Saudi Arabia Dismissed As 9/11 Defendant

[cal04]

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, three Saudi princes and several Saudi financial institutions were dismissed Tuesday as defendants in six civil lawsuits accusing them of providing support to al-Qaida before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Judge Richard Casey said the president, not the courts, has the authority to label a foreign nation a terrorist, though he said he understood the "desire to find a legal remedy for the horrible wrongs committed on Sept. 11, 2001."

The lawsuits alleged more than 200 defendants provided material support to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and al-Qaida. Defendants included al-Qaida, its members and associates, charities, banks, front organizations, terrorist organizations and financiers who allegedly supported al-Qaida.

The judge said the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient facts to overcome the kingdom of Saudi Arabia's immunity. He said Saudi Arabia maintains it has worked with the United States to share information in the fight against terrorism.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050119/ap_on_re_us/sept_11_lawsuits

[tuvor]

1. Wow, the boy king has a LOT of powers these days, doesn't he?

How lucky for him!

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. yeah...lucky...sure

his ass would be grass if this didn't happen. Given the extent of his ability to understand foreign policy, much less actually having anything that resembles even one, this all makes sense for the long range plans of those good ol' PNAC buddies.

[Wilms]

11. Not that lucky. The article goes on to say...

-snip-

The judge permitted lawsuits to proceed against the Saudi Binladen Group, the successor to a construction company founded by bin Laden's father, which is now one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the Arab world.


He said additional legal discovery would be necessary to decide whether the Saudi Binladen Group "purposefully directed its activities at the United States."

-snip-

[jayfish]

16. So He Does Have The...

authority to label private companies as terrorists? What gives? :shrug:

Jay

[Old and In the Way]

2. I fear Bush is quite compromised by Saudi Arabia.

Bad news for US, good news for Saudi Arabia.

15/19 hijackers alledgedly from Saudi Arabia and look how they've suffered:

(1) We exit the military bases in their country.
(2) We take out their #1 outside secular threat, Saddam Hussein.
(3) The Iraqi oil is pretty well off the market, so that makes SA product much more valuable.

Lucky for us the Saudi AF didn't provide air cover for the terrorists that day. Bush would have sued for peace on 9/12.

Truely a sad day for justice in this country.

[leesa]

6. They ARE sitting pretty. When we are kicked out of Iraq, we will have NO

ONE from whom to purchase oil, except Saudi Arabia.

Maybe we'll just invade Canada for her remaining scraps.

Dubya has sooooo screwed the US.

[Vidar]

15. We tried that several times, getting our asses kicked each time.

[amazona]

4. there ain't no justice NT

.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[iam]

5. I recall

a Judge finding that SH was a terrorist and awarding millions to a family. Does anyone know of this?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. Well, of course. Nothing to see here, folks... moooove along

sheeple... move along

[Octafish]

8. Prince Bandar's Wife FUNDED Terrorists.

Gee. What's it take to prosecute the murders of 3,000 Americans and guests?

From Craig Unger:

How was it possible that, just as President Bush declared a no-holds-barred global war on terror that would send hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, and just as Osama bin Laden became Public Enemy No. 1 and the target of a worldwide manhunt, the White House would expedite the departure of so many potential witnesses, including two dozen relatives of the man behind the attack itself?

SOURCE: http://www.wesjones.com/saudi1.htm

A primer from 2003:

A Chart of Bush Lies about Iraq

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/07/22_lies.html

[Rockerdem]

9. I look at the list of remaining defendants and see no deep pockets

Maybe the "banks", but they probably are all in the Middle East and hard to collect from. I think that the big moneybags were the Saudis, and that is what made this suit go. This will have to be appealed to keep the thing going.

[jasop]

10. "Saudi Arabia's immunity".........WTF?!?!

I cannot believe that its even allowable to be "immune" to any accountability for illegal actions.

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. The chances of this outcome were , let's see.....100%

Oh, thats right, F9/11 was all lies!

[lovuian]

13. Hey Saudia Arabia has more rights than a US citizen

and the King Bush can decide anything he wants!!!

What kinda judge is he???

[NYC]

14. Who was defending them, Baker & Botts?

I'll go scour the article now. I think James Baker was involved.