Excerpt: "The complaint, filed in US court, states that without official Saudi sponsorship, 'al-Qaida would not have possessed the capacity to conceive, plan and execute the Sept. 11 attacks.' In other words, absent Saudi support, the Twin Towers would still be standing - along with nearly 3,000 Americans."
From left: King Abdullah, Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Osama bin Laden, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and Prince Sultan bin Faisal bin Turki. (photo: Vanity Fair)
FOCUS: Lloyd's Sues Saudi Arabia for 'Funding 9/11 Attacks'
22 September 11
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ustice: A new 9/11 lawsuit portrays the Saudi government as having more control over al-Qaida charities before the attacks than it (or the US) has admitted. Let's hear the truth.
Lloyds of London seeks $215 million in damages from the kingdom to recover claims it paid 9/11 victims and their families. The suit charges that the Saudi government funded al-Qaida through its banks and charities.
The complaint, filed in US court, states that without official Saudi sponsorship, "al-Qaida would not have possessed the capacity to conceive, plan and execute the Sept. 11 attacks." In other words, absent Saudi support, the Twin Towers would still be standing - along with nearly 3,000 Americans.
We're impressed by the documentation cited in the 156-page complaint by Cozen O'Conner, a major Washington law firm. It's much more detailed than the lawsuit brought on behalf of 9/11 families, which a federal judge dismissed for lack of evidence. This one might have a shot. It points to new intelligence, including recently leaked diplomatic cables.
Among the findings:
- Senior Saudi officials and Saudi royal family members - including Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif - either served as executives of suspect charities or sat on their boards while the charities were used to launder money to al-Qaida; and they knew of the activities.
- The Saudi charities themselves often provided not only money but employment cover, ID badges and logistical support to al-Qaida operatives.
- For example, the Saudi Joint Relief Committee for Kosovo and Chechnya (SJRC) allegedly was used as a cover by several al-Qaida operatives, including two men acting as directors of the charity.
- Between 1998 and 2000, SJRC allegedly diverted more than $74 million to al-Qaida members and loyalists affiliated with its bureaus.
- At the time the SJRC was under the control of Saudi Prince Naif, who after 9/11 denied that Saudis were among the hijackers and hinted that Jews carried out the attacks.
- Each of the dozen branches of the Saudi-based International Islamic Relief Organization, one of the charities Osama bin Laden used to finance his terror camps, is overseen by a Saudi royal; and a Philippines office was founded by bin Laden's brother-in-law.
- The Saudi royal family used its national bank to channel funds to bin Laden, and the family's longtime banker, Khalid bin Mahfouz, allegedly "is also a primary financier of al-Qaida."
- "Bin Mahfouz has acknowledged making a $270,000 contribution to bin Laden contemporaneous with the establishment of al-Qaida," the claim says. And it alleges that he and his "handpicked" bank partner, Yassin al-Kadi, now a wanted terrorist, "necessarily were aware of the terrorist activities."
As interior minister, Naif placed employees inside the Saudi embassy as well as consulates throughout the US before 9/11. Some Los Angeles consulate officials and a San Diego-based Saudi intelligence agent have been linked to the hijackers and other terrorists.
In addition, computer hard drives seized in a post-9/11 raid of the offices of the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a suspected al-Qaida front, included: materials for forging US State Department ID badges; files on pesticides and crop-duster aircraft; photos of the bombed US embassies in East Africa and the bombed USS Cole; and before and after photos of the World Trade Center.
Of course, Saudi officials have repeatedly denied any ties to 9/11 or al-Qaida. But the plaintiffs in this case have assembled in one place the most extensive record yet of Saudi government involvement.
The federal judge hearing the case should not be quick to dismiss it, no matter how many Saudi-bought lawyers and lobbyists argue otherwise.
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The Art of Sophistry lives in Washington DC.
With a hammer.
I think that this is what the article is trying to explain in part (and don't forget the former "Dixiecrats").
It doesn't help that what passes for news rather than public education for poor folks, is sucked up from the flick'rin' screen owner-media's shallow focus, personality cultism, sound-byte short, detail-lite major issue avoidance, fear and hate-mongering, especially of "the other" -and a long simmering residual resentment over the Civil War from what I've seen of the South, that they've never gotten over.
I mean, they still have heavily-attende d Civil War "re-enactments" for Gawd's sake!
I don't mean to seem simplistic and of course it's never just that easy but then I'm not even a citizen, certainly not a pundit; just an observer writing from personal experience which is all I can offer.
So far as the South is concerned, all that changed in the past 50 years is the name of the White People's Party the idiots knuckle their brows to, to be loyal to "ol' Massa."
--- If the Right-wingers are willing to spend billions getting candidates into office, do you really think they stop there? Or is it possible you need to be a registered Republican just to get a job. One of my favorite conspiracy theories is that the NeoCons keep online lists of people who are not of their ilk and when there is a job opening or any other kind of opportunity, those who have the job or whatever consult this list and if they find your name you get zero.
Continued
When I went into the loan officer's office, he was effusive. Then he excused himself for a few minutes. When he came back his demeanor had totally changed; he was cold, short and rude. He all but threw me out of his office. You can't tell me they don't have a data base somewhere that allows them to pick and choose who they will do business with or advance. Don't forget, these people are as dishonest as the day is long and for us to trust them is totally foolish. We need to get RID of them and put the rest under strong and severe regulation if we are going to survive.
PS Read the Chris Hedges recent article on just this subject:
http://www.truthdig.com/chris_hedges/
The power companies know whether or not you conserve energy, the telephone company knows who you talk to, and the oil companies know how much you drive. At some point, someone knows about your social life, like how often you go out to dinner.
For whatever reason, the analysis drives the decisions to approve your requests for financing, and the salesman is not the decision maker. We're just "at the mercy" , and until someone like Glenn Greenwald gets into this cross-conflagra tion, we will remain at the mercy.
This doomed the country to haves and have-nots, regardless of how hard a person worked.
"We think you're too stupid to figure out the issues on your own. We know what's best for you because you are clearly unable to determine your own interests yourself. We think you're too stupid to understand issues.
The phrase may work well with the already-convert ed, but it almost certainly turns off other people.
--Peabody and Sherman
the Republican party was created to represent the interests of big business and big money in the 1850s. It has always represented only big corporations and banks.
95% of mass media in the US is owned by about 6 huge corporations. They only report favorable things about the republican party movement because that is the kind of political culture that corporate media wants.
It is really weird that Paul Ryan is such a moron and yet he is taken seriously on budget issues. He worships Ayn Rand. He's been a moocher off of public money for his whole life and made millions of dollars at it. But this is not reported. Instead he is made to seem like an economic genius. In reality, he's the only one who is stupid enough to make the insane and audacious proposals that he is making.
Ha! TR was put in by the JP Morgan banking interests and pledged allegiance all the way. To the extent that he understood economics at all, he is best described as a mercantilist.
Mark Twain, who knew a thing or two about people, met him twice and called him "clearly insane".
He never met a war he didn't want to pursue, was an imperialist at heart and if that's not enough for you...he was Richard Nixon's favorite president.
To be honest, I've had it. I awoke a Democrat, but will end the day as a registered Independent. I simply can't tell the two major parties apart any more.
American greatness"??? I mean, honestly, were you guys born yesterday?? Didn't you real Peggy Dennis' [widow of the CPUSA's General Secretary] Autobiography of an American Communist, after she fled to Reaganist "Conservatism"? The entire NEOCON strategy is straight out of Marx and Lenin!
EEWC