WASHINGTON, 1 August 2004 — This Thursday night, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry drew one of his largest ovations at the Democratic nominating convention when he said, “I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation-not the Saudi royal family.” Kerry reportedly blew a kiss toward filmmaker and author Michael Moore, when he made that statement and went on to criticize the US relationship to “Middle East oil”. Moore recently released the now $100 million grossing film “Fahrenheit 9/11” which alleges many indiscretions on the part of the Saudis in the 9/11 caper. And the 9/11 Commission recently released report is getting the once-over from many political pundits for not placing enough blame on the Saudis for the 9/11 affair.
There are many renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia these days as the political season and the US national elections are upon us. Even when Saudi Arabia is exonerated by research findings such as exist in the 9/11 Commission report, Saudi Arabia is assessed blame for many of the world’s problems. It is one thing for John Kerry to pander to anti-Saudi sentiments at the Democratic National Convention even though the US gets most of its oil from countries other than Saudi Arabia and America’s “ingenuity and innovation” have little or nothing to do with the Saudi royal family.
It is another thing to see many reputable findings of the 9/11 Commission Report on Saudi Arabia questioned for their validity.
Two writers who seem to make their living on Saudi bashing are particularly involved in questioning the findings of the 9/11 Commission regarding Saudi Arabia. Those two are Gerald Posner and Craig Unger.
Posner is the author of “Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11”. In his book Posner alleges that various Saudis, including members of the royal family, were involved in aiding Al-Qaeda. He bases his allegations on “unnamed sources” and none of this alleged sources have ever come forth to verify Posner’s allegations. These “sources” certainly could have been made available to the 9/11 Commission yet there is no mention of the Posner allegations in the 9/11 report. As a matter of fact, the 9/11 report conclusively states that it found no evidence that any funding of Al-Qaeda came from the Saudi government.
In a New York Times Op-Ed piece of July 27, 2004, Posner admits that, and even lists the quote for the Commission report that the panel has “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials” helped to finance Al-Qaeda. He attributes the lack of supporting his theses on 9/11 by the Commission to “failures...of omission” and further states that by doing this “the Commission has risked damaging its otherwise good work.” Posner also disagrees strongly with the Commission’s conclusions that no Saudis were flown out of the US illegally or improperly before US airspace was reopened after 9/11. But that point is Unger’s specialty.
Craig Unger is author of the book, “House of Bush, House of Saud” and many articles in leading publications where he alleges many improper activities between the Bush family and Saudi leaders. Many of those issues were challenged by the 9/11 Commission Report. Unger was interviewed by the BBC on July 27, 2004, after the 9/11 report was issued. The interviewer stated to Unger that the Commission had looked into a number of his claims and didn’t find evidence supporting them and then asked Unger to withdraw them. Unger said that he wouldn’t and went on to state that,
“The 9/11 commission is a very political body, and having a bipartisan commission investigate something is really to me a means of reaching a political consensus, rather than getting to the bottom of things.”
The BBC went on to report to Unger that, contrary to his allegations that Saudis had been flown out in airplanes prior to the reopening of US airspace, the commission reported that his allegations were not true. Unger then states new questionable and confusing timing allegations in response to this question and restates another allegation that the flights had “White House approval”. The 9/11 Commission found no evidence of White House approval or interference in the flights involving Saudis.
Unger and Posner seem to never want to give up. No matter what is found officially about Saudi Arabia and its involvement or lack thereof in the 9/11 issue, Unger and Posner claim the official reports are wrong and that they are right. And they are able to state their cases over and over again in major western media such as the New York Times, NBC and the BBC.
In the US individuals who are falsely accused can sue for libel or slander. This is not possible when a country and citizens in general from that country have false accusations made against them. Unger and Posner are only two of many individuals who seem to support themselves with these kinds of allegations against the Saudis.
What is behind their political agenda? Who is supporting their writings and funding their “research” into allegations about the Saudis? And why are these allegations and Unger and Posner themselves not being “investigated” for creating problems between two friendly countries?
The 9/11 Commission officially recommended, “The problems in the US-Saudi relationship must be confronted, openly. The United States and Saudi Arabia must determine if they can build a relationship that political leaders on both sides are prepared to publicly defend-a relationship about more than oil.
It should include a shared commitment to political and economic reform, as Saudis make common cause with the outside world. It should include a shared interest in greater tolerance and cultural respect, translating into a commitment to fight the violent extremists who foment hatred.”
Kerry, Moore, Posner and Unger, please take note.
(Dr. Michael Saba is the author of “The Armageddon Network” and is an international relations consultant.)
