A former Republican member of the 9/11 commission, breaking dramatically with the commission’s leaders, said Wednesday he believes there was clear evidence that Saudi government employees were part of a support network for the 9/11 hijackers and that the Obama administration should move quickly to declassify a long-secret congressional report on Saudi ties to the 2001 terrorist attack.
The comments by John F Lehman, an investment banker in New York who was Navy secretary in the Reagan administration, signal the first serious public split among the 10 commissioners since they issued a 2004 final report that was largely read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia, which was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11.
“There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government,” Lehman said in an interview, suggesting that the commission may have made a mistake by not stating that explicitly in its final report. “Our report should never have been read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia.” (The Guardian)
———————————————————
I don’t think we’re going to get the toothpaste back in the tube on this one. Might as well release those 28 pages now because it’s not going to get any better for our dear Saudi friends. According to RT, the FBI has more potential dirt on the Saudis to the tune of 80,000 files. And what about those five dancing Israelis in New Jersey on 9/11?
TTG
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/12/911-commission-saudi-arabia-hijackers?CMP=twt_gu
https://www.rt.com/usa/342836-fbi-documents-saudi-arabia-911/
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/[object%20Object]
This last ABC News link leads to an error 404 page. To view it, put "Were Israelis Detained on Sept. 11 Spies?" in a Google search and view it from the first link provided.
I thought those dancing Israelis were forgotten as soon as they were whisked back to Israel. They were here as intelligence agents weren't they?
Posted by: Martin Oline | 12 May 2016 at 10:28 PM
Martin Oline,
A lot of people want that story to be forgotten. Trump conflated it into thousands of dancing Muslims. Reports were that they were Mossad agents working under cover of a Jersey moving company. Maybe there's more in those 80,000 FBI files.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 12 May 2016 at 10:41 PM
TTG,
I'd hate to see the press cover something as unimportant as this story. Thank goodness the President is going to issue an executive order on transgender bathrooms in public schools nationwide.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/obama-administration-public-schools-transgender-students-access-bathrooms/story?id=39081956&cid=abcn_tco
Just how stupid does the establishment thin Americans are?
Posted by: Fred | 12 May 2016 at 10:55 PM
To your reference to the dancing Israelis, there was also the attempt by Israeli agents to bomb the Mexico Congress.
I remember seeing this in the news, on the Spanish channels.
Sorry for these links. These were the only ones I could find that provided more details.
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/2001_Mexican_legislative_assembly_attack
http://www.rense.com/general17/mossadagentsarrested.htm
https://forum.davidicke.com/showthread.php?t=78878
Posted by: Erika | 12 May 2016 at 11:03 PM
"Saudi individuals." OK. So what happened to them?
I think this is the key question. Their fate tells us if the Saudis monarchy/govt is an enemy. If we know of these people, then the Saudis Govt must know of them also.
<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
I expect that the release of the report will depict KSA as a victim of terr0rism/extremism (a point that they Saudis often make). But this is duplicitous. KSA Govt has supported extremists in the past to further its own interests and it appears that they are still doing so.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | 12 May 2016 at 11:42 PM
What's the Quid pro Quo for keeping this report secret? All I can see is a hill of beans.
The Saudis have behaved in fantastically silly ways since 9/11. The Wahhabiya extremism that spreads from Riyadh has been an important factor in destabilizing many Muslim societies. So Bush probably didn't extract a promise for them to behave better in exchange for keeping the report secret.
Posted by: crf | 13 May 2016 at 12:15 AM
crf,
The full answer eludes me. Only theories I have are: 1) the Israelis and Saudis are butt buddies, 2) Saudi Arabia serves as the bank and weapons storehouse for the CIA, 3) the Saudis are a lucrative market for our arms manufacturers, 4) ties between wealthy families (houses of Saud, Bush and Clinton), 4) vestigial memory of a time when the Saudis ruled OPEC and the oil supply.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 13 May 2016 at 12:43 AM
My intuition is that the 28 Pages might be more embarrassing for the US Government than it would be for KSA. Because it would raise questions like "if you knew this, then why didn't you do anything?"
Call me devil advocate, but at some level KSA does closely collaborate with counter-terrorism doesn't it?
Also KSA does fund mosques and provide wahhabi imams, but in the West the most influential in converting people to a form of radical islam are the Tabligh (from India), and home-grown crackpot salafis often get their religious training in Egypt.
So let's not throw the baby with the Baath water.
Posted by: F5F5F5 | 13 May 2016 at 01:26 AM
Always remember Bush classified this at the same time he was making a public case that Saddam helped the 9/11 hijackers.
Posted by: Green Zone Café | 13 May 2016 at 03:22 AM
This may be common knowledge. N
http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/279214-dem-fbi-strong-armed-former-senator-on-9-11-pages
Posted by: rjj | 13 May 2016 at 05:12 AM
Paul Thompson has these stories on his excellent timeline. I also have copies of the original stories on drives somewhere. The web was wiped a few years later. Yes, these stories were reported at the time. Also--believe it or not--a bunch of Israeli soldiers danced in the streets of Hebron so that if you searched for “dancing Israelis,” all you would find was that story. It was funded by the Israeli Ministry of Information.
The Saudi angle was never reported, except by Daniel Hopsicker (Sp?).
Does Lehman have cancer? Is that why he’s coming forward?
Posted by: MRW | 13 May 2016 at 05:51 AM
"And what about those five dancing Israelis in New Jersey on 9/11? "
Don't forget about ISI' (Pakistan) transfer(ing) of funds to Mohammed Atta.
Also, if the Saudi government was involved in planning 9/11 where was our CIA?
The CIA wasn't watching, wasn't listening?
Mossad wasn't watching, wasn't listening?
ISI wasn't watching, wasn't listening?
The information in the infamous Blacked-out 28 Pages was only known to the CIA **after** 9/11 ?
The current Director of the CIA, John Brennan, was CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia during the planning days of 9/11 (whoever was doing that).
9/11 hijackers came to the US in January 2000 and based themselves in San Diego.
Just shortly before this (months or weeks?) John Brennan completed his tenure, 1996-1999, as CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia and became Chief of Staff to then-CIA Director George Tenet.
9/11 was planned in Saudi Arabia. (?)
John Brennan was CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia.
John Brennan and two hijackers then left Saudi Arabia and based themselves in the US.
Posted by: Jag Pop | 13 May 2016 at 06:15 AM
This is what happens when a full investigation doesn’t happen. No one has yet explained how an 1,000C fire--per the official NIST report--could have caused those tower collapses in the first place.
http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm
Based on this comprehensive investigation, NIST concluded that the WTC towers collapsed because: (1) the impact of the planes severed and damaged support columns, dislodged fireproofing insulation coating the steel floor trusses and steel columns, and widely dispersed jet fuel over multiple floors; and (2) the subsequent unusually large jet-fuel ignited multi-floor fires (which reached temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius) significantly weakened the floors and columns with dislodged fireproofing to the point where floors sagged and pulled inward on the perimeter columns. This led to the inward bowing of the perimeter columns and failure of the south face of WTC 1 and the east face of WTC 2, initiating the collapse of each of the towers. Both photographic and video evidence—as well as accounts from the New York Police Department aviation unit during a half-hour period prior to collapse—support this sequence for each tower
1,000C = 1,832F.
Japanese Kishu Binchotan charcoal reaches temperatures of 1800F--some say, 1875F, but my laser gun says 1825F--and doesn’t melt, or in any way destroy, ordinary Weber barbecues with flimsy grates. The Japanese grill: from classic yakitori to steak, seafood, and vegetables by Tadashi Ono, Harris Salat.
I use Kamitosa White Binchotan.
http://korin.com/Kamitosa-White-Binchotan_4?sc=56&category=17860587
See comparison, both are Ubame Oak charcoal.
http://korin.com/Kishu-White-Binchotan-Otsukomaru?sc=56&category=17860587
We Americans are so butt-f**k stupid. Dripping in mind-numbing stupidity. And it’s measurable. with a laser temperature gun.
Posted by: MRW | 13 May 2016 at 06:49 AM
Why take out Iraq? It must have taken a coalition - Iraq was a successful secular Arab government - the enemy of Israel and the Saudis. And since a US war, corporate interests - the oil cartel - benefited mightily from taking Iraq oil offline - remember $160 a barrel oil in 2006-7, when oil companies made the highest profits of any corporation in the history of the world? I mean, the Pres of BP retired and his final year's pay was $487 million - paid for by the poor US taxpayer who also paid with higher gas prices and who will be paying the war debt forever.
The idiots threw three years worth of income tax revenues into the desert and set it on fire - and who was the main beneficiary? Iran, which has regained its former territories.
Posted by: divadab | 13 May 2016 at 07:03 AM
And the KSA nationals flown out of D.C. on 9/12/2001?
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 13 May 2016 at 07:14 AM
TTG,
my 2 cents:
1) Yes
Here's a a little anecdote in relation to this:
Pakistan has been flirting with a travel quarantine on account of Polio. Most cases detected in international settings may be DNA typed to identify the source country as each has unique strains.
Just across the Egyptian border there is the Bedouin city of Rahat, Israel; it was here that sewage samples tested positive for polio virus typed to Pakistan (http://www.dawn.com/news/1030054).
The wild polio virus (WPV) forms circulating in Pakistan and the reason for possible quarantine can all be traced to the FATA region (insurgency hit, rife with Wahhabi madrassahs and associated anti vaccination sentiment). I bet on transport of appropriate nut jobs from here to the Syrian theater with Israel as one port of entry. Suggests cooperation a least. I wonder how far back this may extend into the past. BTW said transport and material support thereafter would not be cheap. Not many countries are that rich, SA is but IMF says they are going broke soon....
2) Yes + mobilizes a ready reserve of nut jobs from a range of muslim countries where Wahhabi madrassahs are in place, pays for the logistics for this.
3) Hell yes!
4) dunno
A few questions that I would appreciate clarity and your opinion on:
Was the Borg present/operational at that time?
What is the borg's objective in view of actions taken thus far? (Ukraine, russia baiting, indulging jihadis, gutting social support programs in the US (to include educational funds))
PS: Col Lang, there is nothing like this space on the net...NOTHING! Do not deprive those who seek the light. :-D
Posted by: Ali | 13 May 2016 at 08:53 AM
On Tuesday, UNSC held a vote to list Ahrar Al-Sham & Jaysh al-Islam as terrorist groups. #US, #UK & #FR have vetoedSyria Intelligence added,
H e b a @HKX07
18+ Disturbing image
U.S backed "rebels" stepping on bodies of female civilians they massacred in Zarah #Homs Syria
Jenan Moussa @jenanmoussa
#Syria opposition groups (Nusra &Ahrar) committed massacre yesterday against Alawites in AlZara town. This conflict is only getting worse.
Max Abrahms @MaxAbrahms
Amnesty International says our rebel friends seem to be using chemical weapons against civilians indiscriminately https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/syria-armed-groups-may-have-used-chemical-weapons-aleppo-new-evidence-war-crimes#.VzUXlmV1kXU.twitter ….
Posted by: samar | 13 May 2016 at 08:53 AM
Say it ain't so. Saudis supporting terrorists and only now this story being made public! I am being facetious, of course. In the end, it is not about KSA and this sh.t hole being main (together with Qatar) generators of jihad in the world, it is about those in US (and Europe) who still have audacity to talk about KSA being "ally" on any issue.
Posted by: SmoothieX12 | 13 May 2016 at 08:55 AM
Full answers are hard to come by with acts as enormous as this one with as many influential people who want no light shown on it. It looks like KSA is being set up as the weakest of the three players among the major conspirators if worse comes to worst, since people keep looking and asking. I can't help but think the brains behind this lie in Israel, and to no small extent in the US, although the distinction between the US and Israel is illusory on the levels we are looking at here. How many dual US/Israeli citizens are involved at the highest levels? Who did it? Those who would rule the world....
Posted by: tim s | 13 May 2016 at 09:27 AM
Re Theory #1, I find it very interesting that many pro-Israeli sources in the USA have recently been throwing KSA under the bus. An "alliance" like that couldn't last long, and I think it's over.
Posted by: elkern | 13 May 2016 at 09:59 AM
All
IMO there is way too much "Protocols..." in some of these comments. How about this? The Wahhabi-takfiri revivalism cycle we are in is genuine. The jihadists are NOT agents or dupes of anyone or anything except their own god drunk minds. How about the thought the Western intelligence was simply lazy and incompetent in not comprehending the riding jihadi tide and was also collectively incompetent in not penetrating the Bin Laden sect before 9/11? Brennan is a friend of the jihadis? Who knew? Not me. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 13 May 2016 at 10:00 AM
Jag Pop,
That's all a bit too conspiratorial for me. Brennan as part of a 9/11 plot? That's ludicrous. The CIA just missed this as did Brennan. Saudi Arabia has always been a tough intelligence target. It's like infiltrating a Mafia family with competing, scheming factions. Mossad may have gotten wind of the plot. Maybe that explains why the dancing Israelis were filming the burning towers. Maybe it was just a coincidence. As MRW said, this is what happens when a full investigation doesn't take place. I'd add that when a full explanation isn't offered to the public, the public is left to its own imagination.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 13 May 2016 at 10:34 AM
Erika,
That whole story strikes me as a pair of lone nut jobs striking out on their own. Even if they had no relationship with the Israeli government, they would be an extreme embarrassment to Israel. Israel would have been wise to get the whole incident swept under the rug.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 13 May 2016 at 10:48 AM
And remember: no plane ever struck building 7, and yet it burst into flame and collapsed anyway. The collision and jet-fuel arguments don't even apply in the case of building 7.
Posted by: Seamus Padraig | 13 May 2016 at 10:54 AM
Slight tangent: "9/11 judge and prosecutors should step down over 'destroyed evidence', defense demands"
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/11/911-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-trial-alleged-destroyed-evidence
Posted by: bks | 13 May 2016 at 10:56 AM