Families Demand Transparency: 9/11 Families call upon President Obama to release 28 redacted pages
On Behalf of the 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism
9/11 FAMILIES DEMAND TRANSPARENCY
CALL UPON PRESIDENT OBAMA TO RELEASE 28 REDACTED PAGES
On Thursday, June 20, 2013, the 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism asked President Barack Obama in a formal letter to bring transparency to the segment of the 9/11 investigations dealing with aid and support for the 19 hijackers. To begin, they ask President Obama to make public the 28 redacted pages from the Congressional Joint Inquiry’s report that contain information about foreign support the 9/11 hijackers received while they were living in the United States.
To date, many details surrounding the 9/11 attacks remain unanswered. The 9/11 Families maintain that, in their 11-year pursuit of justice, a veil of secrecy through classified documents and redactions descends each time they delve into the investigations of financial and material support for the hijackers. The 28 pages of Part Four of the 107th Congress’s Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 were initially withheld by the Bush administration for alleged national security reasons, but President Obama assured the 9/11 Families shortly after taking office in 2009 that he would release the pages. To learn the truth and prevent future terrorist attacks, the group asks him to keep his promise.
“The transparency begins with the 28 pages, but it extends much further,” the letter states. “For example, we are closely monitoring a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in which plaintiffs are suing the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, regarding an investigation involving a Saudi family, former residents of Sarasota, FL, who may have provided aid or assistance to the 9/11 hijackers. We understand that plaintiffs in that case have also requested Part Four of the report of the Joint Inquiry.”
Former Senator Bob Graham, co-chair of the 9/11 Joint Congressional Investigation, has provided declarations that the investigation of the Sarasota family was not disclosed to him or his co-chair, Porter Goss. He also states that, when he learned of the investigation in 2011, he asked the same question of the co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, and they confirmed that they had not been aware of the FBI’s investigation either.
Read the full letter to President Obama by the 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism, a group comprised of more than 6,600 family members, survivors and those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks that is using the civil legal system to pursue those who allegedly financed and provided support for the cowardly terrorist attacks. The case is In re Thomas E. Burnett, Sr., et al. v. Al Baraka Investment & Development Corp., et al.; In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, MDL 1570. The families are represented by civil litigation firm Motley Rice LLC.
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