Saudi FM on 9/11 report: ‘The matter is now finished’
"The matter is now finished," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference in Washington
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Friday he welcomed the release of a long-classified section of the official report on the Sept. 11 attacks that discussed potential links between some of the hijackers and Saudi Arabia.
"The matter is now finished," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference in Washington. Asked whether the report exonerated the kingdom, he said: "Absolutely."
The 28 pages of the report on the 2002 investigation focus on potential Saudi links to the 2001 aircraft attacks on the United States, in which nearly 3,000 people died.
They were issued by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Friday after years of wrangling in Washington between Congress and different administrations, Republicans and Democrats, and urging by families of those killed.
Jubeir also said the kingdom would welcome effective Russian participation in the fight with ISIS in Syria but not at the expense of keeping the Syrian president in power or further attacks on moderate rebels.
Saudi Arabia was following US Secretary of State John Kerry's talks with his Russian counterpart. Kerry was talking to the Russians about closer military and intelligence cooperation against ISIS and al Qaeda in Syria.
"Anything that can be done to bring the Russians into the fight against Daesh in an effective way is something that I think people would welcome," he said, using another name for ISIS.
"But it cannot be at the cost of keeping Bashar al-Assad in power and it cannot be with the Russians continuing to attack the moderate Syrian opposition."
US intelligence officials have finished reviewing 28 classified pages of the official report on the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and they show no evidence of Saudi complicity, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Friday.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Abdullah al-Saud, said in a statement: “We hope the release of these pages will clear up, once and for all, any lingering questions or suspicions about Saudi Arabia's actions, intentions, or long-term friendship with the United States.”
