Spotlight on Saudi Arabia Involvement in 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Two former US senators who participated in federal inquiries that examined the 9/11 Al-Qaida-led terrorist attacks say the United States needs to investigate the possibility of Saudi Arabia involvement.

Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, and his fellow former senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, expressed their suspicions about Saudi Arabia having had a pivotal role in the attacks in affidavits filed in New York, as part of a lawsuit brought against the Saudi government and other institutions in the country by families of the September 11 victims, among others.

"I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia," Graham said in his statement. He had led a joint 2002 Congressional inquiry into the attacks.

Kerrey, his former Senator colleague who served on the 9/11 Commission, said in a separate document: "Significant questions remain unanswered concerning the possible involvement of Saudi government institutions and actors in the financing and sponsorship of al-Qaida.

"Evidence relating to the plausible involvement of possible Saudi government agents in the September 11th attacks has never been fully pursued."

The affidavits were filed on behalf of the 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism, a group comprised of more than 6,600 relatives of victims who died in the tragedy and started their law suit in 2002.

The families of 9/11 victims released a statement praising Kerrey and Graham for their affidavits, which were filed in a New York federal court to counter claims to by the Saudi government that the 9/11 Commission had "exonerated" it of any connection to the tragedy.

According to the two former lawmakers, the US government has been too quick to exonerate Saudi Arabia and the Saudi High Commission from involvement in the attacks, because they were key US allies in the fight on terrorism.

Suspicions over possible Saudi involvement in the attacks were raised after it was revealed that a majority of the 9/11 hijackers were from the kingdom.