Attorney General Barr Refuses to Release 9/11 Documents to Victims' Families

https://www.propublica.org/article/attorney-general-barr-refuses-to-release-9-11-documents-to-families-of-the-victims

by AndrewBissell • 6 years ago

113 47 6 years ago

propublica.org

fc_barnes• 6 years ago

Minneapolis field office memo.

yasp• 6 years ago

What's this?

voz_• 6 years ago

Not sure what OC meant. Googling led me to https://oig.justice.gov/special/s0606/chapter1.htm

willart4food• 6 years ago

Barr says he cannot even explain why the material must stay secret without putting national security at risk.

GCSAQCMIYI• 6 years ago

I wonder if he is confusing the security of the nation with the security of the government.

dvtrn4• 6 years ago

Of course he is, and frankly I wouldn’t put it past this or even most administrations to do the same thing.

Zero accountability. It’s disgusting.

Yes. Downvote this. For calling out the issue of accountability for what it is on this topic: disgusting.

I dare someone to defend it convincingly. Please someone defend this.

lilott8• 6 years ago

I apply a bit of hyperbole here, but I'm convinced that "national security" is a monotonic function that will eventually encompass everything in the federal government.

rdtsc• 6 years ago

And a large part of it to cover up embarrassing details.

I think it was in the discussions related to one of the embassy cables that I found this concept of 3rd order facts that leads to things being classified. It goes something like this. Say US is supporting some brutal dictator somewhere. The fact that he is evil is the main fact (1st order). People in that country and all over the world know it. That's the 2nd order. However the knowledge that the US govt knows (3rd) order is classified. The reasoning is because then the US govt might have to explain its inaction in regard to all the brutalities inflicting by that ruler.

akudha• 6 years ago

National Security, but what about the children?

Those two excuses are the all purpose, catch all ones that work every time.

resters• 6 years ago

The only possible explanation is that Barr is trying to hide wrongdoing or negligence on the part of the US government.

Any information relevant to national security (such as names, etc.) could easily be redacted.

wahern• 6 years ago

The other possible explanation is that it implicates high-ranking Saudi officials, which would make it politically problematic to maintain the existing diplomatic and security relationship. For example, while under seal it can't be used to civilly sue those officials, and it permits the DoJ to avoid prosecutions it might be politically forced to pursue. Such civil and criminal suits would disrupt the existing state of affairs. By keeping the secrets you keep closed the pandora's box of political pain, even though anyone who cares already knows what's in the box.

People outside the government have read the files. As the article says, lawyers for plaintiffs in the ongoing civil suit saga have seen them, as presumably would the judge. If the documents detailed criminal activity on the part of the U.S. government we'd have heard something about it by now.

shiftpgdn• 6 years ago

I'll be run out of town on a rail for this due to the Alex Jones association but what about the dancing Israelis? The limited amount of government documents released do genuinely seem to point to Israeli Mossad having some fore-knowledge of the attack.

AnimalMuppet• 6 years ago

The other other possible explanation is that it would expose US intelligence-gathering methods and capabilities. US governments have been really sensitive about such things. It's not just one administration, either. Going clear back to World War II, they prosecuted a reporter for exposing that the US had broken Japanese codes. (I think in connection with Midway, maybe?) Fortunately, the Japanese didn't wake up from the exposure.

int_19h2• 6 years ago

"But the administration insisted in court filings that even its justification for that secrecy needed to remain secret. Four statements to the court by FBI and Justice Department officials were filed under seal so they could not be seen by the public. An additional five, including one from the CIA, were shared only with the judge and cannot be read even by the plaintiffs’ lawyers."

retox• 6 years ago

A popular theory is that it exposes 'allies' of the US as complicit. Which allies those are depends on whose theory you subscribe to.

mirimir3• 6 years ago

If we assume that Al-Qaeda was behind the attack, it's hard to imagine how high-ranking Saudis weren't involved. Given what we know about Saudi funding of Al-Qaeda.

Also, given what we know about CIA funding of Al-Qaeda, it's not a huge stretch to suspect US involvement. Or at least, a bungled entrapment or outright rogue operation.

It's hard to guess what US allies might be involved. Israel is a popular guess. Especially given its oddly close relationship with the Saudis, and its entanglement with US intelligence agencies. And then there's the fact that Mossad agents were trailing the Saudi terrorists for some time before the attacks.

But then, it could literally be anyone. And the Israelis and Saudis might have been framed.

beepboopbeep• 6 years ago

The man's credibility is long gone.

lpah4all2• 6 years ago

Who the fuck would downvote this?

It is established fact.

Oh, that's right. It's 2020 and the Internet has no shortage of ideological idiots and information saboteurs. Talk about a thorny problem for a board like this.

kencausey• 6 years ago

I have no problem with the statement. But as a HackerNews comment it is far too reductionist. At the very least, in my opinion, it should have been accompanied by at least mentioning supporting information if not actual citations.

onetimemanytime• 6 years ago

For a reason or another, Saudi Arabia means a lot to the Trump admin and generally speaking, to all US administrations. Someone was chopped up and ...you know the story.

So everyone in our admins closed both eyes and their three ears when the Saudis did this and that, because the Saudis are smart enough to be useful to us in very, very important things. So we protect them from small stuff, and maybe the Saudis buy this protection with concessions to us in certain things

Smoosh• 6 years ago

The reasons appear to be a total mystery! /s

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/oct/18/donald-tru... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/world/middleeast/saudi-mb... https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/jared-kushner-saudi-crow... https://washingtonpress.com/2018/04/08/jared-kushner-just-go...

zyztem• 6 years ago

I was under impression that "28 pages" document was mostly declassified? Or this is some another documents?

dillonmckay2• 6 years ago

Possibly related?

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20190827/judge-rules-fbi-...

pnw_hazor2• 6 years ago

A link to the case file or Barr's filed declaration and memo would be nice.

edit-to-add:

Case No.: 1:03-md-01570