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FBI accidentally reveals Saudi official suspected of supporting 9/11 hijackers

83 points by AndrewBissell 6y ago

protomyth 6y ago
I have an amazingly hard time believing that revelation was an "accident". I cannot believe with the number of people involved that they didn't catch the error.
- AndrewBissell 6y ago
  The fact that they made a futile attempt to walk it back by withdrawing the filing makes me think it may have been a genuine error, but I do love the idea of some low level FBI grunt fed up with the system just "forgetting" to redact that one item.
- wahern 6y ago
  But nothing in this disclosure was unknown. As the article states, "Jarrah has been on the radar screen of the lawyers for the 9/11 families for some time and is among nine current or former Saudi officials who they suspect have important information about the case and have sought to either question them or get access to FBI documents that mention them." There are no secrets in Washington, D.C., at least none that can last for years. All of this info leaked many years ago. The goal in formally censoring the details is simply to prevent legal action, and apparently officials across three administrations are convinced it would create too many diplomatic headaches. Without the official reports, these details are largely inadmissible hearsay in court, even if the whole world "knows". At this point I'd be surprised if the FBI had any information not already publicly available. Though, the lawyers leading the civil lawsuit are probably some of the few people with an intimate knowledge of all the details, notwithstanding that the details are contingent on some unknowns.
1-6 6y ago
Why is the FBI holding onto this information without revealing it sooner to the public?
- pstuart 6y ago
  Because "national security" is such a handy excuse for not embarrassing people in power.
- 1-6 6y ago
  I hope I can find a good explanation for why Saudi Arabia was involved in 9/11 while the US went ahead and attacked Iraq. Wasn't Iran blamed initially? Recall: Iran Iraq War Bumper Sticker. This looks like a major cover-up and both Republican and Democrat leaders are involved.
  - redis_mlc 6y ago
    I study this area, so I'll try to do a brief overview of what was reported. The US is in ideological wars with China (CCP) and Islam. Those may not be wars the US chose, but it is what it is, because there is no common ground in disparate ideologies. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) relies on the US to buy oil and act as military mercenaries when threatened by local countries. In the short term, KSA is an ally of the US, but in the long term, there are too many ideological and religious differences. So at some level, KSA did cause 9/11, although likely in a circuitous way (some funding here, some operational support there, etc.) It's unlikely there was formal military support in any way, because that's counter-productive to the ruling family's goals, but KSA has strong internal security and they know what's happening. Iraq is a different story, or rather, their leader, Hussein. He invaded Kuwait, threatened to invade KSA, etc. The US govt. was paid to defend KSA. Bush 2 felt he owed Bush 1 the removal of Hussein. And German and French ambassadors massaging arms sales told Hussein he was untouchable by the US. The US sent an envoy to negotiate a peaceful standdown, but was perceived as belligerent. So war it was. The "fig leaves" for invading Iraq were that a man who wanted to become the Iraqi President said bad things about Hussein, and that "aluminum tubes" were found in Iraq, supposedly useful in building a nuclear bomb. So the Whitehouse pretended those were adequate justifications, and that Hussein was tied to 9/11, despite knowing immediately that most of the participants were on Saudi passports. Ironically, Hussein was the only leader capable of uniting Iraq, despite being from a minority ethnic group. Even better, he was a US ally long before the Iraq war. Hussein's desire to become "the modern-day Suleiman" and rule all of the Middle East led to a large part of its destruction. But the US could have been more on top of the situation there - maintaining better relations with Hussein, having better intelligence, training and equipping the Kuwaiti armed forces better, etc. So there's a long backstory to the invasion of Iraq, and the US had reasons, but it wasn't what was told to the American people (I remember the absurd sound bites on TV at the time. I was like, "I can buy aluminum tubes down the street.")
tyingq 6y ago
The name: https://twitter.com/Ali_H_Soufan/status/1260360013299830785?s=20 https://twitter.com/Ali_H_Soufan/status/1260360013299830785?...

83 points by AndrewBissell 6y ago

I have an amazingly hard time believing that revelation was an "accident". I cannot believe with the number of people involved that they didn't catch the error.

AndrewBissell 6y ago
The fact that they made a futile attempt to walk it back by withdrawing the filing makes me think it may have been a genuine error, but I do love the idea of some low level FBI grunt fed up with the system just "forgetting" to redact that one item.
wahern 6y ago
But nothing in this disclosure was unknown. As the article states, "Jarrah has been on the radar screen of the lawyers for the 9/11 families for some time and is among nine current or former Saudi officials who they suspect have important information about the case and have sought to either question them or get access to FBI documents that mention them." There are no secrets in Washington, D.C., at least none that can last for years. All of this info leaked many years ago. The goal in formally censoring the details is simply to prevent legal action, and apparently officials across three administrations are convinced it would create too many diplomatic headaches. Without the official reports, these details are largely inadmissible hearsay in court, even if the whole world "knows". At this point I'd be surprised if the FBI had any information not already publicly available. Though, the lawyers leading the civil lawsuit are probably some of the few people with an intimate knowledge of all the details, notwithstanding that the details are contingent on some unknowns.

1-6 6y ago

Why is the FBI holding onto this information without revealing it sooner to the public?

pstuart 6y ago
Because "national security" is such a handy excuse for not embarrassing people in power.
1-6 6y ago
I hope I can find a good explanation for why Saudi Arabia was involved in 9/11 while the US went ahead and attacked Iraq. Wasn't Iran blamed initially? Recall: Iran Iraq War Bumper Sticker. This looks like a major cover-up and both Republican and Democrat leaders are involved.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  I study this area, so I'll try to do a brief overview of what was reported. The US is in ideological wars with China (CCP) and Islam. Those may not be wars the US chose, but it is what it is, because there is no common ground in disparate ideologies. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) relies on the US to buy oil and act as military mercenaries when threatened by local countries. In the short term, KSA is an ally of the US, but in the long term, there are too many ideological and religious differences. So at some level, KSA did cause 9/11, although likely in a circuitous way (some funding here, some operational support there, etc.) It's unlikely there was formal military support in any way, because that's counter-productive to the ruling family's goals, but KSA has strong internal security and they know what's happening. Iraq is a different story, or rather, their leader, Hussein. He invaded Kuwait, threatened to invade KSA, etc. The US govt. was paid to defend KSA. Bush 2 felt he owed Bush 1 the removal of Hussein. And German and French ambassadors massaging arms sales told Hussein he was untouchable by the US. The US sent an envoy to negotiate a peaceful standdown, but was perceived as belligerent. So war it was. The "fig leaves" for invading Iraq were that a man who wanted to become the Iraqi President said bad things about Hussein, and that "aluminum tubes" were found in Iraq, supposedly useful in building a nuclear bomb. So the Whitehouse pretended those were adequate justifications, and that Hussein was tied to 9/11, despite knowing immediately that most of the participants were on Saudi passports. Ironically, Hussein was the only leader capable of uniting Iraq, despite being from a minority ethnic group. Even better, he was a US ally long before the Iraq war. Hussein's desire to become "the modern-day Suleiman" and rule all of the Middle East led to a large part of its destruction. But the US could have been more on top of the situation there - maintaining better relations with Hussein, having better intelligence, training and equipping the Kuwaiti armed forces better, etc. So there's a long backstory to the invasion of Iraq, and the US had reasons, but it wasn't what was told to the American people (I remember the absurd sound bites on TV at the time. I was like, "I can buy aluminum tubes down the street.")

tyingq 6y ago

The name: https://twitter.com/Ali_H_Soufan/status/1260360013299830785?s=20 https://twitter.com/Ali_H_Soufan/status/1260360013299830785?...