The latest rumour on the censored bit of the Sep11 report is that it says the Saudis did it. Now, other rumours have suggested Saudi financing not just of al-Qaeda but of the specific terrorists who pulled off the Sep11 attacks. I've heard from someone who read the book Forbidden Truth that it also ties Saudi Arabia to al Qaeda, and Greg Palast had reported such things just a few months after September 11. The TNR report now says that responsibility is held not just by some obscure Saudi officials, but there are "direct links to high levels of the Saudi government".
A bit of fair warning: Information on the Saudi responsibility for Sep11 so far is about as reliable as stories about Saddam's WMDs before the war. There is a lot of insinuation from people in a position to know, but no specific facts that can be confirmed or denied. A big difference that must also be considered is that there is no wave of denial from people who are also in a position to know, but we don't really know anything yet.
I want to get my hands on that fifteen minutes of tape, errr, twenty-eight pages of report. Oddly enough, Saudi Arabia does too. They have been very vocal in asking for more information to be released. You'd expect them to be the last ones to want the info released to the public, especially when the word on the street is that Bush is keeping it classified to avoid embarrassing the Saudis.
For another conspiracy theory, turn to Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz who suggested that Iraq was "absolutely" behind the Cole and Khobar bombings before correcting himself and saying we don't know who did them. Actually, we do know who did them. That was al-Qaida. They even cite the successes in their promotional literature.
Occam's razor strongly suggests that this was merely a slip of the tongue, but there might actually be more to it. Abu Aardvark reports that an author named Laurie Mylroie has Wolfowitz's ear. Apparently, Mylroie has been putting out claims that Iraq was behind the Cole bombing, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Oklahoma City bombing... just about everything but the Maine. Naturally, she thinks Iraq was behind Sep11 too.
Note that Wolfowitz is the same schmuck who said "all foreigners should stop interfering in Iraq's internal affairs" without thinking to look in the mirror. He is also going to be the chief justice of any military tribunals. I hope that makes you feel safe.
* thanks to Zibblsnrt for the Maine crack
[Edit Mar 17 2005 5:33 PM by Tang: I'd originally cited a Wolfowitz quote that turns out to have come from a parody. I don't know how it got into my notes.]
Posted by Warrior Tang at August 2, 2003 06:57 PM
Saudi Arabia's in a sticky situation with that report. I'm working on the assumption that they don't have a clue what's in it, but they know they're mentioned, and their mentions are classified. Now, of course this leads to all kinds of rumors, which range from annoying to dangerous for the Saudi government.
So they're stuck in a situation: they can keep quiet on it, which is good if they either Did It or don't mind the political damage of the rumors, or they can push for a declassification, which goes in their favor since they're willing to blow themselves wide open (so to speak) to clear their name - even if it comes at the risk of proving that they might have been responsible for things..
It's a gamble, if anything.
Posted by: Zibblsnrt at August 3, 2003 12:57 AM