RIYADH, Sept 11 (AFP) - Two Saudi newspapers launched a commemorative website on the third anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States echoing the authorities' efforts to distance the kingdom from any responsibility for the deadly suicide hijackings.
The new English-language site "targets the world by showing opinions and articles and in-depth analyses and the aftermath of the events", Arab News reported Friday.
The London-based Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat and the Jeddah-based English-language Arab News are owned by the same Saudi publishing group chaired by Prince Faisal bin Salman.
Though Arab News said the website was launched to "focus on the Arab point of view on the tragedy", most of the articles shown are written by Saudi writers, while other sections of the website focus on Saudi-US relations and Saudi official statements.
The exoneration of Saudi Arabia by the 9/11 Commission report from accusations it funded Al-Qaeda is also highlighted in the first pieces published on the site.
Visitors of the website can respond to the published articles and comment on previous responses.
"It took us Arabs a while to comprehend that atrocity; many of us cheered; a few felt worried and shocked. Over time, worries and tension intensified," the Saudi writer Mashari al-Thaidi wrote in an article which had attracted nine responses by Saturday afternoon.
A certain Usayd responded by saying that "the Saudi dictatorship has ... a lot of blood on its hands, and Muslims everywhere should recognise the true enemy is not the US.
"The Shaitan (satan) is amung us. It is the Sauds (Saudi royal family) themselves. The Sauds created Al-Qaeda, and then lost control of it," he added.
Fifteen out of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, which has been fighting its own war against a wave of deadly unrest blamed on sympathisers of Al-Qaeda.
Saudi determination to fight terrorism has been repeatedly called into question by US media and politicians, including Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.