Source – losangeles.cbslocal.com

– Lawmakers are calling on the White House to declassify more than two dozen pages in the 9/11 Commission report that they say outlines evidence for possible support from the Saudi government for two hijackers who settled in Southern California.

A CBS News 60 Minutes report quoted officials familiar with the 2003 report as saying 28 pages of redacted information raises questions over whether Saudi officials were involved in assisting Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar upon their arrival in Los Angeles in Jan. 2000.

Former Democratic congressman and U.S. ambassador to India Tim Roemer told 60 Minutes the two Saudi nationals found a way to gain access to housing and flight lessons upon their arrival despite extremely limited language skills and no experience with Western culture.

L.A., San Diego, thats really you know, the hornets nest, said Roemer. Thats really the one that I continue to think about almost on a daily basis.

“L.A., San Diego, that’s really you know, the hornet’s nest,” said Roemer. “That’s really the one that I continue to think about almost on a daily basis.”

According to the report, witnesses say both al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar met at the King Fahad mosque in Culver City with Fahad al-Thumairy, “a diplomat at the Saudi consulate known to hold extremist views.” He was denied reentry to the U.S. in 2003 for suspected terrorist ties.

Thumairy was a “a ghost employee with a no-show job at a Saudi aviation contractor outside Los Angeles while drawing a paycheck from the Saudi government”, according to the report.

“60 Minutes” also cited phone records that lawmakers say may link Thumairy to Omar al-Bayoumi, a mysterious Saudi who became the hijackers’ biggest benefactor.

Former U.S. Senator Bob Graham said he believes Bayoumi was a Saudi agent, telling CBS News’ Steve Kroft that Bayoumi had “been listed even before 9/11 in FBI files as being a Saudi agent.”

According to “60 Minutes”, Bayoumi visited Thumairy at a Saudi consulate office where he worked on the morning of Feb. 1, 2000. The two then had lunch “at a Middle Eastern restaurant on Venice Boulevard”, a meeting which Bayoumi later claimed was a “coincidence”, Roemer said.

Another 9/11 Commission member, former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey, has read the redacted 28 pages and told Kroft he and “a solid majority of former 9/11 commissioners” believes they should be declassified.

“We all have dealt for our careers in highly classified and compartmentalized in every aspect of security,” Kerrey said. “We know when something shouldn’t be declassified…those 28 pages in no way fall into that category.”

In response to the 60 Minutes report, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia issued a statement which read in part: “The CBS 60 Minutes program was a compilation of myths and erroneous charges that have been thoroughly addressed not just by the Saudi government but also by the 9-11 Commission and the U.S. courts.”

The White House is reviewing whether to declassify the 28 pages, according to CBS News.

Click here to read the entire “28 Pages” report from 60 Minutes.

’60 MINUTES’: Lawmakers Say Redacted Pages Of 9/11 Report Show Saudi Official Met Hijackers In LA

Related…

Will the 28 pages removed from the 9-11 report ever see the light of day?

The recent cooling of relations between the US and Saudi governments may have one unexpected side-effect – we finally get to see those 28 pages removed from the 9-11 report.

VT revealed the involvement of the Saudis in 9-11 long ago; but this disclosure, if it does indeed take place, would have far-reaching repercussions; not least because there are still a lot of families who lost loved ones and who would no doubt clamour for justice should the 28 classified pages reveal any guilty parties.

We shall watch this story carefully as it is likely the tip of the iceberg if Obama is prepared to adopt a new openness towards the release of previously classified material relating to 9-11 and the subsequent ‘War On Terror’.

The White House and intelligence officials are considering declassifying documents known as the “28 pages” which could show the possible existence of a Saudi support network for the hijackers involved in the 9/11 terror attacks.

The discussion of the documents, which have been locked away for 13 years, comes as President Obama plans a trip to Saudi Arabia this month, the Hill reported.

Former Sen. Bob Graham, who helped author the report, told “60 Minutes” the classified information outlines a network of people he believes supported the hijackers while they were in the US.

He said the hijackers were “substantially” supported by Saudi government, as well as charities and wealthy people in that country.

“I think it is implausible to believe that 19 people, most of who didn’t speak English, most of whom never been in the United States before, many of whom didn’t have a high school education — could’ve carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States,” Graham said.

The 28 pages were cut from a report on the 9/11 terror attacks in 2003 by the Bush administration in the interest of national security. Porter Goss, who was Graham’s co-chairman during the inquiry, said the FBI refused to declassify the information at the time.

Goss, who later led the CIA, told “60 Minutes” he saw no reason then, or now, for the material to be locked away. Goss and Graham met with the FBI director to try to sway him, but had no luck.

Those interviewed by “60 Minutes” who have read the 28 pages describe the material as similar to a police report or grand jury file, and say it lays out the possibility that the hijackers who settled in Southern California had official Saudi assistance.

Graham said he believes the US classified the pages to protect its delicate relationship with its ally, Saudi Arabia.