Brace yourself for a gut punch from history: newly declassified FBI and intelligence documents reveal chilling ties between Saudi Arabian government employees and the Al Qaeda terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 American lives.
New York Post reported that these explosive files, unearthed through the FBI’s Operation Encore investigation, point to Saudi officials potentially acting as an “advance team” for the hijackers, setting the stage for one of the darkest days in American history.
Let’s rewind to December 1998, when Saudi employee Adel Mohammad al Sadhan made a brief stop in southern California, marking the start of what FBI records suggest was a long game of preparation.
By June 1999, al Sadhan and fellow Saudi official Mutaib al Sudairy were in Washington, D.C., filming the U.S. Capitol and White House—locations later eyed as potential targets on 9/11, including by the heroes of United Flight 93 who thwarted an attack by storming the cockpit.
From D.C., the duo headed to San Diego, bunking with Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi student the FBI suspects was a Riyadh intelligence operative, for six weeks at an address later used by two hijackers.
Connections deepened as Fahad al-Thumairy, an imam at a Culver City mosque with ties to the Saudi embassy, emerged as a contact for al Sadhan, later directly aiding hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.
Fast forward to January 2000, when al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar arrived in Los Angeles, greeted by a support network allegedly prepped by these Saudi officials with housing, food, and local contacts.
FBI tapes even capture a “welcome party” in California that February for some of the hijackers, with another Saudi government figure in attendance—a detail that raises eyebrows about just how deep this web went.
Meanwhile, al-Bayoumi, who an FBI source says had a “50/50 chance” of knowing about the attacks in advance, provided a home base near the Al-Ribat mosque, led by Al Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki.
Bill Evanina, former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told journalist Catherine Herridge these records “provide new investigative leads” for unraveling the 9/11 puzzle. But let’s be real: new leads are cold comfort when they hint at foreign government employees possibly enabling mass murder on our soil.
Evanina also noted it’s “unclear whether the Saudi employees were working on behalf of their government” or just Al Qaeda. That ambiguity is a dodge—Americans deserve clarity, not diplomatic sidesteps, on who knew what and when.
By late 2000, al Sadhan and al Sudairy had scattered to Kansas and Missouri before slipping back to Saudi Arabia in October 2001, just weeks after the towers fell, leaving a trail of questions in their wake.
For over two decades, families of 9/11 victims have battled in federal court to hold the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accountable, alleging complicity in the attacks that shattered countless lives.
Last month, a Manhattan judge gave their case a green light to proceed to trial, citing fresh circumstantial evidence, though a Saudi embassy spokesperson “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling. Disagree all you want, but justice delayed is justice denied—let the evidence speak.
