A video has been made public suggesting Saudi Arabia was "complicit" in the 9/11 attacks, a former FBI agent has claimed.
Nearly 3,000 people died when two planes struck the World Trade Center towers in New York City on September 9, 2001, radically altering US foreign policy and subsequently world geopolitics. The footage features Omar al-Bayoumi, identified by the FBI as a Saudi intelligence operative with connections to two of the 9/11 hijackers .
This video, which surfaced in federal court this week and obtained by CBS 60 Minutes, dates back to 1999 around the same time key al Qaeda figures were selecting targets for the 9/11 attacks, according to Richard Lambert, a former FBI agent who spearheaded the early 9/11 probe in San Diego. "It is another very large brick in a massive wall of evidence that at this point indicates the Saudi government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks," Lambert declared.
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The video was captured over several days by Bayoumi, documenting various access points to the US Capitol, including security checkpoints and a model of the building. At one point, he zooms in on the Washington Monument, mentioning his plan to visit it and "report to you in detail what is there."
He also comments on just how close the airport is. Now acting as a consultant for the lawsuit brought by 9/11 victims' families against Saudi Arabia, Lambert suggests that understanding the location of the Washington Monument relative to other landmarks in DC could potentially assist in navigating towards intended targets.
Federal investigators believe that the hijackers on Flight 93, which tragically crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, had their sights set on the US Capitol. Lawyers representing the 9/11 families and former intelligence analysts who spoke to 60 Minutes believe parts of the video show Bayoumi scoping out the Capitol as part of this plot.
In the footage, Bayoumi can be heard mentioning a "plan." Lambert suggests: "I think he's communicating with the al Qaeda planners who instructed him to take the pre-operational surveillance video of the intended target."
The video was unearthed by British police during a raid on Bayoumi's UK flat in the aftermath of 9/11. They also confiscated Bayoumi's hand-written address book, which lawyers for the 9/11 families claim was packed with phone numbers of numerous high-ranking Saudi officials who were serving in the government at the time.
When Bayoumi filmed the Washington video, he was frequently joined by two Saudi diplomats who, according to the FBI, had "ties to al Qaeda," - a claim disputed by the Saudi government.
Retired FBI agent Ken Williams, who led the 9/11 investigation in Phoenix where one of the hijackers attended flight school, believes the Bayoumi video "ranks right at the top of the pile" of evidence. Williams strongly disagrees with the Saudi government's assertion that the video was simply one Bayoumi took as a tourist.
The British police reportedly handed over the footage to the FBI shortly after the 9/11 attacks, sparking questions about why it's only emerging two decades later. "If that was missed then shame on us for missing it," said Williams, a consultant on the case brought by the 9/11 families.
"If it wasn't missed, then I would have to ask the question: What was done with it?" Despite the Saudi government and Bayoumi's denial of any involvement in the 9/11 atrocities, their lawyers have moved to dismiss the lawsuit, with oral arguments set for the coming months.
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