Declassified video links Saudi Arabia to 9/11

A newly declassified video has revealed a Saudi intelligence agent with links to the 9/11 attackers knew of a ‘plan,’ suggesting that the Saudi Arabian government was complicit. The video, declassified this week by a federal court and shown to CBS news program 60 Minutes, is from 1999 and shows Omar al-Bayoumi touring and documenting buildings in Washington DC. Bayoumi is believed by the FBI to have been a Saudi intelligence operative, and records show he was accompanied on this trip by two Saudi diplomats. The FBI has claimed the diplomats had links to Al-Qaeda, although Saudi Arabia has always denied this.

During the video, Bayoumi focuses on the US Capitol (intended to be a target, but ultimately not reached by United Flight 93) and the surrounding buildings and the Washington Monument. He briefly focuses on two official cars, where he notes ‘the plan.’ It is believed ‘the plan’ refers to 9/11.

The video has laid dormant since being seized from his British apartment shortly after 9/11. When it was initially discovered, Saudi Arabia dismissed it as merely a vacation video. Given its recent return to the spotlight, the questions now being asked are why has it been sealed for so long, and why has it only surfaced now?