Still Stonewalling

President Obama is still disregarding the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, and 9/11 widow and activist Kristen Breitweiser is not amused.  She writes in the Huffington Post

Recently, it has become increasingly clear to me why my government has fought against such transparency, accountability, and revelation of the truth regarding the 9/11 attacks.

There are 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry of Congress (an investigation into the U.S. government intelligence failures prior to 9/11) that have remained classified and hidden away from the American public by both the Bush and Obama Administrations. These 28 pages allegedly prove that the Saudis had a controlling hand in funding the 9/11 attacks that killed 3,000 innocent people....

Unfortunately, the 28 pages aren’t the only example of the U.S. government protecting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to the detriment of the 9/11 families.

For the past 15 years, the 9/11 families have also tried to hold the KSA accountable in a court of law. Most recently, the KSA was dismissed from the 9/11 case on grounds of foreign sovereign immunities protection under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

The FSIA was clearly not created with the intent that nations that sponsor mass terrorism should get away with it scot-free. Nevertheless, the U.S. government has wholeheartedly supported this perverted and warped use of the FSIA by the Saudis. In short, it seems that as long as you are an ally of the U.S. and not a named state-sponsor of terrorism, apparently you can underwrite all the mass murder you want and get away with it.

Obviously, the 9/11 families have fought very hard against the Saudis misuse of the FSIA and their dismissal from our case. In fact, several times we have petitioned for a writ of certiorari seeking Supreme Court review of our case. Each time, the U.S. Department of Justice (at the direction of President Obama) has written “Letters of Interest” recommending that the Supreme Court deny hearing our case thereby allowing the Saudis to remain excused from our case via their FSIA shield...

Finding ourselves blocked by the president with regard to the release of the 28 pages, and with regard to the Supreme Court reviewing the dismissal of the KSA as a key defendant in our case, we turned to the U.S. Congress for help. And Congress answered our call with a vital piece of anti-terror legislation called JASTA(Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act).

JASTA ensures that no nation (including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) that funds terrorism will be able to use the FSIA as a shield to their culpability. JASTA is the legislative response to the Saudi’s misuse of the FSIA in our 9/11 court case. JASTA removes FSIA protections from the KSA and, as a result, the 9/11 families will finally be able to have our day in court against the Saudis....

Unsurprisingly, as soon as JASTA was set to pass with Senate approval, the shadowy Saudi-protectionist hand of the U.S. government, once again, reached out to block our progress. A whisper campaign with no fingerprints was dispensed to kill JASTA.

And, those whispers sounded something like this: if JASTA passes, the Saudis will bankrupt our economy by withdrawing $800 billion worth of T-bonds, and even worse, if JASTA passes, the Saudis will stop protecting and sharing intelligence information with the U.S. and leave us vulnerable to an ISIS attack.

So, it would seem that the same group of people who fought against the release of the 28 pages, and our case being heard by the Supreme Court, are at it once again, this time opposing JASTA and labeling it a diplomatic disaster.

Breitweiser's group is lauded by the "information & activism hub" 9/11.org, which is especially energized by the need to force release of the 28 page part 4, titled "Finding, Discussion and Narrative Regarding Certain Sensitive National Security Matters."   Therefore, with an interest in both earned benefits and the federal government's apathy toward families directly affected by the 9/11/01 attacks, yesterday I attended a "town hall" meeting featuring my U.S. representative in an age-restricted development in Southampton Township, NJ.

Later, I sent to his office an e-mail explaining that at the close of the meeting, I spoke very briefly to the congressman, who was unaware of the "28 pages" and pointing out that

After he read the 28 pages, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) in July of 2014 stated that until the American people have the "full picture of what actually happened, the intelligence picture, "it will be difficult to "prevent another 9/11 from happening." He went on to say "I want to challenge all the Congressmen who have not read the 28 pages and have the ability to read these 28 pages to do it for your constituents.... every Congressman needs to see these 28 pages."

Noting that Representative MacArthur, a Republican, has "introduced legislation to protect and preserve the National September 11 Memorial in NYC," I urged him to obtain permission to read the 28-page section. However, as Breitwer detailed, there are several (insufficient) reasons that the Obama Administration, now complicit in the  cover-up begun by President Bush, won't do the honorable thing.

Breitweiser charges President Obama, who has claimed "the most transparent Administration in history," believes "it is more important to support and protect the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rather than Americans who were victims of a terrorist attack."   If that is true- as it appears to be- the 9/11/ widows, Representative Massie and the others dedicated to transparency have a Cavanal-caliber hill to climb.















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