Terrorist Claims Saudis Funded Al Qaeda

A former operative for Al Qaeda testified that prominent members of Saudi Arabia's royal family funded the terrorist network during the late 1990s, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing testimony filed in a federal court. Speaking from inside a federal supermax prison, Zacarias Moussaoui testified in a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, filed by relatives of those killed in Sept. 11 attacks. He alleged discussing a plan to shoot down Air Force One with a Stinger missile with a staff member at the Saudi Embassy in Washington. A team of lawyers was allowed to enter the prison and question him for two days in October, and Moussaoui described meeting with then-crown prince Salman and other Saudi royals while delivering letters from Osama bin Laden. The Saudi Embassy said in a statement on Monday that the national Sept. 11 commission had rejected allegations that the government or Saudi officials had funded Al Qaeda. “Moussaoui is a deranged criminal whose own lawyers presented evidence that he was mentally incompetent,” the statement said. “His words have no credibility.” Moussaoui was diagnosed with mental illness by a psychologist who testified on his behalf, but was found competent to stand trial on terrorism charges and sentenced to life in prison in 2006.