(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Saudi Arabia’s involvement in 9/11 has been public information for decades, with numerous reports detailing how Saudi officials Fahad al-Thumairy and Omar al-Bayoumi allegedly assisted at least two of the hijackers ahead of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
However, for more than 20 years, the public has never actually viewed the crucial evidence—until now.
On Thursday night, 60 Minutes published the notorious video of al-Bayoumi “casing” Capitol Hill in June 1999—months before al-Qaeda made the decision to include Washington DC in its terrorist plot. Numerous investigators believe the Capitol building was the target of Flight 93, which instead crashed in Pennsylvania.
“I am transmitting these scenes to you from the heart of the American capital, Washington,” al-Bayoumi can be heard saying in the video, which was just unsealed in the long-running class-action lawsuits victims’ families have been litigating against the government of Saudi Arabia.
Former FBI agent and 9/11 investigator Richard Lambert told 60 Minutes he thinks the video shows al-Bayoumi casing the Capitol—as opposed to just shooting a tourism video, as the Saudi government has argued.
“One of first thing you see flying into DC is Washington monument, so if you know where other targets are in terms of the Washington monument, it helps guide you to your intended target,” Lambert said.
“I think he’s talking to his al-Qaeda handlers who tasked him with the pre-operation surveillance video of the intended target.”
Perhaps just as shocking as the video itself was 60 Minutes’ revelation that the FBI has had possession of the footage since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“British police are believed to have turned over the video to the FBI shortly after 9/11,” said a 60 Minutes reporter. “Why, after more than 20 years, is it just now surfacing?”
While Thursday’s video was a major revelation, it didn’t tell the whole story.
Indeed, new evidence in recent years has suggested that not only was al-Bayoumi a Saudi agent working for Saudi Prince Bandar; he was also an asset of the CIA, which was, of course, once headed by George H.W. Bush. That information has been coming from the proceedings against 9/11 defendants at Guantanamo Bay.
According to Office of Military Commissions investigator Don Canestraro, at least two FBI agents told him that the CIA had attempted to recruit two of the hijackers as informants. The CIA was directing its recruiting efforts through al-Bayoumi, according to Canestraro.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
