Thread by @28Pages

The @martinchulov @guardian interview with bin Laden's mother has severe shortcomings (thread) theguardian.com/world/2018/aug…

2. "...by allowing the Bin Ladens to tell their story, they can demonstrate that an outcast – not an agent – was responsible for 9/11"
To his credit, @martinchulov does make clear the Saudi govt goal in facilitating this interview, which was probably the brainchild of @qorvis

3. However, it appears that, intoxicated by the opportunity for such an extraordinary interview, @martinchulov became unduly sympathetic to the kingdom's objectives, too quick to repeat its talking points. Result: @guardian acted as a de facto PR outlet for the kingdom

4. This is most painfully evident in @martinchulov's failure to give even a cursory examination of the substance behind claims of Saudi royal family/government complicity in the 9/11 attacks

5. That, in turn, is compounded by a tone of dismissiveness that accompanies each @martinchulov reference to the 9/11 victims' claims (a tone that 9/11 victims I'm in touch with find infuriating)

6. E.g., @martinchulov describes the 9/11 victims' legal actions against the kingdom as "so far unsuccessful." After overcoming hurdles that literally needed an act of Congress to clear, their suit is in the discovery phase.

7. @martinchulov's characterization of 9/11 victims' legal efforts is thus akin to a reporter on the launchpad of Apollo 11 describing the mission to the moon, just after lift-off, as "so far unsuccessful"

8. The tone continues when @martinchulov says many 9/11 families & survivors "refuse to believe" that Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with the attacks, noting that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis

9. Since @martinchulov fails to educate his audience (or himself?) on any of the substance of the suit, 9/11 plaintiffs come across as stubbornly holding on to little more than a gut feeling because 15 of the murderers were Saudis.

10. @28Pages has published 148 articles on Saudi links to 9/11 without once mentioning that 15 of the 19 were Saudis---because that fact has nothing at all to do with the case against the Saudi government, which runs broad and deep:
28pages.org/2017/04/06/com…

11. The aggravation compounds as @martinchulov uncritically presents a version of history provided by none other than former Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal, himself accused of funding and protecting al Qaeda

12. Readers (and Chulov?) might have benefitted from knowing that "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui gave a sworn statement for the 9/11 lawsuit saying he tracked donations to al Qaeda from Turki himself

13. Moussaoui also tells of flying in a private plane from Islamabad to Riyadh where he met with Turki and acted as a courier of correspondence between the two and other Saudi royalty. And that Turki gave him his business card as a credential of sorts to present to others

14. Then there's this account of Turki facilitating a deal with the devil, one that explains why Saudi royals had a motive to fund al Qaeda (from the indispensable "The Eleventh Day" by @summersandswan)

15. Turki's appearance in @martinchulov story starts w his claim that "there are two bin Ladens. One before the end of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and one after it." One day he's an idealistic Rambo III freedom fighter serving US interests, the next he's a force of evil!

16. The only difference was bin Laden's enemy of the moment. Whether killing Soviets or Americans, he was motivated by same ideology and same goals of driving invading forces out of Muslim lands, defending/avenging fellow Muslims (Afghans, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc)

17. With differing goals, the Saudi and US governments funded, facilitated and encouraged that ideology. Despite that leading to 9/11, both governments have continued to fertilize Salafist extremism, for example, in seeking to topple Assad.

18. Chulov also helps the kingdom trot out the claim that bin Laden chose 15 Saudis for the mission with a goal of driving a wedge between US & kingdom. I've never seen that said by anyone other than kingdom and its cronies in US/UK intel (latter the source here)

19. Again, nationality of hijackers is immaterial, but this Saudi/CIA/MI6 talking point is clearly meant to foster sympathy.
"Hey U.S. citizens, don't let bin Laden drive a wedge into our wonderful (murderous) marriage! If you turn away from Saudi Arabia, bin Laden wins!"

20/20. Speaking of attempts to bury Saudi government ties to the 9/11 attacks, don't miss our big new story: A retired counterterrorism agent says FBI told him not to help the 9/11 victims' suit bc it would be bad for US-Saudi relations 28pages.org/2018/08/01/exc…