The Missing Pages of the 9/11 Report - DailyBeast

[YoungDemCA]

38. I think the truth re: Saudi Arabia's support for terrorism is quite complicated...

15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Osama bin Laden was one, too. Many wealthy Saudis (beyond Osama) have connections to terrorism. That doesn't mean that the entire royal family-which has 15,000 members, just as an FYI-is personally involved, or that any of the top leaders of Saudi Arabia had any foreknowledge about 9/11.

It's just as likely that the Saudi military and intelligence services were infiltrated by al-Qaeda and similar groups. There's a lot of sympathy for them in the Saudi population. And I remember reading in the 9/11 Commission Report and other sources that many of the Islamic charities in KSA were fronts for Al-Qaeda.

I have a hunch that, in the personalistic Saudi culture, it would be very easy to exploit the extensive support networks that were available to Saudi nationals. I don't think active support was always necessary for Al-Qeada to thrive in Saudi Arabia. More like passive neglect/indifference from the regime. Before 9/11, bin Laden wasn't even super-well known-to say nothing of most of his followers.

Though I do agree that the Saudis have a lot to answer for, I just don't know how much they were actually aware of what some of their citizens were up to before 9/11. And even after 9/11, there's still a big divide between the Wahhabi hard-liners and the moderates within the Kingdom-a divide that is present among the royal family, too.

It's a complicated, frustrating situation.