FBI should stop hiding what happened in Sarasota before 9/11

The horror and tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America will never be forgotten, but the truth of what happened in Sarasota shortly before the attack seems something the American government wants the country to forget.

How else can you explain the federal government’s continued stonewalling about a Saudi Arabian family that abruptly abandoned their Sarasota home less than two weeks before the 2001 terror attacks?

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. Several had been in contact with Abdulaziz al-Hijji and his family, who departed their Sarasota home so suddenly that they left behind cars, clothes, a full refrigerator and an open safe in the bedroom.

Were the hijackers aided and abetted in their evil by the government of Saudi Arabia?

The federal government says no — there’s no evidence linking the Saudis to the hijackers.

This despite a 2002 FBI document that said agents found “many connections” between the family and some hijackers who took flying lessons at a nearby airport.

Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, who once chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, also has said he believes “there is abundant evidence” of a link.

There’s only way to clear this up. That is for the American people to see the FBI’s report on how the hijackers pulled off the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Yet in a legal battle begun in 2012 by the Florida Bulldog website, which is run by noted Florida investigative journalist Dan Christensen, the federal government continues to resist. It says releasing some 80,000 pages of FBI files on the Sarasota investigation will endanger national security and expose sensitive law enforcement techniques and sources.

Poppycock. The tragedy of 9/11 was hardly a shining moment in our nation’s national security apparatus. Federal agents didn’t descend on that Sarasota home until after it had been abandoned. If their sources and techniques were so good, how did the nation’s worst terrorist attack happen on their watch?

To us, it appears the FBI is simply avoiding a public accounting.

Late last month, the Bulldog won a small victory when U.S. District Judge William Zloch ruled that the FBI had unlawfully withheld portions of its investigation.

The decision was no reason to cheer, however. An attorney who filed an amicus brief in the case called it “a mixed bag” because the judge allowed more redactions than it rejected. And because of a possible appeal, none of the 80,000 pages have yet been released.

Zloch acknowledged his Aug. 22 decision would do little to settle questions about links among the 9/11 hijackers, alHijji and the Saudi government. “This conclusion cannot quench the thirst for answers,” he wrote.

And as we recognize the 18th anniversary of the attack today, we do thirst for truth and continue to wonder: what are the Justice Department and FBI hiding?

At one point, government lawyers told the federal judge overseeing the Bulldog’s lawsuit that the agency had no record of the Sarasota investigation. When pressed, the FBI miraculously found more than 80,000 pages in its Tampa field office.

Yet now, we’re supposed to believe there was “no connection” between the hijackers and al-Hijji?

That’s not good enough.

Explain, for instance, why three of the four 9/11 hijackers had trained at an airport near al-Hijji’s home.

Explain why some of the 9/11 hijackers, including infamous ringleader Mohamed Atta, had been in contact or visited alHijji’s home.

The Florida Bulldog raised those questions in 2011. We’re still waiting for the answers.

Instead of disclosing the facts, Justice Department lawyers, using an endless supply of tax dollars, have repeatedly stiffarmed journalists, Graham and others seeking access to these crucial documents. The feds hope we forget about it all. In its final report, the 9/11 Commission said its aim was to provide the nation with the “fullest possible account of the events surrounding 9/11 and to identify lessons learned.”

The American people won’t get the “fullest possible account” of 9/11 until the Justice Department and the FBI let us see for ourselves what happened in Sarasota.