Saudi Arabia Threatens To Sell Off Treasuries if Congress Passes 9/11 Bill
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Saturday, September 13, 2025 16:40
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I would post this from Zerohedge or RT, but knowing how prissy everyone is here about "sources", I'll start with the NY Times article.
Quote:
WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.
Several outside economists are skeptical that the Saudis will follow through, saying that such a sell-off would be difficult to execute and would end up crippling the kingdom’s economy. But the threat is another sign of the escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
MORE AT
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-warns-
ofeconomic-fallout-if-congress-passes-9-11-bill.html?_r=0
The ZEROHEDGE take, abbreviated
Quote:
... "As a matter of policy, the [United States] Treasury has never disclosed the holdings of Saudi Arabia, long a key ally in the volatile Middle East, and instead groups it with 14 other mostly OPEC nations including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria,” Bloomberg goes on to note, adding that the rules are different for almost everyone else. Although Saudi Arabia's "secret" is protected by "an unusual blackout by the U.S. Treasury Department," for more than a hundred other countries, from China to the Vatican, the Treasury provides a detailed breakdown of how much U.S. debt each holds."
... It is this question that has suddenly reemerged with a bang, and could rock the US administration to its core as what until recently was a "fringe conspiracy theory" is suddenly exposed as an all too unpleasant fact, and becomes the biggest political scandal to rock the U.S. in years, in the process maybe even crushing the friendly diplomatic relations the U.S. has held for years with its biggest Mid-East ally, Saudi Arabia.
First, a quick tangent: we have been greatly surprised by the reemergence of the topic of September 11 in recent weeks, and specifically the taboo - in official circles - issue whether there was a "Saudi connection" in the biggest terrorist attack on US soil. [There was- SIGNY] Just last weekend, out of the blue, 60 Minutes held segment on the "28 pages" that were classified in the Congressional investigative report into 9/11 - pages that allegedly confirm the Saudi connection.
To be sure, Saudi officials have long denied that the kingdom had any role in the Sept. 11 plot, and the 9/11 Commission found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization.” But critics have noted that the commission’s narrow wording left open the possibility that less senior officials or parts of the Saudi government could have played a role. Suspicions have lingered, partly because of the conclusions of a 2002 congressional inquiry into the attacks that cited some evidence that Saudi officials living in the United States at the time had a hand in the plot.
Those conclusions, contained in 28 pages of the report, still have not been released publicly. It was the surpNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
They both point to the same set of facts, if you would bother to read them. But I know you can't be bothered with facts. In fact, you can't even identify them in an ordinary news article.
ASIDE FROM YOUR USELESS QUIBBLING about sources, which is almost as funny as your criticism of Paul Craig Roberts' name* (of all things!) do you have anything relevant or insightful to say about the event? Or are you trying to distract from the facts-at-hand by turning this into yet another thread about you?
* http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=60433
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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.
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ALL of the outlets that I looked at agreed on several points:
1) Yes, it happened. Saudi Arabia threatened to sell off its Treasuries (the total amount of which is an official secret- ZH) if Congress went ahead and made Saudi Arabia liable and subject to lawsuit (and, yeah - discovery) over 9-11.
2) All of them agreed that was unlikely to happen since it would wreck the Saudi economy as well as the USA's.
3) They also all agreed that it was yet another symptom of the "tension" between Saudi Arabia and the USA.
4) Obama is lobbying heavily Congress NOT to make sovereign nations (i.e Saudi Arabia) liable.
Now, the only reason why Saudi Arabia would make this threat is because they have something to hide. Someone - several someones - lesser members of the Royal Family in non-official capacity- may have directly aided and funded the 9-11 terrorists, MOST of whom were Saudi. So why did we invade Iraq and Afghanistan, again? Anyway, I think this deserves to be pursued.
Personally, I think that with whackadoodle Mohammed bin Salman (King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud's favorite son) in charge, who has made a lot of rash decisions lately (opening up a two-front war and dropping oil prices to record lows) I wouldn't put it past Saudi Arabia to do exactly that: Try to dump its Treasuries. Of course, it will have to find buyers in what would become a buyer's market, but that didn't stop them from dumping oil either.
Aside from taking the temperature of the Saudi-USA relationship, this brings up a whole 'nother line of thought:
The USA depends on selling its Treasuries to many nations. If there is evidence that that Treasuries are losing significant value, other Treasury-holders might start selling theirs in a panic and Treasuries might plummet in value. This could be a powerful financial weapon (albeit a "nuclear option") in the hands of the major Treasury-holders, which are ....
China, Japan, Caribbean Banking Centers, Saudi Arabia, and Ireland. http://ticdata.treasury.gov/Publish/mfh.txt You will notice that Saudi Arabia's Treasury holdings do NOT appear separately on this list.
Japan, Caribbean Banking Centers, and Ireland have no beef with the USA and no reason to sell, but Saudi Arabia and China might, with enough incentive, pull the plug on their holdings. It would have to be a powerful incentive, tho. China, for example would probably rather sink a few ships or shoot down a few planes over the Spratlys than implode their own Sovereign Wealth Fund. The Saudis are nuts, there's no telling what they'll do.
In any case, as usual you're focusing on the most trivial aspects of the topic.
--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.
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https://28pages.org/2016/04/16/911-bill-prompts-saudi-threat-to-sell-o
ff-u-s-treasury-debt/
Graham said that failing to hold Saudi Arabia to account for its “complicity in the murder of 3,000 Americans” gave the kingdom “a sense of impunity that they can do anything they wanted to with no sanction, and now that impunity has expanded to their trying to lobby the highest levels of the White House and the Congress” to prevent a courtroom determination of Saudi Arabia’s guilt.
“I believe that there is material in the 28 pages and the volume of other documents that would indicate that there was a connection at the highest levels between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the 19 hijackers. I believe that the plot would not have occurred but for the support and protection that the hijackers were receiving primarily from Saudi Arabia,” said Graham.
Graham’s reference to the “highest levels” of the Saudi government is reminiscent of a statement former Navy secretary and 9/11 Commission member John Lehman made to 60 Minutes on Sunday. Asked if the 28 classified pages names names, he replied, “Yes. The average intelligent watcher of 60 Minutes would recognize them instantly.”
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Quote:
Originally posted by G:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
ALL of the outlets that I looked at agreed on several points:
1) Yes, it happened. Saudi Arabia threatened to sell off its Treasuries (the total amount of which is an official secret- ZH) if Congress went ahead and made Saudi Arabia liable and subject to lawsuit (and, yeah - discovery) over 9-11.
2) All of them agreed that was unlikely to happen since it would wreck the Saudi economy as well as the USA's.
3) They also all agreed that it was yet another symptom of the "tension" between Saudi Arabia and the USA.
4) Obama is lobbying heavily Congress NOT to make sovereign nations (i.e Saudi Arabia) liable.
Anyone with a computer (or a API newswire machine) could write the same article.Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Now, the only reason why Saudi Arabia would make this threat is because they have something to hide. Someone - several someones - lesser members of the Royal Family in non-official capacity- may have directly aided and funded the 9-11 terrorists, MOST of whom were Saudi. So why did we invade Iraq and Afghanistan, again? Anyway, I think this deserves to be pursued.
"the only reason????"
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ahead-saudi-trip-obama-wedged-deba
te-over-9-11-report-n557871
"The Saudi government has always denied any involvement and has called for the 28 pages to be released.
"It is an outrage to any sense of fairness that 28 blank pages are now considered substantial evidence to proclaim the guilt of a country that has been a true friend and partner to the United States for over 60 years..."
And what would Saudi Arabia gain from financing and supporting the 9/11 attacks?Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Personally, I think that with whackadoodle Mohammed bin Salman (King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud's favorite son) in charge, who has made a lot of rash decisions lately (opening up a two-front war and dropping oil prices to record lows) I wouldn't put it past Saudi Arabia to do exactly that: Try to dump its Treasuries. Of course, it will have to find buyers in what would become a buyer's market, but that didn't stop them from dumping oil either.
It's an idle threat and everyone knows it and for exactly what you say - they would loose too much money. They control the price of oil, not treasuries.
"Aside from taking the temperature of the Saudi-USA relationship, this brings up a whole 'nother line of thought: "
Big whoop, everyone argues.Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
The USA depends on selling its Treasuries to many nations. If there is evidence that that Treasuries are losing significant value, other Treasury-holders might start selling theirs in a panic and Treasuries might plummet in value. This could be a powerful financial weapon (albeit a "nuclear option") in the hands of the major Treasury-holders, which are ....
Wild speculation - nice try.Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
China, Japan, Caribbean Banking Centers, Saudi Arabia, and Ireland. http://ticdata.treasury.gov/Publish/mfh.txt You will notice that Saudi Arabia's Treasury holdings do NOT appear separately on this list.
So?Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Japan, Caribbean Banking Centers, and Ireland have no beef with the USA and no reason to sell, but Saudi Arabia and China might, with enough incentive, pull the plug on their holdings. It would have to be a powerful incentive, tho. China, for example would probably rather sink a few ships or shoot down a few planes over the Spratlys than implode their own Sovereign Wealth Fund. The Saudis are nuts, there's no telling what they'll do.
"... there's no telling what they'll do." Thank you! "Nuts" to you maybe because there's a dump truck of facts you are not privy to. China doesn't hate the US. MoNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
another huff huff
haaretz.com says
Saudis Threaten Global Economic Repercussions if Punished for 'Murdered' Journalist
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Yellen on Acting to Lower Oil Prices: We’ll Watch Prices, Expect them to ‘Stabilize’
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/09/18/yellen-on-acting-to-lower-o
il-prices-well-watch-prices-expect-them-to-stabilize/
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A Middle East Shift Is Underway, Without Israel
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/a-middle-east-shift-is-under
way-without-israel/
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lying islamic tries to fake its way to the top
the islamo jihad scam, trying to falsely raise the ranking of Saudi college universities
Dozens of the world’s most cited scientists stop falsely claiming to work in Saudi Arabia
https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2024-12-05/dozens-of-the-world
s-most-cited-scientists-stop-falsely-claiming-to-work-in-saudi-arabia.html
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