9/11 lawsuit gets pared down

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, three Saudi princes and several Saudi financial institutions were dismissed Tuesday as defendants in six civil lawsuits accusing them of providing support to al-Qaida before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Judge Richard Casey said the president, not the courts, has the authority to label a foreign nation a terrorist, though he said he understood the "desire to find a legal remedy for the horrible wrongs committed on Sept. 11, 2001."

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The judge said the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient facts to overcome the kingdom of Saudi Arabia's immunity. He said Saudi Arabia maintains it has worked with the United States to share information in the fight against terrorism.

He also noted the State Department has not designated the kingdom a state sponsor of terrorism, and that the Sept. 11 commission found no evidence Saudi Arabia - the birthplace of bin Laden and 15 of the 19 hijackers - funded or supported the Sept. 11 terrorists.
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In fact, I believe that very question is under investigation right now in the Riggs Bank case.

The judge permitted lawsuits to proceed against the Saudi Binladen Group, the successor to a construction company founded by bin Laden's father, which is now one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the Arab world.

He said additional legal discovery would be necessary to decide whether the Saudi Binladen Group "purposefully directed its activities at the United States."

Among financial institutions dismissed as defendants were Al Rajhi Bank, which has nearly 400 branch offices throughout Saudi Arabia; Saudi American Bank, the second largest bank in Saudi Arabia; and Arab Bank, which has headquarters in Egypt with branch offices throughout the world.

Casey said he found no basis for a bank's liability for injuries resulting from attacks funded by money passing through it on routine banking business.

Of course, I'm no judge, and I don't know all the evidence in the case, or even any particulars other than what's in a couple of articles I've read, but I have to wonder why everybody got dropped but the Binladen Group.

Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1991 to work for the Bin Laden Group, but was expelled for anti-government sentiments. His Saudi citizenship was stripped and all assets in the country were frozen by 1994.
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Reports I've read say that the Binladen Group is run by Osama's brothers, and I've also only ever read or heard that the family has severed all ties with him since he went radical. And I don't know what the judge means by "direct[ing] its activities at the United States."