A Luncheon with Bob Graham former U.S. Senator and Governor of Florida calls for releasing intel about 9/11

Posted on November 18, 2014 by RonMamita — 1 Comment

The Untold Story of 9/11: A Veterans Day Luncheon with Bob Graham

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On November 11, 2014, Bob Graham, former U.S. Senator and Governor of Florida, and former co-chairman of the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was the featured speaker at a Veteran’s Day event in Naples, Florida. Graham was joined by investigative journalist Dan Christensen of the Broward Bulldog to deliver a thorough account of the untold story behind 9/11 and the ongoing Executive Branch coverup of the truth about who the true sponsors of those attacks were.

The event, which occurred at the Naples Sailing & Yacht Club, was organized by Loreen and Matt Sellitto, whose son was a victim of the 9/11 attacks. Also in attendance was Terry Strada, widow of Tom Strada and co-chair of the 9/11 Families United for Justice Against Terrorism, who introduced Graham and Christensen by saying:

“They are here to tell you the untold story of 9/11. It is both riveting and frightening. And no matter what you think you may know about that day, I promise you, by the end of this program, you will learn so much more.”

An audience of approximately 200 people gathered at the Naples Sailing & Yacht Club in Naples, Florida on November 11, 2014 to hear former U.S. Senator Bob Graham and investigative journalist Dan Christensen speak about the untold stories behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Strada stressed in her introductory remarks, that the only strategy by which the so-called war on terrorism can be won, is by cutting off the funding of terrorism at its source. Without taking that action, all other efforts will ultimately be futile. She told the audience:

“9/11 was a brutal act of terrorism. We must recognize that as long as there are well-funded radical Islamists vowing to destroy us, we will never be safe. No matter how many of their leaders we eliminate, airstrikes we launch, sanctions we execute, or boots on the ground we deploy, if we do not stop the flow of money going to the terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS, we will never be safe. This is where the story of 9/11 as most of us know it ends, and the untold story begins. It is with great pride and personal honor, that I introduce a hero of mine, a man that works tirelessly fighting for the truth to be told, former Sen. Bob Graham.”

During his remarks, Senator Graham stated his belief that had the truth about who sponsored 9/11 not been suppressed by two successive presidential administrations, the threat the nation and the world now face from ISIS would never have arisen. Graham introduced the story of who financed the attacks of September 11, 2001 by posing the question to the audience as to how it would have been possible for the 19 hijackers to carry out such an operation without a vast and deeply embedded support network inside the United States.

“There continue to be some untold stories, some unanswered questions about 9/11. Maybe the most fundamental question is, was 9/11 carried out by 19 individuals, operating in isolation, who over a period of twenty months were able to take the rough outlines of a plan that had been developed by Osama bin Laden and convert it into a detailed working plan, to then practice that plan and finally to execute an extremely complex set of assignments? … The two chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, have said that they think it is highly improbable that those 19 people could have done what they did, without some external support during the period they were living within the United States. I strongly concur… Where did they get their support?”

Bob Graham, former U.S. Senator and co-chair of the 9/11 Congressional Joint Inquiry speaks about the untold stories of 9/11 to an audience in Naples, Florida on November 11, 2014. Graham has led the campaign to released the classified 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry’s report.

Graham went on to describe some of the facts that the Joint Inquiry did uncover as to the support network that existed in one location, San Diego, detailing the case of Omar Bayoumi, whose activities prior to 9/11 strongly indicate that he was working on behalf of the government of Saudi Arabia to provide assistance to one cell of the hijackers, coordinated directly from the Saudi embassy in Washington. However, while the work of the Joint Inquiry had concentrated on the case of San Diego, Graham introduced his fellow speaker, investigative journalist Dan Christensen, by stating that Christensen’s work over the past five years in pursuing similar leads in the case of the Sarasota cell, confirms that San Diego was not an isolated case but only one piece of an overall pattern.

Christensen walked the audience through a riveting step-by-step recounting of his battle against unceasing stonewalling by the FBI to release 80,000 pages of documents pertaining to the connections between a prominent Saudi family in Sarasota and several of the 9/11 hijackers, including Mohammad Atta, pilot of the plane which hit the North Tower. This was a lead that the FBI had never even brought to the Congressional Inquiry’s attention, but serves to confirm that everything the Joint Inquiry found in the case of San Diego was indeed part of a national pattern.

Tom Julin, a Miami-based first amendment attorney, discussed his efforts alongside Christensen to sue the FBI, forcing them to finally release these 80,000 documents — which previously the Bureau had consistently denied even existed — to a federal judge in Florida, who is currently in the process of reviewing them. (This lawsuit included a sworn affidavit by Senator Graham, accusing the FBI of impeding a Congressional investigation — an extremely serious charge.) Julin also described another initiative he and Christensen are undertaking, utilizing a procedure called Mandatory Declassification Review to submit a request to an inter-agency advisory board to declassify the 28-pages. This effort is also still pending.

In conclusion, Bob Graham indicated a number of other leads on this story which still remain open, but which investigators, including himself, have been prevented from pursuing.

“Let me just wrap up with a few other of the untold stories. In addition to what we know in Sarasota and what we know even more in San Diego, there were other places where hijackers spent significant amounts of time, such as Paterson, New Jersey; Falls Church, Virginia; and Palm Beach County, Florida. We have been trying to find out, were there investigations similar to what we know took place in Sarasota in those three areas, and, if so, what result.”We have run into exactly the same stone wall, even on the question of did they investigate an area such as Palm Beach County where Atta and the leadership of the hijackers lived for an extended period of time. It’s unbelievable that there wasn’t an investigation, but it’s equally unbelievable that the FBI won’t even say yea or nay that there was such an investigation. So, there are gaps of factual knowledge about what happened that I think would open additional windows.”

Graham then went on to say that the question which is the hardest for him to answer, is why the United States has been so soft on the Saudis. He asked, “Why have we allowed them to go without public awareness of their complicity?” He stated that it was easier for him to answer that question during the Bush Administration, seeing as the Bush family had a long association with the House of Saud going all the way back to Prescott Bush. But, he stated:

“The more difficult thing, and I say this as a Democrat, is why has the Obama Administration continued this soft treatment of Saudi Arabia? My speculation is that they have felt that the Middle East is so fractious and violent at this time, that Saudi Arabia would be a source of stability in an otherwise very shaky region of the world. I personally completely disagree with that assessment.”

Graham emphasized that with Congress now considering whether to authorize war against ISIS, exposing the truth about Saudi Arabia’s role in 9/11 is more urgent than it’s ever been. He stated that he believes that ISIS is merely the latest ramification of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to export Wahhabism, and that:

“The failure of the United States to publicly disclose what Saudi Arabia has done in the past, has been taken as a signal to the Kingdom that they have impunity, they can do virtually anything they want to and there won’t be any reaction, at least from the United States. And the consequence of that immunity has been that Saudi Arabia essentially established Al Qaeda… and ISIS fits almost the same pattern. It is the child of Saudi Arabia, and continues to be substantially supported — financially, militarily — by Saudi Arabia.”I personally think that the national security of the United States will be served when we let the American people know what happened, and I think there will be a public reaction that will cause the United States to no longer give to the Saudis this impunity that we have in the past. So, in addition to the reasons that the American people deserve to have the historic record set right, and the families who have suffered so much deserve to have justice, and they will get justice when the facts of the Saudi involvement are known, and our own long term national security, all argue for dispelling some of these unknowns, and unanswered questions, and unknown stories. Let the American people know what happened, and then let the American people be involved in shaping what our future towards justice and our own security should be.”

Signing copies of his two books, Intelligence Matters and Keys to the Kingdom, Bob Graham is joined by his wife Adele Graham, his daughter Kendall Graham, Terry Strada, Loreen Sellitto, and Dan Christensen.

This event represents a crucial part of the growing drumbeat nationally to declassify the 28 pages, which, if revealed, would disclose to the American people some of the facts which verify what Senator Graham and Dan Christensen summarized in their remarks during this event. This campaign bears directly on the future peace and security of the United States and the world, as we confront the ever increasing threat of chaos and war emanating from the Middle East. Rather than merely reacting to events, Congress must be forced to ask the question: what is the source of this violence, and how can it be stopped at its root? Bipartisan efforts in Congress by Representatives Walter Jones, Stephen Lynch, and Thomas Massie continue to build, as their bill H. Res. 428 to release the 28 pages gains cosponsors. The urgently necessary next step in this process is to recruit a Senate sponsor to introduce a companion resolution into the U.S. Senate.

See the ’28 Pages’ developing story page for the latest in this ongoing fight, and to find out what you can do to ensure that the truth about who sponsored the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and who is continuing to finance terrorism today, is released for the American people and the world to see.

SEE “Declassify the 28 Pages”

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