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Rep. King: We don't have the full picture on Saudi Arabia |
The U.S. government on Friday released a once-secret chapter from a
congressional report on the 9/11 attacks that addresses Saudi
connections to some of the hijackers, a move sure to recharge
speculation over what -- if anything -- Saudi government officials
knew.
Under wraps for 13 years, the report contains
numerous redactions but states some hijackers "were in contact with, and
received support or assistance from, individuals who may be connected
to the Saudi Government."
The documents were posted Friday by the House intelligence committee, after being declassified.
The report questioned whether Saudis who were in
contact with the hijackers after they arrived in the U.S. knew what they
were planning. The document -- known as the so-called "28 pages" --
names people the hijackers associated with before they carried out the
attacks. It identifies individuals who helped the hijackers get
apartments, open bank accounts, attend local mosques and get flight
lessons.
The document says Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national
who helped two of the hijackers in California, was suspected of being a
Saudi intelligence officer. The 9/11 Commission report found him to be
an "unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement" with Islamic
extremists. The new document says that according to FBI files,
al-Bayoumi had "extensive contact with Saudi government establishments
in the United States and received financial support from a Saudi company
affiliated with the Saudi Ministry of Defense. ... That company
reportedly had ties to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida," which orchestrated
the attacks.
The document also points to Osama Bassnan, who lived
across the street from two of the hijackers in California. According to
an FBI document, Bassnan told another individual that he met the
hijackers through al-Bayoumi. Bassnan told an FBI asset that "he did
more than al-Bayoumi did for the hijackers."
The office of the Director of National Intelligence
on Friday also released part of a 2005 FBI-CIA memo that said "there is
no information to indicate that either (Bayoumi) or (Bassnan) materially
supported the hijackers wittingly, were intelligence officers of the
Saudi government or provided material support for the 11 September
attacks, contrary to media speculation."
There also is stinging criticism of the intelligence
community and previous administrations for not taking the “issue” of
Saudi ties to terror groups seriously.
One of the reasons for the “limited understanding” of
the extent of Saudi Arabia’s support and financing of terror groups,
the report said, was a reluctance to investigate them “due to Saudi
Arabia’s status as an American ‘ally.’”
“It should be clear that this Joint Inquiry has made
no final determination as to the reliability or sufficiency of the
information,” said the report, adding that extensive investigation was
outside the committee’s mission.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, expressed support for the
decision to release the previously classified material but noted “that
this section does not put forward vetted conclusions, but rather
unverified leads that were later fully investigated by the Intelligence
Community.”
Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff,
D-Calif., applauded the disclosure but acknowledged it would not end the
years of debate about the role of Saudi Arabia preceding the 9/11
attacks.
“I know that the release of these pages will not end
debate over the issue, but it will quiet rumors over their contents – as
is often the case, the reality is less damaging than the uncertainty,”
said Schiff.
Later investigations found no evidence that the Saudi
government or senior Saudi officials knowingly supported those who
orchestrated the attacks. But lawmakers and relatives of victims, who
don't think all Saudi links to the attackers were thoroughly
investigated, campaigned for more than 13 years to get the final chapter
of the 2002 congressional inquiry released.
Former President George W. Bush originally classified
the chapter to protect intelligence sources and methods and perhaps to
avoid upsetting Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally.
President Obama later ordered a declassification review of the chapter, which Congress released on Friday.
The congressional panel that compiled the report was
made up of bipartisan members of the Senate and House intelligence
committees. The separate 9/11 commission released the findings of its
investigation two years later.
Until now, the classified documents have remained in a
secure basement room at the Capitol for the last 14 years – and the
subject of intense debate.
Those who argued for their release believed the pages
would shed light on the dark relationship between Saudi Arabia and
terrorism.
Of the 19 who carried out the 9/11 attacks, 15 were
Saudi citizens; the government has long had a complicated relationship
with terrorists and terror organizations.
Saying it would clear up “any lingering suspicions”
about its role in the attacks, the government of Saudi Arabia supported
calls for the release of the secret pages.
“Since 2002, the 9/11 Commission and several
government agencies, including the CIA and the FBI, have investigated
the contents of the ‘28 Pages’ and have confirmed that neither the Saudi
government, nor senior Saudi officials, nor any person acting on behalf
of the Saudi government provided any support or encouragement for these
attacks,” Saudi Ambassador to the United States Abdullah Al-Saud said
in a statement.
It was clear, however, that the Saudis were less than
cooperative with investigators following the attacks. One FBI official
described post-Sept. 11, 2001 investigation in which he provided the
Saudis with copies of individuals’ passports and they responded that
“they had no record of the subjects.”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the
release of the pages “does not change the assessment of the U.S.
government that there’s no evidence the Saudi government as an
institution or senior Saudi officials funded Al Qaeda.”
In June 2015, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky joined with Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden to
introduce a bill requiring President Obama to declassify and make available to the public the redacted 28 pages.
Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, the former chairman
of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-chair of the
bipartisan joint congressional inquiry, recently told "
60 Minutes" he believed the hijackers had connections and support from the Saudi government, as well as wealthy individuals and charities.
This past June, the CIA's Office of the Inspector General released a
report on its own internal investigation.
The inquiry, which concluded in 2005, was said to be inconclusive and
found no evidence the Saudi government knowingly and willingly supported
Al Qaeda terrorists.
Under increasing pressure from the victims' families
and lawmakers, Obama said in April his administration would declassify
the pages.