Sept. 11 families seek answers in 28 secret pages from inquiry

Saudi Arabia welcomes the release of full congressional investigation

NEW YORK — Fifteen years after the attacks that killed her husband, Lorie Van Auken thinks she still hasn’t been told the whole truth about 9/11.

She wants to know what’s in 28 classified pages locked away in the U.S. Capitol. Part of a congressional inquiry, they describe investigative leads about “specific sources of foreign support” for the terrorists and might shed light on possible Saudi connections.

The secrecy “gnaws at you every day,” Van Auken says. “Fifteen years is long enough. Wewant to stop guessing.”

She soon may. President Barack Obama has hinted that at least portions of the 28 pages may be released shortly amid growing calls to reveal what some see as a hidden chapter in the explanation of Sept. 11.

Victims’ relatives say they and the public deserve full transparency about the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

Some Sept. 11 families expect the pages’ contents will help them sue the Saudi government, since a former lawmaker has said the 2002 document casts suspicion that the terrorists got financial help from the kingdom, though U.S. investigations later concluded otherwise.

But the push to unveil the pages stirs mixed feelings among victims’ families, and sometimes even within them.

Diane Massaroli, who lost her husband, is convinced that responsibility for 9/11 extends beyond alQaida. She and sister-inlaw Joann Massaroli find suspicions of Saudi links compelling, and they lament that important questions have been left unanswered.

“To see us get to the bottom of the financial paper trail … would give me tremendous satisfaction,” Joann Massaroli says. “To me, those pages hold something that’s going to be revealing.”

Republican President George W. Bush decided releasing the pages could divulge intelligence sources and methods. Former Rep. Tim Roemer, a Democrat who has viewed the document, has likened it to a “preliminary police report,” including unvetted tips and allegations that later were investi- gated.

The congressional inquiry, the subsequent 9/11 Commission, a review commission and a CIA inspector general report last year found no reliable evidence that the Saudi government or senior officials knowingly supported the 19 hijackers, 15 of them Saudi citizens.

The Saudi government vociferously denies involvement and says it would welcome release of the 28 pages to clear the air.