These are concise answers to the most frequent questions about Saudi Arabia's involvement in the 9/11 attacks. For more in-depth analysis, you can read the articles linked below or search this blog using the search box on the right.
8.1. The 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry declassified in 2016
8.1.1. What are the 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry declassified in 2016, and what do they say?
On July 15, 2016, 28 pages (full text) from the Joint Inquiry (a nearly 900-page government investigation) were declassified after having been withheld since the report's release in December 2002. These particular pages deal with connections between the hijackers and individuals linked to the Saudi government, which is why they remained secret for so long.
The text states that some of the 19 hijackers, while in the U.S., had contact with people tied to Saudi intelligence, diplomacy, and government. Individuals who reportedly came into contact with the terrorists include Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassnan, who gave logistical support to hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi in San Diego; Shaykh al-Thumairy, imam of a Culver City mosque founded with Saudi state funds, known for its extremist views and frequented by al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi; Saleh al-Hussayen, a Saudi Interior Ministry official who stayed at the same hotel as al-Hazmi in Virginia; and Abdullah Bin Ladin, Osama's half-brother and employee at the Saudi embassy in Washington.
The most important among those named, and the ones the text focuses on, are Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassnan. They offered logistical support to al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi by first hosting them in al-Bayoumi's San Diego home, then helping them find an apartment, paying the initial rent, and facilitating their integration into San Diego's Islamic center. Al-Bayoumi and Bassnan had strong ties to the Saudi government, as confirmed by phone records and regular financial support they and their wives received from the embassy. Al-Bayoumi also received a monthly salary from a Saudi company based in the U.S. (where he did not work regularly), which had ties to the Saudi Ministry of Defense and to Osama bin Laden. This company increased his salary during the time he helped the two terrorists.
Despite these clear connections, after 9/11 the Saudi government's cooperation with investigations into the hijackers was minimal, although Riyadh had a long-standing reputation for poor collaboration even before 9/11. The document also cites two cases from the 1990s—Madani al-Tayyib and Mohammed Jamal Khalifa—who had close ties to Osama bin Laden and were protected by the Saudi government, which denied U.S. authorities permission to interrogate them.
8.2. Omar al-Bayoumi
8.2.1. Who is Omar al-Bayoumi and what did he do?
Omar al-Bayoumi is a figure connected to the Riyadh government who provided logistical and financial assistance to hijackers al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi while they were in California.
He was born in Saudi Arabia in 1957 near Jeddah. According to the 28 pages, al-Bayoumi worked for the Saudi Civil Aviation Administration from 1976 to 1993 and moved to the U.S. in 1995 to study English at San Diego State University (details).
The first meeting between al-Bayoumi and the two hijackers occurred on February 1, 2000, at the Mediterranean Gourmet restaurant on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles, and it was not a chance encounter (details).
A few days later, al-Bayoumi helped them find housing at the Parkwood Apartments in San Diego, where he himself lived, and even paid their initial rent with a cashier’s check. The two hijackers also spent a few days in al-Bayoumi’s apartment before renting their own in the same complex.
Al-Bayoumi even threw them a welcome party in their new apartment (details). The hijackers stayed at the Parkwood Apartments until May 2000, when they moved in with Abdussattar Shaikh, an FBI informant, in Lemon Grove (details).
8.2.2. Was al-Bayoumi an agent of the Saudi intelligence services?
Although the 28 pages do not definitively answer this question, a 2017 FBI document released under Executive Order 14040 signed by President Biden confirmed that Omar al-Bayoumi was receiving a salary from Al-Mukhabarat al-'Amma, the main Saudi intelligence agency, known in English as the General Intelligence Presidency (details).
8.3. The relationship between Osama bin Laden and the Saudi royal family
8.3.1. What was Osama bin Laden's relationship with the Riyadh government?
The matter is debated. The only certain fact is that the Saudi government revoked Osama bin Laden’s citizenship in 1994.
According to terrorist Abu Zubaydah (as reported in Gerald Posner’s book Why America Slept), revoking his citizenship was meant to create the illusion that bin Laden had been disavowed, while in reality, he was secretly funded by the Saudi regime under a clandestine agreement whereby he would not attack Saudi targets in exchange for support. Saudi Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud denied this when interviewed by the 9/11 Commission (details).
Peter Bergen of CNN considers the theory of a secret deal between al-Qaeda and the Saudi government absurd, arguing that bin Laden aimed to overthrow the Riyadh regime and would therefore not have received its support (details).
8.4. Previous and subsequent events
8.4.1. What was the 1999 dry run of the attacks funded by the Saudi embassy?
In November 1999, two individuals linked to the Saudi government performed what appeared to be a dry run of the future hijackings during a flight from Phoenix to Washington. The two boarded an America West Airlines flight to attend a symposium chaired by the Saudi ambassador.
Soon after boarding, they began asking the flight attendants technical questions about the aircraft, which the crew found suspicious. One of them twice attempted to enter the cockpit, at one point forcefully pushing the door. Alarmed by their behavior, the pilots made an emergency landing in Ohio, where the FBI arrested the two men—but soon released them, citing insufficient evidence to detain them.
During interrogation, the two stated their plane tickets had been paid for by the Saudi embassy, which the FBI confirmed (details).
8.4.2. Was Jamal Khashoggi killed because he revealed that the official 9/11 version was false?
No. On the contrary, in his journalistic investigations, Khashoggi debunked several conspiracy theories. Moreover, if the Saudis had wanted to silence him, they wouldn’t have waited seventeen years (details).
8.4.3. Did the FBI accidentally reveal the name of a Saudi embassy official who helped the terrorists?
In 2020, the FBI filed a document in court as part of a lawsuit brought by 9/11 victims’ families against the Saudi regime. The document included the name of an embassy official who assisted the terrorists: Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah (unrelated to United Airlines 93 hijacker Ziad Jarrah, who was Lebanese). The name appears uncensored in only one instance in the document, clearly an error.
Al-Jarrah worked in Washington in 1999 and 2000. One of his duties was to oversee mosques receiving Saudi funding on behalf of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs (details).
8.4.3. Did the FBI accidentally reveal the name of a Saudi embassy official who helped the terrorists?
In 2020, the FBI filed a document in court as part of a lawsuit brought by 9/11 victims’ families against the Saudi regime. The document included the name of an embassy official who assisted the terrorists: Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah (unrelated to United Airlines 93 hijacker Ziad Jarrah, who was Lebanese). The name appears uncensored in only one instance in the document, clearly an error.
Al-Jarrah worked in Washington in 1999 and 2000. One of his duties was to oversee mosques receiving Saudi funding on behalf of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs (details).
8.4.4. What is the Phoenix Memo?
The Phoenix Memo is a note sent in July 2001 by former FBI agent Kenneth Williams to various intelligence agencies informing them that Saudi citizens in Arizona had been attending flight schools for years and spreading material in mosques and universities praising Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda (details).
The communication was not treated with due priority, both because there was no concrete and specific threat and because investigators' attention was diverted by the case of serial arsonist Mark Warren Sands.
8.5. Was the CIA aware of what al-Bayoumi and his collaborators were doing?
Yes, the CIA knew and ensured that the information was not passed on to the FBI, probably because it was part of a recruitment operation and wanted to prevent the operation from being compromised by the Bureau’s intervention. The details were extensively explained by former FBI Special Agent Mark Rossini in one of his texts.
8.6. If Saudi Arabia supported the terrorists, why did it do so?
At the moment, there appear to be three hypotheses:
- the need by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to partly appease the terrorists to avoid attacks against the regime (hypothesis proposed by former FBI agent Kenneth Williams)
- the influence or infiltration of al-Qaeda within the Ministry of Islamic Affairs (from a joint CIA and FBI investigation)
- an attempt at recruitment by American and Saudi intelligence that went wrong due to the incompetence of the people entrusted with the task (hypothesis proposed by former FBI agent Mark Rossini)
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