Saudi FM Meets Bush Over ‘Classified’ 9/11 Claims

Although the declassified section of the report refers only to "foreign support," U.S. administration officials said those two words refer to Saudi Arabia, the daily said.

"Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide. We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages," fired backed long-serving Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who will also take part in the hastily scheduled White House visit.

Quoting U.S. officials, the American daily said the pages have been classified for several reasons, including "the sensitivity of the foreign government, the likelihood of revealing sources and methods used to gather the information and the fact that there may be ongoing criminal investigations that would be compromised were they to be made public."

Another U.S. official further said the pages might be declassified upon a Saudi request.

The delayed report claimed that "Omar al-Bayoumi, a key associate of two of the September 11 hijackers, may have been a Saudi-government agent."

Al-Bayoumi, an employee of the Saudi civil aviation authority, reportedly held a meeting at the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles In January 2000 and then went directly to a restaurant where he met future hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, whom he took back with him to San Diego, the report claimed.

Prince Bandr averred "reports that Omar al-Bayumi is an agent of the Saudi government are baseless and not true.

"It is unfortunate that reports keep circulating in the media describing him as an agent of the Saudi government with attribution only to anonymous officials," he added.

Saudi officials have vehemently denied any connection between the kingdom and suspected September 11 hijackers, with Prince Saud hoping that "accusations in the United States about the responsibility of Saudi Arabia in the 9/11 tragedy will cease."

No Extradition

Meanwhile, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz ruled out Tuesday the possible extradition of al-Bayumi.

"We have never handed over a Saudi to a state or foreign party and we will never do it," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Prince Nayef as telling Al-Hayat newspaper.

"We cooperate with all Arab and non-Arab states because terrorism has no nationality and the fight against terrorism necessitates the cooperation of everyone."

In another interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper also Tuesday, Prince Nayef said that most of the terror suspects had received their military training in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

"We will eliminate (militants) without mercy from our country to protect our citizens and defend the kingdom and its higher interests," the BBC News Online quoted him as telling the Saudi-owned daily.

In the latest of mounting Saudi crackdown on people allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda in the kingdom, Saudi security forces killed six alleged “militants” in a shootout Monday, July 28.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and the U.S have strained, as Washington ordered diplomats of all U.S. embassy and consulate personnel to leave the kingdom after the devastating triple bombings in Riyadh in May 2003 – in which eight Americans were killed.

The congressional 9-11 report further blamed the U.S. intelligence services, saying the attacks might have been prevented, had the U.S. security services shared and acted upon information they had at the time.