Well after the past few days of casting aspersions on the House of Saud, I might just have to eat a bit of crow...that's ok, I'll have them as Nachos, the Jalpenos hide the flavor. Seems that the Saudi's want the 9-11 report released, which means one of two things, either the report shows some connections to the Neocons newest, bestest buddies the Israeli's, per Tiger Lily's theory, or somewhere in those missing pages is an indictment of the 1600 Crew.
President Bush refused on Tuesday to release a congressional report alleging possible links between Saudi Arabian officials and the Sept. 11 hijackers. The White House sought to question a Saudi citizen who befriended two of the hijackers.
Bush said he could not comply with a request by the Saudi foreign minister for a chance to clear the Arab kingdom's name because publication of the report could hurt U.S. intelligence operations.
The foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, said he was disappointed but understood.
Whatever is in those 28 pages is a Big Secret. Big secrets are too hard to control. Except. If you are President Runs away like a Rabbit. And you can lock up anyone forever (or until the next election).
So even our 'friends' can't prevail on the 1600 Crew to get this stuff out there. Whatever is in there must be pretty powerful stuff. I wonder if Richard Shelby is sorry he sold out the party that sent him to the senate...if the Dems had a majority today, I suspect that hearings might be bringing this stuff out, slowly but surely. After all, Jeb Stuart Magruder just admitted Nixon did know about the burglary...who says Presidents don't lie? Like dogs in some cases (apologies to all canines for equating you to President Dog-humper).
posted by Jo Fish on 07.29.03 at 11:13 PM
Comments:
I wonder if this makes a difference?
"...senators who compiled the 11 September report have also argued there was no reason not to declassify almost all of the information in the section which deals with foreign governments."
Or if we should read into it regarding the "..which deals with foreign governments"" part of their statement? This whole thing is fishy and what's worse is it isn't the first fishy stench to radiate from the White House.
Of course it all might be a little dance for our entertainment. The Saudi's know the pres won't release it, so they can claim the pages don't have any damagaging information about them all they like.
posted by: A_Steele on 07.30.03 at 06:01 AM [permalink]
If I understand this situation correctly, the Occupant of the Oval Office says we can't see some portions of the report because it would compromise sources and methods (that often means human intelligence,) but it's perfectly all right for him to show the "secret" portions of the report to foreign nationals. I have thois opinion because the Saudis claim they have no problem with the famous 28 pages being released. To me, that infers they know what's in those pages.
Am I the only one who can't understand this apparent dichotomy?
posted by: Lurch on 07.30.03 at 09:38 AM [permalink]
I'm with you Lurch. As they say in certain circles: "What the f--k, over"
We know the Report was finished last December and that the Administation has been busy delaying its release/redacting it since then and we know that many Congressional types -- Senators, Congress members, staffers -- have read it in its unredacted version over at least the past few months. As duplicitous (and rich) a bunch as the Saudis are, it's a pretty good assumption that someone among all the above is paid a bunch of money to be a conduit of information to the Royals.
A cynical person would say the Saudis had their own unredacted version of the report around the New Year and worked out yesterday's minuet with 43 some time ago. But that's a cynical person.
By the bye, what was the deal with the Saudis spiriting various members of the bin Laden family out of the US in the days after 9/11 with the Administration's assistance? I guess that's info that's too dangerous for us to have as well.
posted by: fbg46 on 07.30.03 at 12:05 PM [permalink]
I think the Saudis would prefer it to be declassified actually, becuase they know that the neocon 'brains' behind Bush&Co. have been advocating the hostile overthrow of Saudi Arabia (along with several other MidEast countries) for years. This probably feels like setting the stage to Saudis...
It's an interesting point, Tiger Lily, and on one level I could almost agree with you. The neocons do want the House of Saud overthrown and replaced with a puppet, which would of course afford more affordable access to all that oil. It's not just about oil, of course, but rather about production. We all undertand that, right, folks?
However, I think you've overlooked the fact that, while the neocons are ideologically wed to the "Israel at all costs" concept, the Bush family is financially wed to the House of Saud.
There is no frickin way they would ever permit Saud to be overthrown. There's like 7,000 of those folks in that family, and I've got an extra $5 bill hidden in a drawer somewhere that says more than 2 or 3 of them know where the Bush skeletons are. Somebody would find a way to publicize the dirty deals of the past.
posted by: Lurch on 07.31.03 at 07:52 AM [permalink]
