Top Senate Democrat Harry Reid says Saudi Arabia is “not one of my favorite countries” and is shrugging off President Barack Obama’s threat to veto widely supported legislation that would give the families of 9/11 victims the right to sue the Saudi government for damages. Yet President Barack Obama has long said he would veto the legislation, citing concerns that it could usher in a torrent of similar claims from overseas against the United States government.
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The US Senate unanimously approved the bill, known as Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, in May, despite speculations that it could strain relations between Washington and Riyadh. And it could potentially lead other countries to retaliate, making US companies, citizens and members of the military subject to lawsuits in foreign courts.
The act has raised major concerns among USA allies in the Gulf States. The legislation passed Congress, Earnest said, because “there’s no denying the political potency of this issue”.
When US Vice President Joe Biden visited Ankara several weeks later, he said he understood the “intense feeling” in Turkey over Gulen.
In a statement, GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani said the law was “contrary to the foundations and principles of relations between states and the principle of sovereign immunity enjoyed by states”. Saudi Arabia has threatened to collapse the US Treasury market in retaliation. “That’s why the [Obama] administration is opposed to it, and that’s why every country in the world is opposed to it”.
Lorie Van Auken of Manhattan, whose husband Kenneth worked at the bond trading firm Kantor Fitzgerald and died in the World Trade Center Center collapse, described Monday’s announcement “a giant disappointment, a huge blow”. The bill would revise immunity laws now sheltering Saudis from American lawsuits in USA courts, making it possible for the families to finally get justice, and its passage comes right around the 15th anniversary of the attacks. “It’s more terrorism, essentially”.
Long debates are ongoing between USA administration officials and democratic legislators to reconsider the bill in an attempt to find a way to avoid collision between the Obama administration and Congress. The bill has yet to be presented to Obama.
The Senate may recess later this week until a lame-duck session in December.
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The bill was pushed by a bipartisan coalition in the House and Senate led by members from NY who have long felt the powerful and enduring passions of families who lost loved ones in the attacks. “It’s time to make this bill a reality, and I hope the president will sign it into law”. “If they did, they should be held accountable”.
