Mother of 9/11 victim is ambivalent about suing the Saudis

A mother of a 9/11 victim now has the right to sue Saudi Arabia over its alleged support of the attackers. But she's not celebrating.

Adele Welty lost her son, firefighter Timothy Welty, in the World Trade Center attack. She was working just a few blocks away, and knew that her son was among the first responders. 

When Ms. Welty heard this week that Congress had voted to override a presidential veto, thus allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia to proceed, her first thought was not relief or joy — but a question. "I wondered whether the chickens will be coming home to roost when this lawsuit takes place." 

Welty says she's concerned about the United States becoming vulnerable to similar lawsuits. "I'm aware that the United States and the CIA have interfered in the internal affairs of so many sovereign countries, and I'm wondering if Saudi Arabia is no longer accorded sovereign immunity, that the United States, then, would no longer have sovereign immunity, and that there will be a rush of lawsuits against us for our interference in the affairs of other countries."

Many 9/11 families see the court system as a path to justice for the deaths of their loved ones. But Welty is not so sure justice will be served.

"I'm really ambivalent about suing Saudi Arabia," she says, "because I'm not sure why the president vetoed the legislation. I trust him as a leader. I know he wants justice for the families. But there has to be a reason — or many reasons — why he would veto it, and I don't know what those reasons are."

Welty will be following progress of litigation as it progresses. "I'm involved in one of those lawsuits," she says. "But mostly because I thought it would reveal information about who, if anybody, really was involved. And maybe, if this goes to court, we'll find out." 

Welty, as a peace activist and a member of the September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, has traveled the world since her son's death, speaking with families who have lost loved ones to war and violence. She understands why families of victims would want to seek justice through any avenue. But she adds a note of concern. "Once the lawsuit goes forward," she says, "it will be covered in the press and the media. I'm fearful of an increase in Islamophobia."

"Thousands of peaceful families who happen to be Muslim are living in fear," she observes. "Children are being harassed at school. There is a tendency toward very strong racist beliefs and actions lately, not only in the United States but in Europe as well. That's very, very frightening. And these are all things that, I think, come into play, that maybe we haven't thought about too carefully."

Read more: Islamophobia is on the rise in the US. But so is Islam.