9/11 Case Against Saudis Moves Forward: The Tide Has Turned

On March 28, a New York federal judge issued a major ruling helping to hold Saudi Arabian defendants accountable for the 9/11 terror attacks. The pre-trial ruling on behalf of family members of 9/11 victims largely reversed a previous ruling granting defendants sovereign immunity. Also, the ruling thwarted the Saudi government, whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited U. S. power brokers the past week to discuss major arms and oil deals and strategic interests.

The victory for 9/11 family members stemmed from their determination with the support of grassroots truth-seekers and several bold congressional leaders who ultimately won majorities for a recent law, JASTA. Several of these figures are shown in the adjoining photo during at 2016 press conference on Capitol Hill. They include 9/11 widow Terri Strada (national chair for 9/11 Families and Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism, her daughter Kaitlyn and the three main congressional supporters of the families in their fight for the legal right to obtain suppressed records implicating Saudis. MSNBC interviewed Terry Strada March 30 in the segment: Judge Allows Suit Alleging Saudi Arabia Financed 9/11 Attacks To Move Forward.

The guest column below is by a grassroots supporter of the families and full disclosure, Les Jamieson, a founder of the website HR 14 that advocated for years for release of a suppressed "28-page" segment of the 2002 9/11 report from the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.

This column, which originally appeared at the 9/11 Truth Action Project site, is part of ongoing coverage by the Justice Integrity Project. An appendix below provides links to recent and background materials.  

By Les Jamieson

Since 2002, the 9/11 families have been litigating against Saudi Arabia and related entities whom they've charged with responsibility in the 9/11 attacks, according to Jersey widow, Lori Van Auken.

For years, the complex case has dealt with major setbacks, mainly due to rulings that went along with the Saudi defense team's claims that the plaintiffs had insufficient evidence and that Saudi Arabia was protected by sovereign immunity.

Declassification of the 28 pages on July 15, 2016 and passage of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) that September changed everything. A convergence of events leading to the 15th anniversary of the attacks brought momentum that even the power of the security state could not withstand.

Within a month after passage of JASTA, families filed an amended complaint that reinstated Saudi Arabia, plus two additional family lawsuits. Then an appeal by the plaintiffs in response to release of Saudi Arabia was won. However, the Saudi defense team moved for dismissal again. These events culminated in a hearing in January.

On Wednesday, March 28, Judge Daniels, who had previously released the Saudi's from the lawsuit, has denied their motion to dismiss and ruled in favor of the 9/11 families.

The tide has turned. The suit against Saudi Arabia can finally move forward to the discovery stage, which is what they sought to avoid at all costs. Now a family of oil billionaires and their official entities with the power to affect the global economy and balance of power in the Middle East, will be held to account.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said the plaintiffs’ allegations “narrowly articulate a reasonable basis” for him to assert jurisdiction over Saudi Arabia under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a 2016 federal law." [His 41-page ruling is here. In 2015, the judge (a Clinton appointee shown at right) had ruled that the country had sovereign immunity against such claims.] A short Reuters article provides some background from a "mainstream media" perspective.

This is of historic importance, given:

• The 16 years of litigation,
• The abuse of power that took place for the Executive Branch to classify the 28 pages (a Legislative Branch document),
• The years of effort to get them released, and
• The seven years it took to pass JASTA, which only occurred due to a Congressional override of an Obama veto.

Strong U.S.-Saudi Ties

At right, in a 2002 photo, are President George W. Bush and Prince Bandar (White House photo by Eric Draper Aug. 2, 2002). Shown below at left is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who traveled to the United States in late March to pave the way for stronger Saudi-U.S. ties.

This development is also of significance due to the context of the geo-strategic U.S / Saudi alliance going back to the selection of the House of Saud being chosen as monarchs to lead the kingdom.

That extends also to the recruitment of Saudi mercenaries sent to Afghanistan to rise up against Russian influence in the early '80s, the broad-based military support and weapons sales totaling hundreds of billions of dollars just in the last 10 years, and millions of Saudi dollars spent on PR and lobbying firms to influence Congress and the American public to oppose JASTA.

After all, what if countries reciprocate with lawsuits against U.S. acts of aggression that result in damages on their population and property? The institution of war, which annihilates entire cultures without impunity, may have to be reconsidered. International law may have to be complied with. Peace could break out. The war industries and giant military bureaucracies may need to reinvent themselves.

 This court ruling is the last thing that those who hold the reins of U.S. hegemonic power wanted.

The 9/11 families have been stockpiling more whistleblower testimony for years. The Saudi ambassador, Prince Bandar, a friend to the Bush family, may get fully exposed for his role in funding a part of the 9/11 operation.

Wouldn't it be interesting if the FBI, which is mentioned in the 28 pages, had to explain its failure to thwart the plot given whistle blowers at the field agent level, and what it knew about the San Diego operation as well as other elements of the plot?

What about the 80,000 pages on the Saudi couple in Sarasota, which the FBI has covered up for so many years? Why did Robert Mueller (shown at left in a file photo as FBI director), the current independent counsel investigating the alleged ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, obscure the 9/11 evidence trail that would have lead to the Saudis?

What else did the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies really know given the suppression of ThinThread technology and silence on the Able Danger program?

The plot has just begun to thicken. There's no telling how much could unravel.

A full prosecution of the Saudi and U.S. intelligence roles represents one possible opening to a larger revelation of what really occurred on 9/11. The quest for a full account of all the facts and full accountability under the law must also move forward as we remain steadfast and enter a new stage.

The ability to educate the public on the wider body of objective evidence and the underlying cause for justice within what is supposed to be a functional democratic republic will be vital.

Because the U.S. has never prosecuted high-level crimes against democracy anywhere near this level of controversy, it will require a substantial cultural shift to redirect our course to a foundation of political integrity, honor and single rule of law.

May truth prevail.

Les Jamieson is a founder of HR14.org. It provides background on H.RES. 14, which was submitted to Congress on Jan. 6, 2015 (Senate Bill 1471 and H.RES. 779). The purpose of these pieces of legislation was to declassify and release 28 pages from the “Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.″

9/11 Victim family member Terry Strada calls for records release and accountability at a 2016 press conference at the U.S. Capitol along with her daughter Kaitlyn and three congressional supporters, left to right, Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY), Walter Jones (R-NC) and Stephen Lynch (D-MA) (Justice Integrity Project photo)  

At last year's Inauguration of the Trump presidency, the above column's author Les Jamieson is shown at right near the mid-way point of the parade at 7th Streeet NW holding up a "Protect JASTA" banner with his colleague Richard Ochs calling for lawmakers enable truth-seeking on 9-11 via the law (Justice Integrity Project photo)

Background Materials On 9/11 Research

2018

November Update

November

Nov. 26

Feds Promise 9/11 Evidence Review

Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry, U.S. Attorney Agrees To Comply With Federal Law Requiring Submission To Special Grand Jury Of Report By Lawyers’ Committee and 9/11 Victim Family Members of Yet-To-Be- Prosecuted 9/11 Related Federal Crimes, Mick Harrison (Lawyers Committee litigation director), Nov. 26, 2018. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman (shown below at right) wrote on 7 November that his office will comply with the Lawyers’ Committee’s Petition.

The Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry, a nonprofit public interest organization, announces its receipt of a letter from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in response to the Lawyers’ Committee’s April 10, 2018 Petition and July 30, 2018 Amended Petition demanding that the U.S. Attorney present to a Special Grand Jury extensive evidence of yet-to-be-prosecuted federal crimes relating to the destruction of three World Trade Center Towers on 9/11 (WTC1, WTC2 and WTC7).

The U.S. Attorney, in his November 7, 2018 letter to the Lawyers’ Committee, stated: “We have received and reviewed The Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry, Inc.’s submissions of April 10 and July 30, 2018. We will comply with the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3332 as they relate to your submissions” (emphasis added).

The U.S. Attorney’s letter does not spell out the steps that will be taken to comply, but 18 U.S.C. § 3332 is clear as to what these steps must be.

This letter from the U.S. Attorney was signed by Michael Ferrara and Ilan Graff, Chiefs, Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. On November 24, 2018, the Lawyers’ Committee replied, thanking the U.S. Attorney and expressing support for a thorough inquiry into the crimes reported in the Lawyers’ Committee’s petitions.

The Lawyers’ Committee’s April 10th 52-page original Petition was accompanied by 57 exhibits and presented extensive evidence that explosives were used to destroy three WTC buildings. That evidence included independent scientific laboratory analysis of WTC dust samples showing the presence of high-tech explosives and/or incendiaries; numerous first-hand reports by First Responders of explosions at the WTC on 9/11; expert analysis of seismic evidence that explosions occurred at the WTC towers on 9/11 prior to the airplane impacts and prior to the building collapses; and expert analysis by architects, engineers, and scientists concluding that the rapid onset symmetrical near-free-fall acceleration collapse of three WTC high rise buildings on 9/11 exhibited the key characteristics of controlled demolition. The Lawyers’ Committee’s July 30th Amended Petition addresses several additional federal crimes beyond the federal bombing crime addressed in the original Petition. The Lawyers’ Committee concluded in the petitions that explosive and incendiary devices preplaced at the WTC were detonated causing the complete collapse of the WTC Twin Towers on 9/11 and increasing the tragic loss of life.

Attorney Mick Harrison, Litigation Director, stated: “The failure of our government to diligently investigate this disturbing evidence has contributed to the erosion of trust in our institutions. The Lawyers’ Committee felt it was out duty as public citizens to submit this evidence to the U.S. Attorney for submission to the Special Grand Jury.”

Attorney David Meiswinkle, President of the Lawyers’ Committee’s Board of Directors, stated: “We have offered to assist the U.S. Attorney in the presentation of this evidence to a Special Grand Jury. We have also requested that Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth provide us expert support in the hope that our organizations will be invited to make a joint presentation of relevant evidence to the Special Grand Jury.”

Attorney William Jacoby, Lawyers’ Committee Board Member, stated: “We call upon the public and legal community to contact us and support our efforts to contribute to this grand jury process and to monitor and ensure compliance by the Justice Department.”

Executive Director Ed Asner stated: “The U.S. Attorney’s decision to comply with the Special Grand Jury Statute regarding our petitions is an important step towards greater transparency and accountability regarding the tragic events of 9/11.”

Richard Gage, leader of the three thousand-member Architect & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, appeared in the most-watched ever C-SPAN interview

Architects and Engineers For 9-11 Truth, At One Million Views, Analysis and Advocacy: Richard Gage’s Interview Is the Most-Watched C-SPAN Video — Ever, Staff report, March 15, 2018. You Can Help Overcome the Media Blackout by Sharing This and Our Other Most-Popular Materials. “

15 years later: On the physics of high-rise building collapses” has been downloaded nearly 700,000 times since its August 2016 publication in Europhysics News (the magazine of the European Physical Society), vastly outperforming all other articles on that site. It continues to rack up over 2,000 reads per week, keeping it at the top of Europhysics News’ “Most read articles.”

9/11 Father Seeks Justice: “9/11 Father Seeks Justice,” featuring Bob McIlvaine and promoting the Bobby McIlvaine Act, has climbed to 1.6 million views on Facebook since its release just three months ago, in December 2017.

Architects and Engineers: Solving the Mystery of Building 7: AE911Truth’s signature 15-minute documentary on WTC 7 garnered more than one million views before being arbitrarily pulled by YouTube in February 2015. It has since accumulated 1.5 million views on Facebook and, starting over from scratch three years ago, 230,000 new views on YouTube.

9/11: Explosive Evidence — Experts Speak Out: The one-hour version of AE911Truth’s signature feature documentary has received nearly 700,000 views on YouTube, along with countless additional views — easily totaling several million — on our other platforms and on other YouTube channels. The full 90-minute DVD version is available in our store.

Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump, l-r, with Saudi royals (White House photo)

The Intercept, Saudi Crown Prince Boasted That Kushner Was “In His Pocket,” Alex Emmons, Ryan Grim and Clayton Swisher, March 21, 2018. Until he was stripped of his top-secret security clearance in February, presidential adviser Jared Kushner was known around the White House as one of the most voracious readers of the President’s Daily Brief, a highly classified rundown of the latest intelligence intended only for the president and his closest advisers.

Kushner, who had been tasked with bringing about a deal between Israel and Palestine, was particularly engaged by information about the Middle East, according to a former White House official and a former U.S. intelligence professional.

In June, Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman ousted his cousin, then-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and took his place as next in line to the throne, upending the established line of succession. In the months that followed, the President’s Daily Brief contained information on Saudi Arabia’s evolving political situation, including a handful of names of royal family members opposed to the crown prince’s power grab, according to the former White House official and two U.S. government officials with knowledge of the report. Like many others interviewed for this story, they declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about sensitive matters to the press.

In late October, Jared Kushner made an unannounced trip to Riyadh, catching some intelligence officials off guard. “The two princes are said to have stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning strategy,” the Washington Post’s David Ignatius reported at the time.

What exactly Kushner and the Saudi royal talked about in Riyadh may be known only to them, but after the meeting, Crown Prince Mohammed told confidants that Kushner had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince, according to three sources who have been in contact with members of the Saudi and Emirati royal families since the crackdown. Kushner, through his attorney’s spokesperson, denies having done so.

2016

Justice Integrity Project, Experts Reject Planes, Fire As Cause For 9/11 WTC Collapses, Andrew Kreig, Sept. 23, 2016. Technical experts are mounting major challenges to official U.S. government accounts of how three World Trade Center skyscrapers collapsed in near-freefall after the 9/11 attacks 15 years ago.

Many researchers are focusing especially on the little-known collapse of World Trade Center (WTC) Building 7, portrayed in the 10:08 video above.

The 47-story building, which was not hit by an airplane and was located about two football fields away from WTC 1 and 2, collapsed in approximately 6.5 seconds some seven hours after the other buildings fell.

The pattern so resembled controlled demolition that experts who have studied it are increasingly questioning the official causation, which U.S. authorities and the mainstream media ascribed to fire.

Last month, Europhysics News published 15 Years Later: On the physics of high-rise building collapses. The report challenged U.S. government findings that the skyscrapers collapsed because of fire. The four co-authors noted that no other skyscrapers in world history have ever collapsed from fire. Instead, the authors cited evidence that the falls resembled the physics involved in controlled demolition.

Similarly, the conference Justice in Focus convened prominent 9/11 technical and legal researchers in New York City Sept. 10-11 for an in-depth examination of physical evidence on the WTC collapses on the first day. The second day was a strategy session on ways to use legal procedures to advance research and create legal remedies congruent with the new evidence.

Dr. Leroy Hulsey, shown at right in a Justice Integrity Project photo, summed up his team's recent in-depth study by telling noted litigator Daniel Sheehan that there is "zero" chance that WTC 7 collapsed because of fire. Hulsey is the chairman of the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

Hulsey's remarks during the forum at New York City's historic Cooper Union typified other engineering experts' conclusions. The conference "Justice In Focus 9/11 2016" was co-sponsored by the 2,700-member group Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911 Truth).

The group is led by founder Richard Gage, a major speaker at the conference. AE911 Truth funded the Alaskan university's research and a free live stream video of the proceedings. The presentations are now available via YouTube, with donations requested here on a voluntary basis to cover costs.

Today's article focuses on these new technical findings regarding 9/11 research. It is part of new Justice Integrity Project "Readers Guide to 9/11 Research and Advocacy." That guide builds on our extensive previous coverage of the topic, and will soon include lists of vital books and films from varied viewpoints and coverage of important new legal advocacy on the issues, encompassed in part by the second day of the program at Cooper Union.

This "Readers Guide" is intended to make easily available in concise formats the major official and alternative studies, news items, commentaries, videos and films on the topic, with representation from diverse and reasonably credible viewpoints that attract significant support. This series thus parallels our three existing "Readers Guides," which separately provided similar arrays of research on the 1960s assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

USA Today, The New Jersey woman who beat Obama on the 9/11 bill, Brian J. Tumulty, Sept. 30, 2016. Terry Strada sounded exultant the day after watching Congress deliver President Obama the first veto override of his eight years in office, thanks largely to her efforts.

“We beat them bad," Strada said with a laugh Thursday from her home in New Vernon, N.J. over the sounds of her son's basketball practice. "We gave them a whupping."

The bill at the center of the veto battle was deeply personal for Strada, whose husband died in the 2001 terrorist attacks. The legislation, which became law with the override vote, allows 9/11 families like hers to file suit against Saudi Arabia based on claims the country was implicated in the attacks.

Congress rejects Obama veto of 9/11 bill; first override of his presidency

Strada, a 53-year-old mother of three, headed the group of 9/11 families who championed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which Strada says will ultimately reveal where Osama bin Laden got the financing and other assistance for the 2001 attacks.

Members of 9/11 Families and Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism held weekly conference calls on the legislation and lobbied Congress to support it. They traveled to the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to watch pretrial hearings for the men directly involved in the terrorist attacks. And they haggled with lawmakers over language, crafting what they say is a narrowly drawn bill that won't jeopardize legal immunity for U.S. military and diplomatic personnel overseas.

Obama (shown in a 2015 photo with war advisors) disagreed. He said JASTA will invite other countries to bring court cases against U.S. personnel stationed abroad. And he called the override vote political, saying lawmakers wanted to avoid opposing 9/11 families on the issue so close to an election.

“Sometime you have to do what’s hard, and frankly I wish Congress here had done what’s hard,’’ Obama said.

Strada and the other 9/11 family members said they were astounded by the president’s objections.

“I don’t understand why he’s been so dismissive of us,’’ said Sylvia Carver of White Plains, Md. whose sister was killed in the attack on the Pentagon.

Strada said she think’s Obama never took her group seriously and never read the legislation. Her son, Justin, was only four days old when her husband, Tom, a bond trader with Cantor Fitzgerald, was killed in the World Trade Center attack.

“Every policy question that was asked was answered,’’ Strada said. “They negotiated this bill for months and State Department lawyers were involved. But the White House never responded to invitations to discuss the bill. (Obama) sat back... without weighing in on it until the bill was passed. He used false arguments and that’s why the bill passed.’’

Updates

9-11 Truth Analyzed On Radio

Wiki Politiki, The Latest REAL News on the 9/11 Attacks and Finding Truth in a Sea of Lies, Steve Bhaerman, 5 p.m., Dec. 18, 2018. An Interview with Andrew Kreig, Author, Attorney, Broadcaster and Founder of the Justice Integrity Project. Did you know that In a letter dated November 7, 2018, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York notified the Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry that he would comply with the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3332 requiring him to present to a special grand jury the Lawyers’ Committee’s reports filed earlier this year of unprosecuted federal crimes at the World Trade Center?

You didn’t? That’s because mainstream media makes it its business to insure that anything that points to the nefarious doings of the real deep state is “none of its business.” The misinformation, disinformation and missing information that pollute corporate news have created the perfect field for “real” fake news to flourish.

Which is why this latest development might be a genuine breakthrough. It means a 23-member grand jury, vested with subpoena power and the authority to take sworn testimony, will hear the voluminous evidence of the World Trade Center’s demolition and will have the ability to conduct a thorough investigation that could result in indictments against suspected individuals — in other words, what the 9/11 Truth Movement has been working toward for 17 years.

Our guest this week on Wiki Politiki, journalist and author Andrew Kreig (pronounced “Craig”) will discuss his own involvement with the Lawyers Committee, as well as his work through his own organization, the Justice Integrity Project.

Visit Justice Integrity, and you will find a refreshingly broad, transpartisan and bluntly truthful site that isn’t afraid to take on both the deep state and the Trumpist disinfo machine. Their mission is “to report misconduct, primarily in the justice and political systems, that harms individuals, communities and democratic values. The project is non-partisan and supported by advertising revenue and paid subscriptions.”

Related News Coverage

Analysis of Major 9-11 Federal Court Ruling

The FBI's list of 9/11 alleged hijackers, showing 14 of 19 from Saudi Arabia (Graphic by Florida Bulldog)

Reuters, Saudi Arabia must face U.S. lawsuits over Sept. 11 attacks, Jonathan Stempel, March 28, 2018. A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected Saudi Arabia’s bid to dismiss lawsuits claiming that it helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and should pay billions of dollars in damages to victims.

U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said the plaintiffs’ allegations “narrowly articulate a reasonable basis” for him to assert jurisdiction over Saudi Arabia under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a 2016 federal law.

The Saudi government has long denied involvement in the attacks in which hijacked airplanes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a Pennsylvania field. Nearly 3,000 people died.

Lawyers for Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision. At a Saudi stock market event in New York, asked whether the court decision would have a negative impact on Saudi investment in the United States, Capital Market Authority Chairman Mohammed A. ElKuwaiz declined to comment, saying he had not seen the news.

Daniels’ decision covers claims by the families of those killed, roughly 25,000 people who suffered injuries, and many businesses and insurers.

Courthouse News Service, Victims Can Press Saudi Arabia on 9/11 Hijacker Ties, Adam Klasfeld, March 28, 2018. Saudi Arabia's ties to the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history came under federal court scrutiny Wednesday, as a federal judge allowed 9/11 families to look into the kingdom's ties to two men linked to the hijackers.

The watershed ruling marks the first time 9/11 survivors and families of the victims have been able to force an examination of the Saudi government's role in the attacks. Although 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, the kingdom had a shield of immunity from lawsuits until Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act two years ago.

That landmark legislation paved the way for Wednesday's decision, which attorney Steven Pounian heralded as "a major victory for the families." "It's the first case under the new legislation and it opens the door for the first time for the families to move forward in their case," Pounian said in a phone interview.

For widow Terry Strada (shown during an MSNBC interview), whose bond-broker husband died while working for Cantor Fitzgerald inside the World Trade Center, the news of the ruling moved her to "tears of joy."

"I've never had that experience in my life ever," Strada said in a phone interview.

The national chair of the umbrella group 9/11 Families & Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism, Strada has been fighting to probe Saudi ties to the attacks since a year after they happened. She said that she pushed members of Congress for four years to pass the law that took away the kingdom's shield. "Wow, JASTA works," Strada said, referring to the law's acronym.

With Wednesday's ruling, Strada and other family members will have the opportunity to investigate two Saudi-linked men: reputed intelligence officer Omar al-Bayoumi and former consular official Fahad al-Thumairy.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Both men loom large in the 9/11 Commission Report's declassified 28 pages, which show their contacts with hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.

Although the authors of that report stopped short of finding Saudi complicity, the 9/11 families argue new documents make these connections stronger.

The documents persuaded U.S. Judge George Daniels (shown above right) that the families had amassed enough evidence to move the case forward.

"Neither the 9/11 Commission Report, nor any other governmental report, adequately and specifically refutes plaintiffs' allegations," he wrote in a 41-page ruling.

Press TV,