28 صفحات مفقودة في 9/11 و ذي الثامنة والعشرون الصفحات 9SEP14

28 صفحات مفقودة في 9/11 و ذي الثامنة والعشرون الصفحات 9SEP14

 

كما رفض نظرية المؤامرة، هناك الكثير منا الذين يعرفون جورج بوش كذبت، ضلل، خدع والتستر على اتصال السعودي ل، ومعرفة، والمشاركة في الهجمات الإرهابية على الولايات المتحدة يوم 9/11 . هناك دليل، وحكومتنا الحفاظ عليه من قبلنا. كانت السعودية جزيره العرب أبدا صديقنا حليفنا، وينبغي أن يكون هذا أحد الاعتبارات الرئيسية في مشاركتنا في العراق وسوريا ومكافحة إيسيل. السعوديون لا يمكن الوثوق بها، وماليا وسياسيا وماديا دعم انحرافا عن الإسلام المعروفة باسم الوهابية أن الأجور الجهاد على بقية العالم. الشركات الأمريكية والمجمع الصناعي العسكري الأمريكي، بمباركة من القيادة السياسية الأمريكية الجمهورية والديمقراطية، ودعم والدفاع عن السعوديين باسم أرباح الشركات والتربح الحرب. في حين أن صورة لمركز التجارة العالمي، وبرج واحد في السنة اللهب والآخر ضرب من قبل الطائرة، قد يعود الرهيبة، الذكريات المؤلمة، فإنه ينبغي أن هزة أيضا يعود بنا إلى واقع اليوم والطريق إلى حرب أخرى في الشرق الأوسط حكومتنا، يتم تحديد الشركات الأمريكية والمجمع الصناعي العسكري لتقودنا إلى أسفل. هذا الوقت ونحن لا يمكن أن نسمح لأنفسنا بأن يؤدي والأغنام، ولكن تحتاج إلى أن تكون يصرخون ويركلون والقتال لحماية حياة الأفراد العسكريين لدينا وكذلك لدينا أموال دافعي الضرائب، ونطالب نحن لا تتورط في حرب الدفاع عن الدول ذاتها الذين يكرهوننا. من القضايا الملحة و  + نيويوركر   .....

28 صفحات مفقودة في 9/11

كان لدينا فجوة 1/2 18 دقيقة مع نيكسون ووترغيت، والآن فجوة 28 صفحة في 9/11 التحقيق. لورانس رايت كبيرة في مجلة نيويوركر اليوم :

في الطابق السفلي من مركز الولايات المتحدة الكابيتول الجديد زوار تحت الأرض "، وهناك غرفة آمنة حيث تحتفظ لجنة الاستخبارات في مجلس النواب ملفات سرية للغاية. وتحت عنوان واحد من تلك الملفات "العثور على والمناقشة والسرد فيما يتعلق ببعض المسائل الحساسة الأمن الوطني". ومن ثمانية وعشرين صفحة. في عام 2002، فإن إدارة جورج بوش رفعه تلك الصفحات من تقرير الكونغرس تحقيقا مشتركا في هجمات 9/11. وقال الرئيس بوش بعد ذلك أن نشر ذلك الجزء من التقرير سيضر العمليات الاستخباراتية الأمريكية، كاشفا عن "المصادر والأساليب التي من شأنها أن تجعل من الصعب بالنسبة لنا لكسب الحرب على الإرهاب."

"لا يوجد شيء في ذلك عن الأمن القومي،" والتر جونز، عضو الكونغرس الجمهوري من ولاية كارولينا الشمالية الذين تمت قراءة صفحات في عداد المفقودين، يدعي. ". انه عن إدارة بوش وعلاقته مع السعوديين" وقال ستيفن لينش، وهو ديمقراطي من ماساتشوستس، لي أن الوثيقة هي "مذهلة في وضوحه"، وأنه يقدم دليلا مباشرا على التواطؤ من جانب بعض الأفراد السعوديين و الكيانات في هجوم القاعدة على أمريكا. "هؤلاء ثمانية وعشرين صفحة تحكي قصة تمت إزالته تماما من تقرير 9/11" تحتفظ لينش. وقال عضو الكونغرس آخر من قرأ الوثيقة أن الأدلة على الدعم الحكومي السعودي لخطف 9/11 هو "مقلق للغاية"، وأن "السؤال الحقيقي هو ما إذا كان تم اقراره على مستوى الأسرة المالكة او تحت هذا، وعما إذا كان تمت متابعة هذه الخيوط من خلال. "الآن، في مثال نادر على التعاون بين الحزبين، وجونز لينش قد شارك في رعاية قرارا يطلب أن إدارة أوباما رفع السرية عن صفحات.

 وهناك "طن من الأشياء الأخرى" لا تزال سرية، بما في ذلك مقابلات مع بوش وتشيني الخ

9 سبتمبر 2014

وثمانية وعشرين الصفحات

بواسطة لورانس رايت

يلتقي الرئيس جورج بوش مع الأمير بندر بن سلطان، السفير السعودي في الولايات المتحدة، في 27 أغسطس 2002، في مزرعة بوش في كروفورد بولاية تكساس. الائتمان تصوير: إريك Drapper / البيت الابيض عبر غيتي

في الطابق السفلي من مركز الولايات المتحدة الكابيتول الجديد زوار تحت الأرض "، وهناك غرفة آمنة حيث تحتفظ لجنة الاستخبارات في مجلس النواب ملفات سرية للغاية. وتحت عنوان واحد من تلك الملفات "العثور على والمناقشة والسرد فيما يتعلق ببعض المسائل الحساسة الأمن الوطني". ومن ثمانية وعشرين صفحة. في عام 2002، فإن إدارة جورج بوش رفعه تلك الصفحات من تقرير الكونغرس تحقيقا مشتركا في هجمات 9/11. وقال الرئيس بوش بعد ذلك أن نشر ذلك الجزء من التقرير سيضر العمليات الاستخباراتية الأمريكية، كاشفا عن "المصادر والأساليب التي من شأنها أن تجعل من الصعب بالنسبة لنا لكسب الحرب على الإرهاب."
"لا يوجد شيء في ذلك عن الأمن القومي،" والتر جونز، عضو الكونغرس الجمهوري من ولاية كارولينا الشمالية الذين تمت قراءة صفحات في عداد المفقودين، يدعي. ". انه عن إدارة بوش وعلاقته مع السعوديين" وقال ستيفن لينش، وهو ديمقراطي من ماساتشوستس، لي أن الوثيقة هي "مذهلة في وضوحه"، وأنه يقدم دليلا مباشرا على التواطؤ من جانب بعض الأفراد السعوديين و الكيانات في هجوم القاعدة على أمريكا. "هؤلاء ثمانية وعشرين صفحة تحكي قصة تمت إزالته تماما من تقرير 9/11" تحتفظ لينش. وقال عضو الكونغرس آخر من قرأ الوثيقة أن الأدلة على الدعم الحكومي السعودي لخطف 9/11 هو "مقلق للغاية"، وأن "السؤال الحقيقي هو ما إذا كان تم اقراره على مستوى الأسرة المالكة او تحت هذا، وعما إذا كان تمت متابعة هذه الخيوط من خلال. "الآن، في مثال نادر على التعاون بين الحزبين، وجونز لينش قد شارك في رعاية قرارا يطلب أن إدارة أوباما رفع السرية عن صفحات.
وأيضا طالب السعوديون علنا بأن يتم الافراج عن المواد. "ويجري استخدام ثمانية وعشرون صفحة بما يقارب من قبل بعض للنيل بلدنا وشعبنا"، الأمير بندر بن سلطان، الذي كان سفير السعودية لدى الولايات المتحدة في ذلك الوقت من هجمات 9/11، أعلنت. "المملكة العربية السعودية ليس لديها ما تخفيه. يمكننا التعامل مع الأسئلة في الأماكن العامة، ولكن لا يمكننا الرد على صفحات فارغة. "
الجهود المبذولة لرفع السرية عن الوثائق يأتي في وقت دعوى قضائية، أحضر قبل عشر سنوات نيابة عن ضحايا الهجمات وعائلاتهم، إلى جانب شركات التأمين الذين دفعوا من المطالبات، تتقدم من خلال نظام المحاكم الأمريكي. الدعوى تستهدف الجمعيات الخيرية السعودية، والبنوك، والأفراد. في عام 2005، تم رفض حكومة المملكة العربية السعودية من الدعوى على أساس الحصانة السيادية، ولكن في يوليو أعادت المحكمة العليا الأمريكية المملكة كمتهم. ويعتقد المدعون أن حجب ثمانية وعشرين صفحة ستدعم الادعاء في أن الخاطفين 9/11 تلقى مساعدة مباشرة من المسؤولين الحكوميين السعوديين في الولايات المتحدة. وفقا لممثلي عائلات ضحايا 9/11، ووعد الرئيس أوباما مرتين للافراج عن المواد كنها فشلت حتى الان للقيام بذلك. وقال "لقد أصبح التنقيح من ثمانية وعشرين صفحة في التستر من قبل اثنين من رؤساء، والتستر يعني التواطؤ" شارون Premoli، وهو الرئيس المشارك للأسر 9/11 المتحدة للعدالة ضد الإرهاب. "إن الأسر والناجين الحق في معرفة الحقيقة كاملة حول القتل الوحشي من ثلاثة آلاف الأحباء وإصابة آلاف آخرين."
رفع السرية تلك الدعوة تقديم حجة قوية وعاطفية في كثير من الأحيان، ولكن الآخرين تقديم أسباب مقنعة أن الوثيقة يجب أن تظل مدفونة تحت الكابيتول. مباشرة بعد الانتهاء من الكونغرس رسالتك المشتركة تقريرها في أواخر عام 2002، واللجنة الوطنية حول الهجمات الإرهابية على الولايات المتحدة والمعروف باسم-بدأت اللجنة عملها 9/11، تحت قيادة توماس كين، الحاكم السابق من جديد جيرسي، ولي هاملتون، عضو الكونجرس السابق من ولاية انديانا. كانت الأسئلة التي طرحتها ثمانية وعشرين صفحة جزءا مهما من جدول أعمال اللجنة؛ في الواقع، مديرها فيليب زيليكو، استأجرت العاملين الذين عملوا لجنة التحقيق المشتركة في هذا القسم بالذات لمتابعة المواد. وفقا لزيليكو، ما وجدوه لا إثبات الحجج التي أدلى بها رسالتك المشتركة وعائلات 9/11 في الدعوى ضد السعوديين. ووصف ثمانية وعشرين صفحة بأنه "التكتل من الأولية والتقارير unvetted" بشأن تورط السعوديين. "كانوا الاتهامات البرية التي تحتاج إلى سحبه"، قال.
كان زيليكو وموظفيه غير قادر في النهاية إلى إثبات أي تواطؤ السعودي الرسمي في الهجمات. يوصي موظف سابق في لجنة 9/11 الذين على دراية وثيقة المواد في ثمانية وعشرين صفحة ضد رفع السرية الخاصة بهم، محذرا من أن الإفراج عن المعلومات التهابات ويمكن المضاربة "ستزيد المشاعر" والضرر العلاقات الأمريكية السعودية.
ويوافق ستيفن لينش أن ثمانية وعشرين صفحة دفنوا من أجل الحفاظ على علاقة الولايات المتحدة مع المملكة العربية السعودية. "وكان جزء من السبب تم تصنيفها حقيقة أنه من شأنه أن يخلق استجابة الحشوية"، قال لي. "سيكون هناك رد فعل." ولكن، وبعد ثلاثة عشر عاما، والتي ما زالت سببا للحفاظ على وثيقة سرية؟

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النظرية وراء الدعوى القضائية ضد السعوديين تعود إلى حرب الخليج عام 1991. كان وجود القوات الأمريكية في المملكة العربية السعودية حدثا تحطيم في تاريخ البلاد، الأمر الذي يشكك في الصفقة القديمة بين الأسرة المالكة ورجال الدين الوهابي، الذي يسمح للعائلة سعود لحكم نعمة. في عام 1992، أصدرت مجموعة من رجال الدين البارزين في البلاد مذكرة المشورة، الذي هدد ضمنا انقلاب الدينية. العائلة المالكة، هزتها تهديد لحكمها، استيعاب معظم مطالب رجال الدين، ومنحهم المزيد من السيطرة على المجتمع السعودي. واحدة من توجهاتها دعا إلى إنشاء وزارة الشؤون الإسلامية، التي من شأنها أن تعطى مكاتب في السفارات والقنصليات السعودية. والصحافي فيليب Shenon يكتب ، نقلا عن جون ليمان، والأمين العام السابق للقوات البحرية ومفوض 9/11 "كان المعروف في دوائر الاستخبارات أن مكتب الشؤون الإسلامية يعمل ك" طابور خامس "السعوديين لدعم المتطرفين المسلمين. "
القصة وقال في تلك ثمانية وعشرين صفحة يختار مع وصول اثنين من الشباب السعودي، نواف الحازمي وخالد المحضار، في لوس انجليس في يناير كانون الثاني، وكانوا 2000. تصل الموجة الأولى من 9 / 11 الخاطفين. لا يتحدثون الإنجليزية بشكل جيد، لذلك بعثة إلى على تعلم كيفية تجريب طائرة بوينغ اردا الجنون بدا-طائرة، وخاصة إذا كان لديهم أي مساعدة.
بعد أسبوعين حصلت الحازمي والمحضار الى لوس انجليس، وهو متبرع ظهرت فجأة. عمر البيومي، وهو مواطن يبلغ من العمر اثنين وأربعين السعودية، كان موظف في شركة خدمات الطيران السعودية دلة AVCO. على الرغم من انه لفت راتبا، وقال انه على ما يبدو لم يفعل أي العمل الفعلي للشركة خلال السنوات السبع التي قضاها في أمريكا. كان بيومي في اتصال دائم مع السفارة السعودية في واشنطن، DC، ومع القنصلية في لوس انجليس. كان يعتبر على نطاق واسع في مجتمع المغتربين العرب ليكون جاسوسا السعودي، على الرغم من أن الحكومة السعودية نفت الذي كان.
بيومي وصديق قاد من سان دييغو، التي كانوا يعيشون فيها، إلى LA بيومي ثم توجه إلى القنصلية السعودية، حيث أمضى نحو ساعة لقاء مع مسؤول في وزارة الشؤون الإسلامية يدعى فهد الثميري، الذي اعتبره مستشاره الروحي. (في عام 2002، جردت الثميري التأشيرة الدبلوماسية له وترحيلهم، بسبب علاقاته المشبوهة للإرهابيين) بعد ذلك، بيومي وصديقه قاد إلى مطعم الحلال في كلفر سيتي. وقال بيومي في وقت لاحق أن المحققين، أثناء تناول الطعام هناك، وحدث انه ليسمعك رجلين-الحازمي والمحضار الناطقة باللغة العربية مع لهجات الخليج. انه ضرب حتى محادثة معهم، ودعاهم للانتقال إلى سان دييغو قريبا. انه إقامتها في المجمع السكني نفسه الذي عاش فيه. لأن الخاطفين في التدريب لم يكن لديهم حساب جار، دفعت بيومي مبلغ التأمين وتأجير الشهر الأول (والتي تسدد فورا وسلم). قدم لهم أيضا لأفراد المجتمع العربي، وربما بما في ذلك إمام مسجد محلي، أنور العولقي في وقت لاحق ليصبح المتحدث باسم الأبرز لتنظيم القاعدة في شبه الجزيرة العربية.
كما صادق السعودية آخر كان في سان دييغو في ذلك الوقت، أسامة باسنان، الحازمي والمحضار. كما حدث، وكانت زوجة باسنان لتلقي الهدايا الخيرية من زوجة الأمير بندر، الأميرة حيفا. وكان من المفترض سنوات المدفوعات، بقدر 73000 دولار على مدى ثلاث لتمويل علاج حالة طبية أن زوجة باسنان عانت من. وفقا لمرافعات في الدعوى ضد السعوديين، وبعض من هذه الأموال ذهبت لدعم الخاطفين في سان دييغو. لم يجد مكتب التحقيقات الفيدرالي أي دليل على أن المال حصلت في أيدي الخاطفين، ومع ذلك، وجدت لجنة 9/11 لا علاقة للعائلة المالكة.
"نؤكد أن" الجمعيات الخيرية "المزعومة التي أنشأتها حكومة المملكة ، شون كارتر، أحد المحامين الرئيسي في القضية، وقال لنشر الأيديولوجية الوهابية المتطرفة في جميع أنحاء العالم، بمثابة المصادر الرئيسية للتمويل والدعم اللوجستي لتنظيم القاعدة لأكثر من عقد من الزمان أدت إلى هجمات 9/11 " لي. "ليس من قبيل الصدفة، وهذه ما يسمى الجمعيات الخيرية كانت نفسها التي تنظمها وزارة الشؤون الإسلامية، والتي، في عام 1993، تولى من تشكيلها المسؤولية الرئيسية عن جهود المملكة في نشر الإسلام الوهابي."
توماس كين يتذكر أخيرا وجود فرصة لقراءة تلك ثمانية وعشرين صفحة بعد أن أصبح رئيسا لل9/11 Commission- "سرا حتى ان اضطررت الى الحصول على كل التصاريح الأمنية بلدي والخوض في أحشاء الكونغرس مع شخص تبحث على كتفي." ويتذكر أيضا التفكير في الوقت أن معظم ما كان ينبغي أبدا القراءة ظلت سرا. ولكن التركيز على ثمانية وعشرين صفحة يحجب حقيقة أن العديد من الوثائق الهامة لا تزال classified- "طن من الاشياء"، وقال كين لي، بما في ذلك، على سبيل المثال، والمقابلات اللجنة 9/11 مع جورج بوش وديك تشيني ، وبيل كلينتون. "أنا لا أعرف من شيء واحد في تقريرنا هذا لا ينبغي أن يكون الجمهور بعد عشر سنوات"، وقال كين.
قد يكون 11 سبتمبر جزءا من التاريخ الآن، ولكن بعض الأحداث التي أدت إلى ذلك اليوم الرهيب لا تزال المحجبات من قبل الاعتبارات السياسية في الوقت الحاضر. لا مجتمع المخابرات لا تريد أن تضيء فشلها مرة أخرى، ومما لا شك فيه أن إدارة أوباما لا يريد إدخال أصناف إضافية على علاقتها مع السعوديين. في غضون ذلك، فإن القوى التي أدت إلى كارثة لا قبل تستجمع قواها مرة أخرى. توماس ماسي، عضو الكونغرس الجمهوري من ولاية كنتاكي وراعيا لقرار مجلس النواب لرفع السرية عن المواد، قال لي أن تجربة قراءة هذه ثمانية وعشرين صفحة تسببت له إلى إعادة التفكير في كيفية التعامل مع صعود ISIS . جعلت من له أكثر من ذلك بكثير الحذر من رد عسكري. وقال "علينا أن نكون حذرين، ونحن عندما تشغيل الحسابات من العمل، ما التداعيات ستكون" قال.
"في بعض النواحي، انها أكثر خطورة اليوم،" تيموثي رومر، الذي كان عضوا في كل من رسالتك المشتركة و لجنة 9/11، لاحظ. "سلسلة أكثر تعقيدا من التهديدات تأتي معا حتى من قبل 9/11، التي تنطوي على ISIS ، القاعدة، والقدرات التقنية الإرهابية. أكثر الشعب الأمريكي يعرف ما حدث قبل ثلاثة عشر عاما، وأكثر ونحن يمكن أن يكون لها مصداقية، مناقشة مفتوحة "حول احتياجات أمننا. الافراج عن ثمانية وعشرين صفحة، كما قال، قد يكون خطوة إلى الأمام. "ونأمل، بعد بعض الصدمة الأولى والرعب، من شأنه أن يجعل عملية لدينا عمل أفضل. الحكومة لديها التزام للقيام بذلك ".

وكان لورانس رايت كاتبة الموظفين في مجلة نيويوركر منذ عام 1992.

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• جميع الأعمال

The 28 Missing Pages on 9/11 & The Twenty-Eight Pages 9SEP14

 

DISMISSED as conspiracy theorist, there are a lot of us who know the george w bush administration lied, misled, deceived and covered up the saudi arabian connection to, knowledge of, and participation in the the terrorist attacks on the United States on 9/11. There is proof, our government is keeping it from us. saudi arabia has never been our friend, our ally, and this should be a major consideration in our involvement in Iraq and Syria and the fight against isil. The saudis can not be trusted, they financially, politically and materially support the perversion of Islam known as wahhabism that wages jihad on the rest of the world. Corporate America and the American military-industrial complex, with the blessings of the American republican and democratic political leadership, support and defend the saudis in the name of corporate profits and war profiteering. While the picture of the World Trade Center, with one tower in flames and the other being struck by the plane, may bring back horrible, painful memories, it should also jolt us back to the reality of today and the path to another Middle East war our government, corporate America and the military-industrial complex is determined to lead us down. This time we can not allow ourselves to be lead as sheep, but need to be kicking and screaming and fighting to protect the lives of our military personnel as well as our tax dollars and demand we do not get involved in a war defending the very nations who hate us. From Pressing Issues and the +The New Yorker  .....

The 28 Missing Pages on 9/11

We had the 18 1/2 minute gap with Nixon and Watergate, and now 28-page gap on 9/11 probe.  The great Lawrence Wright at The New Yorker today:

On the bottom floor of the United States Capitol’s new underground visitors’ center, there is a secure room where the House Intelligence Committee maintains highly classified files. One of those files is titled “Finding, Discussion and Narrative Regarding Certain Sensitive National Security Matters.” It is twenty-eight pages long. In 2002, the Administration of George W. Bush excised those pages from the report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. President Bush said then that publication of that section of the report would damage American intelligence operations, revealing “sources and methods that would make it harder for us to win the war on terror.”

“There’s nothing in it about national security,” Walter Jones, a Republican congressman from North Carolina who has read the missing pages, contends. “It’s about the Bush Administration and its relationship with the Saudis.” Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, told me that the document is “stunning in its clarity,” and that it offers direct evidence of complicity on the part of certain Saudi individuals and entities in Al Qaeda’s attack on America. “Those twenty-eight pages tell a story that has been completely removed from the 9/11 Report,” Lynch maintains. Another congressman who has read the document said that the evidence of Saudi government support for the 9/11 hijacking is “very disturbing,” and that “the real question is whether it was sanctioned at the royal-family level or beneath that, and whether these leads were followed through.” Now, in a rare example of bipartisanship, Jones and Lynch have co-sponsored a resolution requesting that the Obama Administration declassify the pages.

 And there's a "ton of other stuff" still classified, including interviews with Bush, Cheney etc. 

September 9, 2014

The Twenty-Eight Pages

By Lawrence Wright

President George W. Bush meets with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, on August 27, 2002, at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Credit Photograph by Eric Drapper/The White House via Getty

On the bottom floor of the United States Capitol’s new underground visitors’ center, there is a secure room where the House Intelligence Committee maintains highly classified files. One of those files is titled “Finding, Discussion and Narrative Regarding Certain Sensitive National Security Matters.” It is twenty-eight pages long. In 2002, the Administration of George W. Bush excised those pages from the report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. President Bush said then that publication of that section of the report would damage American intelligence operations, revealing “sources and methods that would make it harder for us to win the war on terror.”
“There’s nothing in it about national security,” Walter Jones, a Republican congressman from North Carolina who has read the missing pages, contends. “It’s about the Bush Administration and its relationship with the Saudis.” Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, told me that the document is “stunning in its clarity,” and that it offers direct evidence of complicity on the part of certain Saudi individuals and entities in Al Qaeda’s attack on America. “Those twenty-eight pages tell a story that has been completely removed from the 9/11 Report,” Lynch maintains. Another congressman who has read the document said that the evidence of Saudi government support for the 9/11 hijacking is “very disturbing,” and that “the real question is whether it was sanctioned at the royal-family level or beneath that, and whether these leads were followed through.” Now, in a rare example of bipartisanship, Jones and Lynch have co-sponsored a resolution requesting that the Obama Administration declassify the pages.
The Saudis have also publicly demanded that the material be released. “Twenty-eight blanked-out pages are being used by some to malign our country and our people,” Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who was the Saudi Ambassador to the United States at the time of the 9/11 attacks, has declared. “Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide. We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages.”
The effort to declassify the document comes at a time when a lawsuit, brought ten years ago on behalf of the victims of the attacks and their families, along with the insurers who paid out claims, is advancing through the American court system. The suit targets Saudi charities, banks, and individuals. In 2005, the government of Saudi Arabia was dismissed from the suit on the ground of sovereign immunity, but in July the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the Kingdom as a defendant. The plaintiffs believe that the withheld twenty-eight pages will support their allegation that the 9/11 hijackers received direct assistance from Saudi government officials in the United States. According to representatives of the families of 9/11 victims, President Obama has twice promised to release the material but so far has failed to do so. “The redaction of the twenty-eight pages has become a coverup by two Presidents, and coverup implies complicity,” Sharon Premoli, who is co-chair of 9/11 Families United for Justice Against Terrorism, said. “The families and survivors have the right to know the whole truth about the brutal murder of three thousand loved ones and the injuries of thousands more.”
Those advocating declassification present a powerful and oftentimes emotional argument, but others offer compelling reasons that the document should remain buried under the Capitol. Immediately after the Joint Congressional Inquiry finished its report, in late 2002, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States—better known as the 9/11 Commission—began its work, under the leadership of Thomas Kean, the former governor of New Jersey, and Lee Hamilton, a former congressman from Indiana. The questions raised by the twenty-eight pages were an important part of the commission’s agenda; indeed, its director, Philip Zelikow, hired staffers who had worked for the Joint Inquiry on that very section to follow up on the material. According to Zelikow, what they found does not substantiate the arguments made by the Joint Inquiry and by the 9/11 families in the lawsuit against the Saudis. He characterized the twenty-eight pages as “an agglomeration of preliminary, unvetted reports” concerning Saudi involvement. “They were wild accusations that needed to be checked out,” he said.
Zelikow and his staff were ultimately unable to prove any official Saudi complicity in the attacks. A former staff member of the 9/11 Commission who is intimately familiar with the material in the twenty-eight pages recommends against their declassification, warning that the release of inflammatory and speculative information could “ramp up passions” and damage U.S.-Saudi relations.
Stephen Lynch agrees that the twenty-eight pages were buried in order to preserve the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. “Part of the reason it was classified was the fact that it would create a visceral response,” he told me. “There would be a backlash.” But, thirteen years later, is that still a reason to keep the document a secret?

* * *

The theory behind the lawsuit against the Saudis goes back to the 1991 Gulf War. The presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia was a shattering event in the country’s history, calling into question the ancient bargain between the royal family and the Wahhabi clerics, whose blessing allows the Saud family to rule. In 1992, a group of the country’s most prominent religious leaders issued the Memorandum of Advice, which implicitly threatened a clerical coup. The royal family, shaken by the threat to its rule, accommodated most of the clerics’ demands, giving them more control over Saudi society. One of their directives called for the creation of a Ministry of Islamic Affairs, which would be given offices in Saudi embassies and consulates. As the journalist Philip Shenon writes, citing John Lehman, the former Secretary of the Navy and a 9/11 commissioner, “it was well-known in intelligence circles that the Islamic affairs office functioned as the Saudis’ ‘fifth column’ in support of Muslim extremists.”
The story told in those twenty-eight pages picks up with the arrival of two young Saudis, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, in Los Angeles in January, 2000. They were the first wave of the 9/11 hijackers. Neither spoke English well, so their mission—to learn how to pilot a Boeing jetliner—seemed crazily improbable, especially if they had no assistance.
Two weeks after Hazmi and Mihdhar got to L.A., a benefactor suddenly appeared. Omar al-Bayoumi, a forty-two-year-old Saudi national, was an employee of the Saudi aviation-services company Dallah Avco. Although he drew a salary, he apparently never did any actual work for the company during the seven years he spent in America. Bayoumi was in frequent contact with the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., and with the consulate in Los Angeles; he was widely considered in the Arab expat community to be a Saudi spy, though the Saudi government has denied that he was.
Bayoumi and a friend drove from San Diego, where they lived, to L.A. Bayoumi then went to the Saudi consulate, where he spent about an hour meeting with an official in the Ministry of Islamic Affairs named Fahad al-Thumairy, whom he considered to be his spiritual adviser. (In 2002, Thumairy was stripped of his diplomatic visa and deported, because of suspected ties to terrorists.) Afterward, Bayoumi and his friend drove to a halal restaurant in Culver City. Bayoumi later told investigators that, while eating there, he happened to overhear two men—Hazmi and Mihdhar—speaking Arabic with Gulf accents. He struck up a conversation with them and soon invited them to move to San Diego. He set them up in the same apartment complex where he lived. Because the hijackers-in-training did not have a checking account, Bayoumi paid their security deposit and first month’s rent (for which they immediately reimbursed him). He also introduced them to members of the Arab community, possibly including the imam of a local mosque, Anwar al-Awlaki—later to become the most prominent spokesperson for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Another Saudi who was in San Diego at the time, Osama Basnan, also befriended Hazmi and Mihdhar. As it happened, Basnan’s wife was receiving charitable gifts from Prince Bandar’s wife, Princess Haifa. The payments—as much as seventy-three thousand dollars over a period of three years—were supposed to fund the treatment of a medical condition that Basnan’s wife suffered from. According to pleadings in the lawsuit against the Saudis, some of that money went to support the hijackers in San Diego. The F.B.I. has not found any evidence that the money got into the hands of the hijackers, however, and the 9/11 Commission found no links to the royal family.
“We assert that purported ‘charities,’ established by the government of the Kingdom to propagate radical Wahhabi ideology throughout the world, served as the primary sources of funding and logistical support for Al Qaeda for more than a decade leading up to the 9/11 attacks,” Sean Carter, one of the lead attorneys in the lawsuit, told me. “Not coincidentally, these so-called charities were themselves regulated by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, which from its formation, in 1993, assumed primary responsibility for the Kingdom’s efforts to spread Wahhabi Islam.”
Thomas Kean remembers finally having the opportunity to read those twenty-eight pages after he became chairman of the 9/11 Commission—“so secret that I had to get all of my security clearances and go into the bowels of Congress with someone looking over my shoulder.” He also remembers thinking at the time that most of what he was reading should never have been kept secret. But the focus on the twenty-eight pages obscures the fact that many important documents are still classified—“a ton of stuff,” Kean told me, including, for instance, the 9/11 Commission’s interviews with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Bill Clinton. “I don’t know of a single thing in our report that should not be public after ten years,” Kean said.
September 11th may be a part of history now, but some of the events that led to that horrible day remain veiled by the political considerations of the present. The intelligence community doesn’t want to light up its failures once again, and no doubt the Obama Administration doesn’t want to introduce additional strains on its relationship with the Saudis. In the meantime, the forces that led to catastrophe before are gathering strength once again. Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky and a sponsor of the House resolution to declassify the material, told me that the experience of reading those twenty-eight pages caused him to rethink how to handle the rise of ISIS. It has made him much more cautious about a military response. “We have to be careful, when we run the calculations of action, what the repercussions will be,” he said.
“In some ways, it’s more dangerous today,” Timothy Roemer, who was a member of both the Joint Inquiry and the 9/11 Commission, observed. “A more complex series of threats are coming together than even before 9/11, involving ISIS, Al Qaeda, and cyber-terrorist capabilities. The more the American people know about what happened thirteen years ago, the more we can have a credible, open debate” about our security needs. Releasing the twenty-eight pages, he said, might be a step forward. “Hopefully, after some initial shock and awe, it would make our process work better. Our government has an obligation to do this.”

Lawrence Wright has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992.

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More than 1,000 Nigerian women stranded for fifth straight day at Saudi airport because they were not accompanied by men 27SEP12

IT seems the problem isn't with these women not having male escorts to protect their virtue, no, the problem has to be with the attitudes of Saudi men and their ignorance concerning women. Sad, but no big surprise considering the kingdom's hypocritical rulers have decided to maintain their power by brainwashing their people with wahabi Islam. These Nigerian women can thank God they don't live in saudi arabia and can take home a valuable lesson; don't believe the islamic fanatics who want to impose sharia on their nation. From the Raw Story.....

By Agence France-Presse

 

More than 1,000 Nigerian women pilgrims remained stranded at a Saudi airport for a fifth straight day Thursday after being denied entry into the kingdom because they were not accompanied by men, an airport official confirmed.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the women have been denied entry because “they are not accompanied by a mahram (the statutory male companion),” adding that talks were continuing between Saudi and Nigerian officials.
The official said that the Nigerian consulate in Jeddah had offered to ensure the women’s return after the annual hajj pilgrimage, but Saudi immigration officials were “sticking to their position.”
The kingdom has yet to release a formal statement regarding the case.
The women had begun arriving at Jeddah airport on Sunday, a report by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, which oversees Nigerian participation in the pilgrimage, said.
“Upon enquiries by the reception team officials of the National Hajj Commission in the airport, they were told that the pilgrims were held back because of lack of mahram,” said the report, which was submitted to the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.
About 171 of the women flew home to Nigeria on Wednesday, an official said.
Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan set up a five-member team on Wednesday to negotiate with the Saudi authorities, an official statement said.
According to the report presented to the committee, Nigerian pilgrims’ welfare boards have in the past acted as “mahrams” and visas had been granted on that basis.
The report said that officials observed that flights which arrived at Medina airport were not subjected to such treatment. The report also claimed that “only Nigerian pilgrims” were affected by the policy.
Last year, nearly three million Muslim pilgrims performed the hajj, which represents one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least once in a lifetime by all Muslims who are able to do so.
Roughly half of Nigeria’s 160 million people are Muslim.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/27/more-than-1000-nigerian-women-stranded-for-fifth-straight-day-at-saudi-airport-because-they-were-not-accompanied-by-men/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29

At al-Azhar Mosque, struggle over Islam roils a revered Egyptian institution 3MAR12

THERE is reason to be concerned about the now permitted radical Islam gaining power in Egypt. The salafist and wahabis are perversions of Islam, not true Muslims. If they were true to their faith they wouldn't have to force people to follow their brand of Islam, the people would do so willingly. Repression of women, the brutality of "religious" enforcers, restrictions of political, religious and educational freedom, denial of human rights do not attract people to a religion. Al-Azhar has been a bastion of enlightenment for 1000 years, it is sad to think after years of corrupting control by the previous authoritarian government it now faces the same threat from the new government. It seems Egyptians of all faiths and those secular will have to wait longer than they thought for the free and democratic Egypt so many of their compatriots suffered and died for last year. From the Washington Post......

By Griff Witte

CAIRO — They came by the thousands, pouring through the ancient stone archways and into the gleaming white marble courtyard of al-Azhar Mosque. The faithful had come to pray, to hear a thundering sermon from a leader of Hamas and to witness a rebirth.
Co-opted for decades by irreligious and autocratic Egyptian governments, al-Azhar was retaking its rightful place as the world’s leading voice of Sunni Islam, worshipers said. The presence of a once-banned Hamas preacher willing to speak incendiary truths was proof that the millennium-old mosque and university that bear the al-Azhar name had finally been set free.
“Before, al-Azhar was covered by dust,” said Yasser Abdel Monen, 32, beaming in the shadow of the building’s towering minarets. “Now we have removed the dust to show what it is truly made of.”
But to others, that Friday sermon late last month was proof of something more ominous: the perverse outcome of a revolution built on a thirst for freedom but overtaken by a hunger for hard-line religious dogma.
More than a year after an uprising that deposed longtime president Hosni Mubarak, just about everything in Egypt feels up for grabs. Yet the struggle for the soul of al-Azhar carries a special resonance here and across the Islamic world. At a time when the Middle East boils with debate over the proper role of religion in public life, al-Azhar is poised to wield vast influence over how political Islam is implemented regionwide.
Now, forces from across Egypt’s political and religious spectrum — including a group preaching a puritanical, Saudi-style doctrine of Islam — are maneuvering to influence al-Azhar.
Since its founding in the 10th century, al-Azhar has been an unrivaled touchstone of Islamic thinking, guiding the devout in their understanding of the faith and educating millions through its distinguished university and education system. In modern times, it has been a moderate bulwark against more extreme interpretations of Islam, condemning terrorist attacks, sanctioning broader rights for women and building bonds with Egypt’s Christian minority.
But in recent decades, al-Azhar has also been sullied by its affiliation with a string of Egyptian leaders who used the institution’s good name to give their policies a religious blessing. Since 1961, al-Azhar’s top official — the Grand Sheikh — has been appointed directly by Egypt’s president. For many Egyptians, al-Azhar became just one more tool of state control.
In the aftermath of the revolution, there is widespread agreement among politicians in Egypt that al-Azhar needs greater independence. The question is whether that also means a lurch toward a more rigid and less tolerant school of Islam to match the increasingly doctrinaire mood of the Egyptian people.
There is evidence that such a shift is already underway and that it could go much further.
Members of Egypt’s two main Islamist groups — the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Nour Party — control between them an overwhelming majority in Egypt’s new parliament. Seated in January, they are already working on legislation that would strip the Grand Sheikh of his lifetime appointment and that could give them a major say in picking a successor.
The current Grand Sheikh, Ahmed el-Tayib, is a Sorbonne-educated scholar who emphasizes interfaith dialogue and is known for his relatively progressive fatwas, the religious pronouncements that carry the weight of law when issued by al-Azhar. But he was also a committee member in Mubarak’s hated National Democratic Party and was appointed by Mubarak himself.
Just days before the new parliament was sworn in, Egypt’s ruling generals approved a new law that would authorize a committee of scholars to choose the Grand Sheikh but that would effectively allow Tayib to pick the committee.
Politicians from Nour and the Brotherhood, who have been reluctant to challenge the nation’s military rulers on many issues, say they will fight on this one. They argue that Tayib is too closely tied to the old regime to lead an organization that will pass judgment on the religious merits of everything Egypt’s new government tries to do.
“Liberating state institutions like al-Azhar is even more critical to us than the presidential election or rewriting the constitution,” said Mohammed Nour, the Nour Party’s spokesman. “Ensuring the independence of the institution that determines what is and is not Islamic is extremely important.”
Nour said the only way to guarantee genuine independence is to open up the Grand Sheikh position to an election — one in which all al-Azhar University graduates get to vote, or even all Egyptians.
“If we’re talking about instilling democratic values in our society, then why should the position not be open for everyone to vote?” said Nour, who has a thick, bushy beard and an office overlooking the Nile.
Quiet confidence
Behind the appeal to democratic values lies a quiet confidence: Nour’s brand of Islam, the austere and puritanical Salafi school, has rapidly gained adherents in Egypt in recent years.
A close cousin of the Wahabi branch of Islam that is favored in Saudi Arabia, Salafi thinking is beamed into Egyptian homes via satellite television programs featuring Persian Gulf-based preachers. Saudi money, meanwhile, funds the operation of Salafi mosques across Egypt.
As the Salafi approach has surged in popularity, al-Azhar’s moderate teachings have waned because of the taint of association with repressive governments.
The two schools are very different. Al-Azhar teachings have traditionally focused on religious pluralism and have adapted ancient dictates to the realities of a modern world. Salafis prefer rigid tests of faith, such as the length of a man’s beard, and counsel a literal interpretation of Islam’s holiest book, the Koran. The differences help explain why in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive a car but in Egypt they can initiate a divorce.
In the Grand Sheikh’s modern office complex in downtown Cairo, advisers acknowledge that their way of thinking is under threat.
“Undoubtedly, al-Azhar is being targeted,” said Mohammed Mehana, a dapper university law professor who counsels the Grand Sheikh. The challenge, he said, comes from “new religious currents that are popular on the street but are scholarly inaccurate and are dissimilar to the moderate school of thought at al-Azhar.”
Rather than fight the challengers head-on, the Grand Sheikh has tried to appease them, analysts say.
“In the final analysis, they are in competition. But for now, they’re collaborating,” said Ashraf el-Sherif, who teaches political science at the American University of Cairo. “The Salafists want to gain the scholarly credibility of al-Azhar. Al-Azhar wants to win the street popularity of the Salafists.”
The Muslim Brotherhood, which is the dominant force in the new parliament and is considered more moderate than the Nour Party, is also making inroads at al-Azhar, an effort that Sherif said will be critical to advancing the group’s political agenda.
“They want leverage over the foremost religious institution in the country so that their understanding of religion becomes the centrist understanding of religion,” Sherif said.
The Brotherhood’s newfound influence was on full display Feb. 24, when Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister in Hamas-run Gaza, spoke at al-Azhar after Friday prayers. Just over a year ago, Haniyeh’s presence would have been unthinkable. Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, and the Brotherhood are part of the same Islamic movement, and both were banned under Mubarak, whose government upheld a peace treaty with Israel.
But on that day, al-Azhar gave Haniyeh a rapturous welcome. As he proclaimed from the pulpit that Hamas would “liberate” Jerusalem, home to the revered al-Aqsa Mosque, the Brotherhood-dominated crowd of worshipers chanted back, “From al-Azhar to al-Aqsa we will march, millions of martyrs.”
Student union elections
On al-Azhar University’s main campus — a palm-tree-fringed idyll amid Cairo’s frenetic urban sprawl — students say the Brotherhood and the Nour Party are both ascendant.
Before the revolution, students affiliated with either political movement were routinely kicked out of campus housing and occasionally hauled away for interrogation at the hulking concrete state security complex directly across the street from campus.
“I was constantly being referred to the disciplinary committee because I was engaging in unauthorized political activity,” said Abdel Rahman, a soft-spoken and mild-mannered fifth-year medical student.
But in April, Rahman and his fellow Muslim Brotherhood leaders swept to victory in student union elections — an outcome that would presage the national parliamentary vote later in the year.
Rahman said that the Brotherhood’s ideology is already aligned with al-Azhar’s — the group’s founder was an al-Azhar graduate — and that the movement does not plan a takeover.
“Any clash or confrontation isn’t an option,” he said. “Al-Azhar has been here for 1,000 years, and the Brotherhood has been around for 80. We consider ourselves the sons of al-Azhar.”
That is not to say the campus is free of discord. In January, a group of left-leaning students organized the screening of a film focused on abuses by Egyptian security forces. But Salafi students, who are an increasingly visible presence on campus, showed up and smashed the projector, according to Wesam Ata, 20, one of the organizers.
“Their attitude is, ‘If you disagree with me, you are my enemy. And I speak the word of God, so you are an enemy of God,’ ” said Ata, who studies at al-Azhar’s business school.
It is that attitude that has so unnerved Egypt’s liberals and religious minorities, who fear that any move toward Salafi thinking at al-Azhar could be destabilizing at a time when the country is already on edge.
Mona Makram-Ebeid, a leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, said al-Azhar’s Grand Sheikh has done more than anyone to bring the country together after the revolution.
“Any shift to Salafism would be catastrophic, both for al-Azhar and for society,” she said.
Ibrahim el-Houdaiby, a young activist and scholar who has studied under an al-Azhar sheikh, agrees. But he does not think it will happen.
Houdaiby’s mentor, Sheikh Emad Effat, was shot dead by security forces in December during a protest against military rule. Like Effat, Houdaiby said he believes that al-Azhar needs to return to its roots as an independent and respected source of Islamic scholarship. Once it does, he said, more extreme ideologies will lose the appeal they have gained in recent decades, when al-Azhar’s moderate voice was discredited by its ties to corrupt Egyptian governments.
“Al-Azhar is an institution capable of regaining its authenticity, regaining its intellectual soundness. If people want a genuine exchange of ideas, then an authentic al-Azhar is a place to look,” Houdaiby said. “And if people want to know what went wrong in this region, then al-Azhar’s history is a place to look.”

Special correspondents Lara El Gibaly and Haitham El Tabei contributed to this report.