There are apparent signs of worsening relations between Riyadh and Washington following the unanimous passage of 9/11 bill by the US Senate. The proposed legislation opens the door for families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia if they prove in a court that the Kingdom was indeed involved in those attacks. The Saudis are concerned as they see a pattern of an unusual behavior in the American policy toward them following the announcement of unprecedented size of Saudi investments in the US Treasury bonds. The issue of the 9/11 bill, which the US government spoke about for the first time, and which came up before the Senate for a very short duration of time after a resolution was presented to the House of Representatives for ratification. The issue is likely to get a positive vote in the House. It will then be presented to President Barack Obama, whose administration exhorted the Senate a number of times to reject the passage of the 9/11 bill and even threatened a veto. But there are concerns for the Saudis as the Congress is forcing the president to bow to the desire of its members. There is a group in Saudi Arabia that sees the need to deal with this issue rationally respecting the judicial process and without bowing to pressures while preparing a raft of strong defense measures. After the events of Sept. 11, a large number of Saudi business leaders faced a series of sweeping allegations and were all, without exception, settled and resolved in favor of Saudi businessmen after marathon legal battles. From the outset, Saudi Arabia believes that it has dealt diligently with the issues involving Sept. 11 attacks. It has cooperated and provided all relevant information and data to the concerned authorities. Saudi Arabia has always insisted that all the documents and reports prepared for the congressional committee that investigated the events of Sept. 11 and objected to keeping the 28-page report confidential without being exposed to the public and asserted on removing any reservation on it because none of the investigators has any real evidence to prove their accusations or their relationship with the terrorist events. There is a lack of confidence between the United States and Saudi Arabia and no one can deny that. There is a trove of confidential files that are required to be opened and exposed in order to discuss the issue with trust and transparency. Such an exercise will bring comfort to the souls of many American and Saudi victims and make sure that Saudi Arabia does not sponsor terrorism and America "does not seek to bring about a change by force". These are the two most important issues for the loss of trust between the two countries. Saudi Arabia must prepare well to what happens to the 9/11 bill in the corridors of the US Congress.
