Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Democrats Government United States Privacy Security The Almighty Buck News Politics Technology

Blackmail: Obama Under Pressure To Declassify Secret 9/11 Report (cbsnews.com) 354

Posted by BeauHD from the blackmail dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Families of Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack victims are pressuring Obama to support legislation allowing them to sue the Saudi government. A recent "60 Minutes" investigation has stirred up some controversy by looking at possible links between Saudi officials and the 9/11 hijackers, which revealed that new information may be hiding in a classified section of a Congressional report. The Saudis said in a report in the New York Times that they might sell "up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States" if the bill passes. The bill in question is being considered by Congress and it would permit lawsuits against countries that "contribute material support or resources" for "acts of terrorism." Van Auken, who is among those convinced that the 9/11 hijackers were helped by Saudi agents, said, "It feels like blackmail. The government, the president is siding with Saudi Arabia over the 9/11 families. If someone you loved was murdered and the person was just able to go away Scott free, would you be okay with that? I don't think anybody would." Last week the royal embassy of Saudi Arabia said, "The 9/11 commission confirmed that there is no evidence that the government of Saudi Arabia supported or funded Al Qaeda."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Blackmail: Obama Under Pressure To Declassify Secret 9/11 Report More

Blackmail: Obama Under Pressure To Declassify Secret 9/11 Report

Comments Filter:

  • Remember, Obama promised "most transparent admin" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 18, 2016 @07:37PM (#51936195)

    The government, the president is siding with Saudi Arabia over the 9/11 families.

    Is anybody really shocked by this? Obama has made it a habit of failing to live up to his campaign promise to "run the most transparent administration in American history."

    I remember when he first ran and got elected. I thought, "I don't agree with a lot of his policy ideas, but if he lives up to his word on just that one point by making things transparent, I would be impressed and he will have proved that he's not a politician's politician." I don't think that promise even made it to the end of his inauguration speech. Oh well.

    • it's just a really, really low bar...

    • Re:Remember, Obama promised "most transparent admi (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Razed By TV ( 730353 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @10:10PM (#51937039)
      Obama has done things that I wanted him to do as president. But after Snowden, it became readily apparent that he isn't going to do the things I need him to do as president.

    • "I don't agree with a lot of his policy ideas, but if he lives up to his word on just that one point by making things transparent, I

      That was the promise I was hoping he would keep, too. Would have been a lasting change in the world. Oh well.

    • Re:Remember, Obama promised "most transparent admi (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jandersen ( 462034 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @04:20AM (#51938309)

      Obama has made it a habit of failing to live up to his campaign promise...

      To be fair, it isn't only Obama. By now, Americans ought to have caught on to the fact that all politicians promise way more than they can realistically achieve. and as a consequence, they will without fail disappoint people. Perhaps enough people are now tired of this situation and want to change it, but will inevitably take much more effort and cost everybody much more than they imagine. All of the part of the establishment will have to be dismantled in some way to allow something better to grow up and replace it; and the danger is that you either end up with the same old crap with a fresh layer of paint, or something worse - a dictatorship, maybe.

      We see much the same in Europe - in UK, people are listening to a guy like Jeremy Corbyn - not a hugely charismatic fellow, and his support for EU is clearly lukewarm at best, but I think that very fact rings true with people, because they feel the same way: nobody likes EU a lot, but staying is still better than leaving. I don't get to vote in the American election, but if I may offer a bit of advice, it would be this: whatever you do, think carefully and realistically about it first. Breaking things in a fit of anger is easy, building them up again afterwards is most definitely not. And who knows, after thinking carefully, perhaps you still find that you need to break things - but then you will know why and how, and what to do after that.

      To get back to the topic: how much of a chance does one man have against an establishment that most certainly doesn't want him to succeed? I don't really know another country where big business can steer the public opinion to such a degree that even those who would benefit from a new initiative like public healthcare, are turned against it. In a climate like that, how much could Obama actually achieve? I'm not the least surprised that he is now trying to ram as many executive orders down the establishment's throat as humanly possible; at least it will take whoever comes next a while to unravel, and who knows, maybe some of it will survive.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        Yes but the president has nearly unilateral power to declassify documents. There is a process but largely within the executive branch. Congress could take active steps to interfere, riders on bills that 'require documents to remain classified' they have not done that in this case and I am not aware of many others.

        Call them obstructionist if you like but this is a case where Obama and his people actually clearly are allowed to act without resorting to any really imaginative interpretations of the law and t

  • This is either blackmail or a confession. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by fustakrakich ( 1673220 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @07:38PM (#51936199) Journal

    Let them sell the bonds. Who's gonna buy 'em? Lots of people. It can only hurt the Saudis. However, in our game of empires, we need them desperately, so I doubt anybody is going to seriously ruffle any feathers.

    • Re:This is either blackmail or a confession. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @07:45PM (#51936239) Journal

      I'd say "Sell them, and you'll never buy another piece of American military equipment again, and there won't be a single US soldier within your borders within six months."

      As oil's importance fades, I think the response to anything from Saudi Arabia should "Fuck you, fuck you very very much."

      • Well, that's the rub, isn't it? We don't want them going to the Russians or the Chinese... Oy! The things we do for love [youtube.com]...

      • Re:This is either blackmail or a confession. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by guises ( 2423402 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @08:04PM (#51936341)
        The bigger problem is, this is a ridiculous bill - you can't let all of your citizens individually pick fights with foreign countries. Laws and lawsuits are too inflexible to allow for real diplomacy. Some politicians are going to recognize that, see that this bill has no chance of passing, and vocally support it - saying that those politicians who oppose it are corrupt and selling out American citizens to foreign interests. There's no risk to these opportunist politicians, since the bill is never going to get passed / signed anyway, so they're free to grandstand to their hearts' content.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by TimSSG ( 1068536 )
        I believe the Saudi Arabia does NOT need our American military equipment. They really do NOT have enough trained native people to support all that they have purchased. I think the real reason they buy it is to bribe the US Government to defend their country in case they need it. And, to have equipment on hand for US troops to use when we send them. Tim S.

        I'd say "Sell them, and you'll never buy another piece of American military equipment again, and there won't be a single US soldier within your borders within six months."

        As oil's importance fades, I think the response to anything from Saudi Arabia should "Fuck you, fuck you very very much."

      • People really don't understand how T-Bills work. They are sold once and then paid back with interest according to a fixed schedule, regardless of who owns them. If Saudi Arabia sold all its T-Bills, it would do a great deal of damage to itself and only a little bit of temporary damage to the US. If SA floods the market, they will get pennies on the dollar for the assets in the middle of their self-imposed budget crunch while the US will just need to offer a little more interest on new T-Bills while the f
        • I don't know... For a while now, we've been entirely dependent on bond sales to fund our government. Flooding the market with $750B in treasury bills is a pretty big deal. They would have to raise interest rates on new bond sales considerably to make them more attractive than the secondary market bills that just got flooded... all $750B of them. It would create a rather huge fucking fiscal mess if Saudi Arabia did this. Wouldn't be the end of the world, wouldn't be a new depression, but the shit show on Cap

          • I don't know... For a while now, we've been entirely dependent on bond sales to fund our government. Flooding the market with $750B in treasury bills is a pretty big deal. They would have to raise interest rates on new bond sales considerably to make them more attractive than the secondary market bills that just got flooded... all $750B of them. It would create a rather huge fucking fiscal mess if Saudi Arabia did this. Wouldn't be the end of the world, wouldn't be a new depression, but the shit show on Capitol Hill would be enough to make you want to shoot yourself.

            Or the Fed could raise interest rates and devalue that $750B worth of investments with a hit to the Saudis' interest rate risk. Financial Wars are stupid and counterproductive.

            This is really probably just the royal family using their clout to protect a few friends and avoid embarrassing lawsuits trying to tie them to Osama Bin Laden.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by DarkOx ( 621550 )

            I am not to sure about that. If they really dumped 750B in face value ( I am not sure the Saudis have the wherewithal to do that ) it might cause a depression. Consider that is most of fiscal years worth of bond sales. We know the government runs for ~5 months or so when the debt ceiling get bumped up against.

            I think its fairy predictable what would happen. The money that wants US bonds would chase the Saudi assets being both discounted and having a nearer maturity date. If the Saudis are willing to ke

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by N1AK ( 864906 )

          People really don't understand how T-Bills work.

          You for example. The point of dumping bonds isn't that the bond you dump hurts the country but that by putting it on the market at a price that is more competitive than the value of new issues the US won't be able to sell new ones at an acceptable price. Sure the government could offer a higher interest rate, but then you're paying more interest on $750 billion in loans than you otherwise would have had to. In my opinion we're hardly talking the end of the wor

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        What difference does it make. The writing is on the wall for Arabia and the shite House of Saud and it's fundamentalists autocratic religious ways. They will be selling those assets to pay the bill for the civil suits. Basically the tip is on, that as revenues falls and those insane egotist continue to make huge egoistic demands of their economy will end up bankrupting the place added into this a violent revolution bursting force after decades of oppression. So the idea is to, let loose with civil suits to

      • I'd be thanking them for ditching their leverage and wishing them good luck in their ongoing economic war with Iran. Simultaneously, I'd be thankful that a country that executes people on the basis of accusations of witchcraft is less able to wield influence over internal decisions in my country. I'd honestly prefer that their holdings of US assets are nil.

      • Re:This is either blackmail or a confession. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @07:32AM (#51938791) Journal

        This is the other of the I think two thing Trump has said that I kind of agree with. Team America World Police is a very very expensive proposition. Its a huge expenditure of our resources.

        The counter argument is and will be that we get a great deal of influence and good will in exchange for that. Which I would agree has been true in the past, but that influence seems to be on the wane.

        Trump has suggested we send some of our protection clients the bill and or negotiate (extort, I believe we should tell it like it is) some tit for tat. I think he might be right about that. I think it might be instructive for various groups around the world to see what happens when America pulls up the tent stakes and goes home. See what happens to the House of Saud when we leave. We should have let ISIS have Iraq, its not our fight anymore. We should have allowed that to be the lesson for everyone else in the region about what happens to you when we don't get the status of forces agreement we want.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by N1AK ( 864906 )

          We should have allowed that to be the lesson for everyone else in the region about what happens to you when we don't get the status of forces agreement we want.

          We should have let ISIS have Iraq, its not our fight anymore. Perhaps you shouldn't have invaded the fucking country if you didn't want the hassle of fixing it afterwards.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by DarkOx ( 621550 )

            Saddam was an enemy. We destroyed an enemy. Was it a good idea to not have a post invasion plan when we went in, no. We were getting things together there, they asked us to leave before they were ready. It was their fault.

      • I'd say "Sell them, and you'll never buy another piece of American military equipment again, and there won't be a single US soldier within your borders within six months."

        As oil's importance fades, I think the response to anything from Saudi Arabia should "Fuck you, fuck you very very much."

        China and / or Russia would step up in a heartbeat.

        We as a country have lost our balls somewhere and I seriously doubt we're going to find them in this little spat.

    • Re:This is either blackmail or a confession. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by exomondo ( 1725132 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @08:07PM (#51936361)

      It is that lawsuits could be brought against them in the US that they would then have to defend in US courts or face the possibility of their US assets being frozen. I don't think they would want to risk that.

      Ultimately what is the goal of these lawsuits? Even if they get to a point at which it is discovered and comprehensively proven that the Saudi government did have some involvement in it what happens then? Is the US going to mount an incursion into a sovereign nation to arrest Saudi nationals on the basis of a US court ruling? Are the families just wanting an admission of guilt from somebody? Or are they chasing a financial payout?

      Sure they want the guilty parties held responsible but even assuming that is some senior Saudi government official and it is proven in a US court, how will justice be served?

      • Is the US going to mount an incursion into a sovereign nation to arrest Saudi nationals?

        The US has already done this in a few sovereign nations.

        Italy, I think. Some others. An arrest of someone on foreign soil, who has not been extradited, and without informing the sovereign nation's government (much less working with them) — How is that not an act of war?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by dj245 ( 732906 )

        Ultimately what is the goal of these lawsuits? Even if they get to a point at which it is discovered and comprehensively proven that the Saudi government did have some involvement in it what happens then? Is the US going to mount an incursion into a sovereign nation to arrest Saudi nationals on the basis of a US court ruling? Are the families just wanting an admission of guilt from somebody? Or are they chasing a financial payout?

        I would just be happy if the outrage among the population gained enough momentum that the USA was forced to stop selling weapons to the Saudis [google.com]. Saudi Arabia is not our buddy. We really need to stop treating them like one.

      • Mount an incursion? - of course not. $750,000,000,000 in civil asset forfeiture for the crime of enabling W. to obtain congressional help in his plan to throw away American lives and trillions of dollars in response to that incident. They invested heavily in the assets of a powerful nation of idiots. If they were also complicit in the 9/11 attacks, then the seizure would be an object lesson in what comes of that sort of behavior. Really, they should be ditching those assets now, so they have nothing for the
        • That's a pretty interesting position to take. Even if it were true, your assertion is that a nation should be punished for the crimes of a few of its citizens helping your corrupt president and congress fool its own people and that would be justice? The US continues to sell weapons to the Saudis, in fact one of the biggest ever arms deals was the US selling arms to the Saudis. Justice would be more served by the American people giving themselves a right flogging for allowing their government to do this.
          • Justice? I never claimed it would be justice. What about the whole US involvement in the middle east has ever been successful at having any significant relation to justice? I'm sure there's something someone did, if viewed from a sufficiently local perspective... However, local governments all over this country have been trying to make up for deficits through civil asset forfeiture. Most of those actions have nothing to do with justice either.

            On average, I think the amount of care people in the USA have
            • Well justice is the point of this, that's the reason why these people want to sue Saudi Arabia, to get "justice". My question was how will that happen?
              • Individuals who sue don't get justice. They get compensation. Justice is only obtained when the plaintiff is a governing body. If these people want to sue, what they're after is compensation.

    • Re:This is either blackmail or a confession. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 18, 2016 @08:12PM (#51936399)

      'Need them desperately' for what?

      For funding more ultra-conservative Sunni Salafist/Wahhabist madrassas and mosques around the world to provide the cannon fodder for Al Qaeda and ISIS?

      For bombing Yemeni Shiites, and further destabilising/arming Sunni fundamentalists (Taliban and ISIS/AQIR) in Iraq and Afghanistan?

      For providing the majority of the hijackers in the World trade centre bombing?

      For trying to trash the US shale oil industry (which has made it energy independent, and for the first time in 70 years a net exporter of oil) through pricing that only it can afford and still make a profit off, as well as renewable energy sources?

      For enlisting the US to defend Saudi interests (in Iraq, in Kuwait, in the Gulf States, in Yemen) and expend its blood and treasure whilst the Saudis sit pretty?

      The Saudis have been bleeding the US for years ... why are they so 'desperately needed'? Seems to me that the 'approved enemies' ... Iran and the like haven't been taking single uS life, or funding any terror against US citizens, but 'our friends the Saudis' have been mixed up one way or the other in ALL the grief that has come the US's way from the Middle East.

      I'm guessing US diplomats can probably give us a really good reason for the unflinching support of the Kingdom ... but I sure as hell can't think of one.

      • Re:This is either blackmail or a confession. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Sir Holo ( 531007 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @10:11PM (#51937051)

        "The US ally Saudi Arabia"

        I have never understood this term.

        If there is need to preface every mention of "Saudi Arabia" with "our ally", then your BS alarm should go off.

        How often do we hear:
                "Today our ally Iceland ..."
                "Today our ally France ..."
                "Today our ally Germany ..."
                "Today our ally Spain ..."

        The answer is never

        • Ally is a military term. In the case of Saudia Arabia, it might have applied during the cold war, "our ally" in the middle east supplied us with dependable oil and opposed communism in the region, and we turned a blind eye to their spreading islamo-faschism. But I think the term is out dated today. Communism is no longer a threat. Oil matters less and less was we approach a post-petroleum world and the world can can no longer ignore the threat of radical islam.
        • lol your comment is the only result for those quoted search terms for Iceland and Germany. For France and Spain, the results all come back in the context of negative statements about those countries. So I guess you're right.

    • However, in our game of empires, we need them desperately,

      Not really anymore [growthstockwire.com]. The US is the world's third largest producer of crude oil, and produces more than it uses.

      In short, Europe and China might need Saudi Arabia, but the US doesn't.

    • It's a double blackmail. Saudi Arabia has not been giving Obama the support he's wanted since he came into office. Also Hillary has close ties to the Saudi's via the Clinton Foundation and financial investments.The Clinton family has been try to maneuver themselves back into the Whitehouse since Obama first ran for election. Also Obama wants his preferred candidate, Bernie in office. If certain papers get released or leaked at the right time and the Clinton indictment on the email server goes further s

  • what the Saudis owe... (Score:3)

    by harvey the nerd ( 582806 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @07:39PM (#51936203)
    If the Bushes are Saudi agents, we should sieze 2 trillion in assets for the Iraq disaster plus more for the 9/11 attack. Not to mention a lot of the Saudi oil was seized ("nationalized") from American companies for a song.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zlives ( 2009072 )

      what?!! if anything you should be asking about cheny and MilComplex players

  • Saudi Arabia is hot. Iran is not [bloomberg.com].

  • go ahead (Score:5, Interesting)

    by supernova87a ( 532540 ) <kepler1@@@hotmail...com> on Monday April 18, 2016 @07:55PM (#51936297)
    Let the regime posture and threaten all it wants. They're in enough trouble already with gas prices in the toilet, a state budget about to collapse, and a discontent/unemployed population that is chomping at the bit for reform of the ruling classes....

  • Not about choosing "sides" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TapeCutter ( 624760 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @07:59PM (#51936309) Journal
    Let's assume for a moment that everything 60 minutes claims is in fact true. Exactly how do they propose to force a foreign government to put themselves under the jurisdiction of a domestic civil court?
    • You just get a US judgement against the Saudi state and then seize any assets outside of Saudi Arabia to pay off the judgement. I'm sure there are umpteen $billions in Saudi assets even on US soil.
  • From the Summary:

    "The 9/11 commission confirmed that there is no evidence that the government of Saudi Arabia supported or funded Al Qaeda."

    Then what are the Saudi's worried about?

  • International Law (Score:4, Informative)

    by chromaexcursion ( 2047080 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @10:20PM (#51937093)
    You can't sue sovereign states. It's a foundation of international law.
    If congress is is stupid enough to ignore this the US is screwed. We lose that protection.
    I know it sucks. But, we have to tell these people they have NO recourse against Saudi Arabia.

    Lots of people want and try to sue the US government. Constantly! Not just in the US
    They all get thrown out at stage one. you can't sue sovereign states.

    Just for instance:
    If this bill passes
    Millions of Vietnamese could sue the US

    think about it!

  • Saudi Arabia sees the writing on the wall (Score:3)

    by Sir Holo ( 531007 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @10:24PM (#51937115)

    This is off-topic, but hear me out.

    I have to applaud the Saudi Arabian government for "seeing the writing on the wall" about the soon-coming phase-out of dinosaur-burning (fossil fuels) as the major source of energy for the world. They are investing very heavily in renewable energy technologies, as well as some other areas in an attempt to use their sovereign wealth to shift their economy – before the shit really hits the fan – to other potential GDP-producing sectors.

    Yeah, they have sold a big portion of the oil – the burning of which has been clearly destructive to our own planet – but other countries wanted to buy this cheap source of concentrated, transportable energy. Recall that "Saudi Aramco" = "Saudi Arabian–American (oil) Company". The US has long since sold off its stake, but that is the genesis of the country.

    All other issues (e.g., human rights) aside, Saudi Arabia's leaders are way ahead of the US and many other governments on planning for a post-carbon-energy world. That is long-term planning, and does deserve some respect.

  • There are forces in the American and global ruling systems that absolutely do not want a real investigation of 9/11. If the full truth comes to the light of day there will be executions warranted. Don't be surprised that powerful elements will fight to the death to prevent that.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I suspect the reason(s) why the Administration doesn't declassify the redacted pages of the 9/11 report has to do with intel sources and methods, rather than any smoking gun.

    G-fucking-WB didn't help his PR when he facilitated flying home members of the House of Saud and their retainers who happened to be in the US on 9/11. Sure, the King and lead princes were probably worried about Arabs being beaten in the streets of the US, and at that point not knowing whether or not one of their number had a direct hand

  • I'm curious at how all of this is Blackmail? It's more damaging to keep this information classified than it is to disclose it. This legislation isn't threatening the POTUS because after all unless they can raise a 2/3 majority in both houses it won't become law without his signature. Again, declassify the information and make it public since It'll probably be more embarrassing for the US anyway on how we missed a lot of indicators that something was happening and that the US government was incompetent. A

    • ...to sell the $750 billion in notes/securities etc if the bill passes.

      On the flip side, the Saudis have been conducting economic war on the US and Canada by flooring oil prices with over production.

      Nah, the U.S. has been more than fine with that dumping....because geopolitics. Crashing the oil market has hurt Russia, allowed for the right-wingers in Venezuela to come back into power, and will greatly delay Iran's ability to make up for the billions they lost to sanctions. Sanctions, levied against the I

  • Not just 9/11 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Tom ( 822 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @01:17AM (#51937805) Homepage Journal

    It's not just that. The Saudis and Turkey are the obvious supporters behind Daesh (ISIS) as well, and everyone with three working brain cells knows it. But everyone is so tied up with them that it took Putin of all people to point it out.

    A 9/11 lawsuit would potentially bring all these ties to light as well, and open up a whole can of worms that would probably end with the Saudi ruling family on Interpols Most Wanted list.

  • So... how's that 9/11 Commission due process working out for everyone?

    Whistler: I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    Bernard Abbott: Oh, this is ridiculous.
    Martin Bishop: He's serious.
    Whistler: I want peace on earth and goodwill toward men.
    Bernard Abbott: We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    ~From the movie 'Sneakers', 1992

    If the pages should become leaked, there are several respected lawmakers who have seen them and are presently on record as supporting their public

  • doesn't matter... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SuperDre ( 982372 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2016 @03:53AM (#51938237) Homepage
    it really doesn't matter if the report is declassified, it's still a fake report.... It was an inside job, just look at what laws have been made possible due to 9/11.. a few thousands deaths is well the worth to the people who orchestrated it.. One big hint is the pulling(collapse) of building 7, it's just impossible to pull a building in a matter of hours (and it wasn't even hit by a plane).

  • If someone you loved was murdered and the person was just able to go away Scott free

    We need to ask this Scott guy.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Engineering without management is art." -- Jeff Johnson

Close