JASTA Proves Obama Backs Saudis, and ISIS

by Alicia Cerretani

On Tuesday, September 20, family members of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks descended on the nation’s capitol to protest President Obama’s promised veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA). The bill—passed unanimously in both houses of Congress before arriving on Obama’s desk—would hold Saudi Arabia accountable for their role in the 9/11 attacks by allowing victims’ families to sue them.

Beginning with a rally in front of the White House where members of the press interviewed the 9/11 families and supporters of JASTA as they shouted “President Obama you can’t hide, the Congress plans to override!” and held signs with pictures of Obama with Saudi King Salman which read “Don’t choose them over U.S.” and “9/11 Families and Survivors Waiting for Justice.”

President Obama has promised to veto the measure for months, however when the bill arrived on his desk almost 15 years to the day of the September 11 attacks, the White House, along with top lobbying firms hired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, turned up the heat on Capitol Hill and immediately began targeting leading members of the U.S. Senate to help block an override.

Once a bill is sent to the White House, the President has 10 days to veto it or it goes into law. As of the morning of the protests, the White House plan appeared to be to wait out the clock and veto the bill at the last moment so that the Congress would not be in session to override his veto. But over the course of Tuesday afternoon the news quickly spread that the Congress would be staying in session past the 10 day deadline, and into the following week. And while a variety of reasons were given for their delayed departure, the Capitol Hill daily, The Hill ran as its leading story, “McConnell: Senate will delay vacation to override Obama veto,” sending a clear message to Obama.

The following morning, in an unmistakable defense of the Anglo-Saudi global terror network over the American people, President Obama reiterated his promise to veto the bill, and continues to reiterate the false claim that JASTA would undermine the sovereign immunity laws which protect U.S. diplomats abroad—claims which 9/11 widow Terry Strada and Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal took head on during a press conference on Capitol Hill following the rally at the White House.

“JASTA has nothing to do with whether a private citizen or even a private company can be sued for alleged wrongdoing. JASTA deals with immunity of foreign states. So the White House’s press comments that enacting JASTA will threaten suits against the U.S., which Mr. Earnest emphasized as a risk of JASTA, are categorically untrue. I am sure the White House knows that, too.

“And more importantly, our military is not at risk for being sued if JASTA is enacted. The narrow text of JASTA, like our legal history, specifically distinguishes between acts of war and acts of terrorism. The text of the bill, for anyone who cares to read it, and it is surprisingly short, specifically excludes acts of war. I am sure the White House knows that, too.

“JASTA requires that the terrorist attack at issue must have been done by a terror organization formally designated under U.S. law. To equate what we do to protect ourselves from terrorism with what others do in support of terrorism completely misreads the bill and discourages U.S. policy.” —Terry Strada

“If the Saudi government is innocent, it has nothing to fear from a day in court. If it is culpable, it should be held accountable. This legislation makes no prejudgment, it reaches no verdict. It simply says that the Saudi government , or its agents or its operative, or any other foreign actor, has to be in court to defend itself.” —Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT)

Why would the Saudi government spend hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying the U.S. Congress not to pass JASTA, if they were innocent? Why does Obama go to such lengths to defend the Saudis, the world’s leading exporter of terrorism, if he does not support the spread of terrorism, as in Syria?

The truth must be told about the Anglo-Saudi global terror machine. The passage of JASTA is not only a critical piece of shutting down the Obama-backed Saudi terror regime, it demonstrates what a small but powerful group of ordinary citizens can do in the name of justice.