Obama to walk tightrope during Saudi Arabia visit

President Barack Obama’s visit Wednesday to Saudi Arabia comes in the midst of a threat by the oil-rich kingdom to sell off $750 billion in U.S. assets if Congress passes a bill aimed at the government in Riyadh.

The goal is to force Saudis to defend themselves in lawsuits prompted by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America’s homeland.

As things now stand, Saudi Arabia and other nations enjoy limited immunity from such legal actions.

However, a bipartisan coalition in Congress believes the Saudi government must be held to account for the almost 3,000 deaths given the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers of the commercial jetliners were Saudi citizens. The airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

The Saudi government has denied any role in the worst terrorist acts on American soil, but a 28-page section of a 9/11 Commission report is said to detail a connection between Saudi government officials and some of the hijackers. The document is sealed on the grounds of national security.

President Obama, who took office eight years after the attacks, is under pressure to declassify the report and is expected to make a decision in June.

Here’s what national syndicated columnist George Will has to say in a column published on this page today: “When President Obama departs for Saudi Arabia, an incubator of the 9/11 attacks, he will leave behind a dispute about government secrecy. The suppression of 28 pages, first from a public congressional inquiry and then from the 2004 report by the national 9/11 Commission, has spared the Saudis embarrassment, which would be mild punishment for complicity in 2,977 murders. When Obama returns, he should keep his promise to release the pages.”

SAUDI ARABIA GIVEN A PASS

Will’s opinion reflects the growing sentiment in this country that the Saudi government was given a pass first by Republican President George W. Bush and is now being protected by Democrat Obama. The reason: The two countries have long enjoyed a close political and economic relationship. It’s about Middle East politics and oil.

However, a majority of the American people, especially the families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, are convinced that there were ties between the terrorists and government officials in Riyadh.

Indeed, the hijackers were trained in camps operated by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror organization deep inside Afghanistan. Bin Laden, a Saudi by birth and the world’s most-wanted terrorist until his death at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALS, was given safe haven by the Taliban. The Islamic extremists governed the country at the time.

President Obama, like his predecessor President Bush, is reluctant to alienate the Saudis and is urging Congress not to pass the law that would force the Riyadh government to defend itself in the lawsuits stemming from the terrorist attacks 15 years ago.

But Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill believe there is credible evidence to implicate the Saudi government.

The threat from the Saudis to sell off billions of dollars in U.S. assets is seen by many experts as nothing more than saber-rattling. Such transactions, they say, aren’t easily conducted.

Thus, when President Obama meets with King Salman and other officials of the kingdom in an effort to find common ground in the war against Islamic extremists, most especially Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (commonly known as Islamic State), he should make it clear that the wounds of the Sept. 11, 2001, have not healed and that the American people are seeking justice.

The economic threat by the Saudis serves to confirm the belief of many that the powerful Middle Eastern nation views the United States as only caring about its economy and having a dependable source of energy.

It’s time they were disabused of the notion that Americans are more concerned about their financial well-being than their safety.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were a wake-up call that is now reflected in the bill being pushed through by Republicans and Democrats to hold the Saudi government accountable.