The background is also that the Saudi Arabian government is alleged to have been involved in the attacks. The FBI followed on Saturday an instruction from US President Joe Biden, from whom relatives of the victims had requested this step. Saudi Arabia had repeatedly stated that it played no role in the attacks.
In the partly blackened, 16-page document contacts between the kidnappers of the four passenger planes and Saudi Arabian officials are outlined. However, there is no evidence that the Riyadh government was involved in the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The USA commemorated them on Saturday on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the attacks.
The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington initially did not comment on the FBI publication. In a statement on September 8, she said that Saudi Arabia had always advocated transparency regarding the events of September 11, 2001, and that it welcomed the United States’ release of classified information in this context. Previous investigations have provided no evidence that the Saudi Arabian government or its employees were informed in advance of the attacks or were in any way involved.
15 of the 19 hijackers of the aircraft were from Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda had committed itself to the attacks. This came from Saudi Arabia. A US government commission found no evidence that Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the US, provided direct financial support to al Qaeda. It remained open, however, whether individual officials in the kingdom did this.
The relatives of around 2,500 of those killed and more than 20,000 injured as well as a number of companies and insurers have sued Saudi Arabia for billions of dollars. In a statement on behalf of the organization 9/11 Families United, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom was killed in the attacks, said the document released by the FBI removed all doubts about Saudi complicity. “Now the secrets of the Saudis have been uncovered, and it is long time that the kingdom took on the role of its officials in the murder of thousands on American soil.”
