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“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

“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.

“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

“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.

“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