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No information on Saudi Arabia related to 9/11 attacks: Bush

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush said Tuesday that he could not grant a Saudi request to declassify sections of a congressional report into the September 11 attacks as it would “help the enemy.”

Saudi Arabia has asked for 28 pages of the report which involve the kingdom to be made public, and requested a meeting between Bush and top Saudi diplomat Prince Saud al-Faisal due to take place at around 1900 GMT Tuesday.

Bush said he had “absolutely have no qualms at all” about keeping the data secret, as he did not wish to prejudice an investigation into the 2001 attacks.

“If people are being investigated it doesn’t make sense for us to let them know who they are,” he said, during a joint press appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“Secondly, 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.”

Bush said that perhaps, the information could be declassified in future when it did not jeopardize US national security. He said however it would make no sense to do so “during the war on terror, because it would help the enemy if they knew our sources and methods.” —Reuters

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