National Security Columnist: Release The 28 Pages
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - John R Schindler, an author and National Security Columnist for the New York Observer, called for the release of the 28 redacted pages from the 9/11 report detailing the role and potential connection of Saudi Arabia to the terrorist attacks.
During an interview with Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Schindler, discussing a segment on 60 Minutes, said this is an issue that needs more scrutiny.
"The Saudi links to 9/11 are something we really need to talk about and need to grapple with as a country and as a people, but we can't stop there. The Saudi role, while important, is a lot less important than the role of, say, Iran. We need to talk about the broader issue of how exactly, what Al Qaeda called the 'planes operation,' came to be. This wasn't a weekend of planning. This was several years of planning prior to execution. Who was involved? Who paid for what? How did this actually all materialize?"
He attempted to explain what would be revealed in the redacted section of the report, not all of which is confirmed.
"This is essentially a bunch of raw intelligence which was seen by the 9/11 Commission and got rolled into it, but was never released. This is a mishmash of information. Some or it corroborated, some not, which points to some very disturbing connections between Saudi officials in the U.S. and elsewhere and some of the hijackers. Remember, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals."
Schindler believes the information needs to be unclassified and all the connections that it leads to, followed up on.
"The U.S. Government considers this to be high level rumor, maybe a little more than rumor and, therefore, has really tried to keep it out of public view. I think the public has a right to know this information, even if some of it is un-corroborated. It points a pattern of Saudi behavior that is very troubling. Let me be clear, I don't think Saudi Arabia was behind the plot in any way, but the Saudi Government had exported extremism, religious fanaticism and terrorism for so long that this falls into that pattern of behavior and I think we need to be honest about it."
https://tunein.com/embed/player/s21950/
