Search icon

News

13th Jun 2016

CIA chief has spoken out about the secret 9/11 report and Saudi Arabia

Ben Kenyon

It remains one of the most controversial remnants from the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

There are 28 pages of the official US Government report into the World Trade Centre terror attacks which still remain classified.

But pressure has been mounting on President Barack Obama to finally make public these last few pages which have remained secret for 15 years since the bulk of the report was published.

A decision on these remaining declassified pages is expected to be made imminently and some quarters claim it could show Saudi Arabian connections to the 9/11 attacks.

Saudi Arabia strongly denies any connection with the attacks which killed 3,000 people and reports have claimed that Saudi officials have threatened a mass sell-off of billions of pounds worth of US assets if the pages are made public.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: (SEPTEMBER 11 RETROSPECTIVE) Smoke pours from the twin towers of the World Trade Center after they were hit by two hijacked airliners in a terrorist attack September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Photo by Robert Giroux/Getty Images)

But now the chief of the CIA John Brennan has moved to quell intense speculation that the pages might lay blame at the door of the Saudis, speaking in an interview with the US ally’s Al-Arabiya TV station.

“These 28 pages, I believe they are going to come out, I think it’s good that they come out. But people shouldn’t take them as evidence of Saudi complicity in the attacks.

“It was a very preliminary review, trying to pull together bits and pieces of information, reporting about who was responsible for 9/11.

“Subsequently the 9/11 commission looked very thoroughly at these allegations of Saudi involvement, Saudi government involvement and their finding, their conclusion was that there was no evidence to indicate that the Saudi government as an institution or Saudi senior officials individually had supported the 9/11 attacks,” he added.

Families of victims of 9/11 have been waiting well over a decade to see the redacted parts of the report which many speculate is about how the attacks were financed.

The 28 pages are central to an on-going fight by the families that could allow them to take legal action against Saudi Arabia. Although Barack Obama said the bill would be vetoed by the White House.

 

Topics:

9/11,CIA,News,Terror