"With proper cooperation, law enforcement officials might have prevented the attacks," Graham

WASHINGTON, July 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The September 11, 2001, deadly attacks might have been prevented, had the U.S. security services shared and acted upon information they had at the time, according to a congressional report released Thursday, July 24, as Saudi Arabia has dismissed accusations it failed to cooperate with the U.S. before the attacks as "malicious and blatantly false."

The report, which took nine months to complete after nearly two dozen hearings, also “suggested” Saudi Arabia may have played a role in the devastating terror assault nearly two years ago, Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The report concluded that although there was no "smoking gun" - no single source of information which might have allowed U.S. authorities to uncover and prevent the attacks - the attacks could have been prevented.

"With proper cooperation among various U.S. agencies and better intelligence, law enforcement officials might have prevented the attacks," said Senator Bob Graham at a packed news conference attended by relatives of the attacks' victims.

"The report makes clear that we should have known potential terrorists were living among us."

Blacked-out

However, the probe may have prompted more questions than it answered when 28 pages on an alleged role by Saudi Arabia were blacked out by the Bush administration.

The revelation has sparked the indignation of the victims' families. The attack killed more than 3,000, leveled one symbol of U.S. economic prowess - the World Trade Towers in New York - and severely damaged the Pentagon.

For reasons of national security, the White House blacked out the entire section of the report entitled "Finding, discussion and narrative regarding certain sensitive national security matters."

For its part, the Saudi government issued a strong denial that it has been anything other than a staunch U.S. ally in the global fight against terror.

"It is unfortunate that false accusations against Saudi Arabia continue to be made by some for political purposes despite the fact that the Kingdom has been one of the most active partners in the war on terrorism," the kingdom's U.S. ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said in a statement.

"In a 900-page report, 28 blanked-out pages are being used by some to malign our country and our people," Bin Sultan

"The idea that the Saudi government funded, organized or even knew about September 11 is malicious and blatantly false," the statement said, dismissing the allegations as being based on little more than "rumors, innuendos and untruths."

"In a 900-page report, 28 blanked-out pages are being used by some to malign our country and our people," bin Sultan said in the statement.

"Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide. We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages."

AFP was able to confirm through various sources close to the investigation that the top-secret pages are for the most part about the Saudi policy of supporting fundamentalism in the absence of repressing Al-Qaeda's terror network despite U.S. alerts to Riyadh since 1996.

The report confirms press revelations suggesting that Omar al-Bayoumi, an associate of two of the hijackers, could have been a Saudi government agent. The report details his ties with September 11 suicide attackers Khaled al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.

In January 2000, al-Bayoumi entered the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles. Upon leaving, he headed directly to a restaurant where he met with the two future attackers, a meeting one FBI agent said "may not have been accidental."

The two men had just arrived from Malaysia, where they had participated in a meeting with Al-Qaeda officials under surveillance of Malaysian officials at the behest of the CIA.

Al-Bayoumi then helped the men rent an apartment in San Diego, paying the first month's rent and the security deposit.

The news weekly U.S. News and World Report reported in November that the owner of the apartment was an FBI informant, a leader of the Muslim community in San Diego, Abdussatar Shaikh, 68. The FBI refused to allow the commission to question him, according to the report.

The congressional report said: "(Since September 11) the FBI has learned that al-Bayoumi has connections to terrorist elements."

"Despite the fact that he was a student, al-Bayoumi had access to seemingly unlimited funding from Saudi Arabia. For example, an FBI source identified al-Bayoumi as the person who delivered 400,000 dollars from Saudi Arabia for the Kurdish mosque in San Diego.

"One of the FBI's best sources in San Diego informed the FBI that he thought that al-Bayoumi must be an intelligence officer for Saudi Arabia or another foreign power."

Officials in Washington said a vast section of the report -- some 28 pages -- had been excised to "protect a foreign government," without specifically naming Saudi Arabia.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan insisted "only the most sensitive of national security information -- which could potentially compromise the sources and methods or otherwise harm our national security -- is not being de-classified."

But many U.S. lawmakers said those blacked-out areas of the report were a misguided attempt to protect Riyadh from embarrassment.

The attacks killed more than 3,000 people

"President Bush needs to declassify parts of the congressional report that detail Saudi government involvement in the events leading up to the 9-11 terrorist attacks," said New York Democratic Representative Eliot Engel in a statement.

"It is time to lift the veil of secrecy involving possible Saudi complicity in the events of 9-11."

Engel joined several other lawmakers in sending a letter to Bush demanding the White House declassify the sections of the report he says pertains to the Saudi government.

"The report shows the significant role played by Saudi government agents in the preparations (for the attacks) which benefited from the royal financial generosity," said Jean-Charles Brisard, attorney for the victim's families.

"It would be inconceivable for the U.S. government to refuse the victims' families the right to the whole and complete truth," he said.

Many in Congress feel sure that in the end, the blacked-out part of the report will be made public.

Bush Welcomes

President George W. Bush issued a statement welcoming the report, saying his administration has, since the attacks, "transformed out government to pursue terrorists and prevent terrorist attacks.

"The best way to prevent future attacks is to hunt down the terrorists before they strike," he said. "We will not relent until Al-Qaeda is completely dismantled."

The 900-page document by a special commission noted that "within the huge volume of intelligence reporting that was available prior to September 11, there were various threads and pieces of information that, at least in retrospect, are both relevant and significant."

The report is a litany of bungling, inattention, ineptitude and uncooperativeness by the FBI, CIA, the National Security Agency and other agencies, exacerbated by resistance in the U.S. military to making counterterrorism operations a top priority.

"Senior military officials were reluctant to use U.S. military assets to conduct offensive counterterrorism efforts," the document said. It said Pentagon officials would have been willing to provide the firepower to strike at terror targets if they had more confidence in U.S. intelligence.

"At least part of this reluctance was driven by the military’s view that the intelligence community was unable to provide the intelligence needed to support military operations," the report said.

But lawmakers insisted the focus of the report is not only on ruing mistakes of the past, but helping intelligence agencies prevent future terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

"This inquiry is not about assigning blame for 9-11," said California Representative Nancy Pelosi, who once chaired the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

"It's about better protecting the American people."

The attacks by 19 members of the Al-Qaeda group shattered Americans' sense of invulnerability and led to a radical realignment of U.S. domestic and international priorities -- with homeland security now occupying a preeminent place among U.S. policy concerns.

The report presents a chronology of ignored warnings and other signs not shared by the FBI and CIA in the months preceding the terrorist attacks.