9/11 Saudi connection 28-page section of the 9/11 Commission Report reveals “indirect link” to Saudi ambassador to U.S.
The 28-page section of the 9/11 Commission’s report, the only portion of the report not to have been made public, was finally released in July by the Obama administration (the section was, in fact, 29-page long). The heavily redacted version released to the public found an “indirect link” between a Colorado-based company associated with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a key member of the Saudi royal family, who, for many years, wielded influence as the Saudi ambassador to the United States, and phone numbers held by an al-Qaeda member held over the 9/11 terror attacks. Money from a charity run by Bandar’s wife found its way to a Saudi man who helped two of the 9/11 hijackers settle in San Diego.
The 28-page section of the 9/11 Commission’s report, the only portion of the report not to have been made public, was finally released in July by the Obama administration (the section was, in fact, 29-page long). The heavily redacted version released to the public found an “indirect link” between a Colorado-based company associated with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a key member of the Saudi royal family, who, for many years, wielded influence as the Saudi ambassador to the United States, and phone numbers held by an al-Qaeda member held over the 9/11 terror attacks.
CNN reports that the report reveals that a phone log maintained by an al-Qaeda operative, Abu Zubaydah – his real name is Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein — included the unlisted phone number for a Colorado company associated with Prince Bandar.
The company managed Prince Bandar’s estate in Aspen, Colorado. Zubaydah’s phone book also contained the phone number for a bodyguard who worked at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C.
“Both of those numbers were unpublished, so they had to have gotten into Zubaydah’s phone book through a personal contact who knew what those numbers were and what they represented,” said former Senator Bob Graham (D-Florida), co-chair of the congressional commission which compiled the twenty-eight pages, told CNN.
The Washington Post notes that Zubaydah’s seniority in al-Qaeda has never been conformed, while the New York Times reported that the CIA no longer believes Zubaydah was in Osama bin Laden’s inner circle as was once thought to be the case.
Zubaydah, a 45-year-old Palestinian, spoke in 2007 in a Combatant Status Review Tribunal at Guantanamo Bay back in 2007. The transcript of the interview shows that he said: “They told me, ‘sorry, we discover that you are not Number 3 [in Osama bin Laden’s inner circle], not a partner, not even a fighter.’”
The CIA and FBI concluded that there was no evidence anyone from the Saudi royal family knowingly provided support for the 9/11 attacks.
Saudi officials have adamantly denied any possible involvement in the 2001 attacks. CNN noes that the Saudis called for the classified section of the report to be released, and pointed to a 2005 FBI investigation which cleared the Saudi government and royal family of funding of or knowledge about the nineteen hijackers, fifteen of whom were Saudi nationals.
Senator Graham, however, has said the indirect connection between Zubaydah’s contact list and the Colorado company
