{"id":176582,"date":"2020-05-12T22:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T03:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/05\/12\/oops-2\/"},"modified":"2020-05-12T22:04:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T03:04:00","slug":"oops-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/05\/12\/oops-2\/","title":{"rendered":"OOPS!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a court filing, the FBI mistakenly <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/in-court-filing-fbi-accidentally-reveals-name-of-saudi-official-suspected-of-directing-support-for-911-hijackers-224555851.html\">revealed the name of the Saudi official who was (<b><span style=\"font-size: 80%; font-variant: small-caps;\"><i>allegedly<\/i><\/span><\/b>) providing support to the 911 hijackers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A sharp-eyed reporter at <i>Yahoo News<\/i> (of all outlets) noticed that the name was not redacted on a now withdrawn court document.<\/p>\n<p>It turns out to be one Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, who reported directly to the US Ambassador,&nbsp; Bandar, aka Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, aka &#8220;Bandar Bush&#8221; for his closeness to the Bush family.<\/p>\n<p>Did I mention that he was also at one point head of Saudi intelligence?<\/p>\n<p>How convenient:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">The FBI inadvertently revealed one of the U.S. government\u2019s most sensitive secrets about the Sept. 11 terror attacks: the identity of a&nbsp; mysterious Saudi Embassy official in Washington who agents suspected had directed crucial support to two of the al-Qaida hijackers. <\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">The disclosure came in a new declaration filed in federal court by a senior FBI official in response to a lawsuit brought by families of 9\/11 victims that accuses the Saudi government of complicity in the terrorist attacks. <\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">The declaration was filed last month but unsealed late last week. According to a spokesman for the 9\/11 victims\u2019 families, it represents a major breakthrough in the long-running case, providing for the first time an apparent confirmation that FBI agents investigating the attacks believed they had uncovered a link between the hijackers and the Saudi Embassy in Washington. <\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u201cThis shows there is a complete government cover-up of the Saudi involvement,\u201d said Brett Eagleson, a spokesman for the 9\/11 families whose father was killed in the attacks. \u201cIt demonstrates there was a hierarchy of command that\u2019s coming from the Saudi Embassy to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs [in Los Angeles] to the hijackers.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">After being contacted by <i>Yahoo News<\/i> on Monday, Justice Department officials notified the court and withdrew the FBI\u2019s declaration from the public docket. \u201cThe document was incorrectly filed in this case,\u201d the docket now reads. <\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Ironically, the declaration identifying the Saudi official in question was intended to support recent filings by Attorney General William Barr and acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell barring the public release of the Saudi official\u2019s name and all related documents, concluding they are \u201cstate secrets\u201d that, if disclosed, could cause \u201csignificant harm to the national security.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Who says irony is dead?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"display: block; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px auto;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/461113608\/2020-5-8-ECF-6197-Declaration-of-Jill-Sanborn#from_embed\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\" title=\"View 2020 5-8 ECF 6197 Declaration of Jill Sanborn on Scribd\">2020 5-8 ECF 6197 Declarati&#8230;<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/384194107\/Kelli-R-Grant#from_embed\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\" title=\"View Kelli R. Grant's profile on Scribd\">Kelli R. Grant<\/a> on Scribd<\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.7729220222793488\" data-auto-height=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/embeds\/461113608\/content?start_page=1&amp;view_mode=scroll&amp;access_key=key-ua6eT1iq2yCwAGr5U7QS\" title=\"2020 5-8 ECF 6197 Declaration of Jill Sanborn\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A few lines from the bottom of page 7 is the unredacted statement, &#8220;(i.e., any and all records referring or relating to Jarrah);&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Oops.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">But while Sanborn\u2019s 40-page declaration blacks out the Saudi official\u2019s name in most instances, in one it failed to do so \u2014 a discrepancy first noted this week by a <i>Yahoo News<\/i> reporter. <\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">A redacted copy of a three-and-a-half page October 2012 FBI \u201cupdate\u201d about the investigation stated that FBI agents had uncovered \u201cevidence\u201d that Thumairy and Bayoumi had been \u201ctasked\u201d to assist the hijackers by yet another individual whose name was blacked out, prompting lawyers for the families to refer to this person as \u201cthe third man\u201d in what they argue is a Saudi-orchestrated conspiracy.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Describing the request by lawyers for the 9\/11 families to depose that individual under oath, Sanborn\u2019s declaration says in one instance that it involves \u201cany and all records referring to or relating to Jarrah.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">The reference is to Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, a mid-level Saudi Foreign Ministry official who was assigned to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., in 1999 and 2000. His duties apparently included overseeing the activities of Ministry of Islamic Affairs employees at Saudi-funded mosques and Islamic centers within the United States. <\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Relatively little is known about Jarrah, but according to former embassy employees, he reported to the Saudi ambassador in the United States (at the time Prince Bandar), and that he was later reassigned to the Saudi missions in Malaysia and Morocco, where he is believed to have served as recently as last year.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Also, as to is his current whereabouts?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;\u00af_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af<\/p>\n<p>Is that a bone saw I hear?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">Jarrah \u201cwas responsible for the placement of Ministry of Islamic Affairs employees known as guides and propagators posted to the United States, including Fahad Al Thumairy,\u201d according to a separate declaration by Catherine Hunt, a former FBI agent based in Los Angeles who has been assisting the families in the case. <\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Hunt conducted her own investigation into the support provided to the hijackers in Southern California. \u201cThe FBI believed that al-Jarrah was \u2018supporting\u2019 and \u2018maintaining\u2019 al-Thumairy during the 9\/11 investigation,\u201d she said in her declaration.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m shocked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a court filing, the FBI mistakenly revealed the name of the Saudi official who was (allegedly) providing support to the 911 hijackers. A sharp-eyed reporter at Yahoo News (of all outlets) noticed that the name was not redacted on a now withdrawn court document. It turns out to be one Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, who &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[368,394,509,481,407,373],"class_list":["post-176582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-corruption","tag-foreign-relations","tag-house-of-saud","tag-intelligence","tag-justice","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}