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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCNN: New Allegations of Saudi Involvement in 9-11
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/03/politics/9-11-attacks-saudi-arabia-involvement/Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to six terror-related charges, makes the allegations in a sworn statement contained in a brief submitted Tuesday as part of an ongoing civil case by the families of 9/11 victims.
In the late 1990s, Moussaoui says, he was tasked by Osama bin Laden to create a digital database cataloging al Qaeda's donors. Every day for two or three months, he says, he entered names of the group's donors into a Toshiba computer, along with how much they gave.
Moussaoui, who has been in U.S. custody for more than 13 years, said the list featured high-profile people, including several members of the Saudi Royal family, whom he named in his testimony.
C_U_L8R
(45,020 posts)Timing seems quite curious.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)NYT article has links to 200 pages of newly-taken depositions compiled by plaintiff's legal team, here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/zacarias-moussaoui-calls-saudi-princes-patrons-of-al-qaeda.html?_r=0
Bigger context is the deteriorating relations between the US and KSA over continuing funding of ISIS by Saudi and Qatari elites. The attack in Paris may have finally shifted policy. Seems the Obama Administration is considering release of the 28 pages redacted in the 9/11 Commission Report. http://28pages.org/2015/02/04/saudi-arabia-and-the-u-s-intelligence-community-allies-against-911-transparency/
Very interesting.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)To be brought to justice, no matter how well connected they might be.
ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)to be ignored as if they don't have a reason to know the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the events of the day that took their loved ones?
mmonk
(52,589 posts)We must not be close allies anymore.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Fascinating reading - go to exhibits linked at the NYT article. Start on page 7 of Exhibit 5 where Moussaoi names names and explains his personal role in computerizing AQ funder records, and read for the next five or six pages. Implicates a Who's Who of the Saudi Royal Family.
It's been a strained relationship for a long time. Recent events involving ISIS and terrorist attacks in Europe have finally forced a reassessment.
johnnyreb
(915 posts)I have much appreciated your work through the years. I will read the exhibits.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Let us know on this thread or PM if you come across something that's notable in the Exhibits.
nichomachus
(12,754 posts)The Saud Family -- ever since it was installed by the British as the rulers of Arabia back in WW1 -- has been a supporter and enabler of Wahabbist terrorism. The only restriction they put on it was that it not take place in the kingdom. But they would allow it, support it, and even finance it anywhere else. It is the quintessential terrorist state. And our best buddies to boot.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)Bandit
(21,475 posts)He was tortured time and time again and that should place doubt on anything and everything he now has to say..
leveymg
(36,418 posts)But, you have a very good point about credibility. I've often wondered whether the purpose of multiple CIA waterboarding of AQ prisoners was to extract information or to diminish recall and value of testimony. As a matter of fact, Moussaoui wasn't waterboarded because he was in DOJ custody.
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)Don't forget, he was arrested before 9/11.
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)He's a terrorist, for the record.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)It has to be assessed on the basis of the totality of the available evidence. He may be a terroristl, but we readily accept the admissions of many criminals if they are found to be credible and consistent.
If there's something in the exhibits that you find to be factually erroneous or incredible, please share that with the rest of us.
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)You are accusing Saudi government officials of knowingly sponsoring al-Qaeda-and by extension, the 9/11 attacks-and of US government officiasl deliberately covering up the Saudi government's alleged involvement in the worst terrorist attack on American soil, and your source is an al-Qaeda terrorist whose credibility and consistency has already been subject to criticism?
Pardon me if I don't find that particularly credible.
johnnyreb
(915 posts)Others with access to more info are accusing!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/zacarias-moussaoui-calls-saudi-princes-patrons-of-al-qaeda.html?_r=2
I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia, wrote Mr. Graham, who has long demanded the release of 28 pages of the congressional report on the attacks that explore Saudi connections and remain classified.
Mr. Kerrey said in the affidavit that it was fundamentally inaccurate and misleading to argue, as lawyers for Saudi Arabia have, that the 9/11 Commission exonerated the Saudi government.
The three former officials statements did not address Mr. Moussaouis testimony.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)I'm hardly alone in that assessment. But, it does take time and work to develop an informed independent opinion.
Here's a place to start in understanding the context of why some US and Saudi officials would want to withhold and distort the public record:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/04/810764/-Erik-Prince-American-Bin-Laden-CIA-Asset-Money-Gunmen#
spanone
(135,873 posts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijackers_in_the_September_11_attacks
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)spanone
(135,873 posts)YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)nt
valerief
(53,235 posts)Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)It wouldn't be shocking if there were a few that had connections to bin Laden and al-Qaeda. But that also doesn't mean the King was signing off on the terrorist attacks. A 15,000 person family is big enough to have enough crazies in there.
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)And Moussaoui isn't exactly known to be credible.
From the same article:
"It does not appear that any government other than the Taliban financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al Qaeda sympathizers who turned a blind eye to al Qaeda's fund-raising activities," the report said. "Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization."
Still, the report noted in parentheses, "This conclusion does not exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to al Qaeda."
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)How many people are in any potentially culpable person's family?
Matrosov
(1,098 posts)Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of Islamic terror in the world, when you consider how much effort and money they are investing to promote Wahabism outside their borders.
The Saudis are our allies only because of oil. There have been numerous investigations into the royal family's involvement in 9/11 in the years immediately after 2001, and those reports are heavily censored, precisely because they would expose our 'allies' otherwise.
jalan48
(13,883 posts)Senator Bob Graham has said this already. He wants Obama to declassify the part of the 9-11 report that deals with the funding of the attacks. Bush reused to release it in any form, redacted or not. Apparently it points to the Saudis as the financiers of the operation.
underpants
(182,877 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)johnnyreb
(915 posts)libodem
(19,288 posts)Ramses
(721 posts)Cover ups and treachery at the highest levels of government usually require not stop propaganda to support the rotten cover story. Let the light shine in on all of these cockroaches