Twenty-eight pages of a 2002 congressional report on the September 11, 2001 terror attacks -- a section that could shed light on any alleged Saudi ties to the terrorist attack -- were released Friday and posted to the House Intelligence Committee's website.
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.
The findings of the inquiry remained inconclusive about Saudi government connections, however, with the report noting, that "on the one hand, it is possible that these kinds of connections could suggest, as indicated in a [redacted] dated July 2, 2002, 'incontrovertible evidence that there is support for these terrorists with the Saudi Government.' On the other hand, it is also possible that further investigation of these allegations could reveal legitimate, and innocent, explanations for these associations."
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.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California told reporters earlier in the day that the release was expected Friday afternoon, pending agreement by the congressional committees with jurisdiction in the matter.
Democratic ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, California Rep. Adam Schiff, gave CBS News a preview of the report's contents in an interview Thursday.
Congress was "not able to corroborate any evidence that high ranking Saudi officials or the Saudi government itself was involved or had foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks, but there certainly are questions raised within these 28 or 29 pages that the American people have a right to see," said Schiff, who has read the 28 pages unredacted. The pages have spent years in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol.
Lawmakers and relatives of victims, who don't believe all Saudi links to the attackers were thoroughly investigated, pushed for more than 13 years to get the 28 pages released.
CBS' "60 Minutes" aired a story in April on the top-secret pages, including interviews with current and former members of Congress, U.S. officials, members of the 9/11 Commission and families of the terrorist attacks. Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, who helped write the report, said that the pages could help illuminate the network of people he believes supported the hijackers in the U.S.
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