Lawmakers Pressure The Obama Administration To Release 28 Pages From The 9-11 Report That Reportedly Implicates Saudi Arabia

The 9-11 Report was criticized by many as crafted by the Commission to avoid any real criticism of individuals in prior administrations. Carefully selected by the two parties, the Commission was composed of highly reliable and connected individuals that avoided assigning responsibility despite the obvious intelligence indicating a pending attack. There was one section of the Report however that was notably sealed and kept from the public. Twenty-eight mysterious pages that the Bush and Obama Administrations did not want the public to see. It was reportedly a section containing incriminating informative linking Saudi Arabia even more closely to the 9-11 terrorists. The government refused to let the public know the degree to which one of our closest allies bore responsibility for the worst attack on U.S. soil in our history. Now, thirteen years later, Commission members are finally pushing for the release of the 28 pages against the resistance of the Obama Administration, which has one of the worst records in modern history in barring public access to information.

Officials familiar with the 2003 report say that the 28 pages of redacted information raises questions over whether Saudi officials were involved in assisting Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar upon their arrival in Los Angeles in Jan. 2000. Given the highly political and highly edited language of the report, any direct finding of responsibility would be viewed as a notable departure and reflect substantial evidence of complicity.

There has long been questions about how two Saudi nationals so quickly secured housing and flight lessons upon their arrival despite their poor language skills and experience with the United States. Moreover, both al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar met at the King Fahad mosque in Culver City with Fahad al-Thumairy, “a diplomat at the Saudi consulate known to hold extremist views.” Notably, this Saudi diplomat was such an extremist that, despite the desire of Saudi Arabia to have him represent their country, he was denied reentry to the U.S. in 2003 for suspected terrorist ties.

Thumairy appeared to be a “a ghost employee with a no-show job at a Saudi aviation contractor outside Los Angeles while drawing a paycheck from the Saudi government”, according to media reports. Then there is Thumairy’s to Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi who became the hijackers’ biggest benefactor. Bayou was viewed as a Saudi agent before the attacks and had contact with the terrorists. Both Bayoumi and Thumairy, two extremists with connections to the hijackers, met at a Saudi consulate office on the morning of Feb. 1, 2000 and then had lunch “at a Middle Eastern restaurant on Venice Boulevard.”

The Saudis have long denied such support as “myths.” What is really shocking however is not the Saudi denials (given the Kingdom’s denial of free speech and criticism of the government), but the refusal of the Bush and Obama Administrations to allow the public to know the truth for over a decade despite this country’s loss and suffering as a result of the attacks.