Press Release
Saudi Arabia Threatens U.S. Congress, Business, Banks
September 2016
Sept. 27, 2016 (EIRNS)—Agents of the bankrupt, genocidal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in and out of the Obama administration, have thrown all caution to the wind in their desperation to stop enactment of the JASTA bill, which will allow the truth of the Kingdom’s role in organizing, financing, and deploying the 9/11 attack on the United States to finally be exposed in full. This week, Saudi agents threatened economic warfare against "even ordinary American commercial activity," and, in effect, harm to the U.S. military, should the U.S. Congress override Obama’s veto of JASTA.
The Saudi Royal Family delivered the threats of economic warfare in their own name. With former Sen. Trent Lott’s treacherous imprimatur, Squire Patton Boggs, registered Saudi agents, sent e-mails to every legislative aide in both chambers of Congress between yesterday and today, on behalf of "The Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court," warning that enactment of JASTA could lead to multiplying retaliatory lawsuits against American manufacturers and banks.
Politico reported last night that this tactic has gotten at least four U.S. corporations—GE, Dow Chemical, Boeing, and Chevron—to pressure Congress to kill JASTA by letting Obama’s veto stand. Letters to Congress from CEOs of the companies against JASTA were extracted by Saudi threats that "their own corporate assets in the kingdom could be at risk if the law takes effect," as Politico put it. Politico quoted from a Saudi e-mail made available to it:
"Many foreign entities have long-standing, intimate relations with U.S. financial institutions that they would undoubtedly unwind, to the further detriment of the U.S. economy. American corporations with interests abroad may be at risk of retaliation, a possibility recently expressed by GE and Dow."
In an e-mail made available to EIR by one House office, the Saudi message is outraged that under JASTA, foreign governments could be sued as "aiding and abetting terrorism" for acts that contribute—even tangentially[!]—to an act of terrorism in the United States"; likewise, American and foreign banks "that happen to process transactions for terrorists"!
Politico reports that the Saudis are spending more than $250,000 a month lobbying against JASTA alone. But White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has never heard of the "Saudi lobby," he told an incredulous White House press corps yesterday when questioned at the briefing.
"I will say that this is the first time that I’ve heard the words, Saudi lobby. Maybe that means I need to get out more, but it’s the first time that I’ve heard it,"
Earnest stated with a straight face.
It was Defense Secretary "Nuclear Ash" Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford who delivered the Saudi threats to Congress that U.S. military members would be threatened by JASTA. The duo sent coordinated letters to Rep. William Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, protesting mightily of the potential blowback if "our partners and allies" could be sued, and not just the "state sponsors of terrorism" designated by the Bush/Obama regimes which have protected Saudi Arabia—and the British Crown.
London’s Daily Telegraph published yet another article yesterday night against JASTA, this one worried that "U.S. Anti-Terror Law Puts British Soldiers At Risk of Prosecution," along the lines of the Carter/Dunford letters.
"Britain’s intelligence and security agencies, MI6 and MI5, have also warned about the implications of the proposed legislation, as it could make them vulnerable to hostile lawsuits by American lawyers attempting to prove that British-based jihadists have been involved in terror plots against U.S. targets."
Indeed.