A 9/11 Story: 10. A Quarter Century

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Incredible true stories shared by people from around the world. Something really strange happened to me. It was getting more and more bizarre. I didn't know who I could trust. I did not think we were ever going to make it out of life. Lies less ordinary is the podcast where real life is often stranger than fiction. G'day, my name's Brawger and I am a full-time kangaroo mother. Lives less ordinary from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. With an Amazon Music subscription.

1:11The 10th of September 2025, the eve of another anniversary of 9-11. I go in the night before, while by myself. By the time Terry Strada reaches the National 9-11 Memorial in Manhattan, it's dark and closed to the public. And it's all barricaded off. I go and I find a security guard and I ask him to let me in. The guard always says yes. Beyond the barricades, the memorial is almost empty. Terry walks alone beneath the oak trees to the two enormous pools set in the footprints of the former World Trade Center towers. Her husband, Tom Strada, worked and died here. His name and nearly 3,000 others are cut into the bronze surrounding the pools. I just slow down and I hesitate and I touch names. Not only Tom's, his colleagues, friends,

2:14and people whose family she's come to know through more than two decades of campaigning. It's a day that I would like to only think of my husband, the friends I lost, talk to him about the kids. But because nothing is settled, I don't get that luxury. I would love to have some peace if there is such a thing. From intrigue on BBC Radio 4, this is a 9-11 story. I'm Jane McMullen, episode 10, a quarter century. Morning the day after, Terry's back at Ground Zero, but she's no longer alone. It's filling with families, TV crews, and dignitaries in the VIP tent.

3:16I was outside the VIP tent. I'm not a VIP. I'm not a dignitarie. I'm just at the memorial because that's where I was for the anniversary. I wasn't expecting Cash Patel to be there. Cash Patel, FBI director. Terry has already written to the FBI, asking for records that she believes should have been released long ago. We're asking for full transparency, not just for our case, but because it's very important to understand the full story of 9-11. She's had no answer from the FBI. Now the man running the bureau is almost within touching distance. Then she sees a familiar face. And this person was coming towards me and he said, what are you doing? And I said, I'm trying to find a way to get in that tent. And he said, I'll get you in there. He does. And I weaseled my way up closer. On the ground of markers showing each dignitary where to stand,

4:18Terry positions herself near Cash Patel's. When the FBI director reaches his place, she introduces herself. I reminded him that the 9-11 community is still looking for very important documents that past FBI's have withheld all these years. And could this FBI fix the wrongs and help us out? He nods. The ceremony is about to begin. Terry asks for a meeting. He nods again. The encounter ends without a firm commitment. The ceremony begins. The 24th anniversary since Tom died. Still, she's fighting. Terry believes the FBI holds information that could change the accepted story of 9-11. The accepted version is that Al Qaeda acted alone. Terry and the family is alleged that Saudi officials helped. And the American government has not told the full story

5:21of what it knew. Are there things that you wish you could set up? I don't know. I don't know. I'm just that you wish you could say but you can't. Oh, yeah. Of course. Danny Gonzales, the former FBI Special Agent who spent 15 years investigating the possible Saudi connection to 9-11. Although he retired in 2016, Danny remains legally bound to protect classified information. There's things you can talk about, you can't talk about, but yeah, you want to talk about them. It's just human nature. You know the truth. So every time I ask you a question that you answer, I can't answer that. It's a little bit frustrating for you. A little bit, a lot of bit. The FBI declined to comment on the allegations in this series. Saudi Arabia says it did not support the 9-11 attacks. Al Qaeda, it says, was an enemy of the

6:27kingdom as well as of the United States. Years before the attacks, Saudi Arabia stripped Al Qaeda's leader as some have been laden of his citizenship and froze his assets. The allegations against Saudi Arabia, it says, a categorically false. Eight months later, spring 2026. Well it's funny, you look back at pictures of yourself and you're, who are those tans, guinea people? At home, with French Bulldog Bella, Terry Strider is looking for a particular photograph of her and Tom. This is us just before the reception, taking some photographs and I think that's my favorite. Just kissing on the dance floor and look at the smile. For a while, fortune smiled back. Tom got good work. They bought a home and had one, two, then three kids. Tom was there when I had

7:31Justin. He went home afterwards because Tommy and Caitlin, who went home to make them their favorite spaghetti dinner, but he came in the next day with Caitlin Marchina right behind him. Where is my baby brother? He's right here, Katie. It was the perfect life, she says. But when Terry crosses to her office with Bella following, okay, Missy, come on. The walls tell the story of the life that came after. So that's jester. A copy of the law she helped force through Congress. It's actually a little crooked. Let me straighten it on the wall up there. The room is full of flags, court papers, press releases. Everywhere you turn, a photos of Terry alongside senators, members of Congress and even presidents. What the photos don't show are heraking feet. I mean, they're uncomfortable here or here. Every picture is seen we dressed up in, but as you can also see, see these bags? These are

8:31carrying various pairs of shoes. Formal ones for the photos, comfy ones for the miles of congressional corridors in between. The room is an extraordinary record of a quarter century spent fighting. I'm proud of what I've done, yes. But as I'm starting to look at my twilight years, because I'm in my 60s, I also feel very sad that that is the life. That's what it gets to me. That is the life I had to live. Because I much rather would have lived it the way I envisioned it. Did the man I married? And that my children would never have gone through what they've gone through. So I can pat myself on the back, but it's nothing to what I really wanted out of life. That was in May. Now Terry tells me she's begun to take down the room. The photos, the flags,

9:36the documents are being boxed up. She says maybe it can become a play space for her grandkids. My name is Caitlin Strata. As a child who lost her father at the age of four on 9-11, I have a different perspective than all of you here today. In 2014 at the age of 17, Terry's daughter, Caitlin spoke on Capitol Hill. I have had many experiences taken away from me because of terrorism and I have many unanswered questions. Today I'm married with two young children. I'm living in the suburbs and raising my family and happily married to the love of my life. So in a lot of ways, I mirror a lot of my parents' life. The passing years bring a new perspective. There have been so many losses in these 25 years. I need to speak about my dad's parents,

10:36my grandma and grandpa. We've lost both of them and only in the past few years. So they were around for a really long time, post 9-11 to hopefully see some sort of justice. But the lawsuit carries on. The civil case is now with the US Court of Appeal, where Saudi Arabia is fighting to have it thrown out. The court will hear oral arguments in October. My mom deserves some peace. My mom has dedicated the last 24 years of her life to this. She deserves time to close this chapter and move on. And if the fight has to last much longer, will you be there to carry on? Yes, yes, yes. It would be my honor and my responsibility to continue this fight. I wouldn't let my mom down. We cannot forget and we need justice. I think it is a terrible legacy to leave the children of 9-11,

11:43that they should have to impossibly pick up where I am leaving off and continue this fight. They deserve to be at home with their children, raising their family, not fighting this fight. Terry wants to spare Caitlin. Caitlin wants to spare Terry. Their fight remains unfinished. It centers on the questions this series began with. Who is Omar Al-Bayumi? And what did he really know about the men he helped? We tried to reach Bayumi directly. We also sent a letter for him through the Saudi Embassy in London and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. It set out the principal allegations raised in this series and offered the chance to respond in writing or in an interview. We received no response. Bayumi returned to Saudi Arabia in 2002.

12:46This remote video deposition is being held in the matter of the terrorist attacks in September 11, 2021. In 2021, the family's lawyers questioned him by video. Our opponent today is Omar Al-Bayumi. From Saudi Arabia, Bayumi appeared in white robes and a red and white headscarf. 20 years had passed since 9-11. Many of his answers were that he could no longer remember. But on the central point, his account had not changed. He says he met the two future hijackers by chance unaware of their deadly mission. He helped them, he says, because that was his nature. Asked about another friendship from those years, Bayumi reflected on what 9-11 had changed. In the past, he says, you met someone, became friends and went places together.

13:46Now that's no longer enough. You must understand how they think, their personality. It's a different time. In other words, we can't take people that face value anymore. He's putting words to something many of us recognize. The world became a more suspicious place after 9-11. If you believe by Umi, he's like you or me, someone who just has to live in this changed world. If you believe the families, he's part of the reason it changed. 25 years on from 9-11, thanks to Terry, Danny and others, we know much more about what Omar Al-Bayumi did. What we might never know is why.

14:51A 9-11 story is presented by me, Jane McMullan. The series producer is Neil Rizel, with additional production by Sally Abrahams, Kayley Baker and Nick Sindal. Music is by Thomas Ross Fitzsimmons and Sound Design by Charlie Brandon King. The series editor is Matt Willis, legal advice from Hashim Mood, editorial policy advice from Nikio Donald and Anthony Doar, production management by Phoebe Lomas. For Radio 4, the commissioning executive is Tracy Williams. The commissioning editor is Dan Clark. A 9-11 story is a BBC News Long Form audio production. In summer 2005, I blacked my way into a job editing a new British gangster film, and I'd unknowingly been employed by two of London's most notorious gang leaders. He crossed us, he'd get sorted out.

15:52We're serious people. I was stepping into a world where the lines between facts and fiction barely existed, because the film they'd written was the story of their lives, and they were using it to change their future. But would it be possible to really leave criminality behind them? It was all good a week ago. I'm Lewis Albro from BBC Radio 4 and Shadow World. This is Breaking the Cycle. Subscribe to Shadow World, breaking the cycle on BBC Sounds. Dead by people from around the world. Something really strange happened to me. It was getting more and more bizarre. I didn't know who I could trust. I did not think we were ever going to make it out of life. Lives less ordinary is the podcast where real life is often stranger than fiction. G'day, my name's Brawlga, and I am a full-time kangaroo mother. Lives less ordinary from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

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