U.S. releases 28 pages of 9/11 report, finds no Saudi involvement

Washington, July 16 (ANI): The U.S. Congress has released the 28 pages of the 9/11 report which shows no complicity of Saudi Arabia in the terrorist attacks. Published after 13 years of first being classified, the White House said the reports show no link between Saudi Arabia and the hijackers who carried out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The pages also put into the public domain the remaining unseen section of the 2002 report, from the joint congressional inquiry into intelligence community activities before and after the September 11 attacks. "This information does not change the assessment of the U.S. government that there's no evidence that the Saudi government or senior Saudi individuals funded al-Qaida," the Guardian quoted, the White House press secretary Josh Earnest, as saying. "The number one takeaway from this should be that this administration is committed to transparency even when it comes to sensitive information related to national security," he added. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were Saudi nationals. According to the report, some of the 9/11 hijackers had contact with individuals who may be connected to the Saudi government, before giving a list of alleged links. However, in releasing the information, the U.S. said that no links between the Saudi government and the hijackers have been independently verified. Earnest said that this section of the report was declassified for the sake of transparency. The released pages show that, according to FBI documents, several numbers found in the phone book of a senior al-Qaida operative captured in Pakistan, Abu Zubaydah in March 2002, could be linked, at least indirectly, to phone numbers in the US. While many U.S. officials opposed declassifying the information saying they worry the move could damage diplomatic relations with a key ally in the region, reportedly Saudi Government has welcomed the release of the information.(ANI)