The long-concealed “28 pages” — which detail the Saudi Arabian government’s ties to the 9/11 plane hijackers — could be released as early as Friday, according to CNN. The document is a component of a congressional investigation into the 9/11 attacks and has been kept classified since its completion in 2002. (Also, according to sources, there are actually 29 pages.)
This news comes just months after a New York Post exposé shed light on the missing pages in April. According to the Post, the 28 pages “[detail] ‘incontrovertible evidence’ gathered from both CIA and FBI case files of official Saudi assistance for at least two of the Saudi hijackers who settled in San Diego.” Later that month, Obama promised that his administration would declassify the pages.
In May, the Senate passed a bill that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi Arabian government for their role in the attacks. The Senate voted unanimously to approve the legislation, despite Obama’s threatened veto and the Saudi Arabian threat to to pull billions of dollars from the U.S. economy if it is signed into law.
House Intelligence Committee member Adam Schiff told CNN that the report would be posted online soon, stating, “The House Intelligence Committee will get the redacted report today or tomorrow. The Senate and House intel committees should then give the formal go ahead to release the report since they originally produced it.”
Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, who was committee chair during the investigation, said Thursday that he was “very pleased” the papers would finally be released. “It is going to increase the questioning of the Saudis’ role supporting the hijackers,” Graham said.
(via CNN)