Saudi Arabia: Friend or frenemy?

[waltky]

If that's true - then why withhold the last 28 pages of the 9/11 report?...

CIA Chief: 'No Evidence' of Saudi Backing of 9/11 Attacks
May 01, 2016 | WASHINGTON— U.S. intelligence chief John Brennan says there is "no evidence" indicating that Saudi Arabia gave backing to al-Qaida for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Speculation that the Saudis were involved has some in Congress demanding that 28 pages of a congressional probe into 9/11 be released. Those 28 pages focus on Saudi Arabia and its alleged involvement. Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told NBC television's Meet the Press Sunday that the information on those pages "was not corroborated, not vetted, and not deemed to be accurate." He said the congressional panels "came out with a very clear judgment that there was no evidence indicating that the Saudi government as an institution, or Saudi officials individually, had provided financial support to al-Qaida."

A boy plays with a tennis ball in front of Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, May 2011. Osama bin Laden was killed at his compound on May 2, 2011, by a U.S. special forces team.​

Brennan said those 28 pages were withheld from the public because of the sensitive sources used in the investigation. He spoke a day before the fifth anniversary of a U.S. special forces operation in Pakistan that hunted down and killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. In an interview taped for broadcast Monday, President Barack Obama told CNN television that he ordered the raid when he did because "if we did not take action, [bin Laden] might slip away and it might take years before he resurfaces."

Bin Laden was the world's most wanted criminal and the leader of al-Qaida, whose terrorist followers flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington, killing 3,000 people. A third hijacked jet also was likely headed for Washington before passengers overwhelmed the terrorists and crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania. Just seconds before bin Laden was shot dead by U.S special forces, Obama said "hopefully, at that moment, [bin Laden] understood that the American people hadn't forgotten the some 3,000 people who he killed."

CIA Chief: 'No Evidence' of Saudi Backing of 9/11 Attacks

See also:

Five Years After Bin Laden's Death, What's Changed?
May 1 2016 - Shortly before midnight on May 1st, 2011, President Barack Obama stood at a lectern in the East Room of the White House and delivered a startling announcement: American forces had located — and killed — the most wanted terrorist on the planet, Osama bin Laden.

Obama briefly described the operation, then he reminded viewers of how notable it was that the man who helped found the most well-known terrorist organization around — al Qaeda — and orchestrated the mass-murder of more than 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, was gone. "For over two decades, bin Laden has been al Qaeda's leader and symbol, and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies," Obama said. "The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda." Yet five years later, militant Islamic extremism has hardly receded. Here are three important developments since bin Laden's death.

Rise of Islamic State

The group, which has also been identified as ISIS or ISIL, surged onto the international stage two years ago with a series of brutal, headline-grabbing events — mass executions, beheadings, and enslavement. As it gobbled up territory in Iraq and Syria, its once al Qaeda-affiliated leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the group a caliphate.

Baghdadi's announcement marked a new chapter in an ancient pattern for Islamic extremism. And unlike Bin Laden's replacement, Ayman al-Zawahiri, jihadis heralded Baghdadi as a commanding presence. "He's a fighter, he's a warrior," Shashank Joshi, a research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, told NBC News last year. "He's carved out the state, whereas Zawahiri is seen as someone who is on the run."

While air strikes in Iraq and Syria have stripped the Islamic State of some of its territory, Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator and scholar with the Wilson Center, told NBC News that the group has "jumped borders" and is "broader and deeper than we probably know." It also claimed responsibility for the terror attacks in Paris, Brussels and Egypt, while in Nigeria Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the group, as did Tashfeen Malik, who helped kill 14 people and injure 22 more in San Bernardino, California in December.

Al Qaeda Resurgence?

 

[waltky]

Granny wantin' to know if dey's nothin' to it, den why did dey wait 13 years to release it?

Secret chapter of 9/11 inquiry released after 13-year wait
Jul 15,`16 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- Newly declassified pages from a congressional report into 9/11 released Friday have reignited speculation that some of the hijackers had links to Saudis, including government officials - allegations that were never substantiated by later U.S. investigations into the terrorist attacks.

Congress released the last chapter of the congressional inquiry that has been kept under wraps for more than 13 years, stored in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol. Lawmakers and relatives of victims of the attacks, who believe that Saudi links to the attackers were not thoroughly investigated, campaigned for years to get the pages released. The lightly redacted document names individuals who helped the hijackers get apartments, open bank accounts and connect with local mosques. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals and several were not fluent in English and had little experience living in the West. Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, the co-chairman of the congressional inquiry, who pushed hard for the last chapter of the inquiry's report to be released, believes the hijackers had an extensive Saudi support system while they were in the United States.

Saudi Arabia itself has urged the release of the chapter since 2002 so the kingdom could respond to any allegations. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubier told reporters Friday that his government welcomed the release of the 28 pages and said the documents should finally put to rest questions about Saudi Arabia's suspected role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. "The surprise in the 28 pages is that there is no surprise," al-Jubier said. The 9/11 Families and Victims welcomed the release, and said it confirmed what they've long known. "Each of the claims the 9/11 families and victims has made against the kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys extensive support in the findings of a broad range of investigative documents authored by multiple U.S. intelligence agencies," the families said.

Terry Strada, National Chair for 9/11 Families United For Justice Against Terrorism, said: "There is so much more on the Saudi connection to 9/11 and this is the tip of the iceberg, but you had to get this first. It's the beginning, but I don't think it's the end." Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement that the documents "provide more than enough evidence to raise serious concerns." The document mentions scores of names that the congressional inquiry believed deserved more investigation. They included:

-Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who helped two of the hijackers in California, was suspected of being a Saudi intelligence officer. The 9/11 Commission report found him to be an "unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement" with Islamic extremists. The new document says that according to FBI files, al-Bayoumi had "extensive contact with Saudi government establishments in the United States and received financial support from a Saudi company affiliated with the Saudi Ministry of Defense. ... That company reportedly had ties to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida," which orchestrated the attacks.

-Osama Bassnan, who lived across the street from two of the hijackers in California. According to an FBI document, Bassnan told another individual that he met the hijackers through al-Bayoumi. Bassnan told an FBI asset that "he did more than al-Bayoumi did for the hijackers."

The office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday also released part of a 2005 FBI-CIA memo that said "there is no information to indicate that either (Bayoumi) or (Bassnan) materially supported the hijackers wittingly, were intelligence officers of the Saudi government or provided material support for the 11 September attacks, contrary to media speculation."

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[AmericanNationalist1776]

Saudi Arabia is our enemy, just enemy. The majority of terrorists we fight are Sunni and Saudi Arabia the epicenter of Sunni Islam.

The Shia have terror groups too, but those are mostly in response to the Sunni one's.


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[yiostheoy]

Why did Saudi Arabia kill an influential Shi’ite cleric, despite US back-channel requests to spare his life?

Saudi Arabia’s executions damage prospects for peace in Syria - The Boston Globe

Because it's what Sunni's do.

 

[yiostheoy]

No Muslim nation is a friend of the United States of America...PERIOD!

I tend to agree with this observation.

Most notable on this list are Iran, Pakistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Indonesia and Turkey however are somewhat neutral however.