The document, a section of a 2002 congressional inquiry into the September 11 attacks, had been kept secret out of concern that it might fray diplomatic relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
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It identifies individuals who helped the hijackers get apartments, open bank accounts, attend local mosques and get flight lessons.
The 28 pages released Friday details activities that took place mainly in San Diego, but there is also a strong tie to the hijackers and a Saudi family who was living in Sarasota and abruptly left their possessions behind and fled days before the attack.
“The information in the 28 pages reinforces the belief that the 19 hijackers – most of whom spoke little English, had limited education and had never before visited the United States – did not act alone in perpetrating the sophisticated 9/11 plot”, Graham said.
“It’s important to note that this section does not put forward vetted conclusions, but rather unverified leads that were later fully investigated by the intelligence committee”, Rep. Devin Nunes, of California, the committee’s Republican chairman, said in a statement. Lawmakers and relatives of victims of the attacks, who believe that Saudi links to the attackers were not thoroughly investigated, campaigned for years to get the pages released.
The kingdom sought to respond to any allegations the chapter may produce. A fourth plane, which investigators believe was headed for the U.S. Capitol building, crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa., after passengers attempted to wrest control from the hijackers. Late on a July Friday, Congress declassified the documents, while encouraging readers to view them as an exoneration of the Saudi kingdom.
Ultimately, the report may be less damning for what it suggests about the Saudi government than for what it says about our own.
“It is really mind boggling to say there were breadcrumbs to follow that will show Saudi Arabia participated in the worst terror attack in the United States ever”, Kreindler said. “It’s the beginning, but I don’t think it’s the end”.
The documents are to go live Friday afternoon on Congress’ website.
But several pages – informally known as “the 28 Pages” – were withheld from the public for 13 years, fuelling speculation about their contents. The panel also found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded” al-Qaeda.
California-based Saudis aided two 9/11 hijackers. This includes a section that details how a phone number found in a book owned by Abu Zubayda – who was captured by Central Intelligence Agency officials in Pakistan during early 2002 – was linked to a corporation in Aspen, Colo., which is responsible for managing the affairs of Saudi Prince Bandar’s Colorado residence.
For example, the pages list one individual, Omar al-Bayoumi, as being a potential tie between the Saudis and the hijackers. However, the FBI subsequently investigated al-Bayoumi and found no evidence he was ever a Saudi agent or that he was remotely involved in any radical Islamic causes.
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“These pages, while they don’t shed any new light or change any of the conclusions about responsibilities for the 9/11 attacks, they are consistent with the commitments to transparency that the administration has tried to apply to even sensitive national security issues”, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
