Secrets about 9/11 attacks a disservice to this nation

There’s a 28-page document in a secure room in the basement of the U.S. Capitol building that former President George W. Bush refused to make public because it contains potentially explosive information about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on America’s mainland.

Specifically, the classified information pertains to “specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers while they were in the United States.”

The sources of foreign support were in Saudi Arabia, which explains the decision by President Bush to keep the document secret.

Likewise, President Barack Obama felt the need to keep the report under wraps until public pressure forced him to reassess.

Obama asked National Intelligence Director James Clapper to review the 28 pages and advise him on declassification. The president is expected to make a decision by month’s end.

There are reports that only some of the 28 pages will be made public. That’s unacceptable.

Fifteen years have passed since that fateful day when 19 hijackers from the Middle East commandeered three commercial jetliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 innocent lives were claimed in that terrorist attack.

President Obama can’t be blind to the fact that the wounds of Sept. 11, 2001, will never be healed so long as there are secrets surrounding the hijackers.

The American people could care less about Saudi Arabia or the feelings of the ruling royal family. Indeed, given the major changes taking place on America’s energy front, the dependence on Saudi Arabia to fulfill this nation’s need for oil is waning. The the steep decline in the cost of a barrel of oil has hit OPEC countries hard.

Saudi Arabians

Against that backdrop, President Obama has no reason to hold back on releasing the 28-page document that reportedly reveals how the 15 hijackers from Saudi Arabia were able to prepare for the attack while living in this country.

Tim Roemer, a member of the joint congressional inquiry into 9/11 and the 9/11 Commission, has read the document, according to the Associated Press, and describes it as a “preliminary police report.” It is worth noting that the document is a chapter in the 9/11 report that has been kept under wraps.

“There were clues,” Roemer, a former Democratic congressman, said. “There were allegations. There were witness reports. There was evidence about the hijackers, about people they met with – all kinds of different things that the 9/11 Commission was then tasked with reviewing and investigating.”

There are reports that the Saudi government reportedly wants the 28 pages declassified because it would “allow us to respond to any allegations in a clear and credible manner.” But truth be told, the close ties between the ruling family and others in the government turn the spotlight on Saudi officials both in the U.S. and Riyadh.

Indeed, as if to dissuade the United States from doing all it can to get to the bottom of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Saudi Arabia has threatened to sell off $750 billion in U.S. assets if Congress passes a bill that would force the Saudis to defend themselves in lawsuits triggered by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

Currently, nations enjoy limited immunity from such legal actions, but a bill passed by the Senate and pending in the House would permit lawsuits to be filed.

A bipartisan coalition in Congress believes the Saudi government must be held to account for the almost 3,000 deaths given the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

Threats of economic retaliation by the government in Riyadh are not to be taken seriously because selling off $750 billion in U.S. assets is easier said than done.

A lot has happened in the past 15 years, including the killing of Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaida, the global terrorist organization. The 9/11 hijackers were trained in al-Qaida’s camps in Afghanistan when the Taliban Islamic extremists were in power.

What is missing is closure for the families of the 3,000 victims of that fateful day in September 2001.

President Obama can bring about that closure with the complete release of the 28-page document.