Episode 99: Saudi Arabia, the Mahfouz Family, and the September 11th Attacks

This week we look at the Mahfouz family, the billionaire family behind the first bank in Saudi Arabia, but also we look at the Saudi role in the September 11th attack in general. The Mahfouz family funded Al Qaeda, but they were certainly not the only Saudi Billionaires to do so: in 2002 the golden chain list revealed 18 Saudi businessmen with a combined net worth of $85 billion who had been giving money Osama Bin Laden. The Saudi connection into the attacks continues into various levels of the government, where employees for the ministry of Islamic affairs and the embassy in Washington served as handlers for the hijackers helping them get acclimated in the USA in the lead up to the attacks. Why was all of this covered up by the Bush administration and subsequent presidents? Why isn’t this the scandal of the century? Was all that tower 7 stuff a distraction from the very real conspiracy and cover up carried out right in front of all our faces? We try to wrestle with all those questions and more this week on Grubstakers.

Citations:

• One Man’s Quest to Prove Saudi Arabia Bankrolled 9/11 (Politico)
  Long piece going into more detail about some of the accusations against the Saudi government.
• Saudi government allegedly funded a ‘dry run’ for 9/11 (New York Post)
  Allegations that two Saudi government agents carried out a "dry run" of the attacks on US soil in 1999.