Posted on 09/10/2004 8:55:14 PM PDT by politicalvanguard.com
Port to Sue Saudi Arabia over September 11 Attack
The US government agency that owns the World Trade Centre site says it intends to hold Saudi Arabia and nearly 100 other defendants liable for the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the complex.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced last night that it planned to join as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed a week ago by Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, a bond trading firm that lost two-thirds of its workers in the trade centre attack.
The Cantor Fitzgerald lawsuit named as defendants Saudi Arabia, al Qaida, Osama bin Laden and other accused terrorists, along with financial institutions and charitable organisations that allegedly raised money for terrorism efforts.
In a statement, the port authority said it had “an obligation to preserve its legal options at this time” because a three-year statute of limitations was about to expire.
“We also have a responsibility to the millions of people who live and work in the region as well as to our bondholders to pursue every legal avenue to recover the losses we sustained on September 11,” according to the port authority, which lost 84 of its employees in the 2001 attacks.
The Cantor Fitzgerald lawsuit sought £4 billion in damages.
Although Saudi Arabia had been named as a defendant in similar lawsuits, the Cantor Fitzgerald action was particularly pointed in its criticism, accusing Saudi Arabia of supporting al Qaida with money, safe houses, weapons and money laundering.
It said Saudi Arabia engaged in a pattern of racketeering as it participated directly or indirectly in al Qaida’s work through its “alter-ego” charities and relief organisations, which it funded and controlled.
Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 of its 1,050 employees on September 11 and now has offices in midtown Manhattan.
Saudi Arabia defended itself last month as a loyal ally in the fight against terrorism, citing the September 11 Commission’s conclusion that the Saudi government did not fund al Qaida.
Saudi embassy spokesman Nail al-Jubeir said the ads told Americans “these are the facts that your own independent commission has said about Saudi Arabia. You make up your mind”.
But the commission had also criticised Saudi Arabia, calling it “a problematic ally in combating Islamic extremism”. It said Saudi-funded Islamic schools had been exploited by extremists and, while Saudi co-operation against terrorism improved after the September 11 attacks, “significant problems remained”.
Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of bin Laden and 15 of the 19 hijackers.
more power to them, but the suit won't get anywhere.
But Saudi wants good PR for a while, so maybe they'll settle out of court.
We should hold every Muslim residing in Jersey City hostage, and execute 100 of them a day--on TV--until our demands are met. Women and children will be included, in the true Muslim tradition of executions.
brilliant idea, moron.
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