28-page section of the 9/11 Commission Report reveals “indirect link” to Saudi ambassador to U.S.

was “one of the most stunning parts of the investigation” and worthy of pursuing further.

The current Saudi ambassador to the United States, Abdullah Al-Saud, said in a statement: “Since 2002, the 9/11 Commission and several government agencies, including the CIA and the FBI, have investigated the contents of the ‘28 Pages’ and have confirmed that neither the Saudi government, nor senior Saudi officials, nor any person acting on behalf of the Saudi government provided any support or encouragement for these attacks.

“We hope the release of these pages will clear up, once and for all, any lingering questions or suspicions about Saudi Arabia’s actions, intentions, or long-term friendship with the United States.

“Saudi Arabia is working closely with the United States and other allies to eradicate terrorism and destroy terrorist organizations.”

The declassified section suggests another possible link between Bandar and the hijackers: Large sums of money the prince gave a Saudi national named Osama Bassnan – a former employee of the Saudi government’s Educational Mission in Washington who lived across the street from two of the 9/11 hijackers in San Diego: Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar. Hazmi and Mihdhar were on the plane that crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

CNN reports that Bassnan admitted to an FBI asset that he met Hazmi and Mihdhar while the hijackers were in San Diego, but then reversed himself in a subsequent conversation with the agency. The FBI found Bassnan’s subsequent denials not to be credible, as evidence emerged that he may have had even closer ties to the hijackers thanhe he had initially admitted.

Between 1999 and 2002, Bassnan’s wife received $74,000 in monthly stipends from a Saudi charity run by Bandar’s wife, Princess Haifa al-Faisal. Bassnan’s wife was supposedly receiving the money as an allowance for “nursing services.” Bassnan also received a check for $15,000 directly from Bandar’s account.

At least some of the checks meant for nursing services for Bassnan’s wife, however, changed hands and were given to the wife of Omar al Bayoumi, another Saudi man living in the United States. Bayouni had direct ties to Hazmi and Mihdhar, helping the two of them settle in San Diego when they arrived in the country around early 2000. He found an apartment for them and even co-signed their lease.

“Bayoumi’s wife attempted to deposit three of the checks from Bandar’s wife, which were payable to Bassnan’s wife, into her own accounts,” according to a passage from the 28-page section of the report.