Politicians renew calls for release of 28 missing pages from 9/11 report

IT WAS a comprehensive report detailing the 9/11 attacks, except for 28 pages that remained classified. Now, Obama is facing new pressure to release them.

LEADING US politicians have called on President Obama to declassify a key 28-page section of a Senate report detailing events surrounding 9/11, in light of the terror attacks in Paris.

Congressmen Walter Jones, Stephen Lynch and former Senator Bob Graham introduced H. Res. 14 to the House Committee on Intelligence last week.

The resolution calls on the President to declassify 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 2001. It argues the victims and those affected by the attacks “deserve answers” about the circumstances surrounding them.

Former Senator Bob Graham is the former co-chair of the Intelligence Committee of the 9/11 joint inquiry.

Congressman Jones said “the American people deserve to know what led to the tragic attacks”.

“I introduced H. Res. 14 to urge President Obama to declassify the 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry because the families deserve peace, the American people deserve the truth, and the release of these pages will not harm our national security; rather, the declassification of these pages will enhance our national security because the public will be better informed.”

It’s not the first time calls have been made to release the missing documents. In early 2013 Republican Walter Jones and Democrat Stephen Lynch sponsored House Resolution 428 which also aims to declassify the missing pages on the basis that the families and victims of those affected should know what happened.

Senator Graham, who is a key author of the report and served as co-chair of the joint inquiry, has also been campaigning for over a decade to have the missing chapter — called “Finding, Discussion and Narrative Regarding Certain Sensitive National Security Matters” released. He said he was shocked to find it missing from the 800-page report in 2002 on national security grounds.

The missing files are thought to contain details on Bush’s links to the Saudi Arabian royal family. Picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File.

The deadly attacks killed nearly 3000 people and led to the ‘war on terror’.

At the time, President Bush held the pages back on the grounds they would reveal intelligence sources. However Congressman Jones said “[they’re] about the Bush Administration and its relationship with the Saudis.”

Senator Graham said the pages contain key information about who financed the network of terrorists that carried out the attacks and said it points a strong finger at “Saudi Arabia as the principal financier” of the terrorists. He also expressed fears that if left unchecked, such a network may be able to flourish again and has repeatedly called for the release of the pages.

At present the file can be read in a secure room in the United States capital.

Congressman Stephen F. Lynch also said he believes enough time has passed since the 2001 attacks that there is no longer a risk to security.

“The facts contained in the 28 pages can serve an important role in framing our country’s anti-terrorism policy moving forward,” he said.

The White House is understood to be working on a response.