The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass a bill this week allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, setting up an uncomfortable situation for President Obama just days before the 15th anniversary of the attack.
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The concern is that it could damage the U.S.’ relationship with Saudi Arabia and create a unsafe situation for American officials overseas. The Senate unanimously passed the same bill in May.
“If they’ve done nothing wrong, they have nothing to worry about”, he added. The White House has not issued an official position on the bill and spokesmen have been careful with their language, stopping short of issuing a full veto threat. “And the President of the United States continues to harbor serious concerns that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world”, he said, according to CNN.
The White House also opposes the legislation out of concern it could weaken USA ties with Saudi Arabia, expose US citizens overseas to legal risks and open the door to lawsuits against the USA from foreign countries.
The legislation is vehemently opposed by the Saudi government, which has threatened to remove billions of dollars from American banks in fear that the money could get wrapped up in costly litigation. However, supporters of the measure feel strongly that they have the required two-thirds majority to override such a veto. The move to vote in the House was first reported by Politico.
The White House once again said that President Barack Obama would veto the bill after the development. The signing of the bill would likely cause friction in an often strained relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The vote came after House members sang “God Bless America” on Capitol Hill to commemorate 9/11, just as they had immediately after the attacks on NY in 2001.
Fifteen of the 19 September 11 hijackers who crashed airliners in NY, outside Washington and in Pennsylvania were Saudi nationals.
“In fact what they [Congress] are doing is stripping the principle of sovereign immunities which would turn the world for worldwide law into the law of the jungle”, Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said in May in a statement”. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis.
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No official Saudi complicity in the Al-Qaeda attacks has been proven, and the kingdom has never been formally implicated.
