28 pages

Video: MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” Covers the 28 Pages

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Last night, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes hosted an excellent segment on the 28 pages, including interviews with Congressmen Walter Jones and Stephen Lynch, the two lead sponsors of H.Res.428, which urges the president to declassify the 28 pages.

MSNBC 28 PAGESA few highlights:

  • The segment includes 2003 video of then-President Bush offering a rote rationale for the classification of the 28 pages: “We have an ongoing war against Al Qaeda and terrorists, and 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.”
  • Rep. Lynch noted that, in addition to owing the truth to 9/11 families and victims, releasing “these 28 pages, in my opinion, would inform our anti-terrorism policy going forward.”
  • Rep. Lynch: “The most important thing for members of Congress to do, and people at home, encourage your member of congress, your representative, to go and read the 28 pages, and then I think, after they read that, they will sign on to our resolution urging its declassification.”
  • Regarding Saudi Arabia’s public support for declassifying the 28 pages, Rep. Lynch said, “I think there might be some duplicity on the part of the Saudis in terms of them desiring this to be disclosed.” Hayes said, “You don’t think they actually do,” to which Lynch replied, “No.”

Watch the full segment here.

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Get involved: Call or write to Congress today

Stay informed: Follow 28Pages.org on Facebook and Twitter

Letters from 9/11 Family Group to Obama Go Unanswered

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On three separate occasions, 9/11 Families United for Justice Against Terrorism has sent letters to President Obama, asking him to declassify the 28-page finding on foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers. Each letter takes a slightly different approach to pleading for the release of the redacted section of a joint House/Senate intelligence study, but one thing they share in common is the response from the president and the White House: complete silence.

One would think an organized group of 9/11 family members would at least merit the courtesy of a presidential reply—if only to say he had received their letter and would give due consideration to their request. Instead, Obama has opted to ignore them, despite the fact that he has reportedly twice promised 9/11 families he would declassify the 28 pages.

The group sent its first letter on June 20, 2013, and never heard back. The group tried again on May 9, 2014—just ahead of the dedication of the 9/11 Museum in New York. Again, silence. Still determined, the organization sent a third letter on June 24 of this year that has likewise gone unanswered.

Former Senator Bob Graham
Former Senator Bob Graham

These letters weren’t simply dropped in a mailbox: According to the group’s co-chair, 9/11 survivor Sharon Premoli, the first was routed through the Office of the White House Counsel and the second and third were delivered to the White House by two different members of Congress.

The letters remind the president of his promises to 9/11 families, and point to the large and growing number of credible experts—including former Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired the inquiry that created the 28 pages, and both the chairman and vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission—who say there’s no valid national security reason for the continued secrecy. Indeed, even past and present Secretaries of State in the Obama White House Hillary Clinton and John Kerry are on record urging the declassification of the 28 pages; they did so as senators in a letter to George W. Bush.

You can read the group’s most recent letter here. It was delivered to the White House by North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones, who introduced and continues to champion H.Res.428, which urges the president to declassify the 28 pages.

The Obama White House seems to hope that, by ignoring 9/11 families, demands for 9/11 transparency will fall silent. However, as the group says in the closing of its latest unanswered letter, “There is a gathering storm in pursuit of the truth.”

The strength of that gathering storm lies in the growing number of everyday Americans who are contacting Congress and the White House to demand the release of the 28 pages. Take action today.  

Proof: 28 Pages Activism Works

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28Pages.org is determined to bring about the release of a 28-page finding on foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers. The current focus of our activism is on getting members of Congress to read the 28 pages themselves. Why? Because we’ve observed that doing so tends to instantly transform legislators into cosponsors of House Resolution 14, which urges the president to declassify the 28 pages.

To that end, we’re asking concerned Americans to write or call their House representatives to urge them to cosponsor H.Res.14 and ask if they’ve read the 28 pages or asked permission to do so.

If you’re wondering if it’s worth your time, one look at this letter should convince you it is. 28Pages.org commends North Carolina Congressman Howard Coble for reading the 28 pages, for his responsiveness to his constituent, and for his intention to join the growing, bipartisan list of cosponsors.

Rep Howard Coble Reply to ConstituentCall or write your House representative today—and please share this post on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

28 Ways You Can Build the 28 Pages Movement

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Whether you’re taking your first step toward helping declassify the 28-page finding on foreign government assistance to the 9/11 hijackers, or you’re looking for more ways to help, here are 28 ways you build the 28 pages movement.

1 & 2. Write to each of your two senators or call 202-224-3121 to ask them to cosponsor Senate Bill 1471. Here’s what to say.

3. Write to your representative or call 202-225-3121 to ask them to cosponsor House Resolution 14.

4. Write to the president or call the White House at 202-456-1111 and ask the president to keep his pledge to 9/11 families.

5. Like 28Pages.org on Facebook.

6. Follow @28Pages on Twitter.

7. Contact your favorite reporter, columnist, TV host, blogger or podcaster and ask them to give attention to the issue.

8. Write a letter to the editor.

9. Call in to a radio or TV talk show.

10. Email your friends a link to a video of Rep. Thomas Massie’s memorable remarks on his experience of reading the 28 pages.

11. Bring up the 28 pages using the “comments” feature found under articles on many news and other websites and include a link to an informative page about the 28 pages.

12. Start a discussion thread about the 28 pages on any message board.

13. Post a comment on an elected official’s Facebook page urging them to help declassify the 28 pages and include a link to an article or video on the topic.

14. Explain the issue to friends or family.

15. Invite some friends to like 28Pages.org on Facebook.

16. Subscribe to the 28Pages.org blog by clicking the button on the right side of this page.

17. Make a 28 pages bumper sticker or t-shirt (extra points for showing us your final product via social media).

18. Make and then share a YouTube video like this or this…or, if you want to get your groove on, maybe even this.

19. Share a 28Pages.org Facebook post.

20. Tweet a link to 28Pages.org or other educational content.

21. See if you can get a politically-oriented Twitter user with a large following to retweet you on the topic.

22. Visit your Congressional representative’s local office in person.

23 and 24. Visit each of your senators’ local offices in person.

25. Use #declassify when discussing the subject in social media.

26. Call any member of the Senate Intelligence Committee or House Intelligence Committee and ask them to use special rules to declassify the 28 pages without the president’s approval.

27. Choose any H.Res. 14 cosponsor and call to thank them for their stand.

28. Help us out—add your own activism idea in the comments below!

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.