Newly released video reveals that a suspected Saudi Arabian spy filmed the U.S. Capitol and national memorials just months before al-Qaida leaders decided on targets for the September 11 terror attacks.
Omar al-Bayoumi, a suspected Saudi Arabian intelligence officer with close ties to two of the 9/11 hijackers, can be heard narrating in the 1999 video, which shows the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. CBS’s “60 Minutes” reported this.
While the US government maintains that al-Qaida acted alone in the 9/11 attacks, former FBI agent Richard Lambert said the video is further evidence that the terrorist group had support.
“This is another very large brick in the huge wall of evidence that now shows the Saudi Arabian government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks,” he told the television news magazine.
The shocking footage shows Al-Bayoumi’s visit to Washington DC, where the Saudi national is seen addressing his “brothers” and promising to tour the capital.
“I will go there and report,” Al-Bayoumi says, taking photos of the monument with his camera, “and I will report back with details about what is there.”
Al-Bayoumi can also be heard in the video referring to a “plan.”
Lambert, who is a consultant to a lawsuit filed by families of 9/11 victims seeking to hold Saudi Arabia responsible for the attacks, said the video could have helped al-Qaida decide who to target for attacks.
Investigators have long believed Flight 93’s original destination was the U.S. Capitol, before passengers mutinied against the hijackers and the plane eventually crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
Another jet crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, and two jets hit the Twin Towers in Manhattan.
Al-Bayoumi and the Saudi government have insisted the video was merely a tourist video, but it is unclear whether U.S. authorities have scrutinized it closely.
Former CIA deputy director Michael Morell said Sunday that it was clear that Al-Bayoumi was previewing the Capitol building in the “chilling video,” but acknowledged that he had not seen the video before the “60 Minutes” report.
“There is no doubt that this is video evidence of a terrorist attack.” “We’re not going to let it go,” Morell said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“I’m 99.9% sure this video did not exist,” Morell added. “I was the president’s briefer at the time. If anyone had shown this video, I would have shown it to the president.”
Ken Williams, a former FBI agent who worked on the 9/11 investigation, questioned why the video surfaced more than two decades after it was provided to the US after the British raid on Al-Bayoumi’s British home in 2001.
“If it was missed, shame on us for missing it,” Williams said. “If it was missed, I would have to ask: ‘So what was done?'”
The tape was unsealed in federal court last week during a lawsuit against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The FBI declined to comment on the video or the incident overall, citing ongoing litigation.
