Judge Rejects Saudi Intelligence-9/11 -link

posted by ewing2001 on Saturday November 15, @06:17AM

Update: Saudi Cash Scrutinized by U.S. for Terror Ties (11/17 LA Times)

Judge Rejects Saudi Terrorist Link

Suit Claimed Members of Royal Family Funded 9/11 Attackers
WP Saturday, November 15, 2003; Page A16

Plaintiffs in a massive lawsuit against Saudi leaders have not provided compelling evidence that individual members of the Saudi royal family knowingly funded al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a federal judge ruled yesterday as he dismissed the victims' claims against two of the desert kingdom's princes.

The $1 trillion lawsuit, filed by more than 900 victims' family members and some injured firefighters and rescue workers, argued that several Saudi leaders and investment organizations helped fund the terrorist attacks and should be held responsible.

They charged that Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, as Saudi defense minister and leader of Islamic affairs, funded charities that he knew subsidized Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization. They claimed that Prince Turki al-Faisal, director of the Saudi Department of General Intelligence, helped the royal family strike a deal to pay bin Laden protection money so he would not carry out terrorist strikes inside Saudi Arabia or work to bring down the Saudi government.

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But U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that Sultan and Turki were immune from these specific claims in American courts. He said the princes, who asked earlier this year to be dismissed from the case, allegedly gave money to charities such as the International Islamic Relief Organization, the Muslim World League and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, in their official capacity as high-ranking government officials.

Robertson said there was little evidence from plaintiffs that Sultan or Turki acted as an individual or to cause murders and injuries in the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

"Plaintiff's allegations that Prince Turki or Prince Sultan funded those who carried out the September 11th attacks would stretch the causation requirement . . . not only to the farthest reaches of the common law but perhaps beyond, to terra incognita," Robertson wrote.

Robertson stressed that he was not deciding the truth of the allegations, which were filed last year in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Rather, he wrote, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 generally bars claims against foreign officials, and plaintiffs could not establish that the case met any of the numerous exceptions that would allow their claims to proceed.

The suit will continue with more than a dozen remaining defendants.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs said yesterday that the legal team was still reviewing the decision, weighing a possible appeal and contacting its clients. "We're concerned, and we're upset," Jayne Conroy said. "There are thousands of people that will be devastated by this news."

Attorneys for the princes said yesterday that the decision vindicated their clients. "Prince Turki sought to bring Osama bin Laden to justice; he did not belong in this lawsuit," said Mark C. Hansen, Turki's attorney. "The plaintiffs offered no proof of this oft-repeated and false charge that the Saudi royal family made a corrupt bargain with Osama bin Laden."

William Jeffress, attorney for Sultan, said his client is gratified that the judge agreed the plaintiffs' allegations were "insufficient to overcome the immunity given foreign officials." And Adel al-Jubeir, former policy adviser to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, said: "We welcome this ruling. It vindicates our faith in the American judicial system."

The plaintiffs argued to Robertson in a packed Oct. 17 hearing that the princes knew the charities funded terrorism and should not be allowed immunity by saying it was their government job to aid groups that ultimately aided al Qaeda.

"When they fund terrorism and hide behind the cloak of government and say this is our official policy, we take issue with that," Conroy said yesterday.

Another key assertion in the complaint was that Turki, now ambassador to the United Kingdom, traveled to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1998 to craft a deal under which the Saudis would pay bin Laden to protect them from Islamic radicals. Turki's lawyers contended that the prince was seeking to have bin Laden extradited to the United States and submitted a transcript of bin Laden's comments on an ABC News "Nightline" broadcast as proof.

The judge also dismissed some claims that Sultan had contributed his own money to charities that funded al Qaeda, but he left open the possibility that the claims could be refiled.

Saudi Cash Scrutinized by U.S. for Terror Ties

LA Times -November 17

...U.S. officials are quietly investigating whether funds disbursed by the Riyadh government have helped finance the spread of international terrorism

... A senior Saudi official vehemently denied that the government has knowingly given money to help finance terrorism. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Riyadh was working closely with U.S. officials, particularly in trying to determine whether any of the government's money ended up in the wrong hands.

The Saudi official confirmed that the subpoenas had been issued but said, "We would have given them voluntarily if they had asked."

On at least two occasions that have been disclosed publicly, such Islamic affairs officials have been linked to the Sept. 11 hijackers and other terrorists. A congressional review found that at least one official in Los Angeles had a closed-door meeting with a Saudi national just hours before he met two of the hijackers. The Saudi national later gave the two money and logistical help while they were living in San Diego.

In Germany, a Saudi Islamic affairs official left the country in March after German authorities suspected him of working with extremists now accused of plotting terrorist attacks against Western interests. German authorities found a business card of the Saudi official, Mohammad J. Fakihi, in the apartment of a since-convicted accomplice of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

.. Several U.S. lawmakers have called for an investigation into Saudi disbursements. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) said the Saudi government's support of Wahhabism "provides the recruiting grounds, support infrastructure and monetary lifeblood of today's international terrorists."

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, (D-N.Y.), has called for the Saudis to fire their chief law enforcement and counter-terrorism official, Prince Nayif ibn Abdulaziz, contending that he has helped, not hindered, Al Qaeda and other terrorists — a charge Saudi officials have repeatedly denied.

Saudi officials have repeatedly insisted that they have doled out huge sums of money without requiring information on who ultimately received the money and what it was used for, U.S. officials complain.

"We've been adamant that we make them accountable, and they have danced around it," said the first counter-terrorism official.

Times special correspondent John Goetz in Berlin contributed to this report.

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