Why Would We Support Our Enemy?’

[Nottingham]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=36bf75bf7bb17aac

Why Would We Support Our Enemy?’
Barbara Ferguson • Arab News Correspondent

WASHINGTON, 26 July 2003 — The joint report released by the United States Congress on Thursday slamming the FBI and CIA for failing to prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and criticizing Saudi Arabia’s alleged lack of cooperation in tracking down Osama Bin Laden has once again put Saudi-US relations in the middle of a media frenzy.

The Congressional report states the Sept. 11 hijackers received foreign government support, a veiled reference to Saudi Arabia, while they were in the US plotting the attacks on New York and Washington. The report also focuses on Omar Al-Bayoumi, who some in the FBI believed to be a Saudi intelligence agent.

The Saudi government has angrily denied these allegations.
The main focus of the current uproar is that the report found information in intelligence files “suggesting specific sources of foreign support for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers while they were in the US.” But all of the next 28 pages after that sentence were deleted.

The deletion of those pages has resulted in an anti-Saudi backlash in Washington. New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said yesterday that what had been deleted was surely sensitive information about Saudi Arabia, the homeland of 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers. The Saudi Embassy responded furiously to the allegations, issuing a statement late Thursday condemning what it calls “false accusations made for political purposes.” In response to yesterday’s Congressional report, Arab News has learned the Senate Government Affairs Committee will hold a hearing next Friday on Saudi Arabia’s alleged involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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Interesting perspective :bounce: