Saudi's 9/11 role in spotlight

2003-07-21 08:05

Washington - A congressional inquiry points to suspicion about a potential role by Saudi Arabia in the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States that killed 3 000 people, Newsweek magazine writes in its Monday edition.

A congressional joint intelligence inquiry to be released on Thursday claims the Federal Bureau of Investigation failed to follow through on important evidence relating to the al-Qaeda network's presence in the United States, said the weekly magazine.

The report contains new evidence suggesting that Omar al-Bayoumi, a key associate of two of September 11 hijackers Khaled al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, may have been a Saudi government agent, sources told Newsweek.

It documents extensive ties between al-Bayoumi and the hijackers, while claiming the FBI failed to keep tabs on al-Bayoumi although it had learned he was a secret Saudi agent.

Among the evidence was the fact al-Bayoumi took part in a meeting in January 2001 at the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles.

Parts of report remain classified

After that, he headed to a restaurant where he met future hijacker al-Mihdar and al-Hazmi, whom he took back with him to San Diego.

The Bush administration refused to declassify several key passages from the 900-page report, including a 28-page section that outlines the role played by Ryadh, removed from the final version, Newsweek claims.

Senator Bob Graham, a Democratic candidate for the 2004 presidential elections and who supervised the inquiry, maintains the US administration was "protecting a foreign government", according to Newsweek.

Last week, senator Richard Shelby told CNN that declassified information in the report would "shed some light, maybe not all the light" on the attacks.

"...I can tell you this, there are a lot of high people in Saudi Arabia, over the years, that have aided and abetted Osama bin Laden and his group," said Shelby, claiming the Saudis had done so via charities as well as directly.

- AFX