Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
As pressure mounts for President Barack Obama to release a 28-page chapter from the congressional inquiry into 9/11, one Florida senator is calling on the president to also declassify intelligence reports to make sure Americans have “a complete picture of this issue.”
According to the Associated Press, the Obama administration is may soon release a portion of the report. The documents contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into sources of foreign support for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
Sen. Bill Nelson said he is among those who have read the pages. But in a letter to the president, Nelson also said he has read intelligence reports that “debunk them.” He urged the president to release those intelligence reports as well.
“As I’m sure you are aware, there is growing speculation that information contained in these 28 pages will show that Saudi Arabia provided support to those responsible for the 9/11 attacks. I have read the 28 pages, and I have also read intelligence reports that debunk them,” he said in his letter. “If you declassify these 28 pages, I strongly urge you to also declassify intelligence reports that debunk them in order to provide the American people with a complete picture of this issue.”
Bob Graham, who was co-chairman of that bipartisan panel, and others say the documents point suspicion at the Saudis. The former Democratic senator from Florida says an administration official told him that intelligence officials will decide in the next several weeks whether to release at least parts of the documents.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government says it has been “wrongfully and morbidly accused of complicity” in the attacks, is fighting extremists and working to clamp down on their funding channels. Still, the Saudis have long said that they would welcome declassification of the 28 pages because it would “allow us to respond to any allegations in a clear and credible manner.”
In an interview with FloridaPolitics.com last week, Graham said “people deserve to know” what is in the pages.
_The Associated Press contributed to this report.
