“The American People have the right to know the truth and to know the relationship with the Saudis at the time of the Bush administration,” declared Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) in a Monday discussion with Ron Paul on the Ron Paul Channel. Jones made the comment in support of his US House of Representatives legislation H.Res. 428 that seeks the declassification of 28 pages redacted from a joint House and Senate Intelligence Committees report regarding the attacks on America on September 11, 2001.
Former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), who chaired the joint Intelligence Committees investigation that produced the report, explained at a March press conference hosted by Jones and other House supporters of H.Res. 428 that the 28 redacted pages make up an entire chapter that “dealt primarily with who financed 9/11.” Graham further states that thousands of Americans currently litigating against Saudi Arabia and other entities for complicity in the September 11, 2001 attacks have been denied justice in part because of the withholding of information, including the 28 pages, that could sustain the court claims.
Jones asserts in the Ron Paul Channel discussion that the national security justification for classifying these pages of the report is bogus, noting that President Barack Obama appears to be preserving the classification just to protect from embarrassment the George W. Bush administration that originally made the redactions. Jones notes that, despite Obama’s pledge to 9/11 families that Obama would declassify the 28 pages, the president has kept the pages classified.
Jones, an RPI Advisory Board member, places very high importance on the release of these 28 pages, stating “there will be no hope for America’s future if the American people do not know the truth about a tragedy such as 9/11…”
Jones notes that he read the classified pages in a guarded room, as someone from the Federal Bureau of Investigation observed, under conditions including that Jones may neither take notes nor later discuss the pages’ contents. For the American people there is not even this very restricted access to the classified information.
In addition to ten cosponsors of his legislation in the House, Jones notes that Graham supports the declassification and has even attempted federal court action to force the publication of the 28 pages. Jones also discusses how the chairman and vice-chairman of the more well-publicized 9/11 Commission have also called for declassification of the pages redacted from the congressional report.
Jones says he is contacting US Senators to seek a sponsor for the legislation in the Senate as well.
Paul, who is RPI’s chairman and founder, suggests in the Ron Paul Channel discussion that US government commissions on matters ranging from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to the siege at Ruby Ridge to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City are “mainly designed for covering up rather than getting to the truth.” Paul further asserts that, when some truth that could threaten the government’s key interests or would embarrass the government may come to light from an investigation, efforts are often undertaken to hide the information. This is occurring, Paul continues, with the US Central Intelligence Agency’s ongoing revising and redacting of the still unreleased Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture.
Watch the complete interview, in which Jones and Paul also discuss the escalation of US military action in Iraq and the movement of people in the military toward supporting non-intervention, here:
