Former presidential candidate Ron Paul has a new fight now, as he urges lawmakers to release the 28 pages of the 9/11 report that were redacted. That report was from the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 2001. Paul gave an interview on the topic this week, highlighting the possibility that Saudi Arabia might have been involved somehow.
Ron Paul on Saudi Arabia
In the interview posted on his website, Voices of Liberty, Paul called the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia “very unhealthy.” He said that relationship is based on commitments made by President Roosevelt long ago. The U.S. apparently agreed to take care of Saudi Arabia by offering military protection and other protections in exchange for oil and assistance in adjusting oil prices.
Ron Paul disagrees with that approach, saying it might have caused the U.S. to become complacent in setting up its own oil supply. He does say, however, that the U.S. is not as dependent on Saudi Arabia now as it was then, and that there is a “fuzzy relationship” between the two countries now.
The former presidential candidate was also surprised, or “astounded,” in his words, that the day after 9/11, all Saudi Arabians who were in the U.S., including family members of Osama Bin Laden, were able to fly out of the country “hours or days” before he was allowed to board a plane and fly home. In addition, he said none of them were ever questioned by the FBI, and there were “strong hints” by some members of the 9/11 committee that there could be some kind of connection with Saudi Arabia.
Calling for redacted pages to be released
Because of all this, Ron Paul said it’s vital that the American people find out what is in the 28 pages of the 9/11 report that were redacted. He thinks those pages are probably the most important ones and that often commissions are created to protect governments and their agents instead of actually discovering the truth.
He notes also that Saudi Arabia hasn’t been “bashful” about U.S. military intervention in the Middle East. The nation has been willing to criticize us, he thinks because it will help them in some way. As a result, he thinks the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia will have to change. However, he seems to think it’s unclear whether the relationship will get better or worse after the pages in the 9/11 commission report are released.
NOTE: Shortly after ValueWalk listened to the audio referenced in this story, the Voices of Liberty website removed the file. We have contacted the website for information about why it was removed, but a spokesperson has not yet provided any details.
Update: A spokesperson for Voices of Liberty clarified to ValueWalk that the 28 redacted pages they mentioned in the interview are not from the 9/11 Commission’s report but from a different report published by the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 2001. The website has since re-posted the interview with that clarification.
