Tuesday, September 09, 2014

More on the 28 Pages

Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower writes on the current press to get the pages released:

“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.
 Philip Zelikow is not convinced:
 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.
On the other hand, even the Saudis want the information released:
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.”

As does 9-11 Commission co-chair Thomas Kean:

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.
 I'm with Kean on this one; sunlight is the best disinfectant.  As an example of the problems with keeping the 28 pages secret, consider the buffoonish Justin Raimondo, who claims they are being withheld to conceal Israeli involvement:

Graham has been explicit in accusing the Saudis of financing at least some of the 9/11 hijackers, as well as facilitating their entry into the United States. However, the Joint Inquiry indicates that more than this was involved: the phrase "foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers while they were in the United States" jumps out at me, at least implying that it wasn’t just financing – after all, how much did the 9/11 attacks actually cost Al Qaeda in terms of dollars and cents? – but also that operational assistance was given on the ground.
Given – by whom?
In the wake of 9/11, while the smoke from the downed World Trade Building was still clouding the skies over Manhattan, I noticed a news item in the Washington Post that rang all kinds of alarm bells, or at least it should have – although our vaunted Fourth Estate was too busy signing on to the newly-minted "war on terrorism" to notice. The story was headlined "Government Calls Several Cases ‘of Special Interest,’ Meaning Related to Post-Attacks Investigation." Reporter John Mintz related that at least 60 Israelis "of special interest to the government" had been rounded up and that several of these had training in counter-terrorist techniques.
Of course, the operational assistance referred to has nothing to do with the Israelis; it's the Omar al-Bayoumi story as mentioned by Wright:

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.
BTW, I should add that I'm not 100% convinced the Saudis want the information released; it is quite possible they are taking a PR stance secure in the knowledge that the pages will not be published.

15 Comments:

At 10 September, 2014 11:29, Blogger Unknown said...

I'm surprised they haven't been leaked yet. The fact that they have not means one of 2 things:

1 - They contain Serious implications across a spectrum of US Government agencies, White House(2 administrations), and foreign governments (Saudi Arabia, etc)

2- There's no big revelation.

I see little reason at this point to maintain secrecy at this point.

 
At 11 September, 2014 05:49, Blogger ConsDemo said...

Today's the big day. Where are the 84% the twoofers claim agree with them that the US attacked itself on 9/11, shouldn't they be packing the streets?

 
At 11 September, 2014 07:07, Blogger Unknown said...

But of course the twoofers will take this as a "sign" that it's talking about the US Government attacking it's own people and covering up in 28 blanked out pages.

Those people are so damn predictable that's it's sad.

 
At 15 September, 2014 13:39, Blogger truth hurts said...

I didn't say the pictures of Willie with scumbags were faked--

Yes you did, you suggested that because you could not find any other source for the pictures, Pat most likely was victim of a prank involving fake pictures of Willy with former president Clinton.


I said that the fact that the truth movement had no interest in them was telling.

But that was after it became eminent to you that the pictures weren't faked.

And as you already acknowledged that the so called truther movement doesn't hold any truth, it is a good thing that Willy moved away from them and that they lost their interest in him.

 
At 15 September, 2014 18:09, Blogger Ian said...

I found another great photo of Brian's hideous homeless mullet:

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/5/5/e/highres_10817758.jpeg

It's hilarious how important Brian is trying to look. That march has literally tens of people, so I'm sure the critical mass to demand new investigations will be there any day now.

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!

 
At 15 September, 2014 19:50, Blogger snug.bug said...

So newly-married Ian is scouring the internet for pictures he believes are of me--how touching! Why am I not surprised?








 
At 16 September, 2014 05:24, Blogger Ian said...

So newly-married Ian is scouring the internet for pictures he believes are of me--how touching! Why am I not surprised?

Poor Brian. He's hysterical because his haircut is hideous, the truth movement is dead, Willie Rodriguez is a hero, and the widows have no questions.

 
At 16 September, 2014 06:18, Blogger truth hurts said...

Most likely Ian knows how to use Google and doesn't have to scour the internet to find what he is looking for.

 
At 16 September, 2014 06:55, Blogger Unknown said...

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/5/5/e/highres_10817758.jpeg

Look behind the guy with the black "9/11truth.org" shirt and you'll see Brian the dog.

 
At 16 September, 2014 07:01, Blogger Unknown said...

Brian the dog looks like Doc Brown, but Doc Brown's smarter.

http://api.ning.com/files/pFCESoofkUqCB1ezf1x9ho2bQvS54qL28FYg5STLI3ETVak6AvYFJgZuW6fYoXmIZ7GE3jF5822ltav*i8nMnjjwveFZHwCs/brian.png?width=184&height=184&crop=1%3A1

 
At 16 September, 2014 08:37, Blogger snug.bug said...

I'm not hysterical, Ian. I'm amused to imagine you and your soul-mate cuddled up in bed while you gently stroke your I-pad, ransacking the internet for pictures you imagine to be of me.

Willie Rodriguez is a busted con man. I have proven his hero story to be a lie. The truth movement knew it years ago. You're kind of slow to catch on.



 
At 16 September, 2014 09:21, Blogger Unknown said...

Willie Rodriguez is a busted con man. I have proven his hero story to be a lie. The truth movement knew it years ago. You're kind of slow to catch on.

Translation: I LOVE YOU WILLIE AND I WANT TO RIDE YOUR ROD ALL THE WAY TO RIGUEZ'S HOUSE BECAUSE I'M YOU GAY LOVER.

 
At 16 September, 2014 09:34, Blogger truth hurts said...

One of the main reason the truther movement imploded is that they they found out the stories they believed in were all lies.
Only a few, like you, keep clinging on the remains of the stories, while deep inside knowing that they are without merit too..

Rodriguez has been exposed long ago by debunkers like Mark Roberts.
And guess what: they moved on with their lifes after doing so.

It is time you do the same, in stead of starting to jump in all kinds of directions and squeeling about him when you see a picture of Willy with the former president and his life saving master key...

 
At 16 September, 2014 10:44, Blogger snug.bug said...

Ian never moved on. He still thinks Fraudriguez is a hero. Pat and James haven't moved on. They celebrated Willie's appearance at the Ground Zero gala just a few weeks ago--and have never acknowledged that he is a liar and a washed-up con artist.

I've moved on. Rodriguez is toast. That's the way I like it. I'll lift a finger now and then to see that he remains toast.

 
At 17 September, 2014 12:14, Blogger Pat said...

Brian playing his usual game:

"... pictures you imagine to be of me."

It's a non-denial denial. He can't really deny that the picture shows him, so he tries instead the "Oh, you think that's me?" gambit instead.

That's Carol Brouillet holding the microphone.

 

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