U.S. troops may soon commit to defending Saudi territory. President Joe Biden is looking toHuge deal“This would bring the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel into a military alliance in the Middle East. The two governments agreed after Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last week. declare They have a “Close to the final” A version of the defense agreement has been drawn up.
A group of 9/11 victims’ families wanted something very different. For years, they have sued the Saudi Arabian government over their contacts with Saudi officials and the 9/11 hijackers. Earlier this month, the Saudi Arabian government argued that its officials had no role in the attack and moved to dismiss the case.The family’s lawyer responded: bombshell archive: They claim there is new evidence that the 9/11 hijackers were assisted by “a secretive and illegal Saudi Arabian government platform” in the United States.
Documents submitted by family members mainly focus on Accused Saudi Arabian Spy Omar Al Bayoumi hosted two would-be hijackers in Southern California, while Saudi diplomat Fahad Al Thumairy allegedly sent a colleague Help receive them.government of saudi arabia debate Bayoumi “had innocent motives: to help a fellow Saudi who was new to Santiago’s Muslim community and to receive a referral fee from his apartment manager. Al Toumairi did not assist the hijackers at all.”
But the families cited several new pieces of evidence that have not been disclosed to the public — including FBI memos, Al Bayoumi’s home videos and phone surveillance records — to tie Al Bayoumi and Al Toumairi to the hijacking. or contact. My family also has a “Ironclad evidenceBritish police seized a notebook from Al Bayoumi that included “a drawing of an aircraft and calculations used to identify the distance at which targets on the ground could be seen from a certain altitude.”
Steve Simon, a former U.S. counterterrorism official who assisted the families with their cases and was a colleague of mine when I worked at the Quincy Institute two years ago.
The Saudi government’s motivations “will not be fully understood until the royal archives are made public, assuming internal discussions are even recorded. But overall, the Saudi royal family appears to rule, but not govern; governance is often directed against civilian,” he wrote exist atlantic organization. “Without a careful investigation into the day-to-day operations of the Ministry of Religion and Foreign Affairs, it is impossible for members of the royal family to have a clear picture of what is being done in their name, including the deployment of Saudis with diplomatic visas for this purpose to attack the kingdom’s most powerful, The most reliable trading partner.
The kingdom has changed a lot under bin Salman, who has shattered old religious institution in saudi arabia During his time in power and now. Run a tighter ship.Still, the Saudi Arabian government doesn’t seem keen on having its past activities unearthed by U.S. courts, especially since a majority of the U.S. public Already objected Defense Treaty.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Israel appear to have very different ideas about what Biden’s mega-deal means for them. Last year, Israel was quite optimistic. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Demer said the Saudi-Israeli deal would be “Reversal 9/11But the Gaza war has revived the Palestinian issue in Arab politics, and Saudi Arabia is now Demand Palestinian independence as a prerequisite for an agreement with Israel.
This weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that he would Reject the Saudi deal Because an independent Palestine “would inevitably become a state of terror.” Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has been trying to make a last-ditch effort against Netanyahu, pushing “Change less patterns“This leaves Israel excluded from the agreement. However, the Biden administration believes it can still allow everyone to join.
“The comprehensive vision is a bilateral understanding between the United States and Saudi Arabia, plus normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, plus meaningful steps on behalf of the Palestinian people,” Biden adviser Sullivan said. explain earlier this month. “It all has to fit together…you can’t separate one part of it from the other.”
