With the United States being seen as a superpower in the world, few countries are able to post an imminent threat to it, neither in economy nor in national security. Yet Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, would be the exception, intervening in the legislation process by threatening the U.S. economy.
According to The New York Times, on Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir threatened the Obama administration and members of Congress that Saudi Arabia will be forced to liquidate its holding of treasury securities and other assets worth $750 billion if Congress passed a bill that would allow American citizens to sue foreign governments that have connections with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Suspicions that Saudi Arabia financially supported terrorists involved in the 9/11 plot have been widespread, despite official denial. Congress conducted an inquiry into the attacks and “cited some evidence that Saudi officials in the U.S. at the time had a hand in the plot,” according to The New York Times.
Oddly, the Obama administration has been actively lobbying Congress not to pass the bill, giving the impression to the families of victims and survivors that the president has consistently sided with the monarchy over U.S. citizens.
The 9/11 bill itself is in response to a lawsuit that families of both victims and survivors in the attack filed against the Saudi government, but was later dismissed due to the sovereign immunity of Saudi Arabia. The bill would open the gateway for U.S. citizens to be able to challenge foreign governments in an American courtroom.
Even if the bill were to pass, however, it would not have real impact on foreign governments because it is not easy for U.S. courts to hold foreign government responsible. When a lawsuit is brought up, foreign governments have no responsibility to even appear in the courtroom and could just ignore the case entirely.
In fact, Saudi’s motive of issuing the threat arises from information disclosed from the bill, not the bill itself. According to CNN, former Sen. Bob Graham, the co-chair of the 9/11 congressional inquiry, told CNN reporter Michael Smerconish on Saturday that “the Saudis have known what they did in 9/11, and they knew that we knew what they did, at least at the highest levels of the U.S. government.”
Perhaps the Saudi government is afraid of the embarrassment that would be brought to the royal family by the disclosure of more hidden information of the 9/11 attacks along with the passing of the bill. If the Saudis were not involved at all, why did they impose an irrational threat that could be devastating to its economy, especially given the low level of oil prices?
The United States’ government might not be willing to risk the U.S.-Saudi relations at any level going back 20 years, because no country intends to challenge the world’s largest crude oil producer and exporter. But this time is very different. According to data collected by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. has taken over Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer in petroleum and other liquids production. This means the United States will be gradually off the hook relying on importing oil from the kingdom for a long period of time. In addition, other western countries such as Canada, Mexico and Norway can also be substitutes of oil exporters to Saudi Arabia.
Another concern of the escalating U.S.-Saudi relations is that America needs its strategic ally in the Middle East to fight terrorism. As the most powerful Sunni state in the Middle East economically and militarily, Saudi Arabia certainly facilitates the U.S. military action in the Gulf. However, Saudi officials had not been strongly engaged in fighting the Islamic State group until Secretary of State John Kerry sought a coalition of Saudi, Jordan, Turkey and the U.S. It is counterintuitive that Saudi officials don’t have much motivation to fight the Islamic State group, even as the threat is at their front door. Saudi Arabia’s ambiguity and hesitation make it harder for the outside world to eliminate rumors and suspicion of its connection with terrorism.
The reaction of Saudi Arabia to the 9/11 bill reveals its fear of its suspected connection with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The United States by any means should not submit and be threatened by a foreign government that openly intends to hide the truth.
