Author: editor28pages

Ron Paul Doubles Down on Drive to #Declassify the 28 Pages

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Having just days ago interviewed House Resolution 428 sponsor Walter Jones about the 28 pages, Ron Paul has now made himself the focus of an audio interview on the same topic and created a YouTube video to help spur a social media campaign centered on the hashtag #declassify.

Historical Perspective on Key U.S. Relationship

In the 6-minute audio interview posted at Voices of Liberty, Paul offered a long-term, historical perspective on a U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia he characterized as “very unhealthy.” Paul traced the current state of affairs back to security-for-oil commitments given to Saudi Arabia by President Franklin Roosevelt and honored by the long succession of presidents that have followed him.

Carrying that perspective up to the 9/11 attacks, Paul said:

“There’s a fuzzy relationship between Saudi Arabia and us. I was so astounded on 9/11…that all the Saudi Arabians that were here—including bin Laden family members—all got to fly out, many, many hours if not days before I was allowed to get on an airplane and come home. And they were never even questioned or quizzed by the FBI and I got to thinking, ‘What in the world’s going on?’

And now it pops up and there’s strong hints, even by those who were on this committee, saying, ‘Well, it might have something to do with Saudi Arabia’… So this makes it so much more important that we find out exactly what is in the redacted pages. Obviously these are the probably the most important pages and so often commissions are set up to protect governments and government agents rather than finding the truth.”

Putting the issue of declassifying the 28 pages in a broader context, Paul said, “It seems like the whole purpose is to bury the information that might embarrass our government or put some blame on our government for not having done a good job…People deserve (to know what’s hidden in the 28 pages). People are supposed to have their privacy and the government is supposed to be open. Today the government is being used to keep (its) secrecy and invade our privacy.”

Addressing those who may be prone to assuming there’s a good reason for the 28 pages to remain classified, Paul said, “Every time they shout ‘national security’ you ought to be suspicious of what our government’s up to.”

Firing Up Social Media

In addition to the interview, Paul also took to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to urge others to help build public awareness and political pressure on the issue of the 28 pages. In the video posted below, Paul says, “I deserve to know the truth hidden in the 9/11 report and so do you. Join me in the #declassify campaign and make your voice heard.” On his Facebook page–which has more than 1.3 million “likes”—Paul encouraged others to make videos with the same message, to challenge others to do the same, and to tag members of Congress in their social media posts.

In addition to those actions, 28Pages.org urges citizens to call their Congressional representatives and senators using our simple guide, and to help spread awareness of 28Pages.org as an information and activism hub for the movement. Please follow us on Twitter and Facebook.   

Video: Ron Paul Interviews Rep. Walter Jones on H.Res. 428

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In a new interview on the Ron Paul Channel, Rep. Walter Jones discussed his ongoing efforts to bring about the declassification of the 28-page finding on foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers. Three of his remarks to host Ron Paul were particularly pointed:

  • “The Bush people do not want (the 28 pages) released. It’s not a national security issue, but it would be embarrassing to the previous administration if this information is opened for the public.”
  • “The American people have the right to know the truth and to know the relationship with the Saudis at the time of the Bush administration.”
  • “I have an article that was (published in) 2003, CBS national news, saying that George Bush said, ‘No, we don’t want to release the 28 pages.’ I know why.”

Rep. Jones also revealed that he’s working hard to find Senators to introduce a measure comparable to H.Res 428, which urges the president to declassify the 28 redacted pages. Among the senators he’s reached out to are Rand Paul (KY), Tom Carper (DE) and Marco Rubio (FL). Notably absent in their discussion of declassification tactics: the potential use of a little-known Senate Intelligence Committee rule that can bypass the need for presidential consent altogether.

Jones said, “I hope many of the people watching your show…will reach out to their senator and their congressperson and tell them to declassify the 28 pages. The 9/11 families have a right to know what’s in those 28 pages and so do the American people.” Our handy guide to calling Congress makes it easy to do just that.

Obama’s Unkept Promise to 9/11 Families: Releasing the 28 Pages

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Photo: Elizabeth Cromwell

By Brian McGlinchey

Americans have grown accustomed to broken promises from politicians. And yet, some lapses are so striking that they can muster indignation from even the most jaded political observer. Case in point: President Obama’s personal assurances to 9/11 family members—on two separate occasions—that he would declassify a 28-page finding on foreign government support of the hijackers.

“I will get them released”

It’s one thing to neglect a broad policy promise made in the heat of an election, and another thing altogether to renege on a personal commitment to 9/11 family members—but that’s precisely what Obama is doing, based on accounts provided by Kristen Breitweiser and Bill Doyle, who each lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks.

Breitweiser—whose husband, Ronald Breitweiser, worked in the South Tower of the World Trade Center and was the father of a then-two-year old girl—told the Philadelphia Inquirer Obama’s assurance to her came at a meeting with 9/11 survivors at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in February 2009, just weeks after he’d taken office:

“We had opportunities to raise our hands and ask questions, and I asked him whether he would be interested in releasing the 28 pages, because for years we had been trying to get President Bush to do it,” said Breitweiser…

Obama “said absolutely, I don’t see why not. The bottom line is he agreed to do it, and he gave me and the rest of the world his promise,” Breitweiser said.

Had that been Obama’s only statement on the issue, one might be tempted to dismiss it as a careless comment by a new president caught off-guard, one who may have changed his mind upon reading the 28 pages himself. However, Bill Doyle—whose 25-year old son, Joe Doyle, was killed in the World Trade Center’s North Tower—says Obama gave him an even more pointed commitment more than two years later. Again, from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Bill Doyle’s recollection of his chat with President Obama remains crystal clear. To mark bin Laden’s demise, Obama had laid a wreath at the former site of the World Trade Center on May 5, 2011, and met later in the day with families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at a reception near ground zero.

The president stopped at Doyle’s table midway through the event, and Doyle asked when the government would make public portions of a congressional investigation that weighed evidence that Saudi Arabia provided support to the 9/11 hijackers.

“He said, ‘Bill, I will get them released,’ ” Doyle recalled.

Declassifying the 28 Pages: Well Within President’s Power

Some presidential promises require a cooperative Congress, but this isn’t one of them. To honor his commitment, Obama doesn’t need to line up votes—all that’s required is a single stroke of his presidential pen. Given his previous warnings to Congress that he’s willing to use that same pen in ways that are constitutionally controversial, it’s particularly jarring that he would fail to act in this situation, where his authority is unquestioned.

Ronald Breitweiser: Killed on 9/11
Ronald Breitweiser: Killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11

The families of September 11 victims and their fellow citizens deserve to know what the U.S. government has learned about who enabled the 9/11 attacks—and what the CIA, FBI and other agencies did with the intelligence they had before that day. An increasingly wide variety of present and former government officials agree, including the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, and the Republican and Democratic co-sponsors of House Resolution 428, which urges the President to declassify the 28 pages.

According to Rep. Thomas Massie—who read the 28 pages and described the experience as “disturbing”—declassifying the redacted finding wouldn’t jeopardize national security, but would trigger “anger, frustration and embarrassment.” If so, it appears Obama’s decision about declassifying the 28 pages values his own convenience more than his personal pledges to those most profoundly affected by 9/11.

28Pages.org is committed to bringing the redacted intelligence finding on foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers to light.  Add your own voice to the growing, bipartisan movement to declassify the 28 pages today. Call the White House and ask President Obama to honor his commitment. Then call your House representative and urge them to cosponsor H.Res.14—our handy guide makes it easy. 

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Call Congress today and help bring the 28 pages into daylight.

Keep up with the drive to declassify: Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

The 28th of Each Month: National Action Days for 28 Pages Movement

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Achieving the declassification of the 28-page finding on foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers will require sustained, steady effort by citizens, journalists and elected officials who are determined to give the American people the knowledge they deserve to have—and need to have if they are to form well-informed opinions about both the past and future directions of U.S. foreign policy.

REDACTED w911On any given day, members of the 28 Pages movement are taking action to make declassification a reality. To complement and reinforce that ongoing activism, 28Pages.org will today begin promoting the 28th day of each month as a national action day. On these days, “28 Pagers” across the nation and around the world are encouraged to all do something for the cause on the same day, giving the voice of the 28 Pages movement a monthly volume boost.  

In future months, as our bipartisan ranks continue to grow, we may use the occasion to simultaneously work together on one single avenue of activism–or one reluctant politician. For July 28, 2014, take your pick:  Call your congressional representative, senator or the White House, post a link to a 28Pages.org page on social media, tell your Twitter followers to follow @28Pages, like us on Facebook, tell some friends and family about this issue, write a letter to an editor, call in to a radio show—the choice is yours. (And if you’re fired up, feel free to do more than just one!)

 

9/11 Commission Chair, Vice-Chair Say 28 Pages Should Be Declassified

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Yesterday, at an event marking the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 Commission Report, Matthew Sellitto—whose son, Matthew C. Sellitto, was on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center’s Tower One—asked the former chairman and vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission for their thoughts on the continued classification of a 28-page House/Senate inquiry finding on foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers.

Both Lee Hamilton and Thomas Kean were forceful in declaring that the passage should be declassified—with Hamilton emphasizing that it never should have been fully redacted in the first place. Their remarks aired on C-SPAN.