9/11

Pelosi: Once a Vocal Critic of 28-Pages Secrecy, Now Silent

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House Resolution 428, which urges the president to declassify a 28-page finding on foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers, continues to gain momentum. As the list of H.Res.428 cosponsors grows longer and longer, however, one representative is increasingly conspicuous in her absence: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

PELOSIPelosi was not only the ranking House member of the joint Senate/House intelligence committee inquiry that produced those 28 pages, she was also a vocal critic of the Bush administration’s decision to classify them.

Listen to Nancy Pelosi at the July 24, 2003 press conference that accompanied the publishing of the joint inquiry’s report:

“The joint inquiry took nine months to do its work. It took nearly that long, or over six months, to negotiate an unclassified version of the report with the administration. This was about six months too long. Much more of the report could have been declassified without any impact on national security. This is especially true with respect to references to sources of foreign support for hijackers. 

Time and time again this administration keeps information classified rather than making it public. Classification certainly must protect sources and methods, but it should not be used to protect reputations. This is at odds with the enormity of the tragedy we suffered on September 11 and the necessity of doing everything we can to make it less likely that we would experience events like those again.”

Her rationale for wanting the 28 pages declassified rings every bit as true today as it did when she offered it 11 years ago. Indeed, one could imagine those same words being attributed to Walter Jones, Stephen Lynch and Thomas Massie, who are leading the resurgent movement to release the 28 pages. And yet, Pelosi has not only fallen silent on the issue, she hasn’t even mustered what little energy is needed to add her name to those of many other Democrats who have signed on as H.Res.428 cosponsors.

Why would Pelosi afford President Obama—who reportedly twice promised 9/11 family members that he would release the 28 pages—any more deference on the unwarranted classification of this material than his predecessor?

Ask Congresswoman Pelosi to cosponsor H.Res.428 via Twitter (@NancyPelosi) or Facebook

Video of Pelosi at the 2003 Joint Inquiry Press Conference

Moran, Nadler, Shuster Should Be Next Three HRes 428 Co-Sponsors

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With seven more representatives joining the list of House Resolution 428 cosponsors in the past two weeks, the bipartisan drive to declassify the 28-page finding on foreign government support of the September 11 hijackers is clearly gaining steam.

As 28Pages.org looks at the House of Representatives with an eye on who should be next to take a stand for 9/11 transparency, three names keep rising to the top of our list: Jim Moran, Jerry Nadler and Bill Shuster.

What distinguishes these three? It isn’t their politics—it’s their geography: Their three districts are, respectively, home to the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and that remote, windswept field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Not only do these three gentlemen represent districts with solemn ties to September 11, each also held office on that day. One—Pennsylvania’s Shuster—had taken his oath less than four months before Flight 93’s determined passengers downed their plane in his district, likely saving the U.S. Capitol Building from devastation.

If you agree they should stand together—two Democrats and a Republican—to acknowledge their districts’ unique ties to September 11th and cosponsor H.Res.428, let them hear some polite encouragement via social media and include a link to this page.  

Screen shot 2014-09-18 at 7.33.54 PMRep. Jim Moran (D, VA-8)

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Comment on his Facebook page

nadlerRep. Jerry Nadler (D, NY-10)

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SHUSTERRep. Bill Shuster (R, PA-9)

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Increasing Attention to Allegations of 9/11 FBI Cover-Up

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While much of the speculation about the contents of the 28 classified pages from a 9/11 intelligence inquiry center on the secret activities of foreign governments, there is growing scrutiny on the secret activities of our own government—specifically, its investigation of the terrorists both before and after the attacks.

10 NewsTelevision station WTSP, which serves Sarasota and Tampa Bay, aired a very insightful report last week in which investigative reporter Mike Deeson talked to former Senator Bob Graham and dug deep into the FBI’s concealment of its investigation of the Sarasota 9/11 terror cell. You can watch it here.

counterpunchMeanwhile at Counterpunch, James Ridgeway traces the FBI’s stonewalling of the joint House/Senate intelligence inquiry all the way to the White House and makes the case that the failure to cooperate with the inquiry may well amount to obstruction of justice by George Bush, Dick Cheney and FBI Director Robert Mueller:

Finally in his book, Graham describes a letter from a member of the FBI’s congressional staff explaining the Bureau had been uncooperative on orders of the administration.  “We were seeing in writing what we had suspected for some time. The White House was directing the coverup.

“Later, when the 911 Commission conducted its own investigation, both Bush and Cheney met with them in a private, off-the-record conversation.”

This story and the new piece by Wright strongly suggest the President, Vice President and head of the FBI were engaged in obstruction of justice. If so, that would call for the convening of a federal grand jury. Would the Justice Department, which runs the FBI, do that? Probably not.

The Scott Horton Show Talks to 28Pages.org’s Brian McGlinchey

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Yesterday, Scott Horton, host of the foreign policy-focused “Scott Horton Show,” discussed the 28 pages and the drive to declassify them with our own Brian McGlinchey. You can listen to the segment here, and The Scott Horton Show is also available via podcast.

HORTON SHOW

28Pages.org to Every Legislator: Have You Read the 28 Pages?

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Yesterday, 28Pages.org alerted the nation to indications of a looming scandal on Capitol Hill: At a time when Congress is being consulted on life-and-death decisions in the Middle East, there’s reason to believe only a slim minority of lawmakers have bothered to read a classified, 28-page finding on foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers.

Reading those pages is no exercise in idle curiosity: According to former Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired the intelligence inquiry that wrote the 28 pages, they’re highly relevant to the current crisis in the Middle East. Representative Walter Jones said he was “shocked” by what he read and said “what was so surprising was that those whom we thought we could really trust disappointed me.” Congressman Thomas Massie said the 28 pages prompted him to “stop every two or three pages and rearrange my perception of history.”

Clearly, at a time when the Middle East is more difficult to sort out than ever, the 28 pages should be required reading on Capitol Hill.  And if there is indeed an ongoing mass dereliction of duty by representatives and senators in regard to reading the 28 pages, it is a willful one, since it’s happening in the face of repeated appeals by Congressmen Jones, Massie and Stephen Lynch to do so.

The American people deserve to know which lawmakers have read the 28 pages and which have not. We urge constituents and journalists to contact legislators and ask two simple questions:

  • Have you read the 28 pages?
  • If not, have you requested permission from your intelligence committee to do so?

HOUSE SURVEY PHOTO28Pages.org is chipping in, too: We’ve begun distributing a questionnaire that asks those same questions of every representative who hasn’t cosponsored House Resolution 428 and every senator (Rep. Jones is still working to find a Senate ally to introduce a comparable resolution in that body). Since legislators generally feel a higher sense of accountability to constituents and media than to organizations like ours, however, it’s absolutely critical that citizens and journalists join us in asking those two questions.

Because it’s election season—and the answer to whether incumbents have read the 28 pages is indicative of how seriously they take national security—we’re front-loading our survey process with those incumbents who are in the most competitive election contests. We expect to begin reporting preliminary results in early October—including identifying those officials who don’t think the public deserves to know whether they’ve fully informed themselves about foreign government support of the 9/11 terrorists.

In the meantime, if you want to know which Capitol Hill legislators join former Senator Graham, both the chairman and vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, and Representatives Jones, Lynch and Massie in believing you should see what’s in those 28 pages, the list is right here.

REDACTED w91128Pages.org makes it easy to ask your representative and senators if they’ve read the 28 pages—with helpful guidance, phone scripts and ready-to-print letters.