Congressmen Call For Declassification Of 9/11 Files Discussing Hijacker Links To Saudi Government

[Heathen Hammer]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Since terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, victims’ loved ones, injured survivors, and members of the media have all tried without much success to discover the true nature of the relationship between the 19 hijackers — 15 of them Saudi nationals — and the Saudi Arabian government.Many news organizations reported that some of the terrorists were linked to the Saudi royals and that they even may have received financial support from them as well as from several mysterious, moneyed Saudi men living in San Diego.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied any connection, and neither President George W. Bush nor President Obama has been forthcoming on this issue.
But earlier this year, Reps. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., and Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., were given access to the 28 redacted pages of the Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry (JICI) of 9/11 issued in late 2002, which have been thought to hold some answers about the Saudi connection to the attack.
"I was absolutely shocked by what I read," Jones told International Business Times. "What was so surprising was that those whom we thought we could trust really disappointed me. I cannot go into it any more than that. I had to sign an oath that what I read had to remain confidential. But the information I read disappointed me greatly."

The public may soon also get to see these secret documents. Last week, Jones and Lynch introduced a resolution that urges President Obama to declassify the 28 pages, which were originally classified by President George W. Bush.It has never been fully explained why the pages were blacked out, but President Bush stated in 2003 that releasing the pages would violate national security.
While neither Jones nor Lynch would say just what is in the document, some of the information has leaked out over the years.
A multitude of sources tell IBTimes, and numerous press reports over the years in Newsweek, the New York Times, CBS News and other media confirm, that the 28 pages in fact clearly portray that the Saudi government had at the very least an indirect role in supporting the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attack. In addition, these classified pages clarify somewhat the links between the hijackers and at least one Saudi government worker living in San Diego.
Former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who chaired the Joint Inquiry in 2002 and has been beating the drum for more disclosure about 9/11 since then, has never understood why the 28 pages were redacted.
Graham told IBTimes that based on his involvement in the investigation and on the now-classified information in the document that his committee produced, he is convinced that “the Saudi government without question was supporting the hijackers who lived in San Diego…. You can't have 19 people living in the United States for, in some cases, almost two years, taking flight lessons and other preparations, without someone paying for it. But I think it goes much broader than that. The agencies from CIA and FBI have suppressed that information so American people don't have the facts."
Jones insists that releasing the 28 secret pages would not violate national security.
“It does not deal with national security per se; it is more about relationships,” he said. “The information is critical to our foreign policy moving forward and should thus be available to the American people. If the 9/11 hijackers had outside help — particularly from one or more foreign governments — the press and the public have a right to know what our government has or has not done to bring justice to the perpetrators."
It took Jones six weeks and several letters to the House Intelligence Committee before the classified pages from the 9/11 report were made available to him. Jones was so stunned by what he saw that he approached Rep. Lynch, asking him to look at the 28 pages as well. He knew that Lynch would be astonished by the contents of the documents and perhaps would join in a bipartisan effort to declassify the papers.
"He came back to me about a week ago and told me that he, too, was very shocked by what he read,” Jones said. “I told him we need to join together and put in a resolution and get more members on both sides of the aisle involved and demand that the White House release this information to the public. The American people have a right to know this information."

A decade ago, 46 senators, led by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded in a letter to President Bush that he declassify the 28 pages.The letter read, in part, "It has been widely reported in the press that the foreign sources referred to in this portion of the Joint Inquiry analysis reside primarily in Saudi Arabia. As a result, the decision to classify this information sends the wrong message to the American people about our nation's antiterror effort and makes it seem as if there will be no penalty for foreign abettors of the hijackers.
Protecting the Saudi regime by eliminating any public penalty for the support given to terrorists from within its borders would be a mistake.... We respectfully urge you to declassify the 28-page section that deals with foreign sources of support for the 9/11 hijackers."
All of the senators who signed that letter but one, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), were Democrats.
Lynch, who won the Democratic primary for his congressional seat on that fateful day of Sept. 11, 2001, told IBTimes that he and Jones are in the process of writing a “Dear Colleague” letter calling on all House members to read the 28 pages and join their effort.
"Once a member reads the 28 pages, I think whether they are Democrat or Republican they will reach the same conclusion that Walter and I reached, which is that Americans have the right to know this information," Lynch said. “These documents speak for themselves. We have a situation where an extensive investigation was conducted, but then the Bush [administration] decided for whatever purposes to excise 28 pages from the report. I'm not passing judgment. That was a different time. Maybe there were legitimate reasons to keep this classified. But that time has long passed.”
Most of the allegations of links between the Saudi government and the 9/11 hijackers revolve around two enigmatic Saudi men who lived in San Diego: Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Basnan, both of whom have long since left the United States.
In early 2000, al-Bayoumi, who had previously worked for the Saudi government in civil aviation (a part of the Saudi defense department), invited two of the hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, to San Diego from Los Angeles. He told authorities he met the two men by chance when he sat next to them at a restaurant.
Newsweek reported in 2002 that al-Bayoumi’s invitation was extended on the same day that he visited the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles for a private meeting.
Al-Bayoumi arranged for the two future hijackers to live in an apartment and paid $1,500 to cover their first two months of rent. Al-Bayoumi was briefly interviewed in Britain but was never brought back to the United States for questioning.

As for Basnan, Newsweek reported that he received monthly checks for several years totaling as much as $73,000 from the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar, and his wife, Princess Haifa Faisal. Although the checks were sent to pay for thyroid surgery for Basnan’s wife, Majeda Dweikat, Dweikat signed many of the checks over to al-Bayoumi’s wife, Manal Bajadr. This money allegedly made its way into the hands of hijackers, according to the 9/11 report.Despite all this, Basnan was ultimately allowed to return to Saudi Arabia, and Dweikat was deported to Jordan.
Sources and numerous press reports also suggest that the 28 pages include more information about Abdussattar Shaikh, an FBI asset in San Diego who Newsweek reported was friends with al-Bayoumi and invited two of the San Diego-based hijackers to live in his house.
Shaikh was not allowed by the FBI or the Bush administration to testify before the 9/11 Commission or the JICI.
Graham notes that there was a significant 9/11 investigation in Sarasota, Fla., which also suggests a connection between the hijackers and the Saudi government that most Americans don’t know about.
The investigation, which occurred in 2002, focused on Saudi millionaire Abdulaziz al-Hijji and his wife, Anoud, whose upscale home was owned by Anoud al-Hijji’s father, Esam Ghazzawi, an adviser to Prince Fahd bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the nephew of Saudi King Fahd.
The al-Hijji family reportedly moved out of their Sarasota house and left the country abruptly in the weeks before 9/11, leaving behind three luxury cars and personal belongings including clothing, furniture and fresh food. They also left the swimming-pool water circulating.
Numerous news reports in Florida have said that the gated community’s visitor logs and photos of license tags showed that vehicles driven by several of the future 9/11 hijackers had visited the al-Hijji home.
Graham said that like the 28 pages in the 9/11 inquiry, the Sarasota case is being “covered up” by U.S. intelligence. Graham has been fighting to get the FBI to release the details of this investigation with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and litigation. But so far the bureau has stalled and stonewalled, he said.
Lynch said he didn’t know how the Obama administration would respond to the congressional resolution urging declassification, if it passes the House and Senate.
“But if we raise the issue, and get enough members to read it, we think we can get the current administration to revisit this issue. I am very optimistic,” he said. “I’ve talked to some of my Democratic members already, and there has been receptivity there. They have agreed to look at it.”
Obama administration officials declined to comment on the congressional resolution or on the classification of these documents.
The 9/11 Families United for Justice Against Terrorism (JASTA), an activist group comprised of the attack victims, has been calling for the declassification of the 28 pages for more than a decade. The group plans to contact Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, this week to urge her to introduce a similar resolution in the Senate.
Sharon Premoli, a 9/11 survivor who was on the North Tower's 80th floor when the plane hit and is a JASTA member, says Jones and Lynch “share our objectives of seeking the truth behind 9/11 and bringing to justice those who bankrolled the attacks.”
Premoli said it was a “miracle” that she survived 9/11. “I found myself buried under dust and on top of a dead body,” she said. “It makes me angry that I still don’t know what happened or who was supporting these hijackers. The veil of secrecy must be lifted for the families, the survivors and for the American people.

http://www.businessinsider.com/repor...to-911-2013-12

Why is US government so prone on hiding the relationship between 9/11 attackers and Saudi Arabia? Given the recent meltdown in the relationship between the two states, will the status of classified data change?
Heres an interesting (and sourced) post I found on reddit, which should also provide some interesting insight:

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasin_al-Qadi

Qadi is a Saudi Arabian businessman listed by the United States government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.[1] One of more than 39 people and entities suspected of giving financial support to the September 11 attacks,[2] he has been defended by friends and associates as a philanthropist.[3]

Then we have - http://www.fbi.gov/boston/press-rele...9/bs071509.htm

The indictment charges Peterson and Ziade with falsely representing the identities of Ptech’s major shareholders in this loan application to conceal the ownership interest in Ptech held by a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, Yassin Kadi aka Yassin Al-Kadi aka Yassin Al-Qadi aka Yassin Qadi (Kadi) through Sarmany Limited, a company Qadi owned and controlled. Ziade served as Ptech’s President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of its Board of Directors from February 1994 to 2003 while Peterson served as Ptech’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer from February 2001 to August 2002.

AND THEN WE HAVE - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasin_a...FAA_and_9.2F11

According to their own business plan for Ptech’s 1999 contract with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Ptech software team began working two years prior to 9/11 to identify potential problems or weaknesses in the FAA’s emergency response plans.[79]

Specifically, Ptech was paid by the Federal Aviation Administration to find weaknesses in the FAA’s response plans for events like the terrorist hijacking of a plane over U.S. airspace.

The September 11 attacks in 2001 killed up to 3,000 people. Suheil Laher was Ptech’s chief software architect.[37][80] “When he wasn’t writing the software that would provide Ptech with detailed operational blueprints of some of the most sensitive agencies in the U.S. government, he was writing articles in praise of Islamic holy war.”[81] He was “fond of quoting Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden’s mentor and the head of Maktab al-Khidamat, which was the precursor of Al Qaeda.”,[82][83]

---

This is the immigration status of the 9/11 hijackers and where they obtained visas to enter the United States.
http://www.fairus.org/issue/identity...-11-terrorists
Most of the hijackers obtained visas from the the US embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Now here's where it gets interesting...
Michael Springman was in charge of that embassy and a state department employee for a long time (since 1986). He has gone on the record not just on conspiracy sites but also 'trusted' news outlets and stated on the record that his objection to undesirables being allowed into the United States had been over ruled several times and that the CIA trained foreign terrorists on American bases inside the US.
https://sites.google.com/site/deanja...-to-terrorists
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/newsnight/1645527.stm
http://guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/...ptember11.iraq
So my question would be, if the CIA has been allowing terrorists into the United States and persons with questionable backgrounds were allowed in with the consulate staff being over ruled, is it out of the question to suggest either direct US government involvement, or at least serious negligence that allowed these people to obtain visas who couldn't even answer simple questions on the nature of their stay in the United States?"

Most importantly, why does US still classify documents on the events from more then a decade ago, while also the alleged organizer of the attacks has been dead for a few years as well? What kind of "safety" concern prevents them from releasing them to the public?

[Roma_Victrix]

Well this could get ugly. I don't doubt the U.S. authorities' negligence on security and keeping an eye on these individuals. And yes, the U.S. has backed the wrong people before (including Saddam Hussein or Afghan rebels in the '80s) when blindly engaging in the Cold War against the USSR or hostilities against Iran. However, I don't think that U.S. agencies were complicit in 9/11. I chalk up those ideas as belonging in the looney bin of conspiracy theorist nuts. As for certain prominent and wealthy Saudis at one time or another bestowing gifts of money onto any one of the 9/11 hijackers, that would not come as a huge shock. You know what else wouldn't shock me? The U.S. maintaining its warm and cozy position with Saudi Arabia in spite of such breaking news.

Oil is thicker than blood, my friend.

[justicar5]

Well this could get ugly. I don't doubt the U.S. authorities' negligence on security and keeping an eye on these individuals. And yes, the U.S. has backed the wrong people before (including Saddam Hussein or Afghan rebels in the '80s) when blindly engaging in the Cold War against the USSR or hostilities against Iran. However, I don't think that U.S. agencies were complicit in 9/11. I chalk up those ideas as belonging in the looney bin of conspiracy theorist nuts. As for certain prominent and wealthy Saudis at one time or another bestowing gifts of money onto any one of the 9/11 hijackers, that would not come as a huge shock. You know what else wouldn't shock me? The U.S. maintaining its warm and cozy position with Saudi Arabia in spite of such breaking news.

Oil is thicker than blood, my friend.

Also during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the Saudis, Pakistanis and various other Arab/Muslim states did support an independent Jihadi network that in part became the Taliban, Al-Quaida and a few other nasty pieces of work, but at the time no one was thinking long term, Pakistan had internal issues leading to support for fundamentalism as a weapon against India, the House of Saud has a history of making compromises with extremism, including during it's original rise to power, and private individuals donated to support the war against the USSR. The results of this are now known but at the time it made sense to those involved. Contacts from that time now long dodgy as hell, but again, when they where being made it was a common enemy moment

[Heathen Hammer]

Well this could get ugly. I don't doubt the U.S. authorities' negligence on security and keeping an eye on these individuals. And yes, the U.S. has backed the wrong people before (including Saddam Hussein or Afghan rebels in the '80s) when blindly engaging in the Cold War against the USSR or hostilities against Iran.

Nothing new here, "enemy of my enemy" and all that. Only problem is US still has hard time coping with the fact that "Terror" has been created because of its Cold War efforts.

However, I don't think that U.S. agencies were complicit in 9/11. I chalk up those ideas as belonging in the looney bin of conspiracy theorist nuts.

The reason why conspirology around 911 is so strong lies in the fact that most of the information has been classified ever since then, while a lot of important issues are still yet to be publicly addressed. One can talk about "nuts" all he wants, but there is a reason behind them, unless all those documents are declassified for the public.

As for certain prominent and wealthy Saudis at one time or another bestowing gifts of money onto any one of the 9/11 hijackers, that would not come as a huge shock. You know what else wouldn't shock me? The U.S. maintaining its warm and cozy position with Saudi Arabia in spite of such breaking news.

Oil is thicker than blood, my friend.

Oil may be thicker then blood for CIA and White House, but there are thousands of people who died on 911, and hundreds of thousands of victims of America's "War on Terror" that followed it. US will have to address those issues sooner or later.

[justicar5]

1)Nothing new here, "enemy of my enemy" and all that. Only problem is US still has hard time coping with the fact that "Terror" has been created because of its Cold War efforts.

The reason why conspirology around 911 is so strong lies in the fact that most of the information has been classified ever since then, while a lot of important issues are still yet to be publicly addressed. One can talk about "nuts" all he wants, but there is a reason behind them, unless all those documents are declassified for the public.

2)Oil may be thicker then blood for CIA and White House, but there are thousands of people who died on 911, and hundreds of thousands of victims of America's "War on Terror" that followed it. US will have to address those issues sooner or later.

1) Lets not forget that alot of everyone's Cold War actions where straight out terrorism, or brutal wars of decolonisation (not letting America off the hook at ll, they still need to try those responsible for the Contras for instance,but other nations have done heinous things as well, as the UK's actions in the Mau Mau rebellion show, some of which is nightmarish)

2) point ot be raised here: Fracking, the US energy market is becoming far more self sufficient. That could be a complete game changer.

[Heathen Hammer]

1) Lets not forget that alot of everyone's Cold War actions where straight out terrorism, or brutal wars of decolonisation (not letting America off the hook at ll, they still need to try those responsible for the Contras for instance,but other nations have done heinous things as well, as the UK's actions in the Mau Mau rebellion show, some of which is nightmarish)

2) point ot be raised here: Fracking, the US energy market is becoming far more self sufficient. That could be a complete game changer.

1) Indeed, but only a handful of them received flac for their actions. For example, UK is considered to be a beacon of human rights, while apartheid-era South Africa is considered to be hell on earth. Not to mention that "freedom fighters" that US sponsored in South America and Central Asia were technically terrorists as well. So yeah, we can say that US is reaping what it has sown.
2) Indeed, and Saudis are distancing themselves politically as well, after US decided not to help Islamists in Syria.

[justicar5]

1) Indeed, but only a handful of them received flac for their actions. For example, UK is considered to be a beacon of human rights, while apartheid-era South Africa is considered to be hell on earth. Not to mention that "freedom fighters" that US sponsored in South America and Central Asia were technically terrorists as well. So yeah, we can say that US is reaping what it has sown.
2) Indeed, and Saudis are distancing themselves politically as well, after US decided not to help Islamists in Syria.

1) The UK it's self was, the colonies, not. Has been said before, but only two things where different about 9/11, method and who was taking the casualties. Still an unjust and heinous act, just not unique in scale. Massacres had occurred that where on the a comparable scale.

2)The Saudis aren't under threat by Iraq any more, and they have a new source of allies in a section of the Islamist movement, which gives them what they want, deniable power projection and bag men. Same use the ISI had for the Taliban.

Also the chances of Iran taking direct offensive action are laughably small.

[Gaidin]

2) point ot be raised here: Fracking, the US energy market is becoming far more self sufficient. That could be a complete game changer.

Many people who can light their tapwater on fire have something to say as to whether that's really worth it.

[justicar5]

Many people who can light their tapwater on fire have something to say as to whether that's really worth it.

Valid point. Badly done fracking is a nightmare.

[Condottiere 40K]

1. Factions in the Saudi government conspired for Arab terrorist sleeper cells to be positioned in America, and intermediaries were given a heads up and disappeared before the main event.

2. The CIA had the Saudis recruit agents that the CIA would train, presumably to use to infiltrate Middle Eastern terrorist networks.

[Gaidin]

Nuke's aren't really a guarantee of anything except a no holds barred fight if it really came to it in a war. And I mean war. Not awkward diplomatic negotiations and politics.

[Heathen Hammer]

Nuke's aren't really a guarantee of anything except a no holds barred fight if it really came to it in a war. And I mean war. Not awkward diplomatic negotiations and politics.

Nukes did work in terms of preventing a "hot war" between many powers that would have otherwise went at it. At least they kinda worked like that so far.

Saudi's are in no danger of that anyway, no one in their right mind would invade Mecca for a start.

However they are enormous status symbols to wave around at parades etc.

Not Mecca, but it is trying to expand its influence and power through both coups (Arab Springs) and direct military action (Bahrain).
Not to mention the economic perks.

[justicar5]

1)Nukes did work in terms of preventing a "hot war" between many powers that would have otherwise went at it. At least they kinda worked like that so far.

2)Not Mecca, but it is trying to expand its influence and power through both coups (Arab Springs) and direct military action (Bahrain).
Not to mention the economic perks.

1)Probably true.

2)They are playing regional big boys now, so being the second nuclear power in the region makes sense, in that it gives them an enormous stick to hide behind. HOWEVER, they run the risk of someone going 'hell no' and striking before they have the weapons, or while they have few enough that a strike to take them out is practicable.

[Denny Crane!]

Do people still care about 9/11? It was soooo long ago.

[Slydessertfox]

Do people still care about 9/11? It was soooo long ago.

This is America, where we still argue over Kennedy's assassination, 50 years later. It's going to take a long time before Americans put 9/11 behind them, sadly.

[Condottiere 40K]

Sometimes, you want to poke the elephant in the room; sometimes, you want to poke the donkey in the House.

[Denny Crane!]

Or on the bear in the woods?

[Gaidin]

American joke Denny. Elephants are the logo of the republican party and Donkeys are the logo of the democrats.

[Denny Crane!]

American joke Denny. Elephants are the logo of the republican party and Donkeys are the logo of the democrats.

I know. Satire is an English joke.

[Simon Cashmere]

This is old news for the blogger/conspiracy dudes. It's just taken a long time to go mainstream. De-classified and leaked cables showed the US had information on Saudi Arabia funding terrorists through charities in other places, so this is no stretch. However, Saudi Arabia does have immunity for all of this provided that they maintain the US denominated oil sale bargain. If Saudi Arabia *ever* decided to sell oil in Euros, you'd find pretty quickly that their stock would plummet as quickly as Saddam, Gaddafi or Mubarek - and suddenly it would be them with the WMDs and using chemical weapons on civilians.