There is reportedly evidence–censored pages of the official 9/11 report–that some of the 9/11 terrorists received funding from Saudi Arabia, possibly including Saudi officials. A bill in Congress would allow Saudi Arabia to be held liable in any court proceedings. Now Saudi Arabia is saying that if that bill passes, it will sell off its $750 billion in American treasury notes and other assets. This could dramatically lower their value and harm the U.S. economy.
Beyond this specific issue (more details on that after the jump), the Saudi threat shows a big vulnerability in national security. Countries that own lots of American property or that America owes lots of money to have leverage over us. What if China cashed out its holdings in the United States? Or simply stopped buying American debt? Our national debt is being funded, in large part, by selling our bonds overseas. Which not only makes us dependent, but makes us vulnerable to foreign coercion, as the Saudis are trying to do.
From Saudi Arabia Warns of Economic Fallout if Congress Passes 9/11 Bill – The New York Times:
Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.
[Keep reading. . .]
See also George Will:
When President Obama departs for Saudi Arabia, an incubator of the 9/11 attacks, he will leave behind a dispute about government secrecy. The suppression of 28 pages, first from a public congressional inquiry and then from the 2004 report by the national 9/11 Commission, has spared the Saudis embarrassment, which would be mild punishment for complicity in 2,977 murders. When Obama returns, he should keep his promise to release the pages. Then he should further curtail senseless secrecy by countermanding the CIA’s refusal to release its official history of the 1961 Bay of Pigs debacle.
The nature of the 28 pages pertaining to 9/11 can be inferred from this carefully worded sentence in the commission’s report: “We have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded [al-Qaida]” (emphases added). Together, those five italicized words constitute a loophole large enough to fly a hijacked airliner through.
[Keep reading. . .]
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In