Saudi Arabia is the primary member of OPEC. Saudi Arabia sets policy with OPEC for the most part. Yesterday the price of crud oil went up because of global issues impacting that price. Saudi Arabia's infrastructure basically costs the country nothing to operate, except, salaries to the workers. I believe Saudi Arabia will do whatever is necessary to end this before it begins.
President Obama may or may not sign the legislation, but, I would urge Saudi Arabia to decide if any 911 family will file suit. Post September 11, 2001 the families received monies from the USA treasuries to help them financially mitigate the loss of their loved ones and the future of the family. There was a clear understanding the monies they received prohibited further lawsuits, including the airlines. Some of the families found the offer of monies from the federal government offensive and would not bring about justice for the negligence of the airlines. They did file lawsuits against the airline carriers.
There is a fairly good chance the USA federal monies will settle the entire issue. There should be a sense of the viability of any claims against Saudi Arabia with the courts even today. I would expect Saudi Arabia is already seeking to find any impact of such ideas.
Then there is the fact the men carrying out the attacks were not acting on behalf of the government. I think this bill is more a political stand and does not carry brevity.
If there is any entity with standing to sue it would be the USA government to recoup the monies paid to the family and other costs such as the invasion into Afghanistan. I just don't see it. The attacks of September 11, 2001 will have it's fifteenth anniversary this year. Statues don't go on that long. I think the bill is very tardy in coming to the side of the families.
The USA has experienced terrorist attacks before, both domestic and foreign. There was a previous attack in 1993. The people who planned that attack are now in prison. How can families of one incident have more privilege than any other family in the country?
May 17, 2016
If there is any entity with standing to sue it would be the USA government to recoup the monies paid to the family and other costs such as the invasion into Afghanistan. I just don't see it. The attacks of September 11, 2001 will have it's fifteenth anniversary this year. Statues don't go on that long. I think the bill is very tardy in coming to the side of the families.
The USA has experienced terrorist attacks before, both domestic and foreign. There was a previous attack in 1993. The people who planned that attack are now in prison. How can families of one incident have more privilege than any other family in the country?
May 17, 2016
By Mark Mazzetti
The Senate’s passage of the bill, which will now be taken up in the House, is another sign of escalating tensions in a relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia that once received little scrutiny from lawmakers.
Obama administration officials have lobbied against the bill, and the Saudi government has warned that if the legislation passes, it might begin selling off up to $750 billion in Treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they face a danger of being frozen by American courts. Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the warning to lawmakers and administration officials while in Washington in March.
Many economists are skeptical that the Saudis would deliver on such a warning, saying that a sell-off would be hard to execute and would do more harm to the kingdom’s economy than to America’s....
