28 pages of the Senate’s 9/11 report are still classified, kept a secret from the American people because, continuing what the Bush administration had done, the Obama administration refuses to declassify them.
Why are those pages important? Because former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who was chairman of the congressional Joint Inquiry Into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 that issued the 9/11 report, said “there is compelling evidence in the 28 pages that one or more foreign governments was involved in assisting some of the hijackers in their preparation for 9/11.” Graham later indicated that by “foreign governments” he was referring to Saudi Arabia. (15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis.)
In 2013, conservative Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.) revived the push to declassify the 28 pages by sponsoring a House resolution because, as he put it, “the American people deserve the truth. Releasing these pages will enhance our national security, not harm it.” Jones has since become one of the most outspoken opponents of reckless U.S. intervention abroad.
Last May, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) joined the 28-page fight by introducing the Transparency for the Families of 9/11 Victims and Survivors Act, which was opposed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who instead urged deference to Obama’s judgment on the issue.
Members of Congress can read the still-classified 28 pages in a special secure room on Capitol Hill if they get prior permission from the House or Senate Intelligence Committee. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of 18 co-sponsors of Jones’ resolution, is one of a few to have read the classified 28 pages. Massie was shocked: “I had to stop every couple of pages and just sort of absorb and try to rearrange my understanding of history for the past 13 years and the years leading up to that. It challenges you to rethink everything.”
Said to have bankrolled the 9/11 attacks that launched the United States on its War on Terror which has cost thousands of American lives and more than $1.6 trillion, Saudi Arabia is widely reported to be bankrolling Islamic State terrorists throughout the Middle East. None other than Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate committee last September that “I know major Arab allies who fund [ISIS].”
In response to the Congressional investigation into Saudi Arabia’s role in 9/11, the Saudi government first threatened to dump its U.S. treasury holdings of $750 billion, then pointed the finger at the U.S. government being responsible for carrying out the 9/11 attack in order to create the War on Terror.
Writing in the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, Saudi legal scholar Katib al Shammari, who is believed to represent the view of the Saudi government, called 9/11 an inside job — “a purely American action, planned and carried out within the U.S.” Al Shammari cites as proof “the sequence of continuous explosions that dramatically ripped through both buildings… Expert structural engineers demolished them with explosives, while the planes crashing only gave the green light for the detonation – they were not the reason for the collapse. But the U.S. still spreads blame in all directions.”
On May 17, 2016, the Senate passed S. 2040: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act to enable 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. As S. 2040 puts it:
Section 2(a)(6): Persons, entities, or countries that knowingly or recklessly contribute material support or resources, directly or indirectly, to persons or organizations that pose a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism that threaten the security of nationals of the United States or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, necessarily direct their conduct at the United States, and should reasonably anticipate being brought to court in the United States to answer for such activities.
Section 2(b): Purpose- The purpose of this Act is to provide civil litigants with the broadest possible basis, consistent with the Constitution of the United States, to seek relief against persons, entities, and foreign countries, wherever acting and wherever they may be found, that have provided material support, directly or indirectly, to foreign organizations or persons that engage in terrorist activities against the United States.
Section 3(b): Responsibility of Foreign States- A foreign state shall not be immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States in any case in which money damages are sought against a foreign state for physical injury to person or property or death occurring in the United States and caused by–(1) an act of international terrorism in the United States.
Section 3(c): Claims by Nationals of the United States- Notwithstanding section 2337(2) of title 18, a national of the United States may bring a claim against a foreign state in accordance with section 2333 of that title if the foreign state would not be immune under subsection (b).
That’s all well and good.
What you don’t know is that the final version of S. 2040: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act — the one that was passed by the Senate on May 17, 2016, contains an amendment (Senate Amendment 3945: Section 5 of S. 2040) that wasn’t in the original draft of the bill, and that the amendment effectively neuters the bill by allowing the State and Justice Departments to seek from the court continual 180-day stays, thus killing any lawsuits indefinitely.
Below are the relevant portions of S. 2040’s Section 5:
Section 5(b): Intervention- The Attorney General may intervene in any action in which a foreign state is subject to the jurisdiction of a court of the United States under section 1605B of title 28, United States Code, as added by section 3(a) of this Act, for the purpose of seeking a stay of the civil action, in whole or in part.
Section 5 (c) Stay-(1) IN GENERAL- A court of the United States may stay a proceeding against a foreign state if the Secretary of State certifies that the United States is engaged in good faith discussions with the foreign state defendant concerning the resolution of the claims against the foreign state, or any other parties as to whom a stay of claims is sought. (2) DURATION- (A) IN GENERAL- A stay under this section may be granted for not more than 180 days. (B) EXTENSION-(i) IN GENERAL- The Attorney General may petition the court for an extension of the stay for additional 180-day periods. (ii) RECERTIFICATION- A court shall grant an extension under clause (i) if the Secretary of State recertifies that the United States remains engaged in good faith discussions with the foreign state defendant concerning the resolution of the claims against the foreign state, or any other parties as to whom a stay of claims is sought.
In law, the noun “stay” means “a suspension or postponement of judicial proceedings.”
In other words, Section 5 of S. 2040, which was added to the bill via an amendment, enables the permanent suspension (“extension of the stay for additional 180-day periods“) of any lawsuits against Saudi Arabia for its role in 9/11.
What you don’t know is that the amendment that neutered S. 2040: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, was introduced and co-sponsored by a Jewish senator, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is one of the 24 co-sponsors of S. 2040 in the first place.
Now ask yourself these questions:
- Why would a Jewish U.S. senator help to shield Saudi Arabia, a Muslim country, from lawsuits brought by American victims of 9/11?
- Why would Schumer sponsor S. 2040: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, then sabotage it with an amendment that defangs the Act?
- And why would the Senate approve of Schumer’s amendment by unanimous consent, thereby rendering toothless and really quite pointless the entire Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act? Unless, of course, S. 2040 is all just “smoke and mirror” for show?
In a for-subscribers-only article on May 26, 2016, investigative independent journalist Wayne Madsen not only identifies Saudi Arabia as the country that provided the manpower, finances, and hijacker personnel for 9/11’s cover story that “Al Qaeda did it,” he maintains that Schumer’s amendment was prompted by Israel.
Referring to Saudi Arabia now accusing the U.S. of instigating 9/11, Madsen writes:
Alarmed by the willingness of its regional ally Saudi Arabia to question the official version of 9/11, Israel weighed in with New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer to place a “poison pill” in the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism (JASTA) bill that cleared the Senate in a unanimous vote. The bill would allow the families of the victims of foreign government-sponsored terrorism to sue the governments involved for damages. The law [S. 2040], which President Obama indicated he would veto, would lift “sovereign immunity” on countries like Saudi Arabia, thus making them liable for civil law suits. Schumer placed an amendment inside the JASTA bill that would allow Saudi Arabia to avoid law suits so long as the U.S. State and Justice Departments certified to the trial judge hearing any JASTA case that the two departments were making good faith efforts with the defendant country to resolve any issues bilaterally. Schumer’s amendment — the Stay of Actions Pending State Negotiations — would also allow the State and Justice Departments to seek from the court continual 180-day stays, thus killing any lawsuits indefinitely.
Israel is also concerned that it, too, could face lawsuits under the provisions of JASTA. WMR has previously reported that some of the footnotes in the classified 28 pages provide links that lead to Israeli involvement in 9/11. It is noteworthy that the Saudis are blaming the George W. Bush administration for carrying out 9/11 and are leaving Israel out of the equation. Schumer’s actions on behalf of the Saudis are a clear indication that the Saudi-Israeli alliance remains intact.
Coupled with House Speaker Paul Ryan’s decision, after his recent trip to Saudi Arabia, to not allow JASTA to come before a full House vote and Obama’s promise to veto the bill, it is all but dead. Meanwhile, Congress has been inundated with Saudi lobbyists who now appear to have been successful in killing off JASTA. However, the damage to the troika of conspirators may have already been done.
Schumer, a virtual agent for the government of Israel, has killed JASTA to protect two of the conspirators — Israel and Saudi Arabia. That leaves only the U.S. neoconservatives who were involved in facilitating 9/11 without protection. And with Donald Trump already giving muted signals that 9/11 was an inside job, the neocons have only Hillary Clinton to provide them protection. If Trump wins the White House, the neocons will be left as the exposed third leg of the 9/11 troika.
~Eowyn
