Relatives of 9/11 victims hit out at Saudi Arabia -- and US leaders / Photo: Ryan MURPHY - AFP
Relatives of 9/11 victims hit out at Saudi Arabia -- and US leaders
Relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attacks on Friday called out Saudi Arabia for alleged complicity in the carnage -- and chided past US presidents in attendance at a remembrance ceremony for failing to call Riyadh to account.
The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by mostly Saudi hijackers and orchestrated by mastermind Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who founded Al-Qaeda. Washington maintains strong military and diplomatic ties with the kingdom.
The annual reading of the names of the victims at the National 9/11 Memorial in New York is a somber ceremony and is usually entirely apolitical, making the comments especially jarring.
"You are missed more with each year that passes, but how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?" Tom Strada's widow Terry, the national chair of 9/11 Families United, said in her remarks.
"Yes, we finally made it into a court and have proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe, and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones," she said, to cheers and applause from the audience.
Strada was referring to a lawsuit brought against Saudi Arabia's authorities by 9/11 Families United that alleges the kingdom supported the attackers.
She then took aim at US leadership, as former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden looked on, along with current Vice President JD Vance.
"For 25 years, administration after administration -- including leaders in front of us here today -- chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with a 9/11 family," Strada said, calling for action from President Donald Trump, who skipped the event.
"President Trump can still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying. Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through," she added.
"Vice President Vance, thank you for being here today. Please carry that message back."
Trump attended a ceremony at the Pentagon, another site of the 9/11 attacks.
Bill Clinton was beside other past presidents at Ground Zero in New York, but his two White House terms predate the attacks.
After Strada's remarks, another of those reading names of the fallen, the nephew of victim Lisa Marie Terry, accused "the deep state" of having "hidden the truth about what happened that day 25 years ago."
"President Trump, you're our last hope. Release the unredacted files that implicate Saudi Arabia, while what's left of the victims' families are still alive to see it," he said.
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