9/11 families outraged by 'massive coverup’ linking Saudi Arabian official to hijackers

This undated photo provided by the FBI shows Mohammed Alshamrani. The FBI has found a link between the gunman in a deadly attack at a military base last December and an al-Qaeda operative.(AP)

It took only five months for the feds to reveal that a Saudi airman who killed three men at a Pensacola, Fla., naval base had communicated with Al Qaeda before the shooting.

It took nearly two decades — and a stunning mistake by the FBI — to reveal the name of a Saudi official suspected of helping the 9/11 hijackers.

Attorney General William Barr’s personal handling of the two cases, which both carry major implications for U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, have outraged some families of 9/11 victims fighting in court to learn more about Riyadh’s suspected role in the 2001 attacks.

“There’s a stark contrast with what they’re doing with the Saudi airman and the giant, massive coverup they’ve been doing of linkages between Saudi Arabia and 9/11,” said Brett Eagleson, whose father was killed in the attacks.

“It’s bizarre.”

Last week, Barr used the Pensacola shooting as an opportunity to highlight federal authorities’ concern about encryption of cell phones. Luck and great effort by FBI hackers were required to crack the shooter’s phone, Barr said at a Tuesday news conference.

The phone revealed that the gunman, Royal Saudi Air Force member Mohammed Alshamrani, had radicalized in 2015 and communicated with Al Qaeda about a “special operation.” Alshamrani was training at Naval Air Station Pensacola when he opened fire with a 9-mm. Glock in December.

Brett Eagleson (left) and his mother Gail Eagleson met with President Trump in the Oval Office on Sept. 11, 2019. Brett was harshly critical of the Justice Department’s secrecy in a case brought by 9/11 families against Saudi Arabia. (White House)

Barr has been notably less transparent in 9/11 families’ long-running civil suit seeking damages from Saudi Arabia. The nation’s top law enforcement officer signed a declaration filed in Manhattan Federal Court asserting that the identity of a midlevel Saudi Embassy official in Washington suspected of directing help to two of the hijackers was a state secret.

The identity of that person remained under wraps until Yahoo! News spotted a court filing last week that failed to redact the person’s name. Why the U.S. government is going to such great lengths to protect the man, whose name is Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, remains a mystery.

“What about him is so sensitive to national security that no one was able to know his name?” Eagleson asked.

“I lost my dad and I can’t know about it because it’s our government’s little secret. ... It’s pretty clear the attorney general doesn’t give two s--ts about us. There’s no hope he’s going to help us."

James Kreindler, an attorney representing the 9/11 families, said the case against Saudi Arabia had uncovered links to the upper levels of the Saudi government. Al-Jarrah, he said, was the “right-hand man” of Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. from 1983 to 2005.

The case also was uncovering details about the U.S. intelligence failures leading up to the terrorist attack, he said. The Saudi government denies any connection to the hijackers.

“You have this intelligence failure that’s been covered up for 20 years. In Pensacola you don’t. That is the seminal difference,” Kreindler said.

The Trump administration has maintained a cozy relationship with the Saudis, despite concern about its worsening human rights record. Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner is friends with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the U.S. intelligence community determined ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The State Department inspector general fired by President Trump this month was reportedly investigating the administration’s decision to fast-track an $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia by declaring an emergency.

After the Pensacola shooting, Trump said the Saudis would be involved in “taking care of families and loved ones.” Kreindler noted that Republican politicians close to Trump had also expressed support for Saudi Arabia compensating Pensacola victims.

“It’s certainly worth pointing out that if the Trump administration is requiring Saudi Arabia to compensate the families of three people just murdered, why aren’t they doing the same for the 3,000 murdered on 9/11? And why fight us to conceal the documents?” Kreindler said.

The Justice Department declined to comment.