Families demand Govt declassify 9/11 documents for possible Saudi involvement

Memorial Museum gets flak for not inviting families of victims for the 20th Anniversary Commemoration. Authorities deny any wrongdoing.

@prashanthamine

Mumbai: Nearly 1,800 members of those families who lost their loved ones in the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 had petitioned US President Joe Biden to declassify documents related to the terror attacks for possible involvement of Saudi Arabia. The terror attacks on twin World Trade Center towers (WTC), the Pentagon had resulted in deaths of about 3,000 people. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has already asked a Federal Court for permission to declassify the documents.

President Biden last week signed an executive order to declassify the documents related to the findings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) inquiry dubbed as Operation Encore. The documents are reported to be of phone conversations

Families of the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks have in a statement issued on June 8, 2021 demanded that the Biden administration make the disclosure of the documents. The families had even announced that they would not allow the President to come to Ground Zero for the 20th anniversary commemoration until he kept his promise made during his Presidential poll campaign.

The two demands of the families are – “1). Authorize the release of all documents and information to the 9/11 community that our government has accrued in its investigation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (and which former FBI agents have sworn establishes the Kingdom’s role in 9/11) to allow us to rightfully obtain justice against the Kingdom. “

“2). Implement a policy toward the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that makes clear it must acknowledge its role in terrorist attacks against our citizens and residents, which in the last 20 years include not just 9/11 but the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and the murder of U.S. service members in Pensacola, Florida; and, accordingly, immediately cease the Kingdom’s support for acts of terrorism.”

“It is our deep hope that President Biden promptly upholds in meaningful ways his campaign promise to us and then stands by our side at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City on 9/11/21, where we can together honour those who died and were injured – armed with the truth that it has taken 20 years too long to receive.”, the statement reads further.

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According to the Washington Examiner, although Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the 9/11 attacks, some probable links have already been reported. Omar al Bayoumi, said to have been a former Saudi intelligence officer, and Fahad al Thumairy, a former Saudi Consulate official, allegedly had contacts with Khalid al Mihdhar and Nawaf al Hazmi, two of the 15 Saudis among the 19 hijackers.

If that was not enough, a fiercely bitter argument has broken out between the families of the victims and the first responders, many of whose friends and relatives were lost in the twin tower tragedy.

A section of the media has already slammed the 9/11 Memorial & Museum for not inviting families of victims for the 20th Anniversary Commemoration at the museum site where the twin World Trade Center towers once stood in 2001.

In an official press release issued by National 9/11 Memorial and Museum chairman and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg clarified “The commemoration is for family members of victims of the 2001 and 1993 attacks and they have been invited to participate in this year’s reading of the names. The 9/11 Memorial Museum will be open solely for family members, beginning at 7.00 am.” The program is to officially conclude at 12.30 pm.

The five men believed to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attack are yet to stand trial. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, nicknamed “KSM” and termed as “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks” is being tried alongside four co-defendants. The trial is expected to commence at the Camp Justice at the Naval Base facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“When the hijacked planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that first 9/11, the Taliban were in control of Afghanistan and providing sanctuary for al-Qaida. Today, the Taliban are in control of Afghanistan and providing sanctuary to al-Qaida. What then did our longest war accomplish?”, remarked columnist Pat Buchanan while writing for Townhall.

According to Katharina Buchholz, Data Journalist at Statista Research, “20 years after the terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center of September 11, 2001, at least 22,000 civilians have been killed in U.S. airstrikes during the war on terror. Meanwhile, more than 7,000 U.S. service members and more than 8,000 contractors had died in post 9/11 wars before the U.S. ended its deployment to Afghanistan this August. Today, 9/11 remains the most expensive man-made disaster recorded in modern times.”