White House Won't Declassify Saudi Material in 9/11 Report
By Richard W. Stevenson
New York Times

Tuesday 29 July 2003

WASHINGTON, July 29 - Hours before President Bush was scheduled
to meet with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia today, the White
House rejected a request by the Saudi government and some members of
Congress to declassify sections of a document that deal with the link
between some Saudi officials and the terrorists involved in the
attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

In his meeting with Mr. Bush, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince
Saud al-Faisal, who arrived in Washington on Monday, was expected to
raise his country's concerns about the report, a Congressional study
about the terrorist Sept. 11 attacks that was released last week. The
study reportedly found that senior Saudi officials had funneled
hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations that might have
helped pay for the attacks.

People who saw the section have said it focuses on the role
foreign governments played in the hijackings, but centers almost
entirely on Saudi Arabia.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that declassifying 28
pages of redacted material, as has been requested by the Saudi
government and some members of Congress, would compromise intelligence
sources.

"We cannot agree to that request at this time because of ongoing
investigations and our national security interests," Mr. McClellan
said.

The foreign minister's hurriedly arranged visit reflects
sensitivity in Saudi Arabia to the suggestions that, knowingly or
unknowingly, it might have aided the terrorists who attacked the
United States. Saudi officials have denounced any suggestions that
they helped pay for the attacks.

On Monday, Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of Florida, a
co-chairman of the investigation into the intelligence failures behind
the attacks, called on the White House On Monday, Senator Bob Graham,
Democrat of Florida, a co-chairman of the investigation into the
intelligence failures behind the attacks, called on the White House to
make the classified section public.

Releasing it, said Mr. Graham, a candidate for his party's
presidential nomination, would "permit the Saudi government to deal
with any questions which may be raised in the currently censored
pages, and allow the American people to make their own judgment about
who are our true friends and allies in the war on terrorism."

In an interview this morning on "Good Morning America," Mr.
Graham said he believed the section of the report was being withheld
"for political reasons - a key political reason being not to disturb
the relationship between the United States and some foreign
countries."

The Saudis have made it clear that they intend to fight back
against any assertion that they were involved in the attacks. Some
Saudi officials have said the organization behind them, Al Qaeda, is
as hostile to Saudi Arabia's rulers as it is to the United States, or
nearly so.

After the Congressional report was released last week, the Saudi
ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, called the
accusation that his country had helped pay the terrorists "outrageous"
and added, "The idea that the Saudi government funded, organized or
even knew about Sept. 11 is malicious and blatantly false."


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Statement on Refusal to Declassify More of 9/11 Report of Joint
Inquiry
Representative Nancy Pelosi
t r u t h o u t | Statement

Tuesday 29 July 2003

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-225-0100
Pelosi Statement on Refusal to Declassify More of 9/11 Report of
Joint Inquiry

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
released the following statement today after the decision by the Bush
Administration not to declassify additional portions of the report of
the Joint Inquiry of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees into
the September 11th terrorist attacks:

"Today's decision not to declassify additional portions of the
report is a disservice to the American people. Classification should
protect sources and methods, ongoing investigations, and our national
security interests. It is not intended to protect reputations of
people or countries.

"This Administration has an obsession with secrecy, and this
report is overclassified. It took the joint inquiry nine months to
complete its work, but it has taken an additional six months just to
get the Administration to agree to some level of declassification.

"Our responsibility is to the families of 9/11 and the future
security of our country. The families need answers; we need to protect
the American people. The Administration's secrecy does not serve
either purpose."

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.)