News / Foreign Policy

9/11 legislation sets 'dangerous precedent': Obama

Thursday, 29 September 2016 1:30 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 29 September 2016 1:39 AM ]

US President Barack Obama speaks to American troops at Fort Lee, Virginia, September 28, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

US President Barack Obama says Congress has set a “dangerous precedent” by overriding his veto of legislation allowing relatives of the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks to sue Saudi Arabia.

“Well, I think it was a mistake,” Obama said during a town hall meeting-style interview on CNN on Wednesday night, after the House of Representatives joined the Senate in overriding Obama's veto of the 9/11 victims’ bill.

"If we eliminate this notion of sovereign immunity, then our men and women in uniform around the world could potentially start seeing ourselves subject to reciprocal loss," he said.

Obama said the measure sets a "dangerous precedent" in international law that could have repercussions for the United States.

"It's an example of why sometimes you have to do what's hard," he added. "And, frankly, I wish Congress here had done what's hard."

But Obama went on to say that “I understand why it happened. Obviously, all of us still carry the scars and trauma of 9/11.”

On Wednesday, Senators voted 97-1 in favor of the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA),” which was vetoed by Obama last week.

Hours later, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted against the presidential decree, 348 to 77. Only 18 Republicans and 59 Democrats voted not to override the veto.

The September 11 attacks, also known as the 9/11 attacks, were a series of strikes in the US which killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage.

US officials assert that the attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda terrorists but many experts have raised questions about the official account. They believe that rogue elements within the US government orchestrated the 9/11 attacks in order to accelerate the US war machine and advance the Zionist agenda.

Analysts argue that Saudi Arabia only played a minor role in 9/11, but the operation was essentially carried out by Israeli and American intelligence agencies to destroy the seven countries in five years, that were enemies or threats to the Zionist regime.

Saudi Arabia has strongly opposed the bill and threatened to sell off $750 billion in American assets if it becomes law.

The Saudi government denies any links to the 9/11 attacks despite the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

According to Dr. Kevin Barrett, an American academic who has been studying the events of 9/11 since late 2003, 15 Saudi nationals linked to 9/11 were actually CIA agents working for the US agency in Saudi Arabia.

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