Prince Saud to discuss terrorism report with Bush

29 July 2003
Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has been granted an urgent meeting with President Bush on 29 July to discuss the fallout from a controversial report, most of which was declassified on 24 July, alleging close high-level Saudi involvement with the 11 September terrorist attack (MEED 25:7:03). The wide-ranging study, completed in December but not published until recently because of arguments over what should be kept under wraps, details assistance provided by a suspected Saudi intelligence agent to two of the hijackers.

However, the most disputed section is that dealing with terrorist financing. The 28-pages were suppressed, but their contents was widely reported to point the finger at Riyadh, and the decision not to publish attributed to Washington's desire to protect its ally. Prince Saud appears likely to echo the demands of Riyadh's ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, that the section be made public. 'Twenty-eight blanked out pages are being used by some to malign our country and our people,' Prince Bandar said. 'We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages.' However, reports in the American press say that the terrorist financing study was not only kept secret to appease Riyadh but also to protect the sources and methods used to obtain information and in order not to prejudice ongoing criminal investigations. Overall, the report is highly critical of US intelligence services for failing to follow up lines of inquiry that might have uncovered the planned 11 September attacks.

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