This is my annual post laying out the evidence that the government of Saudi Arabia participated in the September 11th terrorist attacks. When I first wrote it in 2023, I titled it Saudi Arabia (Likely) Did 9/11. At the time, the evidence pointed to Saudi involvement, but it wasn’t conclusive.
Every year, the case against Saudi Arabia grows stronger, and the American government’s credibility is weakened. Almost 3,000 innocent Americans were murdered on September 11th, 2001. Both Democratic and Republican presidents used this tragedy to justify a global war on terror that killed, displaced, and ruined millions more lives than were lost in New York. Not only has our government desecrated the memory of the deceased, but it has also done everything in its power to prevent the murderers from being brought to justice. We should never forget this betrayal and never stop fighting for the victims’ right to justice.
Today is the 25th anniversary of the September 11th, the deadliest modern terrorist attack on American soil. It’s a stoic day for our country. From classrooms to Sunday Night Football, Americans will bow their heads in a moment of national silence to commemorate the 2,977 Americans who perished in the iconic catastrophe. While nationalist fervor insists we Never Forget, Americans are kept in the dark about the most groundbreaking revelations of 9/11: there is ample evidence that our ‘ally,’ Saudi Arabia, enabled, funded, and directed the al-Qaeda hijackers.
“The circumstantial evidence (of Saudi involvement in 9/11) has mounted. Given the lapse of time, I don’t know any reason why the truth should be kept from the American people.” — Richard Lambert, lead FBI investigator into 9/111
What follows is the outlining of a conspiracy theory. There is no smoking-gun evidence that King Fahd, the then-Saudi monarch, directly ordered the attacks. But there is enough circumstantial evidence to conclude that Saudi intelligence agencies enabled the hijackers. Instead of prosecuting the perpetrators or cutting off diplomatic relations, the United States government has defended the Kingdom and silenced the victims’ families.
In August 2002, less than a year after the attacks, survivors and family members of 9/11 victims sued Saudi Arabia and its officials, alleging that they had funded and aided the hijackers.2 Their suit was blocked by the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), which prevented Americans from suing foreign governments in federal courts. Though they kept advocating for their cause, they were stonewalled until 2016, when Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA). President Obama vetoed the act, but Congress overrode him for the only time in his presidency.3 The JASTA made an exception to the FSIA, saying Americans could sue foreign governments that enabled terrorism.
‘This legislation ensures that those who aid and abet terrorist attacks on U.S. soil are held accountable for their conduct, even if such offenders are foreign sovereigns or their agencies or instrumentalities. The JASTA does so through modest amendments to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).’ — testimony of Congressional witness Jimmy Gurule4
Able to pursue legal action, the victims’ families asked the American government to declassify documents from the FBI’s Operation Encore, the Bureau’s investigation into potential Saudi involvement. Though first-term President Trump promised the families he would release the name of the Saudi diplomat the FBI had linked to the attackers, he instructed his Attorney General, Bill Barr, to prevent the disclosure, claiming releasing the files would cause “significant harm to national security.”5 To his credit, President Biden declassified a sixteen-page report summarizing the FBI’s findings in 2021. Though partially redacted, the newly released documents confirmed suspicions about Saudi Arabian nationals collaborating with the hijackers. Congress’s 2004 9/11 Commission Report had thrown water on the claims that two Saudi men, diplomat Fahad al-Thumairy and state employee Omar al-Bayoumi, aided the hijackers once they were in America. While Congress claimed there was ‘no evidence that Thumairy assisted the hijackers,’ the FBI found Thumairy had assigned an underling to help two hijackers a year before September 11th, calling them ‘two very significant people.’
It was previously known that Saudi national Omar al-Bayoumi had been in contact with two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. However, those interactions were falsely categorized as random encounters in a close-knit Muslim immigrant community. Dismissing these connections, Congress’s 9/11 Commission dismissed al-Bayoumi as ‘an unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement with Islamic extremists.’ The FBI report refutes this claim, citing a witness who watched al-Bayoumi wait for the hijackers to arrive at a restaurant before having a lengthy conversation with them.
A new report from the BBC lends credence to the Bureau’s disagreement. In October 2003, American investigators traveled to Saudi Arabia to interview al-Bayoumi as part of the congressional 9/11 commission. The investigators talked to their suspect for only four and a half hours, interrupted by a multi-course meal in which the Americans were wined and dined by their Saudi hosts. Notes from the interview show that al-Bayoumi received extraordinary reassurances. The investigators repeatedly told him, “No one believes he knowingly helped the hijackers carry out their terrorist mission.” I won’t claim to know the fine points of law enforcement interrogation. But I can’t imagine preemptively telling a suspect they’ll walk and breaking for a lavish feast are common in a serious pursuit of truth.
Additionally, those close to al-Bayoumi told the FBI he spoke often about a need to ‘take action’ for ‘jihad.’6
While one might consider the Congressional and FBI reports to be equally trustworthy yet contradictory, other sources corroborate the Bureau’s account. As early as the 1990s, law enforcement suspected al-Bayoumi was an informant for Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency, the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP). Having moved to America in 1994, al-Bayoumi was technically a student at San Diego State. But he never took a credited class, only a few months of English language education. In reality, al-Bayoumi was living off a stipend from the Saudi government. He was employed by Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation division to work on the Air Navigation Systems Support project. That project was happening in Saudi Arabia, raising questions as to why it was paying a delinquent student in California. To make things more suspicious, the Saudi government reimbursed the private companies paying al-Bayoumi for his salary. It’s undeniable that al-Bayoumi was working for the Saudi state. He once delivered $400,000 to a California mosque on the Kingdom’s behalf. When those employers tried to end al-Bayoumi’s employment in 1999, a government employee intervened. Sending a letter marked “extremely urgent,” the Saudi government insisted al-Bayoumi be rehired as "quickly as possible.” Al-Bayoumi was put back on the Saudi payroll. But those payments stopped abruptly on September 11th, 2001.7
It was later learned that hours before a meeting with the hijackers, al-Mihdhar and al-Hazm, al-Bayoumi visited the L.A. Saudi consulate to meet with Fahad al-Thumairy. It’s unknown what they discussed, but Occam’s Razor suggests it was about how to support the terrorists he would meet later that day. Al-Thumairy later had his diplomatic passport revoked by the State Department for suspicion of “terrorist activity.” This meeting was just one instance of logistical support al-Bayoumi gave to the hijackers. Al-Bayoumi essentially floated the two men, even signing their rental agreement for a San Diego apartment.
In June of 2024, the victims’ families pressed for more transparency, asking a federal court to unseal the FBI’s underlying evidence used to create some of the documents Biden declassified. The court released a self-taken video from al-Bayoumi recorded in 1999 and found by British police in al-Bayoumi’s U.K. apartment weeks after 9/11. The video is a narrated tour of landmarks around Washington D.C., in which al-Bayoumi details entrances, exits, and security checkpoints around the capital. He also explains the configuration of the Washington Monument to the Capitol Building, which could serve as an indicator for suicide pilots trying to locate high-value targets from the air. A portion of al-Bayoumi’s scouting video can be seen below.
Though this video was discovered by British police in al-Bayoumi’s U.K. apartment weeks after the attack, it was only disclosed in 2024. In 2026, more evidence from the U.K. raid was unearthed, raising more questions than it answered. One jaw-dropping page shows a math equation calculating the line of sight for navigating a plane into a ground target, factoring in plane speed and other variables unique to the 9/11 attacks. When the 9/11 families brought this document into court, attorneys for the Saudi government claimed it was a child’s school assignment.
"[The sketch is] the mathematical calculation of the crash. When we figured out what it was, we knew that it was the smoking gun that we'd been looking for." - Jodi Westbrook Flowers, a member of the 9/11 families' legal team
Though this evidence was logged by British police ten days after 9/11, it disappeared. Records show that U.K.-based FBI agents had the document, but they never mentioned it to the officers interrogating al-Bayoumi. The plane diagram eventually resurfaced in 2021 when the 9/11 families subpoenaed the FBI for it. All the FBI had was the original document and one short note written in 2012, eleven years after it was discovered. Why such a crucial piece of evidence was allowed to slip into nothing remains unclear. Upon seeing the drawing, the judge ruled it "connects al-Bayoumi with knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.” That connection should have been drawn a quarter of a century ago, when there was still time to punish the perpetrators.
Along with the diagram, a video showing al-Bayoumi with the infamous al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki was also found in the British apartment in 2001, but remained hidden until recently. In 2021, Al-Bayoumi denied ever knowing al-Awlaki while under oath. But the resurfaced tape, taken in 1997 or 1998 at a paintball arena, shows the two in close embrace. Another video showed the duo meeting at a meeting for Riyadh’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs, a Saudi government program that promotes fanatical Wahhabism throughout the world. With an established link between the Saudi government employee and al-Qaeda operatives, claims of coincidence crumble.
Given the damning nature of this evidence, one must wonder why the Americans were so quick to release al-Bayoumi. While the British police didn’t know about the plane diagram, they had these tapes and other evidence about flight paths and aviation guides taken from his apartment. On September 28th, 2001, the British police met with the FBI to decide if they should release al-Bayoumi or charge him. As the BBC reports, the British detectives believed they had enough evidence to charge the suspect and deport him to the United States for trial. But the Department of Justice declined, arguing there wasn’t enough evidence. That day, al-Bayoumi was released and fled to Saudi Arabia, where he presumably remains.
Given this, one has to wonder what other evidence is hidden from the public eye for “national security” concerns. At each step of their investigation into a possible Al-Qaeda-Saudi Arabia link, FBI agents were blocked by both Washington and Riyadh. They were seldom allowed to interview suspected contacts, and while the Bureau’s leaders publicly echoed Washington’s claim that there was no link between the Saudi government and the hijackers, those doing the investigation discovered the opposite. When retired FBI agent Kenneth Williams, who had warned his superiors about a possible hijacking in July of 2001, was asked to testify on behalf of the 9/11 families’ lawsuit, he was threatened by the FBI and the first Trump administration. According to Williams, he was told:
“There is other litigation involving the U.S. government going on, and any cooperation by you may negatively impact that case. The Trump Administration is trying to have good relations with Saudi Arabia, and they do not want you to give a deposition or cooperate with counsel for the families.”
Fearing for his pension, Williams declined to testify.
There’s no mystery why the American government would want to protect Saudi Arabia from being held responsible for 9/11. First is the obvious reason: the Saudis have America, and more specifically, our politicians, over a barrel. Literally.
The Kingdom’s oil production heavily impacts global oil prices, which can sway elections. The Saudis are known to decrease or increase oil production to impact American gas prices to help their preferred candidate. In 2023, Saudi Arabia announced low oil production would continue, ensuring rising oil prices were an issue in the 2024 Presidential election — a clear sign the Kingdom preferred a Donald Trump presidency over a Democrat.8 In May of 2025, the Saudis increased production to lower American prices, which Reuters described as an ‘unspoken gift to Trump.’9 (Though the Iran War has Saudi oil exports at a thirteen-year low, so they might regret that decision.) With their political fortunes in the palm of the Crown Prince’s hand, it’s no wonder — but still not an excuse — why both parties have acted as the Kingdom’s lawyer.
Additionally, Washington sees Saudi Arabia as a key ally in the Middle East. In addition to supporting the current Iran War, there are also five American military bases on Saudi soil, which were key staging points for the Iraq War.10 The Kingdom buys $10.7 billion worth of American armaments every year, making it one of the military industrial complex’s largest customers.11 If that relationship were to be cut off, as would likely happen if the government formally accused Saudi Arabia of a crime, politicians would see their donations from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin dry up and lose a key ally in a rapidly destabilizing region.
As goes without saying, the U.S. government’s refusal to declassify all related documents to assist the lawsuit against Saudi Arabia is a slap in the face to the 9/11 victims and their families. Thanks to their strength, the lawsuit has gone forward and is set to begin on October 7th. But government stonewalling is only part of the issue. Since September 11th, 2001, the American Empire has weaponized the lives lost as justification to launch illegal wars, disregard international law, suppress critical speech, attack civil liberties, and assassinate U.S. citizens. Given the government has spent a quarter-century stifling any real efforts to discover who ordered the attacks, it’s fair to say our leaders — both Democrat and Republican — are cynically using the 9/11 victims as propaganda for foreign military endeavors and further restrictions on our rights. (The lone exception to government betrayal is Zohran Mamdani, who released NYC’s records showing post-attack air quality was harmful to residents and responders. Another reason to vote socialist.)
It’s no coincidence that modern America’s worst acts, from invading Iraq to the CIA’s ongoing torture program, were done under the pretext of “stopping the next 9/11.” If it were revealed that the attack was carried out by Saudi Arabia, a nation we have spent the last two decades cozying up to, it would be immediately clear to the American people that every act of “national security” conducted since 2001 wasn’t a well-intentioned attempt at protecting us, but a secondary criminal conspiracy to expand the American Empire. With “smoking gun” evidence showing Saudi Arabia’s involvement in 9/11, that claim is difficult to deny.
If you appreciated this article, please click the ❤️ and subscribe to support my work and receive new articles in your inbox. If you’re a returning reader, please consider upgrading to a support subscription. I’m running a 50% off sale to celebrate crossing 10,000 subscribers. So for only $25, you can unlock everything JoeWrote has to offer and support my work for a full year. Thanks in advance!
In Solidarity — Joe
https://www.propublica.org/article/9-11-investigation-saudi-connections-operation-encore-fbi
https://www.motleyrice.com/anti-terrorism/september-11-litigation
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/09/23/veto-message-president-s2040
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20160714/105212/HHRG-114-JU10-Wstate-GuruleJ-20160714.pdf
https://www.propublica.org/article/attorney-general-barr-refuses-to-release-9-11-documents-to-families-of-the-victims
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/12/1036389448/biden-declassifies-secret-fbi-report-detailing-saudi-nationals-connections-to-9-
https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/new-video-documents-revive-questions-saudi-role-911-attacks-rcna158768
https://www.axios.com/2023/09/06/oil-prices-saudi-production-elections
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/saudi-price-war-looks-like-unspoken-gift-trump-bousso-2025-05-15/
https://products.kitsapsun.com/archive/2004/04-25/457408_saudis_secretly_helped_u_s__in_.html
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/its-time-to-stop-us-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia/
Great report! I will look at your PAID offer!