Gulf Arab states issue warning on 9/11 lawsuit bill

Gulf nations on Monday expressed concern about Congress’s passage of legislation allowing Americans to sue Saudi Arabia for suspected links to the al Qaeda terrorists who committed the 9/11 attacks. 

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), on which Saudi Arabia plays a leading role, called the bill a threat to international order and sought to increase pressure on President Obama to veto it three days after the bill sailed through Capitol Hill.

{mosads}It “contravenes the foundations and principles of relations between states, notably sovereign immunity,” GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani was quoted as saying by Reuters and other news agencies.

In addition to the joint statement, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar issued similar statements warning about the bill potential impact on international diplomacy.

While not unexpected, the pushback is another complication for the White House, which had previously suggested it would veto the legislation.

The bill, called the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, would widen sovereign immunity restrictions to allow American victims — or surviving relatives — of terror attacks to sue nation-states that supported the violence. The bill has been discussed in the context of 9/11 and the unproven allegation that senior Saudi leaders were in some way complicit with the al Qaeda attack.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudi nationals, fueling speculation about the kingdom’s possible role. This summer, 28 previously secret pages investigating the ties between Riyadh and the terrorists were released to the public, adding details about possible a connection. However, the pages failed to provide any hard evidence tying the government to the attack.

The House unanimously passed the bill on Friday, weeks after the Senate did the same, implying the bill could easily overcome a veto.

The activity on Capitol Hill has put Obama in the uncomfortable and deeply unpopular position of having to oppose the bill because of the blowback it would create and the prospect that foreign nations could institute measures of their own and file lawsuits against the U.S.