breitbart News Daily broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

BEHIND THE SAUDIS INVASION IS THE BUSH FAMILY'S HALF-CENTURY AND TWO WAR DEALS WITH THE SAUDIS.

FOLLOW SAUDIS MONEY INTO THE BUILDING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES OF BUSH, CLINTON AND OBAMA AND THE FUNDING OF THE FRAUDULENT CLINTON FOUNDATION FAMILY SLUSH FUND.


Alternate text

“No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”

 

VIRGIL
(Pictured is Robert Peraza, who lost his son on 9/11/2001.)



Those terrorists who overstayed their visas include:

  • Hani Hasan Hanjour from Saudi Arabia
  • Nawaf al-Hamzi from Saudi Arabia
  • Mohamed Atta from Egypt
  • Satam al-Suqami from Saudi Arabia
  • Waleed al-Shehri from Saudi Arabia
  • Marwan al-Shehhi from the United Arab Emirates
  • Ahmed al-Ghamdi from Saudi Arabia

Images of 9/11: A Visual Remembrance




9-11-Photos-AP-Getty
Getty/AP
5:34

The whole world experienced the attacks of September 11, 2001, in real time. Videos, photos, and audio captured the horror inflicted by Islamic jihadists and the heroism displayed by ordinary Americans.

Judge orders testimony from 

Saudi officials in suit over 

involvement in 9/11 attacks

 https://news.yahoo.com/judge-orders-testimony-from-saudi-officials-in-suit-over-involvement-in-911-attacks-013620481.html


Michael Isikoff

Chief Investigative Correspondent,

On the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a federal judge directed the Saudi Arabian government to make as many as 24 current and former officials available for depositions about their possible knowledge of events leading up to the airplane attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which killed almost 3,000 Americans. Those officials include Prince Bandar, the former ambassador to the United States, and his longtime chief of staff.  

The order was immediately hailed by families of the 9/11 victims as a milestone in their years-long effort to prove that some Saudi officials were either complicit in the attacks or aware of the kingdom’s support for some of the hijackers in the months before they hijacked four American airliners and crashed three of them into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. 

A fourth plane, whose presumed target was the U.S. Capitol, was commandeered by passengers and crashed in Shanksville, Pa., where President Trump and possibly Joe Biden are expected at memorial ceremonies Friday .

“This is a game changer,” Brett Eagleson, whose father was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Towers and who serves as a spokesman for the families, said of the ruling by Federal Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in New York. “This is the most significant ruling we’ve had to date in this lawsuit. And to have this on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, you couldn’t script this any better. The families are elated.” 

The effect of the ruling may depend on the willingness of the Saudi government to make its citizens available for testimony — especially since it includes some high-ranking figures who no longer hold official positions and therefore cannot be compelled to testify. But any open defiance of the court ruling by the Saudis, or resistance from some of the figures named, could further exacerbate a relationship that has already been strained by the 2018 Saudi assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi — an act the CIA has concluded was likely ordered by the country’s de factor ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

The question is especially fraught for Bandar, a member of the Saudi royal family who for years maintained a close relationship with senior U.S. government officials (earning him the nickname “Bandar Bush” because of his ties to the Bush family) and whose daughter, Princess Reema bint Bandar, serves as the current Saudi ambassador in Washington. “If he chooses to thumb his nose at a U.S. court, you better believe there will be political fallout from that,” said Eagleson.

A lawyer for the Saudis did not respond to a request for comment Thursday night, and no evidence has surfaced in the case that establishes Bandar had personal knowledge of what the Saudi hijackers were up to. But during his tenure in Washington, from 1983 to 2005, he oversaw a sprawling embassy staff including some, especially those with responsibilities for Islamic affairs, who have been identified in recently surfaced FBI documents as suspects who may have helped provide support for the hijackers in the United States. 

The question of possible involvement in the 9/11 attacks by Saudi officials has been a subject of intense debate for years, dividing officials within the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community. The Saudis have consistently denied any connection to the 9/11 hijackers, telling the New York Times and ProPublica in January: “Saudi Arabia is and has always been a close and critical ally of the U.S. in the fight against terrorism.” 

But lawyers for the families of the 9/11 victims have been conducting a painstaking investigation that has developed a circumstantial case that two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, received financial and other support from individuals associated with the Saudi government after they arrived in the U.S. after attending an al-Qaida planning summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

As reported by Yahoo News last May, previously undisclosed FBI documents show that a foreign ministry official within the Saudi Embassy, Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, who had duties overseeing the activities of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, had repeated contacts with two figures at the heart of the case and was even suspected of directing them to assist the hijackers. One was Fahad al-Thumairy, a Saudi Islamic Affairs official and radical cleric who served as the imam of the King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles and met with the two hijackers there. The other was Omar al-Bayoumi, a suspected Saudi intelligence agent who directly helped the hijackers, finding them an apartment, lending them money and setting them up with bank accounts, after they flew into Los Angeles airport on Jan. 15, 2000.

Al-Jarrah, who until last year served in the Saudi Embassy in Morocco, is among the current and former officials named in the order by Netburn, directing the Saudis to make available for testimony. Al-Thumairy and al-Bayoumi were also cited. 

But significantly, the list includes other high-ranking royals who still serve in the government, including Saleh bin Abdulaziz, who served as Minister of Islamic Affairs at the time and, according to the judge’s ruling, extended al-Thuimairy’s time in the United States and promoted him. 

In her discussion of Bandar, Judge Netburn noted that lawyers for the Saudi government had persuasively argued that no documents show that he directly oversaw the work of al-Jarrah and al-Thumairy in the United States. But, she added, court documents obtained during the course of discovery — much of which remain under seal — “indicates that Prince Bandar likely has firsthand knowledge … [of] the role that al-Thumairy was assigned by the Kingdom and the diplomatic cover” provided to him.

The judge also authorized the deposition of Ahmed al-Qattan, Bandar’s longtime chief of staff, noting that court documents show that he “likely has unique firsthand knowledge of al-Jarrah and al-Thumairy’s relevant pre-9/11 activity and any post-9/11 ratification of their conduct.”  

HAVE LOOTED THE COUNTRY AS MUCH AS THE BUSH CRIME FAMILY!

https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2018/12/bush-family-mourns-hw-bush-man-who-did.html

 The perilous ramifications of the September 11 attacks on the United States are only now beginning to unfold. They will undoubtedly be felt for generations to come. This is one of many sad conclusions readers will draw from Craig Unger's exceptional book House of Bush House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties. As Unger claims in this incisive study, the seeds for the "Age of Terrorism" and September 11 were planted nearly 30 years ago in what, at the time, appeared to be savvy business transactions that subsequently translated into political currency and the union between the Saudi royal family and the extended political family of George H. W. Bush. 

 

MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman

Ben Hubbard. Random House/Duggan, $28 (384p) ISBN 978-1-9848-2382-3

Journalist Hubbard debuts with an incisive portrait of modern Saudi Arabia and 34-year-old crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known by his initials MBS. Though much about MBS’s early years remains unknown, Hubbard details his close relationship with his father, the governor of Riyadh, following the untimely deaths of two of MBS’s older half-brothers, and his willingness to threaten with violence those who don’t fall in line. After his father’s ascension to the throne in 2015, MBS took control of the royal court and became minister of defense. He implemented ambitious social and economic reforms, including rolling back the kingdom’s ban on women drivers, and courted Western investors with plans to build a $500 billion “smart city” near the Red Sea. He also declared war on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, escalated tensions with Iran and Qatar, detained hundreds of ministers and royal family members in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in a move billed as an anti-corruption push, and empowered underlings to aggressively silence dissidents—a campaign that led to the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Turkish consulate in 2018, severely damaging MBS’s international reputation. Hubbard enriches the narrative with informed discussions of Saudi history and culture, illuminating the kingdom’s complex blend of religious fundamentalism and technological ambition. This deeply researched and vividly written account provides essential insight into a figure poised to lead the region for the next half century. (Mar.)

 

Saudi Arabia's crown prince responds to coronavirus by getting rid of enemies

 

David A. Andelman

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is facing some existential problems. He's losing the war in Yemen, the coronavirus has forced him to scale back visits by millions to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and the plummeting price of oil on the back of a supply war with Russian President Vladimir Putin are together shaking the most fundamental underpinnings of his leadership — not to mention threatening a global recession.

So what does he do? He takes a leaf out of President Donald Trump's playbook by getting rid of some of his most (allegedly) troublesome opponents. Instead of a simple purgehowever, the crown prince, known by his initials, MBS, took the far more dramatic step of arresting his cousin, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef; his uncle, Prince Ahmed bin Abdelaziz, as well as one of Nayef's brothers and one of Abdelaziz's sons. The first two have been charged with treason, which carries the death penalty. The crown prince was already in hot water for allegedly ordering the execution-style slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But with this escalation, the Saudi leader is pushing the boundaries once again to see what exactly he can get away with.

All these issues have been brewing for some time. The crown prince has given no quarter in five years of war in Yemen, which has turned very much into a proxy war with Iran — each power supporting opposing factions for control of this strategic corner of the Arabian peninsula.

The Saudis have long been watching anxiously as demand for oil ratcheted down and new energy sources, particularly from the United States, have come online. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, demand for oil has plunged even further.

To hold prices in line, the Saudis called an emergency meeting last week of the OPEC oil cartel to lower production quotas. Russia balked at OPEC's demand, led by Saudi Arabia, to cut 1.5 million barrels a day in output and stabilize prices at $40 a barrel. Putin has no problem with low oil prices, since Russia's cost of production is under $20 a barrel. But he would like to see America's fracking efforts — an already costly proposition to — become uneconomical.

Without a deal, Saudi Arabia said it would sell oil to China for a discount and potentially raise its own output by as much as 2 million barrels a day — moves that would result in flooding the market with oversupply. Oil prices around the world plummeted more than 25 percent Monday to $31 a barrel. Since oil still underpins the Saudi economy, accounting for 50 percent of its GDP and some 70 percent of its export earnings, this is a serious gamble for the crown prince, who has pledged to modernize and diversify his country's financial future.

And then along came the coronavirus. Here the crown prince has been forced to make some of the toughest decisions of his career. The one that has already sent shock waves through the Islamic world was his decision to suspend the year-round umrah pilgrimage in which as many as 20 million faithful — most from Saudi Arabia itself — take part every year. This has also raised the question of whether the annual hajj pilgrimage, which attracts millions Muslims more from every corner of the globe, would be allowed at the end of July.

Throughout, criticism of the crown prince has quietly been mounting at home. He wants desperately to succeed his father on the throne; King Salman is now 84 and said to be frail. Still, the day after the arrest of the four princes stunned the kingdom, the king was shown in photos released by the royal palace to be in good health, receiving foreign ambassadors and reading state documents. Perhaps the king is anxious to remain in power to welcome world leaders to the G-20 summit in Riyadh in November.

What has allowed the crown prince such a free hand? Certainly he has benefited from the unalloyed support of his father, who seems to accept his son's overt power grabs. Unanimity is vital since the next king is not chosen until the previous one has died. The crown prince clearly wants nothing left to chance.

But he also has innumerable enablers — world leaders and business leaders alike — who have repeatedly failed to confront the leader. Amazon's Jeff Bezos was photographed beaming next to him not long before the crown prince was revealed to have ordered the disastrous hacking of Bezos' cellphone.

Trump is a particularly bad offender. Trump has never fully accepted the conclusions of his own intelligence system that the crown prince personally ordered the savage murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi. Not surprisingly, Trump said nothing about the arrest of the four senior royals this past weekend.

But the crown prince's manipulations — and Trump's inaction — have a price. In the early morning hours on Tuesday, the prince and Trump talked on the phone, according to a White House official. Hours later, the Saudi prince flooded the oil market, hammering world stock, bond and currency markets.

This price war, of course, has implications for Trump's own re-election in November — especially if it threatens the American oil industry, which employs some 9.8 million American workers and is projected to add as many as 1 million more U.S. fracking jobs in the next five years.

The crown prince and Trump are currently facing a very similar set of challenges: The coronavirus threatening Americans at home and Muslims in Mecca and Medina; oil price and supply disruptions affecting the economies of both nations; unresolved and increasingly expensive wars respectively in Afghanistan and Yemen.

Perhaps now is the time to begin to break that circle of dependency before an impending crisis becomes a real crisis.

Khashoggi's sons forgive Saudi killers, sparing 5 execution

 

AYA BATRAWY

,

Associated PressMay 21, 2020

ther's killers, sparing them death sentences

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The family of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi announced on Friday they have forgiven his Saudi killers, giving legal reprieve to five government agents who had been sentenced to death for an operation that cast a cloud of suspicion over the kingdom's crown prince.

“We, the sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we forgive those who killed our father as we seek reward from God Almighty,” wrote one of his sons, Salah Khashoggi, on Twitter.

Salah Khashoggi, who lives in Saudi Arabia and has received financial compensation from the royal court for his father's killing, explained that forgiveness was extended to the killers during the last nights of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in line with Islamic tradition to offer pardons in cases allowed by Islamic law.

The Saudi court's ruling in December that the killing was not premeditated paved the way for Friday's announcement by leaving the door open for reprieve. Additionally, the finding was in line with the government’s official explanation of Khashoggi's slaying that he was killed accidentally in a brawl by agents trying to forcibly return him to Saudi Arabia.

The family's decision to pardon Khashoggi's killers comes as questions continue to linger over who ultimately ordered the operation and whether his sons have come under pressure. The trial was widely criticized by rights groups and an independent U.N. investigator who noted that no senior officials nor anyone in charge of ordering the operation was found guilty. The independence of the Riyadh criminal court was also brought into question.

Prior to his killing, Khashoggi had written critically of Saudi Arabia's crown prince in columns for the Washington Post. He'd been living in exile in the United States for about a year as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman oversaw a crackdown in Saudi Arabia on human rights activists, writers and critics of the kingdom's devastating war in Yemen.

In October 2017, a team of 15 Saudi agents was dispatched to Turkey to meet Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul for what he thought was an appointment to pick up documents needed to wed his Turkish fiancee. The group included a forensic doctor, intelligence and security officers and individuals who worked for the crown prince’s office.

Turkish officials allege Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw. The body has not been found. Turkey, a rival of Saudi Arabia, apparently had the Saudi Consulate bugged and has shared audio of the killing with the CIA, among others.

Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said Friday that the “killers came from Saudi with premeditation to lure, ambush & kill him.”

“Nobody has the right to pardon the killers. We will not pardon the killers nor those who ordered the killing,” she wrote on Twitter in response to the family's pardon.

Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur who investigated his killing, said the announcement of forgiveness was anticipated.

“All of us who, over the last 20 months, have reported on the gruesome execution of Jamal Khashoggi, and absence of accountability for his killing, expected this," she said in a Facebook post and added that Saudi authorities were “playing out what they hope will be the final act in their well-rehearsed parody of justice.”

The grisly killing, which took place as Khashoggi's fiancee waited for him outside the consulate, drew international condemnation of Prince Mohammed.

The 34-year-old prince, who has the support of his father King Salman, denies any involvement. U.S. intelligence agencies, however, say an operation like this could not have happened without his knowledge and the Senate has blamed the crown prince for the murder.

After initially offering shifting accounts of what transpired, and under intense international and Turkish pressure, Saudi prosecutors eventually settled on the explanation that Khashoggi had been killed by Saudi agents in an operation masterminded by two of the crown prince’s top aides at the time. Neither was found guilty in trial, however.

In addition to the five who had been sentenced to execution, the Saudi trial concluded last year that three other people were found guilty of covering up the crime and were sentenced to a combined 24 years in prison. In all, 11 people were put on trial in Saudi Arabia for the killing.

Saudi media outlet Arab News sought to clarify Friday that the announcement made by Khashoggi’s sons may spare the convicted killers from execution, but does not mean they will go unpunished.

In an interview in September with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Prince Mohammed said he takes "full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia.” But he insisted that he had no knowledge of the operation, saying he cannot keep close track of the country’s millions of employees.

 

GEORGE W BUSH - RENT BOY TO THE SAUDI DICTATORS

   

BEHIND THE SAUDIS INVASION IS THE BUSH FAMILY'S HALF-CENTURY AND TWO WAR DEALS WITH THE SAUDIS.

FOLLOW SAUDIS MONEY INTO THE BUILDING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES OF BUSH, CLINTON AND OBAMA AND THE FUNDING OF THE FRAUDULENT CLINTON FOUNDATION FAMILY SLUSH FUND.


Alternate text

“No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”

 

VIRGIL
(Pictured is Robert Peraza, who lost his son on 9/11/2001.)



Those terrorists who overstayed their visas include:

  • Hani Hasan Hanjour from Saudi Arabia
  • Nawaf al-Hamzi from Saudi Arabia
  • Mohamed Atta from Egypt
  • Satam al-Suqami from Saudi Arabia
  • Waleed al-Shehri from Saudi Arabia
  • Marwan al-Shehhi from the United Arab Emirates
  • Ahmed al-Ghamdi from Saudi Arabia

Images of 9/11: A Visual Remembrance




9-11-Photos-AP-Getty
Getty/AP
5:34

The whole world experienced the attacks of September 11, 2001, in real time. Videos, photos, and audio captured the horror inflicted by Islamic jihadists and the heroism displayed by ordinary Americans.

Judge orders testimony from 

Saudi officials in suit over 

involvement in 9/11 attacks

 https://news.yahoo.com/judge-orders-testimony-from-saudi-officials-in-suit-over-involvement-in-911-attacks-013620481.html


Michael Isikoff

Chief Investigative Correspondent,

On the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a federal judge directed the Saudi Arabian government to make as many as 24 current and former officials available for depositions about their possible knowledge of events leading up to the airplane attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which killed almost 3,000 Americans. Those officials include Prince Bandar, the former ambassador to the United States, and his longtime chief of staff.  

The order was immediately hailed by families of the 9/11 victims as a milestone in their years-long effort to prove that some Saudi officials were either complicit in the attacks or aware of the kingdom’s support for some of the hijackers in the months before they hijacked four American airliners and crashed three of them into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. 

A fourth plane, whose presumed target was the U.S. Capitol, was commandeered by passengers and crashed in Shanksville, Pa., where President Trump and possibly Joe Biden are expected at memorial ceremonies Friday .

“This is a game changer,” Brett Eagleson, whose father was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Towers and who serves as a spokesman for the families, said of the ruling by Federal Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in New York. “This is the most significant ruling we’ve had to date in this lawsuit. And to have this on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, you couldn’t script this any better. The families are elated.” 

The effect of the ruling may depend on the willingness of the Saudi government to make its citizens available for testimony — especially since it includes some high-ranking figures who no longer hold official positions and therefore cannot be compelled to testify. But any open defiance of the court ruling by the Saudis, or resistance from some of the figures named, could further exacerbate a relationship that has already been strained by the 2018 Saudi assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi — an act the CIA has concluded was likely ordered by the country’s de factor ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

The question is especially fraught for Bandar, a member of the Saudi royal family who for years maintained a close relationship with senior U.S. government officials (earning him the nickname “Bandar Bush” because of his ties to the Bush family) and whose daughter, Princess Reema bint Bandar, serves as the current Saudi ambassador in Washington. “If he chooses to thumb his nose at a U.S. court, you better believe there will be political fallout from that,” said Eagleson.

A lawyer for the Saudis did not respond to a request for comment Thursday night, and no evidence has surfaced in the case that establishes Bandar had personal knowledge of what the Saudi hijackers were up to. But during his tenure in Washington, from 1983 to 2005, he oversaw a sprawling embassy staff including some, especially those with responsibilities for Islamic affairs, who have been identified in recently surfaced FBI documents as suspects who may have helped provide support for the hijackers in the United States. 

The question of possible involvement in the 9/11 attacks by Saudi officials has been a subject of intense debate for years, dividing officials within the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community. The Saudis have consistently denied any connection to the 9/11 hijackers, telling the New York Times and ProPublica in January: “Saudi Arabia is and has always been a close and critical ally of the U.S. in the fight against terrorism.” 

But lawyers for the families of the 9/11 victims have been conducting a painstaking investigation that has developed a circumstantial case that two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, received financial and other support from individuals associated with the Saudi government after they arrived in the U.S. after attending an al-Qaida planning summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

As reported by Yahoo News last May, previously undisclosed FBI documents show that a foreign ministry official within the Saudi Embassy, Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, who had duties overseeing the activities of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, had repeated contacts with two figures at the heart of the case and was even suspected of directing them to assist the hijackers. One was Fahad al-Thumairy, a Saudi Islamic Affairs official and radical cleric who served as the imam of the King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles and met with the two hijackers there. The other was Omar al-Bayoumi, a suspected Saudi intelligence agent who directly helped the hijackers, finding them an apartment, lending them money and setting them up with bank accounts, after they flew into Los Angeles airport on Jan. 15, 2000.

Al-Jarrah, who until last year served in the Saudi Embassy in Morocco, is among the current and former officials named in the order by Netburn, directing the Saudis to make available for testimony. Al-Thumairy and al-Bayoumi were also cited. 

But significantly, the list includes other high-ranking royals who still serve in the government, including Saleh bin Abdulaziz, who served as Minister of Islamic Affairs at the time and, according to the judge’s ruling, extended al-Thuimairy’s time in the United States and promoted him. 

In her discussion of Bandar, Judge Netburn noted that lawyers for the Saudi government had persuasively argued that no documents show that he directly oversaw the work of al-Jarrah and al-Thumairy in the United States. But, she added, court documents obtained during the course of discovery — much of which remain under seal — “indicates that Prince Bandar likely has firsthand knowledge … [of] the role that al-Thumairy was assigned by the Kingdom and the diplomatic cover” provided to him.

The judge also authorized the deposition of Ahmed al-Qattan, Bandar’s longtime chief of staff, noting that court documents show that he “likely has unique firsthand knowledge of al-Jarrah and al-Thumairy’s relevant pre-9/11 activity and any post-9/11 ratification of their conduct.”  

HAVE LOOTED THE COUNTRY AS MUCH AS THE BUSH CRIME FAMILY!

https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2018/12/bush-family-mourns-hw-bush-man-who-did.html

 The perilous ramifications of the September 11 attacks on the United States are only now beginning to unfold. They will undoubtedly be felt for generations to come. This is one of many sad conclusions readers will draw from Craig Unger's exceptional book House of Bush House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties. As Unger claims in this incisive study, the seeds for the "Age of Terrorism" and September 11 were planted nearly 30 years ago in what, at the time, appeared to be savvy business transactions that subsequently translated into political currency and the union between the Saudi royal family and the extended political family of George H. W. Bush. 

 

MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman

Ben Hubbard. Random House/Duggan, $28 (384p) ISBN 978-1-9848-2382-3

Journalist Hubbard debuts with an incisive portrait of modern Saudi Arabia and 34-year-old crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known by his initials MBS. Though much about MBS’s early years remains unknown, Hubbard details his close relationship with his father, the governor of Riyadh, following the untimely deaths of two of MBS’s older half-brothers, and his willingness to threaten with violence those who don’t fall in line. After his father’s ascension to the throne in 2015, MBS took control of the royal court and became minister of defense. He implemented ambitious social and economic reforms, including rolling back the kingdom’s ban on women drivers, and courted Western investors with plans to build a $500 billion “smart city” near the Red Sea. He also declared war on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, escalated tensions with Iran and Qatar, detained hundreds of ministers and royal family members in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in a move billed as an anti-corruption push, and empowered underlings to aggressively silence dissidents—a campaign that led to the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Turkish consulate in 2018, severely damaging MBS’s international reputation. Hubbard enriches the narrative with informed discussions of Saudi history and culture, illuminating the kingdom’s complex blend of religious fundamentalism and technological ambition. This deeply researched and vividly written account provides essential insight into a figure poised to lead the region for the next half century. (Mar.)

 

Saudi Arabia's crown prince responds to coronavirus by getting rid of enemies

 

David A. Andelman

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is facing some existential problems. He's losing the war in Yemen, the coronavirus has forced him to scale back visits by millions to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and the plummeting price of oil on the back of a supply war with Russian President Vladimir Putin are together shaking the most fundamental underpinnings of his leadership — not to mention threatening a global recession.

So what does he do? He takes a leaf out of President Donald Trump's playbook by getting rid of some of his most (allegedly) troublesome opponents. Instead of a simple purgehowever, the crown prince, known by his initials, MBS, took the far more dramatic step of arresting his cousin, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef; his uncle, Prince Ahmed bin Abdelaziz, as well as one of Nayef's brothers and one of Abdelaziz's sons. The first two have been charged with treason, which carries the death penalty. The crown prince was already in hot water for allegedly ordering the execution-style slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But with this escalation, the Saudi leader is pushing the boundaries once again to see what exactly he can get away with.

All these issues have been brewing for some time. The crown prince has given no quarter in five years of war in Yemen, which has turned very much into a proxy war with Iran — each power supporting opposing factions for control of this strategic corner of the Arabian peninsula.

The Saudis have long been watching anxiously as demand for oil ratcheted down and new energy sources, particularly from the United States, have come online. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, demand for oil has plunged even further.

To hold prices in line, the Saudis called an emergency meeting last week of the OPEC oil cartel to lower production quotas. Russia balked at OPEC's demand, led by Saudi Arabia, to cut 1.5 million barrels a day in output and stabilize prices at $40 a barrel. Putin has no problem with low oil prices, since Russia's cost of production is under $20 a barrel. But he would like to see America's fracking efforts — an already costly proposition to — become uneconomical.

Without a deal, Saudi Arabia said it would sell oil to China for a discount and potentially raise its own output by as much as 2 million barrels a day — moves that would result in flooding the market with oversupply. Oil prices around the world plummeted more than 25 percent Monday to $31 a barrel. Since oil still underpins the Saudi economy, accounting for 50 percent of its GDP and some 70 percent of its export earnings, this is a serious gamble for the crown prince, who has pledged to modernize and diversify his country's financial future.

And then along came the coronavirus. Here the crown prince has been forced to make some of the toughest decisions of his career. The one that has already sent shock waves through the Islamic world was his decision to suspend the year-round umrah pilgrimage in which as many as 20 million faithful — most from Saudi Arabia itself — take part every year. This has also raised the question of whether the annual hajj pilgrimage, which attracts millions Muslims more from every corner of the globe, would be allowed at the end of July.

Throughout, criticism of the crown prince has quietly been mounting at home. He wants desperately to succeed his father on the throne; King Salman is now 84 and said to be frail. Still, the day after the arrest of the four princes stunned the kingdom, the king was shown in photos released by the royal palace to be in good health, receiving foreign ambassadors and reading state documents. Perhaps the king is anxious to remain in power to welcome world leaders to the G-20 summit in Riyadh in November.

What has allowed the crown prince such a free hand? Certainly he has benefited from the unalloyed support of his father, who seems to accept his son's overt power grabs. Unanimity is vital since the next king is not chosen until the previous one has died. The crown prince clearly wants nothing left to chance.

But he also has innumerable enablers — world leaders and business leaders alike — who have repeatedly failed to confront the leader. Amazon's Jeff Bezos was photographed beaming next to him not long before the crown prince was revealed to have ordered the disastrous hacking of Bezos' cellphone.

Trump is a particularly bad offender. Trump has never fully accepted the conclusions of his own intelligence system that the crown prince personally ordered the savage murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi. Not surprisingly, Trump said nothing about the arrest of the four senior royals this past weekend.

But the crown prince's manipulations — and Trump's inaction — have a price. In the early morning hours on Tuesday, the prince and Trump talked on the phone, according to a White House official. Hours later, the Saudi prince flooded the oil market, hammering world stock, bond and currency markets.

This price war, of course, has implications for Trump's own re-election in November — especially if it threatens the American oil industry, which employs some 9.8 million American workers and is projected to add as many as 1 million more U.S. fracking jobs in the next five years.

The crown prince and Trump are currently facing a very similar set of challenges: The coronavirus threatening Americans at home and Muslims in Mecca and Medina; oil price and supply disruptions affecting the economies of both nations; unresolved and increasingly expensive wars respectively in Afghanistan and Yemen.

Perhaps now is the time to begin to break that circle of dependency before an impending crisis becomes a real crisis.

Khashoggi's sons forgive Saudi killers, sparing 5 execution

 

AYA BATRAWY

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Associated PressMay 21, 2020

ther's killers, sparing them death sentences

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The family of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi announced on Friday they have forgiven his Saudi killers, giving legal reprieve to five government agents who had been sentenced to death for an operation that cast a cloud of suspicion over the kingdom's crown prince.

“We, the sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we forgive those who killed our father as we seek reward from God Almighty,” wrote one of his sons, Salah Khashoggi, on Twitter.

Salah Khashoggi, who lives in Saudi Arabia and has received financial compensation from the royal court for his father's killing, explained that forgiveness was extended to the killers during the last nights of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in line with Islamic tradition to offer pardons in cases allowed by Islamic law.

The Saudi court's ruling in December that the killing was not premeditated paved the way for Friday's announcement by leaving the door open for reprieve. Additionally, the finding was in line with the government’s official explanation of Khashoggi's slaying that he was killed accidentally in a brawl by agents trying to forcibly return him to Saudi Arabia.

The family's decision to pardon Khashoggi's killers comes as questions continue to linger over who ultimately ordered the operation and whether his sons have come under pressure. The trial was widely criticized by rights groups and an independent U.N. investigator who noted that no senior officials nor anyone in charge of ordering the operation was found guilty. The independence of the Riyadh criminal court was also brought into question.

Prior to his killing, Khashoggi had written critically of Saudi Arabia's crown prince in columns for the Washington Post. He'd been living in exile in the United States for about a year as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman oversaw a crackdown in Saudi Arabia on human rights activists, writers and critics of the kingdom's devastating war in Yemen.

In October 2017, a team of 15 Saudi agents was dispatched to Turkey to meet Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul for what he thought was an appointment to pick up documents needed to wed his Turkish fiancee. The group included a forensic doctor, intelligence and security officers and individuals who worked for the crown prince’s office.

Turkish officials allege Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw. The body has not been found. Turkey, a rival of Saudi Arabia, apparently had the Saudi Consulate bugged and has shared audio of the killing with the CIA, among others.

Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said Friday that the “killers came from Saudi with premeditation to lure, ambush & kill him.”

“Nobody has the right to pardon the killers. We will not pardon the killers nor those who ordered the killing,” she wrote on Twitter in response to the family's pardon.

Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur who investigated his killing, said the announcement of forgiveness was anticipated.

“All of us who, over the last 20 months, have reported on the gruesome execution of Jamal Khashoggi, and absence of accountability for his killing, expected this," she said in a Facebook post and added that Saudi authorities were “playing out what they hope will be the final act in their well-rehearsed parody of justice.”

The grisly killing, which took place as Khashoggi's fiancee waited for him outside the consulate, drew international condemnation of Prince Mohammed.

The 34-year-old prince, who has the support of his father King Salman, denies any involvement. U.S. intelligence agencies, however, say an operation like this could not have happened without his knowledge and the Senate has blamed the crown prince for the murder.

After initially offering shifting accounts of what transpired, and under intense international and Turkish pressure, Saudi prosecutors eventually settled on the explanation that Khashoggi had been killed by Saudi agents in an operation masterminded by two of the crown prince’s top aides at the time. Neither was found guilty in trial, however.

In addition to the five who had been sentenced to execution, the Saudi trial concluded last year that three other people were found guilty of covering up the crime and were sentenced to a combined 24 years in prison. In all, 11 people were put on trial in Saudi Arabia for the killing.

Saudi media outlet Arab News sought to clarify Friday that the announcement made by Khashoggi’s sons may spare the convicted killers from execution, but does not mean they will go unpunished.

In an interview in September with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Prince Mohammed said he takes "full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia.” But he insisted that he had no knowledge of the operation, saying he cannot keep close track of the country’s millions of employees.