The measure was approved on the last working day before the 15th anniversary of the worst terror attacks in USA history. But others who helped plan and finance the attacks haven’t been identified or tried in US courts, according to the families of 9/11 survivors and victims.
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“If any foreign government, if it can be shown to have supported a terrorist attack on USA soil, American victims ought to have the right to sue that country”, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees, said on the floor Friday. Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said that if the bill becomes law, then the country would sell $750 billion in US assets, including treasury securities.
Currently, a law allows foreign countries to be sued if they are officially considered a state sponsor of terrorism, but Saudi Arabia doesn’t have that designation. Votes from two-thirds of the members in the House and Senate would be needed to override a veto.
But Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, said the USA government should be more concerned about the families of the victims than “diplomatic niceties”. No official Saudi complicity in the Al-Qaeda attacks of 9/11 has been proven, and the kingdom has never been formally implicated.
“That’s for a jury of Americans to decide”, Poe said. The US and Saudi are now involved in efforts against Isis, while the US is supporting Saudi Arabia military operation against rebels in Yemen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck Schumer, D-New York.
Families of the September 11 victims have used the courts to try to hold members of the Saudi royal family, Saudi banks and charities liable because of what the plaintiffs charged was Saudi financial support for terrorism.
Families of the victims have long advocated for the bill. The White House has expressed opposition to the measure.
The vote’s time was emblematic, passing two days before the 15th anniversary of the hijacked-plane attacks on Washington and NY.
The US House of Representatives passed the legislation, which was passed by the Senate unanimously in May.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir has denied such threats, but he warned that investor confidence would be shaken if such a measure was enacted. He said Riyadh had warned that investor confidence in the USA would shrink if the bill became law.
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Saudi Arabia denies its involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks, but 15 of the 19 hijackers were of Saudi descent. Because the USA and Saudi are now in talks about the war on ISIS.
