"28 pages" about Saudi involvement in 9/11 finally released

The US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has at least released the secret "28 pages" from the 9/11 report which deal almost entirely with the relationship of the Saudi Arabian government to the attacks.

The White House claims even after the release that these pages prove that Saudis had nothing to with the attack. While there is, one might say, no smoking gun, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence that there were contacts between hijackers and individuals who were associated with the Saudi government. The full redacted text of the 28 pages can be read here.

Many political figures such as former Sen. Bob Graham and Congressman Rick Nolan have long been calling for release of the pages.Graham claimed the pages point a "very strong finger at Saudi Arabia."

The report admits: “While in the United States, some of the September 11th hijackers were in contact with or received assistance from, individuals who may be connected with the Saudi government.” FBI sources also believed that at least two of those individuals were Saudi intelligence agents. TheIntercept reports:One of the most notable figures mentioned is Omar al-Bayoumi, alleged by the report to have likely been a Saudi intelligence agent. Al-Bayoumi was in close contact with hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar, providing them financial assistance during their time in the United States and even helping them find an apartment. Bayoumi in turn is believed to have been on the payroll of the Saudi Ministry of Defense and was regularly in receipt of large lump sums of money from the Saudi Ministry of Finance and other undisclosed arms of the government.

Bayouni was supposedly an employee of Ercan, a subsidiary of a company with substantial ties to the Saudi Defense Ministry. He was only confirmed to have gone to Ercan once. Nevertheless he received a $465 per month "allowance" from the company. After he met with the hijackers this was increased to $3,700 a month. Bayouni's wife also received $1200 a month from the wife of the former ambassador to the US. The two kept receiving the money until they left the US in July or early August of 2001.

Another important figure is Osama Bassnan a Saudi-citizen and associate of al-Bayoumi who lived in an apartment close by al-Hazmi and al-Midhar. He is reported to have said to the FBI that he did more for the hijackers than al-Bayoumi did. Bassnan and his wife received regular payments from the wife of former Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar bin Sultan. On one occasion Bassnan was said to have received a check directly from the prince's account. Bassnan said he was introduced to the hijackers by Bayouni. The CIA says they believe Bassman got a fake passport from the Saudi government. He was a known supporter of Al Qaeda, and had spoken of bin Laden as being like a god as far back as 1992. The money given to his wife by the wife of Prince Bandar bin Sultan totalling $74,000 dollars was supposedly for nursing services but there was no evidence such services were ever provided.

Saleh al-Hussayen, described as a Saudi Interior Ministry employee or official, stayed in the same hotel as one of the hijackers in the days before the attack. When interviewed by FBI officials, he kept passing out or feigning a seizure, terminating the interview. He later fled the US. Much of the material in the pages is not new but confirms statements already made.The Saudi government said that it welcomed the release of the pages claiming that they exonerate Saudi Arabia of any direct role in the attacks. However, it certainly does point to persons associated with the Saudi Government as having helped some of the hijackers. The report notes that Saudi authorities consistently refused to cooperate with investigators who were trying to discover more information about the hijackers. FBI agents and CIA officers complained to the 9/11 inquiry that the Saudis often failed to cooperate both before and after the 9/11 attack.

The report also mentions that several Saudi Naval officers had contact with the hijackers before the attack, but the entire section on this is mostly redacted so the details are not known. The Joint Inquiry tended to make light of the considerable evidence of Saudi involvement presented by the FBI and CIA claiming that the reports were not independently confirmed and that there could be "innocent explanations" for the aid provided to the hijackers. In spite of the spin put on what is in the pages by the US government and the Saudis, the pages contain plenty of circumstantial evidence supporting those who claim that the Saudis played a significant role in helping out at least some of the hijackers.