"SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST: One group of people was watching especially closely when the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, visited the U.S. this week - the families of 9/11 victims. Most of the September 11 hijackers were Saudi citizens. So was the alleged mastermind of the attacks, al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden. And numerous 9/11 families have filed a federal civil lawsuit alleging that Saudi Arabia was more involved in the attacks than acknowledged. The Saudi government has repeatedly denied these allegations."
"PFEIFFER: Would you first describe how you felt when you heard that the crown prince would be visiting this week? EAGLESON: It felt like another punch in the gut from the United States government. We have been fighting and advocating to be heard for 24 years now. And from administration to administration, it feels as if no one has had our back."
"PFEIFFER: This week isn't the first time since 9/11 that the prince, or MBS - his acronyms, as you referred to him - has come to the U.S. or met with a U.S. president. He met Trump here in 2018, and he got a friendly fist bump from Joe Biden in Saudi Arabia in 2022. How did you feel about those interactions versus this week's?"
Families of September 11 victims closely monitored Mohammed bin Salman's U.S. visit because most hijackers and Osama bin Laden were Saudi citizens. Numerous families filed a federal civil lawsuit alleging greater Saudi involvement in the attacks; the Saudi government denies those claims. Reactions to the crown prince's meetings with U.S. presidents ranged from confusion to outrage. Brett Eagleson described the visit as a punch in the gut and said families have spent 24 years fighting to be heard, feeling repeatedly unsupported by successive administrations. A federal judge recently reviewed thousands of pages of evidence and reached a conclusion.
Read at www.npr.org
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