Jul 16, 2016- Congress has released previously classified documents about whether the Saudi government had a role in the 9/11 attacks.
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Addressing a press conference in Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the declassified document underlined that the Saudi government was not involved in the Sept 11 attacks. As the report notes, “In testimony and interviews, a number of FBI agents and Central Intelligence Agency officers complained to the [inquiry] about a lack of Saudi cooperation in terrorism investigations both before and after the September 11th attacks”.
Lawmakers and victims’ families campaigned for years for their publication, alleging high-level Saudis were complicit in the attacks.
The pages show no officials links between the Saudi government and the hijackers who killed almost 3,000 people in NY.
But it’s hard to see how any information in these missing 28 pages of documents will lead to a successful prosecution of those suits.
The finding found the intelligence community did not adequately focus on the Saudi connection to al-Qaida and called this lapse “unacceptable, given the magnitude and immediacy of the potential risk to U.S. National Security”.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubier told reporters Friday that his government welcomed the release of the 28 pages and said the documents should finally put to rest questions about Saudi Arabia’s suspected role in the September 11 terrorist attack.
While many US officials opposed declassifying the information saying they worry the move could damage diplomatic relations with a key ally in the region, reportedly Saudi Government has welcomed the release of the information.
“Saudi Arabia has always been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organisation”.
What emerges from the redacted documents is a picture of US intelligence backing down from fully investigating Saudi links to the attacks as well as possible Saudi intelligence links to Osama bin Laden. “It’s the beginning, but I don’t think it’s the end”, said Terry Strada, national chair for 9/11 Families United For Justice Against Terrorism.
In contrast, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said that the declassified documents “provide more than enough evidence to raise serious concerns”, even without reaching a conclusion on Saudi involvement in the terror strikes.
The declassified pages do not make any direct connections between Saudi officials and the September 11 attacks, but outline numerous links between two of the attackers, other terrorists, suspected Saudi spies, Saudi charities and Saudi officials – including Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar making a payment to a suspected Saudi spy who had ties to two of the hijackers, and another suspected Saudi spy housing those two hijackers for several days.
The document, however, also stated that “CIA traces have revealed no “direct” links between numbers found in Zubaydah’s phone book and numbers in the United States”.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Friday that the pages would show no evidence of Saudi complicity in the 9/11 attacks. Worth noting, shortly after the report was filed by James Rosen, Al-Waleed announced his company-Kingdom Holding Company-was dumping most of its stake in Murdoch’s News Corp., down from 6.6% to 1%. According to Federal Bureau of Investigation data, the firm “manages the affairs of the Colorado residence of Prince Bandar (bin Sultan)”, who served as Saudi ambassador to Washington at the time.
Yet, President Barack Obama had chose to declassify the so-called “28 pages”.
The Obama administration sent a declassified version of the 28 pages, with many lines and sentences blacked out to protect intelligence sources and methods, to Congress on Friday morning.
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The report said the alleged links had not been independently verified.
