Making 9/11 report public will help all, Gulf News

Opinion, July 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Making 9/11 report public will help all,

Gulf News

31-07-2003

The U.S. rejection of Saudi Arabia's request to declassify portions of a report on the 9/11 attacks dealing with the Kingdom under the pretext that "it could compromise American intelligence" was a disappointing move. If U.S. President George W. Bush believes that it would "make no sense" to declassify the 28-page section of the report while he wages an ongoing investigation, then how does it make sense for him to accuse a sovereign foreign government of having "possible links" to the September 11 attacks before this "investigation" is over?

It seems that it does not matter for the U.S. when other countries' security interests are threatened on condition that American intelligence sources and methods are protected. It was the same old pretext used by the Bush Administration to justify its war against Iraq "for developing weapons of mass destruction".

It is really a rare case in the history of international relations when a country faces charges for a "crime", without even being given the chance to know the details of the charges or even the opportunity to respond or defend its position.

Saudi Arabia is itself a victim of terrorism. It has lost several of its elite security forces and citizens who have been killed by the same terrorist group who was behind the 9/11 attacks.

Hence, declassifying the section of the report will not only relieve the Saudi government, but it will also give more credibility to the U.S. intelligence and administration, and boost the war on terror.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).