Barbara Ferguson • Arab News Correspondent

WASHINGTON, 30 July 2003 — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said yesterday he was disappointed at the Bush administration’s refusal to release a classified section of a Sept. 11 report about Saudi Arabia.

Prince Saud spoke to reporters after meeting President George W. Bush at the White House over the US refusal to declassify 28 pages of a congressional report that raised suspicions over possible links between individuals in the Saudi government and some of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudis. “We are disappointed ... but we understand the reasons,” the prince said.

Declassifying 28 pages of the Sept. 11 report, despite requests by the Saudi government and some members of Congress, would “compromise our national security and possibly interfere with the investigation of the events of Sept. 11,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan had told journalists earlier yesterday.

The decision comes amid a whirlwind of controversy in Washington on whether officials in Saudi Arabia had connections with the terrorists.

A diplomatic source said the Saudi government was being “recklessly smeared” by some members of Congress who have said some material was kept classified because the administration is trying to protect the Saudi government and keep incriminating information out of the public eye.

“Because there is such a lack of information on what happened on Sept. 11 and why, it creates this vacuum where anything can be suggested about anyone,” said David Potorti, one of the founders of September 11 Families for Peace Tomorrow. Potorti lost his brother James in the World Trade Center bombing.

“The Bush administration has purposely used this non-clarity to continue to make non-specific allegations,” Potorti said, “which seems to be why this report was delayed by seven months.”

Potorti applauded the Saudi request to release the information and suggested the Bush administration itself might want to avoid revelations in the report of their business connections in the Middle East through companies such as the Carlyle Group, Halliburton, and Kissinger Associates.

“The American people should know what these connections are,” he said.

“I think it’s good the Saudis are asking for the information to be released. If they had something to hide, they wouldn’t want to release it,” Potorti said, adding it was essential that an independent investigation be held into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Some Mideast observers here view as a political tug-of-war the current tussle between the White House and congressmen who are calling for the release of information. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., presidential candidate and co-chairman of the congressional committee investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, yesterday sent a letter to President Bush asking him to declassify a section of the 900-page congressional report dealing with foreign support for the hijackers.

But McClellan told reporters: “Based on the recommendation of senior intelligence and law enforcement officials, the committee’s request to declassify an additional 28 pages was denied.”

“The material included in the section in question contains information about ongoing investigations, counterterrorism operations and sensitive sources and methods,” he said.

“The administration is aggressively pursuing every person or every shred of evidence relating to the attacks of Sept. 11,” McClellan added.

“There is an active, sensitive and ongoing investigation under way involving individuals from many countries. We cannot and will not compromise our ability to bring those involved to justice.”

“The government of Saudi Arabia has asked that additional portions of the inquiry report on Sept. 11 be declassified, and we understand their concern,” McClellan said. “But we cannot agree to that request at this time because of ongoing investigations and our national security interests.”