US Treasury chief warns on 9/11 law during Saudi visit
A United States law allowing victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia could have "serious implications" for shared U.S.-Gulf interests, a top Obama administration official said yesterday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew made the comments at the opening of a meeting with finance ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, whose most powerful member is Saudi Arabia.
U.S. Congress overwhelmingly rejected President Barack Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) on Sept. 28, the first veto override of his presidency, meaning the legislation will become U.S. law. Fifteen of the 19 Al-Qaida hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people were Saudi, but Riyadh denies any ties to the plotters.
The text of the JASTA law does not mention Saudi Arabia, but the law's champions made it clear that its intent is to allow plaintiffs to seek damages for the Sept. 11 attacks. JASTA allows attack survivors and relatives of terrorism victims to pursue cases against foreign governments in U.S. federal court and to demand compensation if those governments are proven to bear some responsibility for attacks on U.S. soil.
Lew said JASTA "would enact broad changes in long-standing international law regarding sovereign immunity that, if applied globally, could have serious implications for our shared interests."
He said the Obama administration has proven its determination to hold people responsible when they commit "horrendous acts," but "there are ways to do that without undermining important international legal principles."
In opposing the law, Obama said it would harm U.S. interests by opening up the U.S. to private lawsuits over its military missions abroad.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have also expressed concern about erosion of sovereign immunity, a principle sacrosanct in international relations. But the potential implications go far beyond the Gulf.
Some British, French and Dutch lawmakers have threatened retaliatory legislation to allow their courts to pursue U.S. officials, threatening a global legal domino effect.
Riyadh and Washington have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. Later Thursday, Lew met King Salman, Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, and Saudi economic officials. Saudi Arabia, one of the United States' longest-standing allies in the Arab world, has said the law is a threat to a leading principle that has regulated international relations for hundreds of years preventing lawsuits against sovereign governments.
"Saudi Arabia is a victim of terrorism as much as the United States is, and by the same terrorist groups," said Prince Turki al-Faisal, who was head of Saudi intelligence until 10 days before the attacks. By passing JASTA, Faisal told a Washington conference, U.S. Congress "has accomplished the terrorist aim of hammering a wedge into the heart of the U.S.-Saudi relationship."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew made the comments at the opening of a meeting with finance ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, whose most powerful member is Saudi Arabia.
U.S. Congress overwhelmingly rejected President Barack Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) on Sept. 28, the first veto override of his presidency, meaning the legislation will become U.S. law. Fifteen of the 19 Al-Qaida hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people were Saudi, but Riyadh denies any ties to the plotters.
The text of the JASTA law does not mention Saudi Arabia, but the law's champions made it clear that its intent is to allow plaintiffs to seek damages for the Sept. 11 attacks. JASTA allows attack survivors and relatives of terrorism victims to pursue cases against foreign governments in U.S. federal court and to demand compensation if those governments are proven to bear some responsibility for attacks on U.S. soil.
Lew said JASTA "would enact broad changes in long-standing international law regarding sovereign immunity that, if applied globally, could have serious implications for our shared interests."
He said the Obama administration has proven its determination to hold people responsible when they commit "horrendous acts," but "there are ways to do that without undermining important international legal principles."
In opposing the law, Obama said it would harm U.S. interests by opening up the U.S. to private lawsuits over its military missions abroad.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have also expressed concern about erosion of sovereign immunity, a principle sacrosanct in international relations. But the potential implications go far beyond the Gulf.
Some British, French and Dutch lawmakers have threatened retaliatory legislation to allow their courts to pursue U.S. officials, threatening a global legal domino effect.
Riyadh and Washington have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. Later Thursday, Lew met King Salman, Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, and Saudi economic officials. Saudi Arabia, one of the United States' longest-standing allies in the Arab world, has said the law is a threat to a leading principle that has regulated international relations for hundreds of years preventing lawsuits against sovereign governments.
"Saudi Arabia is a victim of terrorism as much as the United States is, and by the same terrorist groups," said Prince Turki al-Faisal, who was head of Saudi intelligence until 10 days before the attacks. By passing JASTA, Faisal told a Washington conference, U.S. Congress "has accomplished the terrorist aim of hammering a wedge into the heart of the U.S.-Saudi relationship."