quote:

US rejects Saudi call on 9/11 report The Saudi foreign minister is in Washington to raise the issue The United States has rejected a request to make public the section of a report on the 11 September attacks that deals with Saudi Arabia. The 900-page congressional report, released last week, suggested that people connected to the Saudi Government might have given financial support to the hijackers. Details of their alleged role was included in a classified 28-page section which was blanked out and remains secret, despite growing speculation about its content and Saudi calls for it to be published. Riyadh has angrily dismissed the claim, especially at a time when it is conducting a crackdown on militants, and wants the chance to deny specific allegations. Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide - we can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Saudi ambassador to the US But White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that declassifying the section could compromise intelligence sources and methods. "The government of Saudi Arabia has asked that additional portions of the inquiry report on 9/11 be declassified. And we understand their concern," he said. "But we cannot agree to that request at this time because of ongoing investigations and our national security interests." The White House statement comes as Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal is in Washington to press President George W Bush on the issue. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the 11 September attacks were Saudis, as is the leader of the al-Qaeda network, Osama Bin Laden. There have also been calls from several US senators for the censored pages to be declassified. The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Democratic Senator Bob Graham, said releasing the report would "allow the American people to make their own judgment about who are our true friends and allies in the war on terrorism". Crackdown The Saudis have been keen to show their commitment to fighting terror since 2 May - when suicide bombings in Riyadh left 34 people dead. The latest operation on Monday resulted in the death of six suspected Muslim extremists and two policemen during a shoot-out at a farm in north-eastern Saudi Arabia. In an interview with the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz said most of the suspects had received their military training in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. "We will eliminate (militants) without mercy from our country to protect our citizens and defend the kingdom and its higher interests," he said.

What do you think the US has to hide? Why wasnt more action taken in Saudi Arabia considering the majority of the hijackers and their leader Osama are origianlly from there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3107597.stm

___________________
"This place isn't big enough for me to blow it up."
-MARCO V

I'm extremely curious as well ... probably something that would embarrassing portions of the Saudi royal family who ARE involved in some groups that possibly funded terrorists. I wouldn't go so far to say that the Saudi gov't sponsored or ordered 9/11, but factions of their gov't probably contributed towards terrorist funds. That's my guess ...

Maybe the US doesn't want the Saudi's to know how deeply our intelligence services have penetrated their government and monitored their happenings.

Edit: And for the sake of you conspiracy theorists, maybe the classified report outlines how the US contracted the Saudi gov't to carry out 9/11

Edit Edit: Ok here's what Bush says:

"It makes no sense to declassify when we've got an ongoing investigation. That could jeopardize that investigation. And it made no sense to declassify ... during the war on terror, because it would help the enemy if they knew our sources and methods," Bush said at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Bush said, "We have an ongoing war against al Qaeda and terrorists, and the declassification of that part of a 900-page document would reveal sources and methods that will make it harder for us to win the war on terror."

The classified section could be released at some point in the future if the investigations are completed and U.S. security interests would not be jeopardized, Bush said.

And here's the probable reason for it being classified:

Members of the U.S. Congress, including Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, have also asked that the section be released and said it had been classified mostly to avoid diplomatic embarrassment.

Shelby, who played a key role in the congressional probe into the Sept. 11 attacks, said on Sunday he thought 95 percent of the disputed material could safely be declassified. He said the section had been withheld "for the wrong reason, (because) it might be embarrassing to some international relations."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=HBTR5I41A1F1UCRBAELCFEY?type=topNews&storyID=3180137

___________________
Retro ...

Last edited by occrider on Jul-29-2003 at 18:54

There is also a chance that these pages contain nothing of any real importance at all.

I remember a while back that the cia would not declassify a document based on the terrorist activities of santa.

The story goes that some staff members make the report as a practical joke and the document somehow became classified.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider Edit: And for the sake of you conspiracy theorists, maybe the classified report outlines how the US contracted the Saudi gov't to carry out 9/11

aw damn, took the theory right outta my mind

i think that whatever was censored doesnt hold much importance anyway

___________________

[ Romans Chapter 1, Verse 6: And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. ]

Every country has classified info to hide...national security measures imo.


besides the united states..Canada has to be up there

you ask why?

we have been hiding reports and losing them

like in terms of a native protestor shot dead (unarmed mind you)

a report said the premier knew all about it and told them to use force...but that disappeared and anyone who has seen the report..denies the existance of it.