TEHRAN- 21 years after the September 11 attacks, American security services have gone to some lengths in shielding Saudi Arabia from any punitive measures, despite all the FBI evidence about the hijackers pointing to the involvement of Saudi officials. 

The lack of any action by Washington in pursuing the only line of inquiry, in front of the American public, displays a tremendous amount of disregard for the victims of the 9/11 attacks and their family’s attempts to seek justice. 

When the U.S. shows this level of apathy for American lives lost, of course, it can be difficult for it to be trusted in having any respect for Afghan, Iraqi or Yemeni lives. 

It would explain the lack of U.S. interest in seeking any justice for the many civilians killed by American bombs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere. The U.S. did wage two wars on the pretext of fighting terrorism. 

Both of which went horribly wrong with civilians having to pay the price for the policies of hawks and arms manufacturers in Washington, who make a fortune from U.S. military adventures abroad or other conflicts that the U.S. can support with constant arms. 

The billions of dollars wasted on two invasions in the aftermath of 9/11 made the world less safe and could have been invested domestically instead to eradicate the many problems plaguing America such as homelessness, child hunger, poverty or even the country’s outdated infrastructure. 

Last year, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden came under strong pressure by 9/11 family members, survivors and emergency responders to declassify an earlier FBI report, summarizing an investigation into the attacks, that they said showed a link to Saudi Arabian leaders. 

In a sign of how fed up the 9/11 families had become, Biden was told he would not be welcome at the 9/11 memorial events unless he fulfilled a pledge to be more transparent than other presidents. 

The heavily redacted documents show links between the hijackers and Saudi nationals in the U.S. who had close connection to Saudi state officials.  

The assistance provided for the attackers by the Saudi nationals is what the FBI itself referred to as “logistical support” in the timeline leading up to the 9/11 attacks. Experts have said there was no chance the attacks could have taken place by men who spoke very little English, without a support structure to help them move about. 

The 9/11 family members are suing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for reparation. 

Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who lived in the U.S., claims he just made friends with some of the hijackers and did not use them as agents for Saudi Arabia. According to FBI files prior to the 9/11 attacks, he was actually a U.S.-based Saudi intelligence agent who would go on to offer significant support to some of the attackers. Al-Bayoumi was also known to have links with terrorists, some of whom were close to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. 

According to one FBI memo, released last year, al Bayoumi was tasked with gathering information "on persons of interest in the Saudi community" and passing the intelligence to Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud, the Saudi ambassador to Washington at the time.

Among the FBI memos on al Bayoumi is one showing the agency was told by a secret source that there a "50/50 chance" he had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.

Other FBI reports show the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles arranged a meeting between al Bayoumi and the attackers. 

However leading officials at the FBI and U.S. Justice Department kept this information secret for years, information that could have altered a public inquiry like the 9/11 Commission, which reached other conclusions. 

The declassified FBI evidence over the years does indeed throw light on Saudi Arabia’s association with the hijackers. How far up the chain of command was there, knowledge of this relationship is something perhaps Washington should make public. 

The reality is the biggest source of funding for terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda or the Nusra Front or Daesh, has come from Saudi Arabia. This is something that is known by the U.S. as well as countries in the West Asia region who have suffered as a result of the Saudi-backed terrorism. 
Just as 15 of the hijackers were Saudi nationals, so were the hundreds of terrorists who blew themselves up alongside the ranks of Daesh in Iraq and Syria, in particular from 2014 until 2017.
It is regrettable that the Kingdom exports a Takfiri, Wahhabi ideology which has brainwashed tens of thousands of young men and women around the world to perform acts of terrorism. 

While this ideology is responsible for the deaths of 2,977 people on Sept. 11 in the U.S., is it also behind the murder of tens of thousands of innocent civilians in West Asia. 

Muslims are the chief victims of Takfiri and Wahhabi terrorism, and had it not been for the speedy intervention of Iranian military advisors dispatched from Tehran to Iraq and Syria, Daesh terrorists would have killed much more civilians. 
Of course, this is the real terrorism that America chose to ignore following the 9/11 attacks. On the other hand, there are countries in West Asia that successfully uprooted this threat when it spread.

The importance of Saudi oil reserves to the American economy cannot be underestimated considering Saudi oil exports are pegged to the American dollar. But it’s more than just oil that has stopped Washington from exposing Riyadh over 9/11 or pushing for more information. 

Both sides - the U.S. and Saudi Arabia - realize the importance of their relationship both economically and politically as shown by President Biden. 

Running for the presidency, Biden pledged: “I would make it very clear we were not going to in fact sell more weapons to them.” He added, “We were going to in fact make them pay the price, and make them in fact the pariah that they are.”

In what was an expected U-turn, the American president travelled to Saudi Arabia this year, asked for greater oil production and recently approved a multi-billion-dollar arms deal to the Kingdom. 

In 2017, the U.S. clinched deal with the Saudis worth $350 billion. The trade is simply too lucrative and would not be possible if ties to Saudi Arabia are broken over the 9/11 attacks.

America has made accusations against others over the 9/11 attacks, including Iran, something which is quite laughable and touching on borderline stupidity. However, it is not unexpected from the American officials, who have blamed Iran for just about everything. 

The accusation against Iran is more for domestic audience and aimed to make up for Washington’s failures in genuinely addressing the attacks with any tangible results.

What is even more regrettable is that people of Iraq and Afghanistan had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks but were made to suffer for 20 years after their land was invaded and occupied by American forces. 

20 years later, the U.S. chaotically withdrew from Afghanistan; but in a severe blow to humanitarian efforts in the country, the Biden White House has frozen seven billion dollars of Afghan funds, adding to the increasing poverty levels. 

This is while the real perpetrators are rewarded with more deadly arms to use them on their southern neighbor.