2 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Friday released once-top secret pages from a congressional report into 9/11 that questioned whether Saudis who were in contact with the hijackers after they arrived in the U.S. knew what they were planning.

The newly declassified document, with light redactions, names people the hijackers associated with before they carried out the attacks, killing nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and on a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

It identifies individuals who helped the hijackers get apartments, open bank accounts, attend local mosques and get flight lessons. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, and several were not fluent in English and had little experience living in the West.

Later investigations found no evidence that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials knowingly supported those who orchestrated the attacks. But lawmakers and relatives of victims, who don’t think all Saudi links to the attackers were thoroughly investigated, campaigned for more than 13 years to get the final chapter of the 2002 congressional inquiry released.

Saudi Arabia has called for the release of the chapter since 2002 so the kingdom could respond to any allegations and punish any Saudis who may have been involved in the attacks.

Advertisement

House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes said that while he supported the release, “it’s important to note that this section does not put forward vetted conclusions, but rather unverified leads that were later fully investigated by the intelligence community.”

However, others – including former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, the co-chairman of the congressional inquiry – believe the hijackers had an extensive Saudi support system while they were in the United States. Graham has said that the pages “point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as being the principle financier.”


Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.