A 9/11 Story: 7. Secret Weapon

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1:01That's M-A-D-E-I-N-Cookware.com.au. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house so you make it a home. Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own. So you need all your jobs done well. For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. From plumbing to electrical, roof repair to deck upgrades. So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust, find a pro for your project at Angie.com. Washington, DC, 15 years after 9.11. Terry Strada is walking the corridors of Congress. She's here to tell each and every lawmaker how her husband was murdered. I had to keep telling my story over and over again. And why? She needs a new law so 9.11 families

2:02can sue Saudi Arabia. Why would walk endlessly? I mean, the blisters, your feet are bleeding at the end of the day sometimes. Terry is trying to change a legal protection enjoyed by foreign governments in the US. But she has no experience in politics, no background in law. I definitely had no experience working with Congress. The only thing I knew about changing a law was what I learned in the fifth grade. I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill. And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill. There was a song, you know, I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill. The children's cartoon version from Schoolhouse Rock makes it sound so simple. Congress, a vote, a presidential signature, done. It leaves out the walking. And as Terry is about to learn, much more.

3:03From intrigue on BBC Radio 4, this is a 9.11 story. I'm Jane McMullen, episode 7, The Secret Weapon. In the last episode, we left Terry in 2009, with her son in intensive care with a brain tumor. She's at his bedside when she gets another piece of devastating news from the Supreme Court. It's seven years since Terry, with other 9.11 families, stood before the world's press to launch a lawsuit alleging Saudi involvement in the attacks. But it has been stopped on a question of law by the highest court in the land. What do you do now if the Supreme Court has turned you down? Where do you go with this? How are we ever going to accomplish this? There's a concept called sovereign immunity

4:03that effectively shields foreign governments from terrorism lawsuits, unless the US designates them state sponsors of terrorism. But the US has not done this with Saudi Arabia. In fact, President Bush has praised Saudi cooperation in his war on terror. For Terry and others in the lawsuit, there's only one route left. The law had to change. It wasn't like one day I woke up and I made a decision. I'm going to take on this role and start traveling down to Washington, DCI. It was a mother with three children, so it wasn't easy. But it just kind of snowballed. That's how it all began. With a fax machine. I didn't even have a fax machine. I went out and purchased one because I needed to fax every single office and introduce the bill to them and introduce who I was. The bill is called the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. Terry and everyone else just call it jaster.

5:05It creates an exception to sovereign immunity and allow American victims of terrorism to sue a foreign government alleged who have helped those responsible. I made business cards, so then I started printing out one pages. She travels the 200 miles to Washington to deliver these summaries by hand and to gather knowledge about how power really works on Capitol Hill. There's 535 offices. It takes a couple of days to cover that. If you want everybody to get the same piece of information you're handing out. And it was just a way to go in and introduce myself, pick up their card. That's how I would learn who their legislative director was. You know, who was the person I really do need to be talking to. Slowly jaster begins to move. Terry's lawyers have told her it needs a sponsor, so she gets a meeting with a New York congressman. The next day he signed on to the bill. I thought that was it. I thought I was done.

6:05I went on. Did it. You guys have a sponsor. Terry has a sponsor, but she does not have a law. She needs more names, more meetings, votes in the House and this Senate. And it all has to happen quickly. In Congress, elections roll around every two years and any bills left unfinished simply die. Every Congress you have to start all over again. For years, the cycle repeats. Jaster gains traction. Then an election comes and Terry is forced to start again. She's up before dawn with the kids still in bed for the three-hour trip to the Capitol. There she tells and retails the horrific story of her husband's death and those of thousands of others that day. Then it's three hours home again alone. That's when I would break down. That's when the tears would come.

7:05That's when the emotion of all of it would hit me. And how am I going to do this? How this is really hard to leave my kids, go down to DC for a full day or two days, walk endlessly. And emotionally, I was spent. By 2016, Terry's been a widow for a decade and a half. The fight for Jaster has been going on for years. As another election cycle looms, she knows it's now or never. Time to deploy her secret weapon. Summer 2016, an opulent private home on Long Island, New York. Terry's at a political fundraiser. At the front, guests pass through security, behind where the ground slope gently towards the ocean. There's a pool and an impeccably stocked bar.

8:08I hung up my walking shoes, put on some heels, a cocktail dress, and I took Caitlin with me. She was my secret weapon. Caitlin is her daughter, the four-year-old, who had her first day of preschool on September the 12th, 2001. Now she's a teenager. It started off really as my mom just may be needing a little bit of a sidekick there in DC. So I raised my hand. I said, let me come with you. And I was really happy to do so. Here at the party, they retreat upstairs to a quiet room. A select few guests are being given the chance to ask questions of Paul Ryan, a trim 46-year-old Republican, with thick, dark hair. He's the speaker of the House of Representatives. And we knew at this point that Jaster was not going to happen without the speaker of the House being behind it. Guests are seated in a sunken den arranged in a horseshoe.

9:09Terry and Caitlin said at one end, and when the speaker slips in to Terry's surprise, he sits right next to her. So his knees and my knees are almost touching, because he's here and I'm here. And Caitlin's down my left, and there's a big horseshoe, everybody else. The questions begin. But they're going round the room the other way, slowly. I noticed my mom fidgeting to the side of me. I noticed her getting a little worried. She's like, I need to get my question in. Finally, they hear the dreaded words. We only have room for one more question. Well, Caitlin's sitting here. Her arm goes, we're whipping across my chest. Almost sitting in the speaker. She goes, we have a question. And he turns around and he looks. He's like, hello, ladies. He's like, you know, what can I help you with? Terry explains she needs his commitment to bring Jaster to a vote. The speaker says he thought one of the House committees had an issue with it. Terry tells him that it's all fine. Well, then he goes, it's not a matter of if your bill would get a vote.

10:09It's a matter of when. That was it. We had a commitment in public. I was thrilled. She was elated. She had finally had this verbal confirmation from the speaker of the House that Jaster was going to get its time on the floor. The blisters, the tears, the years, so much has gone into this moment. Less than two weeks since the fundraiser and two days before the 15th anniversary of 9-11, the House approves Jaster. The Senate has already done so. So now it's just one step away from being a law. In the children's cartoon version, the president now simply signs it. But this is not the children's version. September the 11th, 2016. We remember, and we will never forget,

11:11the nearly 3,000 beautiful lives taken from us so cruelly. President Obama, near the end of his eight years in office, leads a memorial ceremony at the Pentagon, including 184 men, women, and children here. The youngest, just three years old. It is his first public appearance since the House passed Terry's bill. He does not address it. But the next morning, his press secretary will... The president doesn't tend to veto this legislation. Let's talk about why. It's not about protecting Saudi Arabia, he says. It's about protecting the United States. The concept of sovereign immunity is one that protects the United States as much as any other country in the world, given the way the United States is engaged in the world. We can sovereign immunity here, and foreign countries may use that precedent against American troops, diplomats,

12:12and companies abroad. But Terry sees it differently. His veto message, to me, it sounded almost like he wasn't talking about the same piece of legislation that the Congress had just passed. Jester does not pronounce Saudi Arabia guilty, Terry says. It simply opens the courthouse door. With his veto, President Obama is slamming its shut. But the Constitution offers Terry in the 9-11 families one last chance. Congress can override his veto. She has just days to save a bill that took seven years to pass. Terry rushes back to Capitol Hill. Before everyone leaves for the campaign trail, she needs one more favor. They all have to vote again on the bill to override the president's veto.

13:14Congress has never done this to President Obama. The first test is in the Senate. This is Fisher. Aye. Mr. Wyden. Aye. She needs two-thirds of the hundred senators to say aye. This is boxer. Aye. The final count. On this vote, the yeas are 97. The nays are one. A resounding win. The next test is in the house. We're on over to the house, and it had just begun. This is a 15-minute vote. This vote is electronic, no calling of names. These 15 minutes will decide the fate of years of work. We were very nervous sitting like, you know, one way to was like this. I can't watch, I can't watch. On this vote, the yeas are 348. The nays are 77. The most incredible moment is when the gavel came down.

14:16Two-thirds having voted in favor of the bill is passed. Jasta is now law. I was exhilarated and relieved. Three different congresses, seven years. It was crazy good excitement because it was done. Terry and the 9-11 families have changed federal law. Throughout Saudi Arabia had lobbied hard against it. Although the kingdom would continue to try to weaken the law, Jasta holds. Terry has opened the courthouse door. Now, the lawyers have to find out what lies behind it. 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.

15:19He crossed us, he'd get sorted out. We'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. The Block Moisture. Chosen in over 40 million kitchens and bathrooms. Party backer board. What the best build on? Shop now at participating Home Depot, Lowe's, and floor into core stores. For more information, visit jameshardy.com slashhardybacker. Do you know what happens when you link your grub pub to your Amazon Prime?

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