Ex-US Senators : 'Direct line' between 9/11 terrorists, Saudi government

03.03.2012

Relatives of people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States Friday welcomed moves by two former senators to link Saudi Arabia to the events as part of a huge lawsuit.

Ex-Florida senator Bob Graham and former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey said in sworn affidavits to a New York court they were certain of the links between the Saudi government and the attacks.

Saudi Arabia, now a key regional US ally in the fight against terrorism, has said the 9/11 commission’s final report “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution of senior Saudi individuals funded” al Qaeda, the New York Times said.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was also a Saudi citizen. After years on the run, he was finally tracked down to a compound in Pakistan and killed in a US commando raid in May.