A woman who lost her husband in the Sept. 11 terror attacks called out U.S. leaders to confront the Saudi Arabia government and demand that they “stop lying” about their role in the attacks while participating in the ground zero reading of names ceremony.
“How can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” Terry Strada said Friday after reading the name of her late husband, Tom Strada. Her call for accountability ignited loud cheers and applause from the typically solemn crowd.
“For 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families,” she went on, speaking from a nationally televised podium with the ears of all four living former presidents in attendance. Vice President JD Vance was also present.
“It has been one betrayal after another. President Trump can still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying. Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through,” she said.
Another victim’s family member, in a later moment, similarly urged Trump to address Saudi Arabia’s role after reading the name of his late aunt, Lisa Marie Terry.
“For 25 years, the deep state has hidden the truth about what happened that day 25 years ago. President Trump, you’re our last hope. Release the unredacted files that implicate Saudi Arabia while what’s left of the victims’ families are still alive to see it,” he said to applause.
Strada serves as the national chair of the group 9/11 Families United, which bills itself as a coalition of families and survivors of the attacks that demands answers to longstanding, unresolved questions about the tragedy, including Saudi Arabia’s role.
Fifteen of the 19 men who hijacked the four commercial airplanes used in the attacks were Saudi citizens, though Saudi Arabia has long denied any responsibility or state involvement in what happened.
A final report by the investigating 9/11 Commission in 2004 said it “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded [al Qaeda],” which was the terrorist organization directly behind the attacks. The commission, however, also called Saudi Arabia “a problematic ally in combating Islamic extremism.”