Skip to main content

Does Washington beginning to reconsider the alliance with Saudis?


Fifteen years after the shocking attacks on World Trade Center, the US House of Representatives, rather unexpectedly, has passed a bill allowing Americans to sue Saudi Arabia over 9/11.

As RT reports:

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing Americans to sue Saudi Arabia over 9/11, days before the attack’s 15th anniversary. The measure passed without objection or opposition, but the White House is threatening a veto.

House Resolution 3815, also known as the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act” or JASTA, creates an exception to sovereign immunity created by a 1976 law, thus allowing US citizens to sue foreign countries for terrorism that kills Americans on US soil. The law has been invoked to shield Saudi Arabia from lawsuits over the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Fifteen out of 19 men who hijacked commercial airliners and used them as missiles to target the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were subjects of the Saudi kingdom.

[...]

Saudi Arabia has tried to block the bill, using the services of its many lobbyists in Washington. Among them is the Podesta Group, co-founded by current Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta and run by his brother Tony.

Recall that, in March, a US judge ordered Iran to pay over $10 billion in damages to families of victims who died on September 11, 2001 – even though there is no evidence of Tehran's direct connection to the attack! The same judge earlier cleared Saudi Arabia from culpability. The ruling is noteworthy particularly since none of the 19 hijackers on September 11 were Iranian citizens!

However, this time we have a bill passed by the US House of Representatives, which has much more weight, but the truth is that, even in the case of Saudi Arabia, there are no clear indications of direct involvement of the country in the 9/11 attacks.

We know that, various US governments in the past proceeded even in manufactured evidence, to justify military invasions in third countries. As Adam Curtis describes in the third part of his documentary The Power of Nightmares, even al-Qaeda was actually invented, to justify the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. From Wikipedia : “... in order to prosecute bin Laden in absentia for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, U.S. prosecutors had to prove that he is the head of a criminal organisation responsible for the bombings. They find a former associate of bin Laden, Jamal al-Fadl, and pay him to testify that bin Laden is the head of a massive terrorist organisation called "al-Qaeda". With the September 11 attacks, neoconservatives in the new Republican administration of George W. Bush use this invented concept of an organisation to justify another crusade against a new enemy, culminating in the launch of the War on Terror. After the American invasion of Afghanistan fails to uproot the alleged terrorist organisation, the Bush administration focuses inwards, searching unsuccessfully for terrorist sleeper cells in America. In 2003, they extend the War on Terror to a war on general perceived evils with the invasion of Iraq.

So, does this bill by the US House of Representatives marks the beginning of the end of the United States/Saudi Arabia alliance? It's quite early to say, but rather not.

It appears that this bill is included in a series of actions through which the US attempt to "cut any ties" with suspected connection to any factor (e.g. CIA training camps) linked with ISIS or other terrorist groups, especially after the expansion of chaos in the Middle East, as well as, the multiple terrorist attacks in Western soil.

Such a factor is also Saudi Arabia, one of the most solid US allies that has been completely exposed for the various aid that offered to ISIS jihadists. Therefore, this bill could be considered a smoke screen to calm down the reactions from the fact that the US continue to cooperate closely in various levels with one of the most brutal regimes in the Middle East that arms and helps terrorists.

Another indication towards this theory, is that the United States finally took a clear position against Al-Nusra, in the context of the recent agreement with Russia. As John Kerry stated: “going on Al-Nusra is not a concession to anybody” but “is profoundly in the interests of the US.

In any case, it is rather doubtful that Obama will act for this matter too. Apart from the Middle East chaos, he will leave this new "hot potato" to the hands of the next US presidency. In case that Hillary Clinton get elected, she will have to deal with another "headache". The Saudis have plenty of money to pay for compensations, so this is not the big issue. They will be expecting from their friend Hillary to reject the bill, in order to send them a signal that the new US government still considers Saudi Arabia an ally. We will have to wait and see if all these come true, or, if something much bigger is taking place that would change dramatically the balance and the geopolitical game in the Middle East.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Capitalism & Genocide - Yanis Varoufakis Speech at the Gaza Tribunal, 23rd October 2025, Istanbul

Yanis Varoufakis   On 23rd October, Yanis Varoufakis testified in front of the Jury of Conscience in the context of the Gaza Tribunal. His speech focused on the economic forces underpinning the genocide of the Palestinian people. In particular, he spoke on the manner in which capitalist dynamics have historically fuelled the white settler colonial project and, more recently, how the accumulation of a new form of capital - which he calls cloud capital - has accelerated, deepened and amplified the economic forces powering and propelling the machinery of genocide. 

Iranian Seyed M. Marandi: What REALLY happened in Iran & why U.S. wants to destroy the country

Li Jingjing 李菁菁   Track records of Western interventions tell us we need to be skeptical and cautious whenever some Western politicians and pundits claim they want to liberate people in another country and bring them democracy. Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at the University of Tehran in Iran. In this episode, he told Li Jingjing what happened during the protests in Iran and how Western sanctions hurt the lives of ordinary Iranians.

Israel & CIA Behind Iran Protests To Get U.S. To Attack!

The Jimmy Dore Show    As protests in Iran have heated up, western media has actively exaggerated and selectively framed the violence by using casualty figures from U.S.- and Israel-funded NGOs — all in order to build public support for another regime-change war. Former CIA officer John Kiriakou and guest Scott Ritter claim protests were infiltrated by foreign intelligence networks and that Israel and the U.S. are using “human rights” narratives similarly to the way they were used in Iraq and Syria.   Dore and Ritter contend that Iran’s government responded to armed unrest rather than peaceful protest, while mainstream outlets ignore attacks on police and public infrastructure. They warn that propaganda, sanctions, and media coordination are laying the groundwork for a wider U.S.–Israel conflict with Iran. 

Iran’s Missiles will DESTROY US Bases & Israel if Trump Attacks

Danny Haiphong   Iran is ready for war, and its hypersonic ballistic missile system could destroy Israel & US military presence forever says Scott Ritter who joined the show to break down the consequences of Trump's march to war with Iran. The former UN Weapons Inspector does a deep dive into Iran's readiness and why it should terrify Trump & Israel together. 

US & Israel support protests in Iran: Trump calls for regime change

Geopolitical Economy Report   The US government is openly backing the protests in Iran. An Israeli media outlet admitted foreign powers are arming Iranian rioters with weapons to try to overthrow the government. Ben Norton explains the geopolitical context and why the USA has sought regime change ever since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.   

Ο βασικός λόγος που ο Τραμπ διστάζει να χτυπήσει το Ιράν

"Μικρά και ασήμαντα" από τον Πίκο Απίκο Ο βασικός λόγος που δεν έγινε η επίθεση στο Ιράν, είναι το γεγονός ότι πρόσφατα, το Ιράν αποχώρησε από το δορυφορικό σύστημα GPS που είναι Αμερικανικό και εντάχθηκε στο Κινεζικό BeiDou. Που σημαίνει ότι οι Αμερικανοί δεν έχουν τη δυνατότητα να σαμποτάρουν τους Ιρανικούς πυραύλους.  Έτσι εξηγείται και το μεγάλο ποσοστό ευστοχίας των Ιρανικών πυραύλων στην τελευταία σύγκρουση με το Ισραήλ, μέσα στο Ισραηλινό έδαφος. Αλλά και το γεγονός ότι πριν λίγες μέρες, οι ίδιοι οι Ισραηλινοί ζήτησαν τη διαμεσολάβηση της Ρωσίας, προκειμένου να αποκλιμακωθεί η ένταση με το Ιράν, αφού Ισραηλινές εφημερίδες και αξιωματούχοι είχαν παραδεχθεί ανοιχτά την παρουσία πρακτόρων της Μοσάντ σε Ιρανικό έδαφος και τον κομβικό τους ρόλο στις πρόσφατες εξεγέρσεις. Οι Αμερικανοί επομένως γνωρίζουν ότι αυτή τη στιγμή οι Ιρανοί έχουν τη δυνατότητα να χτυπήσουν Αμερικανικές βάσεις (όπως απείλησαν ότι θα κάνουν αν ο Τραμπ κάνει πράξη τις απειλές του), χωρίς να μπορούν να ...

Exposed: USA plans to use this country to hurt China & help Israel

Geopolitical Economy Report   In Cold War Two, the USA is pressuring countries to cut ties with China and recognize Taiwan separatists. Donald Trump blatantly meddled in Honduras' 2025 election and backed a political coup to put in power right-wing oligarch Nasry "Tito" Asfura, who strongly supports Taiwan and Israel. Ben Norton discusses US imperialism in Latin America.  

Iran's Next Strike OBLITERATES US Navy & Israel, War Has BEGUN

Danny Haiphong   Prof. Mohammad Marandi joins the show to react to Iran's vow to strike a devastating blow to the heart of Tel Aviv and US Navy as imminent US war approaches. Trump has moved military assets to the region and now Iran has responded by moving its missiles and drones in strike position. Watch until the end for an in-depth analysis of a war that's already begun, and is about to change everything with one fatal move by the US empire.

A response to misinformation on Nicaragua: it was a coup, not a ‘massacre’

There is so much misinformation in mainstream corporate media about recent events in Nicaragua that it is a pity that Mary Ellsberg’s article for Pulse has added to it with a seemingly leftish critique. Ellsberg claims that recent articles, including from this website, often “ paint a picture of the crisis in Nicaragua that is dangerously misleading. ” Unfortunately, her own article does just that. It looks at the situation entirely from the perspective of those opposing Daniel Ortega’s government while whitewashing their malevolent behavior and downplaying the levels of US support they have relied on. Her piece is an incomplete depiction of what is happening on the ground, ignoring many salient facts that have come to light and which have been outdated by recent events. The following is a brief response to Ellsberg’s main points from someone who lives in Nicaragua and has observed the situation directly and intimately: https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/08/15/a-res...

Billionaires are social distancing in super yachts as tens of millions lose jobs

Everyday, it becomes clearer: the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting poor, working, and marginalized communities the hardest. Millions of workers – especially low-wage retail, food service, hospitality, and care workers – have faced the terrible choice daily between going to work and risking their health, or staying home and risking their paychecks. Many other workers don’t even have that choice, with around 30 million people in the US filing for unemployment in the past six weeks. But billionaires don’t face these same problems. As tens of millions have lost their jobs over the past two months, billionaire wealth soared by a whopping $282 billion between March 18 and April 10, according to a new study from the Institute for Policy Studies.  And while finding enough space to wait out the pandemic is something many struggle with, billionaires have been escaping to their second (or third, or fourth) homes to ride it out in luxury – all while they position themselves to ...