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The classified '28 pages': A diversion from real US-Saudi issues
Monday 25 April 2016
The
controversy surrounding the infamous “28 pages” on the possible Saudi
connection with the terrorists that were excised from the joint
Congressional report on the 9/11 attacks is at fever pitch. But that
controversy is a distraction from the real problems that Saudi Arabia’s
policies pose to the United States and the entire Middle East region.
The
political pressure to release the 28 pages has been growing for the
past couple of years, with resolutions in both houses of Congress urging
the president to declassify the information. But
now legislation with bipartisan sponsorship has advanced in Congress
that would deprive any foreign government of sovereign immunity in
regard to responsibility for a terrorist attack on US soil and thus make
it possible to sue the Saudi government in court for damages from the
9/11 attacks.
That development
prompted Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir to threaten last month
to pull out as much as $750 billion in Saudi assets held in the United
States. The Obama administration opposes the legislation, warning of
“unintended consequences” – specifically that the US government could
face lawsuits because of its actions abroad. Analysts of Saudi economic
policy, however, do not take al-Jubeir’s threat very seriously since it
would simply punish the Saudi economy.http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/classified-28-pages-diversion-real-us-saudi-issues-738237581
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