At a conference sponsored by the Florida Bulldog Thursday night in Davie, Florida, the audience heard a chilling account of the terrorist attack on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001—and the coverup of those events— from Sharon Premoli, who worked on the 80th floor of the World Trade Center North Tower on the day of the attack and who barely survived that day; from Sen. Bob Graham, the Chairman, in 2002, of the Joint Congressional Committee that investigated the 9/11 attacks; from Sean Carter, one of the attorneys representing the 9/11 families suing the government of Saudi Arabia and others involved in the attack; from Bulldog founder Dan Christensen, and from Tom Julin, the attorney for the Bulldog who is litigating the groundbreaking Freedom of Information Act suit that could lead to the disclosure of some 80,000 pages of government documents about the investigation of hijackers and their supporters in Sarasota, FL. The panel was the first time that such a group gathered in one place. Among the points made was the necessity for Congress to pass immediately, the JASTA bill that would allow the 9/11 families to sue the government of Saudi Arabia.

The Bulldog is the independent investigative news agency that conducted a breakthrough investigation of the Saudi hijackers who lived in Sarasota prior to 9/11, and who had connections to a Saudi couple who suddenly fled the United States two weeks after the attacks.   The panel discussed how the FBI withheld thousands of pages of documents relating to the hijackers and the mystery Saudi couple, and how the FBI never even informed the official Congressional Committee investigation of the existence of these documents.  Graham, the Senator and former Governor of Florida disclosed how he was ordered by a high level FBI official to never call a Florida FBI who he was trying to question about the hijackers activities. Graham spoke at a Washington, D.C. forum just several weeks ago, urging the passage of JASTA so that the families could pursue the Saudi role in court, as is their right under U.S. law.

The compelling presentation by Ms. Premoli, who is a leading activist for the 9/11 families, was delivered by voice recording, reported the Miami Herald, which wrote: “She detailed how she escaped from the building and how a police officer gave her his oxygen mask. ‘The ground rocked and the roar from the clouds was indescribable. My lungs were packed with dust. My legs were rubber when I realized I was on top of a bloody body. I don’t know the name of the police officer or fire fighter but I owe them my life.'”

On Friday, two days before the 15th anniversary of the British-Saudi engineered attacks on September 11, 2001, the House of Representatives passed by unanimous acclamation the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), despite the opposition of President Barack Obama, and continuing threats from Saudi Arabia, which is being sued by the victims and families of the 9/11 terrorism. The vote came after the intense lobbying efforts by the 9/11 families, some of whom were present in the House gallery, and by former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), former head of the Joint Congressional Committee whose 800-page investigation of 9/11 in 2002 produced the 28-page chapter.

In brief, the JASTA bill—unless vetoed by Obama, as he threatens—will allow the plaintiffs to finally present their evidence against Saudi Arabia, a right which had been denied by Federal courts in the years-long lawsuit, under the claim of “sovereign immunity.”

In the intense and often passionate statements on the floor of the House, which was limited to 20 minutes under the “suspension of rules,” (a procedure that allowed the bill to be moved quickly to a vote), more than a dozen members of the House from both parties gave their support to the bill that was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in May.

Speaker after speaker decried the injustice that had allowed the sponsors of the 19 hijackers whose attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in a single morning on Sept. 11, 2001, to freely “walk the streets of foreign capitals,” in the words of New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D).

Not a single member of the House breathed a word in opposition to the bill. However, already the U.S. press is blacking out the substance of the powerful debate by giving wide coverage of the vote, but almost no reports on the speeches.

The proceedings were opened by Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. John Conyers (D), Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee and a founder and senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Rep. Conyers made clear that the White House should not and must not be allowed to veto or block the bill. “Because of the moral imperative of enacting legislation and the seriousness of the concerns raised,” Conyers said, he would remain hopeful that Congress could resolve the White House objects and get this bill “signed into law by the president.”

Two Representatives, Republican Ted Poe and Democrat Lloyd Doggett, both of Texas, specifically referenced the role of Saudi Arabia as came out in the “28 pages.”

“Look around the world…. Wherever you see evidence of radical Islam, that extremism can usually be traced to preachers of hate from Saudi Arabia,” Doggett stated. “The kingdom has blood on its hands. Is it the blood of the victims of 9/11? Possibly…. Give these 9/11 families their day in court. And accord the Saudis all of the rights in that judicial proceeding they so regularly deny their own citizens.”

Rep. Poe argued that “our country changed forever” on Sept. 11, 2001, and “Based on the 28 pages held secret for years, there may be evidence that the country of Saudi Arabia and their officials may have some involvement in planning the elements of that attack…. That’s what the courtroom is for…. [that] is an issue for a jury of American to decide.”

Passage of the JASTA bill was an overdue victory after a years-long battle waged by the 9/11 families who have been lobbying Congress non-stop since the release of the “28 pages” on July 15th, by former Sen. Bob Graham, by a national effort of activists in support of the 9/11 families, and by the LaRouche movement, whose LaRouche PAC website has filmed and documented every major event on Capitol Hill over the last two years to make the release of the 28 pages a strategic issues in the fight against terrorism.

The CSPAN coverage of the debate and vote can be found here.