Former Senator Presses for Release of 9/11 Papers That Would Impugn Saudis Former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee has been a major critic of Saudi Arabia By Jay Solomon
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/04/24/former-senator-presses-for-release-of-911-papers-that-would-impugn-saudis/
Former Democratic senator Bob Graham upped pressure on the White House to make public 28 pages of a congressional investigation into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that specifically focuses on the alleged role of Saudi Arabia in the plot.
The Obama administration has said it will decide by June whether or not to declassify these documents. But, in private, senior U.S. officials have indicated the White House will move ahead with making the documents public.
Mr. Graham, a former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee who co-chaired the bipartisan congressional investigation into the attacks, has been a major critic of Saudi Arabia since the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.
The three-term Florida senator appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday and again claimed the 28 documents would show high-level Saudi support for the al Qaeda operation.
“The most important unanswered question of 9/11 is, did these 19 people conduct this very sophisticated plot alone, or were they supported?” Mr. Graham said. “So who was the most likely entity to have provided them that support? And I think all the evidence points to Saudi Arabia.”
Mr. Graham again said he believed the highest levels of the Saudi government knew of the plot, a charge repeatedly denied by the Saudi monarchy. “I think it covers a broad range, from the highest ranks of the kingdom through these, what would be private entities,” Mr. Graham said.
The debate over the release of the documents is coming at a particularly delicate time in U.S.-Saudi relations.
President Barack Obama, in an interview with The Atlantic released last month, suggested Saudi governments were “free riders” for their dependence on the U.S. military for their security.
Relations between Washington and Riyadh have also been strained by the nuclear agreement reached last year between the U.S. and Iran, Saudi Arabia’s principal rival in the Middle East. The deal slowed Iran’s nuclear program but removed most international sanctions on Tehran. CONTINUE AT SITE
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