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“A group representing the families of 9/11 victims said on Tuesday [6/6/2023] that they were ‘shocked and deeply offended’ by the newly announced merger between the PGA Tour and its Saudi-backed competitor LIV Golf.

The group, 9/11 Families United, has repeatedly voiced its opposition to LIV Golf over its ties to Saudi Arabia, which has long faced accusations of assisting the terrorists who committed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

‘Saudi operatives played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and now it is bankrolling all of professional golf,’ Chair Terry Strada said in a statement.

The PGA Tour announced on Tuesday that it would merge with the upstart rival league to form one larger golf organization.”

– Julia Shapero, “9/11 Families ‘Deeply Offended’ By PGA Tour, LIV Golf Merger,” thehill.com, June 6, 2023

“At least 4.5 million people died in post-9/11 warzones, a number that continues to grow after more than two decades, according to a new report from Brown University. 

The vast majority of those deaths, in the range of 3.6 to 3.7 million, can be accredited to “indirect deaths,” or non-combat deaths, researchers with the university’s Costs of War project concluded.

Despite the staggering tally, those numbers are likely a significant undercount, the report, which is titled “How Death Outlives War,” concludes. …

Across wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya, children — particularly those under five years old — are the most vulnerable to indirect deaths, typically from malnutrition and disease.”

– Joseph Konig, “Report: 4.5 Million Deaths and Counting in Post-9/11 Warzones,” ny1.com, May 17, 2023

“Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Merrick B. Garland, the Attorney General of the United States, and Christopher A. Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (‘FBI’), announced today [5/17/2023] that United States District Judge Vernon S. Broderick sentenced SAYFULLO SAIPOV to eight consecutive life sentences, two concurrent life sentences, and a consecutive sentence of 260 years in prison for carrying out a terrorist attack on October 31, 2017, in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (‘ISIS’), in which SAIPOV used a truck to murder eight victims and injure many more on a bike path in lower Manhattan.

On January 26, 2023, a jury convicted SAIPOV of all 28 counts in the Indictment, which charged SAIPOV with murder for the purpose of gaining entrance to a racketeering enterprise (ISIS); assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder for the purpose of gaining entrance to a racketeering enterprise (ISIS); providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization (ISIS) resulting in death; and damage and destruction to a motor vehicle resulting in death. On March 13, 2023, the same jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether Saipov should be sentenced to death, resulting in a mandatory sentence of life in prison.”

– United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, “Judge Imposes Eight Consecutive Life Sentences Plus 260 Years in Prison for 2017 Murder of Eight Victims and Attempted Murder of 18 Others in NYC ISIS Truck Attack,” justice.gov, May 17, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“Florida is establishing September 11th as ‘9/11 Heroes’ Day’ to honor those who gave their lives for our freedom. 

Our middle and high school students, who were not alive during this time, will be required to have 45 minutes of instruction to learn about the attack on our country and those who gave their lives to save others.”

– Ron DeSantis via Twitter.com, May 9, 2023

“Turkish forces have killed the suspected leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.

Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi is said to have taken over the group after his predecessor was killed last autumn.

Mr Erdogan told broadcaster TRT Turk the IS leader was ‘neutralised’ in a Turkish MIT intelligence agency operation on Saturday [4/29/2023]. 

IS has so far made no comment on the reported operation.

The BBC has been unable to independently verify President Erdogan’s claim.”

–  BBC News, “Suspected Islamic State Chief Qurayshi Killed in Syria, Turkey Says,” bbc.com, May 1, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“From the first weeks after the 9/11 attacks, suspicions about a possible Saudi government role in the plot have focused on a mysterious, 42-year-old graduate student who welcomed the first two Qaida hijackers after they landed in Los Angeles in January 2000.

The Saudi student, Omar al-Bayoumi, claimed to have met the two terrorists entirely by chance; he said he was just being hospitable when he helped them settle in San Diego. Both the FBI and the 9/11 Commission supported Bayoumi’s account, dismissing the suspicions of agents who thought he might be a Saudi spy.

After nearly 20 years, however, the FBI has changed its story. In documents declassified last year [2022], the bureau affirmed that Bayoumi was in fact an agent of the Saudi intelligence service who worked with Saudi religious officials and reported to the kingdom’s powerful ambassador in Washington.

Those revelations have now become a central point of contention in a long-running federal lawsuit in New York, where 9/11 survivors and relatives of the 2,977 people who were killed are seeking to hold the Saudi government responsible for the attacks.

Lawyers for the families argue that the new evidence so contradicts earlier Saudi claims that they should be allowed to seek new information from the country’s intelligence service about Bayoumi and another official who reportedly aided the hijackers, Fahad al-Thumairy.

‘Saudi Arabia has a duty to tell the truth about the intelligence roles of Bayoumi and Thumairy based on its actual, complete knowledge,’ the plaintiffs wrote in a motion this month [April 2023].

The federal magistrate who is managing discovery in the case, Sarah Netburn, has so far sided with the Saudis, finding ‘no compelling reason’ to reopen the document search or order new interviews with Saudi officials. The families’ lawyers have asked the judge overseeing the case, George B. Daniels, to overrule her.”

– Tim Golden, “Focus of 9/11 Families’ Lawsuit Against Saudi Arabia Turns to a Saudi Student Who May Have Been a Spy,” propublica.org, April 27, 2023

“The U.S. has transferred a Guantanamo detainee back to his home country of Algeria, saying his continued detention was no longer necessary, the Department of Defense announced Thursday [4/20/2023]. 

Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush was captured in Pakistan in 2002 during an aggressive campaign by the U.S. to apprehend persons suspected of supporting terrorism following the 9/11 attacks. Last year a review board found that his continued detention at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was no longer necessary and ‘he could be safely transferred, noting his lack of any leadership role in al Qaeda,’ Amnesty International said. …

With his release, 30 detainees remain at Guantanamo. Of those 30 detainees, 16 are eligible for transfer; three are eligible for a review board assessment to see if they are also eligible for transfer; nine are involved in the military commissions process; and two detainees have been convicted in military commissions.”

– Tara Copp, “US Transfers Guantanamo Detainee to Algeria,” news.yahoo.com, April 20, 2023

“There are new calls to make Sept. 11 a federal holiday.

Three Hudson Valley congressmen, from both sides of the aisle, have introduced the September 11th Day of Remembrance Act.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R) says he wants to make 9/11 a federal holiday to ensure we never forget the day’s impact and consequences.

Rep. Pat Ryan says he was in his second year at West Point that day when all cadets swore to never forget the heroes lost.

And Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R) says he served as an NYPD detective in the years after 9/11 and continues to see the long term ramifications on first responders and survivors.”

– News 12 Staff, “Lawmakers Introduce Act To Make 9/11 a Federal Holiday,” longisland.news12.com, March 30, 2023

“The Senate voted Wednesday [3/29/2023] to repeal authorizations for the use of military force against Iraq [AUMF],  a significant moment as lawmakers aim to reassert authority in military intervention abroad.

The legislation now goes to the US House of Representatives for a vote. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has signaled support for it and said it would likely be brought to the floor. With bipartisan support for the repeal, the measure appears to have a good chance of passing the chambers, though it’s still unclear if lawmakers will try to amend it.

The vote comes on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.

The White House said it supports the measure to repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for use of force in Iraq. If it passes both chambers, it would mark a formal conclusion to the conflicts and a symbolic reassertion of Congress’ ability to declare war.”

– Ali Zaslav, et al., “Senate Votes to Repeal Iraq War Power Authorizations, 20 Years After Us Invasion,” cnn.com, March 29, 2023

“A U.S. citizen who moved his family to Syria to join the Islamic State terrorist group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Emraan Ali, 55, a U.S. citizen born in Trinidad and Tobago, was sentenced Tuesday [3/27/2023] in Miami federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

According to court records, Ali moved his family from Trinidad and Tobago to Brazil, and then to Turkey and eventually Syria in March 2015. He falsely told his children that they were going on vacation but actually intended to join IS, prosecutors said.”

– Associated Press, “U.S. Citizen Gets 20 Years for Joining Islamic State Group,” abcnews.go.com, April 2, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.