The 28 pages, which catalogued potentially suspicious connections between Saudi officials in the United States and a number of the hijackers, were part of a congressional report from 2002 but were classified by then president George W Bush on grounds of national security.
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The US government has released 28 pages of a congressional report on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which show the Saudi government may have had a hand in the attacks.
Saudi officials have long said the 28 pages provide no evidence that the U.S. ally was involved in the attacks, and that conclusion was echoed by the lawmakers who released the document. Bob Graham, the co-chairman of the congressional inquiry – believe the hijackers had an extensive Saudi support system while they were in the United States.
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.
“We hope the release of these pages will clear up, once and for all, any lingering questions or suspicions about Saudi Arabias actions, intentions, or long-term friendship with the United States”, he added.
“The Intelligence Community and the 9/11 Commission, which followed the Joint Inquiry that produced these so-called 28 pages, investigated the questions they raised and was never able to find sufficient evidence to support them”, he said.
The classification of the “28 pages” had sparked speculation that the hijackers had received official support from the Saudi government. They claim that the Saudi Arabian government, as well as multinational organizations and wealthy Saudi-based individuals, has long financed groups that are linked to terrorism, while also failing to crack down on known militants and hiding evidence from the public.
Intelligence found indications that one of Osama bin Laden’s half-brothers worked at the Saudi embassy.
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, and vice chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., urged the public to read the results of the subsequent investigations by the CIA and FBI that they say “debunk” numerous allegations in the congressional inquiry, and put conspiracy theories to rest.
Bassnan and Omar al-Bayoumi, another Saudi living in San Diego, “provided substantial assistance” to two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, the documents said.
A newly declassified chapter of a U.S. report into 9/11 details potential links between the hijackers and the Saudi government.
The report also mentions that numbers found in the phonebook of Abu Zubaydah, a detainee now held in Guantánamo, could be traced to a company in Denver, Colorado, connected to former Saudi ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
President Barack Obama has said he will not sign any such measure.
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Minister Al-Jubeir further said, “And when the appropriate agencies, the 9/11 Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and CIA investigated those leads and came out with their conclusions they said that ‘there’s no there there.’ Yet, these people continued to mislead the public for 13 years”. National Intelligence Director James Clapper conducted that declassification review and transmitted the document to Congress, which released the pages online on Friday.
