No surprises here: President Bush says that Sections of 9/11 report to stay secret.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Tuesday rejected calls to release classified sections of a congressional report on the September 11, 2001, attacks, saying his administration must protect intelligence sources during the war on terrorism.

The declassified material was sought by some lawmakers and Saudi Arabia, which says it has been smeared by the redacted report and unfairly tied to the hijackers by some members of Congress.

"It makes no sense to declassify when we've got an ongoing investigation. That could jeopardize that investigation," Bush said during a Rose Garden appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Heh. Interesting photo op when making that announcement with PM Sharon before meeting with the Saudi Foreign Minister. I wonder if the funding of Hamas was discussed in either meeting.

It really pleases me that the Saudis are so nervous (however much they hide behind their deeply offended posture.) They could have figured out the game was up when former NYC Mayor Guiliani refused their sizeable donation but they too miscalculated what we're like when we're roused.

Well, too bad they are consumed with doubt. Too bad that our normally open, transparent political system has suddenly deprived them from learning what, if any, holes they have to plug to cover their sixes by the judicious use of a magic marker.

They are being forced to wonder not only what and how much we know, but how far up the chain our investigation has led us, and their main sources are speculations from Congress, the press, and their own paranoia!

I don't think President Bush is going to play partisan politics with this one however much the Dems try to draw him out. This is deadly serious, and if the stakes are between forcing the Saudi agenda into the open or them making much needed reforms in Saudi Arabia, so much the better. It will unwind slowly, and we'll build up Iraq in the meantime.

The part that doesn't exactly add up is the power distribution: the way the Saudis are acting, it's as though they feel they must maintain our good will, whereas the criticisms that have been leveled against Bush assume that it's us that need Saudi good will. What gives here?

I wish I could leap forward a few decades to learn how this is all going to play out, but for now I'll have to be content to rely on my untrustworthy crystal ball and predict that we'll see more arrests in Saudi Arabia as they strive to prove that they really are, you know, allies in the War on Terrorism. We might even see some cracks in the Royal family itself.

Just my opinion, of course.

Posted by: Debbye at 07:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 471 words, total size 3 kb.