Congressmen and family members of those killed in the 9/11 attacks continue to press for the declassification of 28 pages of a larger joint congressional report issued in the wake of the 2001 attacks.
"The 28 pages primarily relate to who financed 9/11 and they point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as being the principal financier," said former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who co-chaired the congressional inquiry and helped to write the report, ABC News reported. "The position of the United States government as been to protect Saudi Arabia."
Speaking to CBSN about his effort to declassify the report, Rep. Steven Lynch, D-Mass., said, "Not only is it the right thing to do from a transparency point of view," but he thinks "it will inform our foreign policy and national security policy going forward."
Lynch and Graham, along with Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., held a press conference on Wednesday highlighting renewed legislation, H. Res. 14, calling on President Barack Obama to declassify the 28 pages.
President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush have both refused to declassify the report, saying doing so would endanger U.S. national security.
But the members of Congress who have read the report say it has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with protecting long-time ally Saudi Arabia, reported Newsweek.
"There is no security reason in declassifying this information," Jones told CBSN. "The 9/11 families and the American people have a right to see the 28-pages and then make the decision for themselves."
"I do not understand how you can have a strong foreign policy when you are trying to hide the truth from the American people," Jones said.
Lynch added, "I believe enough time has passed that we can digest the information they contain without worrying about the visceral passions and security implications that existed in the days immediately following September 11th, 2001."
In March 2014, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has read the entire report, said the information found in the report is so shocking that he had to "stop every couple of page and just sort of try to absorb and try to rearrange my understanding of history."
"It challenges you to re-think everything. I think the whole country needs to go through that," he added.
A group of families who lost loved ones in the attacks have formed the group 9/11 Families United for Justice, and have been working alongside lawmakers to petition the report's release.
One member of the group, Terry Strada, whose husband was killed in the World Trade Center collapse, said she wants to know of any allies who were involved in the attack.
"Where is the outrage, I want to know that Saudi Arabia, a country, our supposed ally, not only bankrolled al Qaeda and the worst terror attack on U.S. soil, but was also instrumental in implementing an intricate web of operatives in numerous places around the world," Strada told the 9/11 Families United for Justice group at a gathering near the Capitol.
"Where is the indignation that 9/11 victims' families and survivors have been denied the right to hold accountable any United States courtroom the people responsible for the incineration of nearly 3,000 people?"
Even Saudi Arabia has publicly called for the pages to be declassified, with Prince Banda bin Sultan saying, "Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide," according to Newsweek.
"We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages."
