Reps. Walter B. Jones, (R-N.C.), and Stephen Lynch, (D-Mass.), filed a bi-partisan resolution asking President Obama to declassify 28 redacted pages of the 9/11 report, which reportedly contains evidence that links Saudi officials to the 9/11 hijackers.
According to former Florida Sen. Bob Graham and former Chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, the 28 pages in the 9/11 report are not the only documents being “covered up.”
Graham told IBTimes, “The Saudi government without question was supporting the hijackers who lived in San Diego…. You can’t have 19 people living in the United States for, in some cases, almost two years, taking flight lessons and other preparations, without someone paying for it. But I think it goes much broader than that. The agencies from CIA and FBI have suppressed that information, so American people don’t have the facts.”
Graham states there was a significant 9/11 investigation in Sarasota, FL, which suggests a connection between the hijackers and the Saudi government.
The investigation, which occurred in 2002 and was not disclosed to Congress or the 9/11 Commission, revealed that a Sarasota family who has ties with the Saudi royal family helped the 9/11 hijackers.
In 2012, BrowardBullDog.org filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal court against the DOJ and FBI. The complaint seeks records about the al-Hijji family and their connections with the 9/11 hijackers.
The FBI denied any connection at the time, but newly released FBI documents contradicted those previous statements.
Because of public pressure and an ongoing FOIA lawsuit, the FBI release over 30 “censored” documents. The documents confirmed that the Sarasota family had “many connections” to “individuals associated with the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001.”
According to a report by BrowardBulldog.org in 2011, the al-Hijji family had moved out of their Sarasota house and left the country abruptly in the weeks before 9/11, leaving behind three luxury cars and personal belongings including clothing, furniture and fresh food. They also left the swimming-pool water circulating.
The reported states that a well-placed source who disclosed the existence of the FBI’s investigation went on to say that the gated community’s visitor logs and photos of license tags showed that vehicles driven by several of the future 9/11 hijackers had visited the al-Hijji home.
The 9/11 Families United for Justice Against Terrorism (JASTA) coordinator, David White, wants the 9/11 report and the FBI documents declassified.
Joshua Cook asked White, “How does the JASTA bill help 9/11 families?”
White said, “First, we believe that all the truth about 9/11 should come out. Secondly, we believe that the more the truth gets out, the more likely there will be support for us to get into a court room, and be able prove this case based on the evidence. We are not talking about conspiracies here. We are talking about six thousand families here that have been affected by the 9/11 attacks. There are very high up people in Saudi Arabia and very established banks that were funneling millions of dollars to al Qaida.”
White told Cook that the case has gone through the court, but hit a snag along the way. The court previously ruled that Saudi Arabia was protected by sovereign immunity and some of the court’s members said they didn’t think the law gave them jurisdiction to go after these people if they were are outside of the United States.
“Essentially the JASTA bill clarifies who has jurisdiction,” said White. “For example, the Islamic Saudi Relief Organization was released from the case because the law was read incorrectly.”
The hard work of JASTA and the 9/11 families paid off, though. This week a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that they can legally sue Saudi Arabia. Stephen Cozen, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said, “This opinion is eminently correct and will give 9/11 victims their day in court. The parties will start over, and we are very, very satisfied that we will meet any defenses, both legal and factual, that are raised.”
After the court’s ruling this week, White told Cook that he was “ecstatic.”
There was a different reaction from Michael Kellogg, the attorney representing Saudi Arabia, though. “The government of Saudi Arabia has long asserted, and the United States 9/11 Commission has found, that those allegations are categorically false,” said Kellogg.
Former Senator Graham told TheDailyBeast.com, “the 9/11 Commission’s final report does not exonerate the Saudis, and insists that neither the media nor federal law enforcement ever got to the bottom of the plot.”
Graham believes that Washington should launch a new investigation that would attempt to answer these unanswered questions. Groups like JASTA and the 9/11 families are not giving up their fight for justice.
Joan who is a member of JASTA told us earlier this week, “9/11 families are not going away no matter what Congress thinks or what people think. My son’s death certificate says homicide on it, they all do. This was definitely funded. These hijackers were sponsored.”
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