|
|
|
|
Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
|
April 19, 2016
|
IPT's
Hoekstra: Public Deserves to See Full 2002 Congressional 9/11 Report
Relevant Radio 'The Drew Mariani Show'
April 19, 2016
|
|
|
|
|
Share:  
|
  Be the
first of your friends to like this.
Multimedia for this item
Audio
Recording
|
[Start transcript]
Drew Mariani: Hey, when the planes slammed into the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon back on 9/11, remember that, Osama bin Laden was
revealed as the mastermind behind it. We knew at the time that there was an
obvious Middle Eastern terrorism link. What we didn't know was what
countries were involved and to what extent. We went into Afghanistan, well,
because you know that's where bin Laden was holed up and why we sent troops
into Afghanistan, and you know we didn't know about the rest. The most
disturbing was that we didn't know that Saudi Arabia, where bin Laden was
born and raised, could have played a role in this. You know Congress
investigated the events surrounding 9/11; they came up with a 400-page
report, and that was released to the public. And I should say most of it
was released to the public. I think they held back about 28 pages and
they're still labeled as classified. But what's contained on those pages is
really fodder for a lot of conversation right now. It's suspected to
contain information on Saudi Arabia's role on that fateful day. Right now
Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that
it's going to sell off hundreds-of-billions of dollars' worth of American
assets, it will be a huge asset dump held by their kingdom, if Congress
passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government basically to be held
responsible in American courts for any role in September 11th in
2001, when those attacks took place. The Obama administration has lobbied
Congress to block the bill, according to some officials. But the Saudi
threats have been of course the subject now of intense discussion in recent
weeks between both lawmakers and officials from the State Department and
the Pentagon. And a number of officials have warned basically senators of
diplomatic and economic fallout from you know any sort of legislation. So
what's going to happen? And what is the truth behind all this? Joining me
right now is Pete Hoekstra. He's the Shillman Senior Fellow with the
Investigative Project on Terrorism, the former Chairman of the U.S. House
Intelligence Committee, and former member of the House Committee on
Education and the Workforce. And Peter, thank you for your time. It's good
to have you back. I know you just came out with a book, I want to plug that
for you too. It's called 'Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya.
It came out about four months ago, folks, you may want to check that out.
And you can learn more about him at investigativeproject.org. This is a big
story. How do you know how do we know Saudi Arabia is involved and you know
what do you think's going to happen ultimately with you know Congress and
possible legislation?
Pete Hoekstra: Well a couple of things, number one – I've been
advocating for the last period of time that these 28 pages be made public,
that if there need to be some redactions to protect sources, those
redactions be made, but overall that the public 13 years after this report
was completed, now almost 15 years after 9/11, you know they, the public
deserves to see all of this information. And so it should move forward. In
regards to the legislation that Senator Cruz is pushing, I'm not quite sure
about a couple of things. I'm you know I'm not sure why we need to just
highlight Saudi Arabia. Any country –
Mariani: Right.
Hoekstra: – that is identified with terrorism should be able to
be held accountable; I'm thinking of Iran, should be able to be held
accountable. So just singling out Saudi, I'm not sure that that is
appropriate. There's a number of countries that may in one form or another
be somewhat supporters of terrorism against U.S. property, U.S. goods or
U.S. persons. So let's make sure that they can be held accountable. I think
that the action that Saudi Arabia is talking about, and they're not talking
about disinvesting in the United States to punish the United States, the
explanation that they're giving is – we've got to disinvest in the United
States because if we actually become liable and the courts find for some
defendants that we are liable and you know hold us accountable or hold a
judgment against us for X-hundreds-of-millions or a billion dollars, at
that point in time the U.S. courts may come and seize U.S. assets that we
own. And so what we want to do is to protect ourselves. We're going to
disinvest in the United States so that a U.S. court can't freeze any of our
assets. Oh, I think their economy and our economy and their, the assets
they hold in the United States are so significant that they could never
actually pull that off, pull it off successfully. If they did they've have
to do it at a fire sale.
Mariani: Yeah.
Hoekstra: And they wouldn't want to do that.
Mariani: Yeah, I read earlier today that they would be forced to
sell about 750-billion dollars in Treasury securities and other assets. Again,
I want to go back to you know what would happen if this did take place.
Let's take a worst-case scenario, say this is pushed and it goes through,
what happens if the information is exposed and we find out Saudi Arabia had
a, had something to do with 9/11?
Hoekstra: Well you know I've had access to those 28 pages. I
think that this will, it will raise more questions than what it will
answer. OK? I don't think that someone will read through there and they
will find, or again, who knows – some people may read it and they will see
a smoking gun, others will read it and they will see something different,
but I think what it, you know my belief is that what it will show is that
you know this is not classified or a secret or whatever, you know. The
Saudis have for years been funding radical jihadism in the form of funding
radical mosques, believers in Wahhabism, where much
of this hatred and doctrine of jihadism comes from, and they've been
funding these mosques around the world. And so you know many of us have called
for them to stop the funding of these kinds of mosques for an extended
period of time.
Mariani: And let me just ask you, because you've had access to
those 28 pages, are there other nations in addition to Saudi Arabia? It's
kind of the sense that I'm getting from you, it's not just Saudi Arabia,
there may be other nations involved?
Hoekstra: No, I don't think if you go through there that you
would see a litany of a number of different countries; I'm just saying from
my experience with terrorism –
Mariani: Right.
Hoekstra: – is that you know there are a number of countries that
are involved in terrorism and, or you know certain state governments, you
know everything from the Palestinian Authority –
Mariani: Right.
Hoekstra: – to Iran, and these types of things, that you know any
type of legislation like what Senator Cruz is proposing –
Mariani: Right.
Hoekstra: – shouldn't be limited to just Saudi. That's two very
different issues.
Mariani: And your mindset right now is that they should be
released, the American public has a right to know.
Hoekstra: Yeah. And we ought to just make sure that, you know
it's been 13 years since I've seen them, that if there is any sensitive
information in there regarding sources or individuals that may have been
the source of some of these information, make sure you redact that
information. But other than that, let the information become public. It's
been a long time.
Mariani: Yeah, great. Before I let you go, because I only have a
minute or two left –
Hoekstra: Sure.
Mariani: – you just came out with a book too, 'Architects of
Disaster: The Destruction of Libya.' I have not gotten the book or read it,
but I would love to maybe have you back to talk about it. Fill me in, what
was your book about?
Hoekstra: It's about what happened in Libya. We had a tremendous
success story in Libya. [Muammar] Gaddafi after years of being on the
outside, you know supporting terrorism against the United States and the
West, culminating really with the take-down of Pan Am 103. In 2004, he gave
up his nuclear weapons program, he gave, he paid reparations to the victims
of his terrorist attacks, and he became a partner in fighting radical
jihadism with the United States, a bipartisan success of a consistent
policy for 20 years and finally Gaddafi changed sides.
Mariani: Wow.
Hoekstra: In 2011, Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama
decided that Obama needed, or excuse me, that Gaddafi needed to go, they
partnered with radical jihadists, and they were successful in getting rid
of Gaddafi. And what we now have is you know for the last four years we've
had a failed state. It's now part of the caliphate. It's exporting
ideology, it's exporting fighters, and it's exporting weapons to Africa, to
the Middle East and to Europe. It's been a disaster. It's, you know and for
eight years there it was a rock of stability and certainty in northern
Africa. And now it is the disaster of Libya, the destruction of Libya.
Mariani: Yeah, the book is called 'Architects of Disaster: The
Destruction of Libya.' It's available at all major bookstores. And Pete, I
want to thank you for your time. Thank you for your service to the country
and for the insight you're able to offer. I always enjoy your, our
conversations.
Hoekstra: Hey, thanks for the invite.
Mariani: Thank you.
Hoekstra: I enjoyed being with you.
Mariani: Check him out too, the website is investigateproject.org
[sic], investigativeproject.org, great site to check out.
[End transcript]
|
The IPT accepts no funding from
outside the United States, or from any governmental agency or political or
religious institutions. Your support of The Investigative Project on
Terrorism is critical in winning a battle we cannot afford to lose. All
donations are tax-deductible. Click here to donate online. The
Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation is a recognized 501(c)3
organization.
202-363-8602
- main
202-966-5191
- fax
|
|
Print
Send
Comment
RSS
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment