“The report of the 9/11 attacks is over 900 pages, but without these 28 pages that are still held away from the public eye, we will not have the chance to determine what happened, who was behind it, and frankly, who we are protecting.”
The New York Post is reporting that information in a lawsuit points to Saudi Arabia’s US embassy possibly funding a practice run for the September 11th terrorist attack.
The class action lawsuit, filed on behalf of the victims of the 9/11 attack, lists allegations that the Saudi government was directly involved. This is an allegation that has been around for a long time but has now gained new and very strong legs.
The evidence alleges that the embassy paid for two Saudi nationals to fly from Phoenix to Washington. This was two years before the devastating 9/11 attack that set the US on a path to war against the terrorists in the Middle East.
Here is what happened
During the flight in November 1999, it is reported that the Saudis tried to get into the plane’s cockpit in an attempt to test airline security procedures. The incident resulted in an emergency landing. The FBI interrogated the Saudis but let them go, and they faded into the background. The FBI was able to determine that the two men had tickets paid for by the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C.
FBI documents in the lawsuit alleged Saudi students Mohammed al-Qudhaeein and Hamdan al-Shalawi were in fact members of “the Kingdom’s network of agents in the US” and participated in the 9/11 conspiracy.
There is, of course, push-back from the Saudis that there were people outside of the government but close to the royal family who were involved. This is seen as a tactic to distance the official Saudi government from the allegations. It is speculated that people who were in different government departments may have facilitated some of the early “dry runs” that later became the attack of 9/11.
The Saudi response
Of course, Saudi Arabia has vehemently denied any involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, but according to the Post report, the evidence suggests “a pattern of both financial and operational support” for the 9/11 conspiracy from official Saudi sources.
Waleed Nassar, an international disputes lawyer who represents two Saudi charities that are defendants in 9/11 litigation alongside Saudi Arabia, said, “The evidence, along with much of what has been submitted, is innuendo and circumstantial.”
“The plaintiff’s burden is to show something more direct, and that’s really the only hope they have to have Saudi Arabia remain in the litigation,” Nassar said.
But there is another wrinkle in this story
A secret 9/11 history exists that names at least one foreign country that provided support to some of the 19 hijackers on their murderous mission 16 years ago.
Twenty-eight pages from an official 2002 report detailing foreign government assistance to the September 11 attackers remain classified.
The controversial information is contained in the House-Senate Intelligence Committees’ Joint Inquiry. The section on “specific sources of foreign support” was classified by former president George W. Bush for national security reasons.
Bush received his share of flak for the move, but critics have also denounced President Barack Obama, who reportedly told several 9/11 family members he would declassify the 28 pages—but years later failed to do so.
Observers say the American public—and 9/11 family members in particular—deserve to know what the missing chapter reveals.
Determined 9/11 family members and sympathetic Congressmen are pushing hard, however, for the long-awaited release of the missing history of one of the United States’ greatest tragedies.
“Heinous plot”
It was the worst-ever attack on American soil on September 11, 2001, when four hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania on a sunny Tuesday morning.
Terry Strada’s husband Tom died in the World Trade Center’s North Tower. “The victims’ families and survivors want to hold those accountable for the murder, pain, and suffering that was inflicted on us,” Strada said.
“My husband was killed by radical Islamist terrorists on American soil who cannot operate without massive amounts of money and support. The hijackers are dead. I want to know who gave them the funds and material support needed to carry out their heinous plot and hold them accountable. Then justice will be served.”
The call to declassify the secret 28 pages
The push to declassify the chapter on foreign support is not a new one, with 46 US senators seeking the 28-page publication in 2003. US congressmen Walter Jones, Stephen Lynch, and Thomas Massie—who have read the 28 pages—sponsored Resolution 428 last December, seeking the immediate release of the classified 9/11 history. Joining with family members, the politicians reiterated their call for declassification at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
“I think the 28 pages are stunning in their clarity in terms of how demonstrative they are in showing the planning beforehand, the financing, and the eventual attacks on that day,” said Lynch, adding that questions remain whether individuals identified “were acting as part of a government or acting as rogue agents.”
The 28 pages are not that secret
The 28 pages can be read by members of Congress who ask permission from leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Once approved, the protocol allows a member of Congress to be accompaniment by an intelligence officer to a Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility (SCIF), to read the redacted chapter. The officer remains present the entire time, ensuring that no notes are taken. No specific details from the 28 pages can be divulged to the public.
Congressman Massie has described the classified chapter as “shocking.” “I had to stop every couple pages and just sort of absorb and try to rearrange my understanding of history for the past 16 years and years leading up to that,” he told a press conference earlier this year.
“It challenges you to rethink everything.”
Edward Price, the assistant press secretary at the National Security Council, said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was looking at the issue. “Earlier this summer the White House requested that ODNI review the 28 pages from the joint inquiry for declassification. ODNI is currently coordinating the required interagency review and it is ongoing.”
Accusations
Former senator Bob Graham co-chaired the 2002 House-Senate Joint Inquiry, the first official investigation into 9/11, and oversaw the writing of the 28 pages. For years Graham has prodded the White House to release the information. He has also gone on record accusing Saudi Arabia of ties to the September 11 attacks.
Like a spider web, there are many threads
Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar were the first two 9/11 hijackers to enter the United States in January 2000. They were soon befriended by Saudi national Omar al-Bayoumi, who arranged an apartment in San Diego, co-signed their lease, and paid their security deposit.
Senator Graham has accused al-Bayoumi of being a “Saudi government agent” who “provided direct assistance” to the two hijackers.
Michael Kellogg, the Washington, D.C.-based lawyer for the Saudi Arabian government, said,”Mr. Bayoumi was attending school in London at the time of the attacks, and there is no known basis for the allegation that he was an intelligence agent or in any way involved in those attacks,” Kellogg said.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan was the Saudi ambassador to the United States on September 11, 2001 and denied any Saudi role in 9/11. He said in a 2003 statement, “The idea that the Saudi government funded, organized, or even knew about September 11 is malicious and blatantly false. Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide. We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages.” He was referring to the 28 pages that have yet to be released.
Where does that lawsuit come from?
The suit follows the passage of a US law last year that allows families of the victims of the September 11 attacks to sue the Saudi government. The law, originally vetoed by former President Barack Obama, allows survivors and relatives of victims to pursue cases against foreign governments in US federal court and to demand compensation if such governments are proved to bear some responsibility for attacks on American soil.
An important undisputed fact to remember
Fifteen of the 19 men who carried out the 2001 attacks were Saudi nationals. The 28 secret pages need to be released. The report of the 9/11 attacks is over 900 pages, but without these 28 pages that are still held away from the public eye, we will not have the chance to determine what happened, who was behind it, and frankly, who we are protecting.
