President George Bush yesterday refused a request from the Saudi Arabian government to release a classified 28-page section of the 850-page US Congressional report on pre-September 11th intelligence, citing national security.
The censored section of the report - dealing with the role of foreign governments - has become a matter of great concern for Saudi Arabia, on the grounds that not publishing it fuels suspicions about Saudi involvement in the attacks on New York and Washington. Separately the report has raised questions about the credibility of comments by national security adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, concerning what the Bush administration knew before the attacks.
Ms Rice told a press conference in May 2002 that a briefing on terrorist threats given to Mr Bush a month before 9/11 contained only a general warning of threats and no specific plots. However, the report states that the briefing included intelligence that al-Qaeda was planning to send agents to the US to carry out attacks with aircraft using high-explosives. Mr Bush confirmed that the administration will not declassify the full report in response to questions from reporters two hours before a hastily arranged visit to the White House yesterday afternoon by Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal.
"There is an ongoing investigation into the 9/11 attacks and we don't want to compromise that investigation," Mr Bush said. It did not make sense to let terrorists know who US sources were and "it could help the enemy if they knew our sources and methods". The Saudi government has complained that it cannot respond to blank pages and Prince Saud al Faisal reportedly brought from Riyadh a letter for Mr Bush requesting the publication of the censored section.
According to leaked accounts, the classified pages highlight financial links between some officials of the Saudi government and individual wealthy Saudis with the hijackers.
Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan called the accusation that his country funded, organised or even knew about the attacks "malicious and blatantly false". Several US Senators and representatives of families of the 9/11 victims have also protested about the suppression of information about the attacks.
The Republican co-chairman of the inquiry, Senator Richard Shelby, said that 95 per cent of the classified pages could be released without jeopardising national security.
Democratic co-chairman Senator Bob Graham, called on Mr Bush to declassify the 28-page section "to permit the Saudi government to deal with any questions which may be raised" and "allow the American people to make their own judgment about who are our true friends and allies in the war on terrorism." He said he believed that much of the report is being withheld "for political reasons, a key political reason being not to disturb the relationship between the United States and some foreign countries".
Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 hijackers.
Since the attack by al-Qaeda on three Western residential compounds in Riyadh on May 12th that killed 45 people, the Saudi government has aggressively pursued extremists.