Newly released video shows Saudi agent filming locations ahead of 9/11 attacks
Footage was unsealed in court action by families of victims who claim Saudi government was complicit in event
Article dated June 2024:
A 25-year-old video has come to light of a man identified by the FBI as a Saudi intelligence agent filming locations in the center of Washington three months before Al-Qaida decided to carry out the 9/11 attacks.
The footage, shot in the summer of 1999 and in the possession of the FBI, was unsealed in a court action by families of the victims of 9/11, who claim that Saudi Arabia’s government was complicit in the event, which the country’s rulers deny. It was obtained by CBS and shown on the 60 Minutes program.
The video includes commentary from the man, Omar al-Bayoumi, about various locations in the city, including the Washington monument and the entry points and security arrangements of the US Capitol building, and referring at one point to a “plan”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/21/9-11-video-saudi-man-washington
June 25, 2024:
A newly released video and other documents are reviving questions about whether a Saudi national who FBI officials believe worked for Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service played a role in the 9/11 attacks.
The Saudi national, Omar Al-Bayoumi, was the focus of years of investigation by the FBI’s San Diego field office because of his association with two of the 9/11 hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, prior to the attack.
The video, which was unsealed in federal court last week, was a self-narrated video that shows Al-Bayoumi giving a tour of landmarks in Washington, D.C. The video was shot over several days in 1999 and included videos of entrances, exits and security checkpoints in the U.S. Capitol.
Federal officials believe that 9/11 hijackers planned to crash one of the planes, United 93, into the U.S. Capitol before passengers stormed the cockpit and forced it to crash in rural Pennsylvania.
Al-Bayoumi’s video of Washington was first aired by CBS News last week. NBC News and a San Diego area publication reported the existence of the video soon after the 9/11 attacks.
The video was one of the items investigators found in Al-Bayoumi’s apartment in the United Kingdom after the 9/11 attack. They also found a notepad of mathematical calculations related to flying an airplane and a video of a party in San Diego where the two hijackers and Al-Bayoumi were present.
The disclosures prompted some former law enforcement officials and the families of some 9/11 victims to call for further investigation.
h/t Digital mix guy Spock