LONG-CLASSIFIED ‘28-PAGES’ ON 9/11 ATTACKS RELEASED

Washington — A long-classified document, detailing suspected connections between Saudi Arabia and the hijackers who carried out the September 2001 attacks, was released Friday by the House Intelligence Committee after being redacted by U.S. intelligence.

The document, referred to as the “28-pages” throughout a yearslong battle over whether it should be made public, was part of a 2002 joint inquiry by the Senate and House Intelligence Committees into the al-Qaida attacks.

A web of tantalizing relationships is described in a long-withheld section of what was the first U.S. report on the attacks.

What that suppressed chapter spelled out was a series of possible links between the hijackers and Saudi officials that the congressional investigators said believed deserved more attention. See

Washington — Newly declassified pages from a congressional report into 9/11 released Friday have reignited speculation that some of the hijackers had links to Saudis, including government officials — allegations that were never substantiated by later U.S. investigations into the terrorist attacks.

Congress released the last chapter of the congressional inquiry that has been kept under wraps for more than 13 years, stored in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol. Lawmakers and relatives of victims of the attacks, who believe that Saudi links to the attackers were not thoroughly investigated, campaigned for years to get the pages released.

The lightly redacted document names individuals who helped the hijackers get apartments, open bank accounts and connect with local mosques. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals and several were not fluent in English and had little experience living in the West.

Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, the co-chairman of the congressional inquiry, who pushed hard for the last chapter of the inquiry’s report to be released, believes the hijackers had an extensive Saudi support system while they were in the United States.

Saudi Arabia itself has urged the release of the chapter since 2002 so the kingdom could respond to any allegations. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubier told reporters Friday that his government welcomed the release of the 28 pages and said the documents should finally put to rest questions about Saudi Arabia’s suspected role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

“That matter is now finished,” al-Jubier said. “The surprise in the 28 pages is that there is no surprise.” al-Jubier said.

The 9/11 Families and Victims welcomed the release. “Each of the claims the 9/11 families and victims has made against the kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys extensive support in the findings of a broad range of investigative documents authored by multiple U.S. intelligence agencies,” the families said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement that the documents “provide more than enough evidence to raise serious concerns. These concerns should be addressed and proved or disproved.”

The document mentions scores of names that the congressional inquiry believed deserved more investigation.

The commission’s 567-page report, released in July 2004, stated that it found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded” al-Qaida. “This conclusion does not exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to al-Qaida.”