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Saudis on 9/11 Report: 'Indicted by Insinuation'
Aired July 30, 2003 - 06:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Saudis are still in Washington defending their reputation, but they won't get what they want. President Bush will not declassify those 28 pages in the 9/11 report, but President Bush will get part of what he wants: Omar al-Bayoumi.
Live to the White House now and Chris Burns.
Good morning -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Omar al-Bayoumi is the man that U.S. officials would like to speak to. Allegedly, he is one of the people who had ties to two of the September 11 hijackers; in fact, allegedly helped get them set up in San Diego back in January of 2000.
And the Saudis, according to administration officials, are now willing to let U.S. officials talk to this man, this man who is back in Saudi Arabia right now. And perhaps to prove the point that they were trying to make yesterday in the meeting between President Bush and the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, that the Saudis were not officially involved in the September 11 plot, that the allegations that are supposedly made in the 28 pages that are kept classified from that congressional report that was unveiled last week are incorrect, that the Saudis are not linked to September 11. And this is what they -- the point they've been trying to make.
However, President Bush said he wants to keep those 28 pages secret for investigative reasons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The declassification of that part of a 900-page document would reveal sources and methods that will make it harder for us to win the war on terror. Now, perhaps at some point in time down the road after the investigations are fully complete and if it doesnt jeopardize our national security perhaps we can declassify the 27 of the hundreds of pages in the document.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: And needless to say, a lot of disappointment on the side of the Saudis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRINCE SAUD-AL-FAISAL, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER: We have nothing to hide. And we do not seek nor do we need to be shielded. We believe that releasing the missing 28 pages would allow us to respond to any allegations in a clear and credible manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Democrats have charged that the Bush administration is simply trying to hide the fact that the Democrats claim that the Bush administration didn't connect the dots before September 11, and that is the information they're trying to protect; also protecting foreign governments -- i.e., governments like Saudi Arabia.
Back to you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Chris Burns live from the White House this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired July 30, 2003 - 06:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Saudis are still in Washington defending their reputation, but they won't get what they want. President Bush will not declassify those 28 pages in the 9/11 report, but President Bush will get part of what he wants: Omar al-Bayoumi.
Live to the White House now and Chris Burns.
Good morning -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Omar al-Bayoumi is the man that U.S. officials would like to speak to. Allegedly, he is one of the people who had ties to two of the September 11 hijackers; in fact, allegedly helped get them set up in San Diego back in January of 2000.
And the Saudis, according to administration officials, are now willing to let U.S. officials talk to this man, this man who is back in Saudi Arabia right now. And perhaps to prove the point that they were trying to make yesterday in the meeting between President Bush and the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, that the Saudis were not officially involved in the September 11 plot, that the allegations that are supposedly made in the 28 pages that are kept classified from that congressional report that was unveiled last week are incorrect, that the Saudis are not linked to September 11. And this is what they -- the point they've been trying to make.
However, President Bush said he wants to keep those 28 pages secret for investigative reasons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The declassification of that part of a 900-page document would reveal sources and methods that will make it harder for us to win the war on terror. Now, perhaps at some point in time down the road after the investigations are fully complete and if it doesnt jeopardize our national security perhaps we can declassify the 27 of the hundreds of pages in the document.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: And needless to say, a lot of disappointment on the side of the Saudis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRINCE SAUD-AL-FAISAL, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER: We have nothing to hide. And we do not seek nor do we need to be shielded. We believe that releasing the missing 28 pages would allow us to respond to any allegations in a clear and credible manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Democrats have charged that the Bush administration is simply trying to hide the fact that the Democrats claim that the Bush administration didn't connect the dots before September 11, and that is the information they're trying to protect; also protecting foreign governments -- i.e., governments like Saudi Arabia.
Back to you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Chris Burns live from the White House this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
