September 12, 2021
KNOWING YOUR ENEMY:
Newly released FBI 9/11 papers detail support given to hijackers by Saudis in US (ERIC TUCKER, 9/12/21, Times of Israel)
The trove of documents are being released at a politically delicate time for the US and Saudi Arabia, two nations that have forged a strategic -- if difficult -- alliance, particularly on counterterrorism matters. The Biden administration in February released an intelligence assessment implicating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the 2018 killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but drew criticism from Democrats for avoiding a direct punishment of the crown prince himself.
The problem, of course, is that we have opposite strategic interests: ours is for the Arab world to enjoy self-determination; theirs to thwart same.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 12, 2021 12:00 AM