A week before the US Congress issued its report on the Sept. 11 attacks, Saudi Arabia raided a number of hiding places of terrorists suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda or at least of following its methods and found enough ammunition to carry out Al-Qaeda’s biggest plots.
We must ask why some members of Congress insist that the Kingdom was involved in the attacks two years ago when Saudi Arabia itself is a permanent target of the organization. Just like any committee, they must look into the accusations and announce the names of those who stand accused. Instead, the investigative committee pointed the finger at Saudi Arabia while at the same time admitting that there wasn’t enough information that could have prevented Sept. 11. The Committee couldn’t find enough evidence to present to the American people of a conspiracy behind Al-Qaeda and so mentions only Saudi “involvement” in the event.
It is an asinine accusation against a country considered America’s closest friend and ally in the region. There was an ongoing quiet war against the organization — some of its members and collaborators had been arrested in Saudi Arabia — and a sentence was handed out against a sheikh in the organization once it was proven that he had issued fatwas to members of Al-Qaeda that it was acceptable to kill and plant explosives. All this happened before the attacks on New York and Washington.
The investigative committee chose to exonerate its own government and to place the blame fully on other countries despite the fact that the US government had more information about Al-Qaeda than the Saudis themselves did. They had information about its literary and ideological activities, its monetary transactions and the preliminary explosions as well as about the setting up of cells and the arming of members.
Saudi Arabia’s mistake is also America’s mistake. Unlike other countries in the region, Saudi Arabia doesn’t prevent its citizens from traveling without a special permit nor does it make it illegal to collect donations except for government organization, nor does it ban individuals and associations from transferring funds abroad. Another problem is its long borders.
Nor must we forget that these horrific attacks happened as part of a sequence of events. Nevertheless America’s myriad intelligence organizations didn’t suspect anything. The explosion at the same World Trade Center in 1993 and the subsequent events revealed the existence of an organization that was building up its strength, improving the skills of its members in the choice, surveillance and carrying out of complicated operations such as the explosion on the USS Cole in Aden and the two American embassies in Africa. All these events didn’t persuade a single one of America’s security organizations to be more alert internally.
The failure to prevent Sept. 11 was domestic. But Congress could not put the blame on the government’s top employees or any of its organizations, so it chose to blame foreign countries. The reality that the committee sought not to admit is that Al-Qaeda is a highly developed organization, extremely secretive, and took advantage of the benevolence and naiveté of Saudis, the freedoms of America and of Muslim youths looking for any war to soothe their depression, without a thought for the danger of what they are doing.
Arab News Opinion 2 August 2003
