21 June 2024 , 10:33
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A former FBI agent has sensationally suggested that new evidence has emerged to show Saudi Arabia had a hand in the 9/11 attacks, following the release of a video.
The devastating terror strikes on September 9, 2001, saw nearly 3,000 people perish as planes crashed into the World Trade Centre towers in New York City, triggering a seismic shift in US foreign policy and reshaping global politics. The contentious footage was taken by Omar al-Bayoumi, who the FBI believes was a Saudi intelligence agent linked to two of the 9/11 hijackers.
Unveiled in a federal court this week and obtained by CBS 60 Minutes, the video hails from 1999, coinciding with when key al Qaeda operatives were scouting targets for the infamous attacks, says Richard Lambert, an ex-FBI agent at the helm of the initial 9/11 investigation in San Diego. "It is another very large brick in a massive wall of evidence that at this point indicates the Saudi government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks," Lambert asserted.
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Bayoumi filmed key locations in Washington DC before the attack (60 Minutes)Bayoumi's video, recorded over several days, meticulously scopes out entry points to the US Capitol, including security posts and a scale model of the edifice. At one point, he zooms in on the Washington Monument, noting his intention to visit it and "report to you in detail what is there."
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He also remarks on the proximity of the airport. Now serving as a consultant for the 9/11 victims' families in their lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, Lambert points out that knowing where the Washington Monument stands in relation to DC's other landmarks could be key in navigating towards intended targets.
The FBI say Omar al-Bayoumi was an operative of the Saudi intelligence service with close ties to two of the 9/11 hijackers (60 Minutes)Federal investigators are of the belief that the hijackers aboard Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, were targeting the US Capitol. Lawyers for the 9/11 families and former intelligence analysts who have spoken to 60 Minutes think that parts of the video indicate Bayoumi was surveying the Capitol as part of the scheme.
In the video, Bayoumi is heard mentioning a "plan." Lambert interprets this as: "I think he's communicating with the al Qaeda planners who instructed him to take the pre-operational surveillance video of the intended target."
The day that shook the world (Getty Images)The footage was discovered by British police in a raid at Bayoumi's UK apartment following 9/11. During the search, they also seized Bayoumi's handwritten address book, which, according to the lawyers for the 9/11 families, contained contact details for numerous influential Saudi officials who were in government positions at that time.
At the time Bayoumi recorded the Washington video, he was often accompanied by two Saudi diplomats who, the FBI claims, had "ties to al Qaeda," - an assertion the Saudi government contests. Retired FBI agent Ken Williams, who spearheaded the 9/11 probe in Phoenix where one of the hijackers trained, has said the recently surfaced Bayoumi footage "ranks right at the top of the pile" when it comes to evidence.
Bayoumi referenced a 'plan' in the video (60 Minutes)Williams is at odds with the Saudi government's claim that the video was merely a tourist recording by Bayoumi. It's been reported that British police handed the tape to the FBI just after the 9/11 attacks, raising eyebrows about why this crucial piece of evidence is only coming to light now, two decades on.
"If that was missed then shame on us for missing it," Williams, now a consultant for the 9/11 families' lawsuit, remarked. "If it wasn't missed, then I would have to ask the question: What was done with it?" Despite vehement denials from the Saudi government and Bayoumi regarding any role in the 9/11 horrors, their attorneys are pushing to have the case thrown out, with oral arguments scheduled in the upcoming months.