PERSPECTIVE - When Donald Trump made his first foreign trip as president in 2017, it wasn’t to one of America’s neighbors or democratic allies. It was to Saudi Arabia—a kingdom whose leaders greeted him with gold medallions, sword dances, and extravagant pageantry. For Trump, this wasn’t diplomacy, it was a deal. And in true Trump fashion, he made it clear: sell us oil, buy our weapons, and we won’t ask too many questions.
But some questions can’t be ignored, especially when they involve the deaths of 2,977 people on American soil.
Today, as Trump seeks to secure a trillion-dollar investment from the Kingdom and its neighbors, one truth still casts a shadow: fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Two Saudi men—Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy—provided money, shelter, and logistical support to the hijackers in San Diego. Both had ties to the Saudi government. Both were investigated by the FBI. And both were protected for years by U.S. administrations unwilling to confront the uncomfortable implications of that truth.
In 2022, the FBI declassified documents confirming what 9/11 families had long feared: Bayoumi was a Saudi intelligence operative, not merely a “student.” Thumairy, meanwhile, was working out of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, a chilling fact for Angelenos who remember the post-9/11 crackdown on Muslim communities, increased surveillance, and the criminalization of dissent that followed.
This isn’t speculation. This is federal record.
And yet, in the years since, not one U.S. president—Republican or Democrat—has had the moral courage to publicly hold Saudi Arabia accountable.
Instead, we’ve watched as Trump bragged about protecting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), even after the CIA determined that he ordered the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. We’ve watched as American-made bombs dropped on Yemeni civilians, as U.S. arms deals continued without pause, and as presidents from both parties looked the other way.
This matters—not just in Washington, but right here in Los Angeles.
It matters for our city’s Muslim communities, who have been unfairly targeted and surveilled in the name of “national security” while the real state-level enablers of 9/11 walked free. It matters for our veterans and working families, whose tax dollars funded wars built on lies. It matters for our democracy, which withers every time our leaders choose gold over grief, profit over truth.
As citizens of a city that values justice, diversity, and accountability, we have a right to ask: What is the moral cost of alliance?
Quoting the late Senator Paul Wellstone: “Politics is about the improvement of people’s lives. It’s about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and in the world.”
That cause remains unfinished.
Until we demand transparency, until we honor the voices of the families who lost everything on 9/11, until we make clear that no amount of money can buy absolution, we are all complicit.
If Trump wants to dance with tyrants, let him. But the rest of us must refuse to forget.
Sources:
(George Cassidy Payne is a writer, social ethicist, and suicide prevention counselor. He is a frequent contributor to City Watch LA.)
