We went against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan because they supported Bin Laden. Why can’t we do the same thing with the Saudis, 9/11 survivor William Rodriguez told RT.
The relatives of 9/11 victims have repeatedly demanded a classified Congressional report known as 'the 28 pages' be released, claiming it doesn't pose a security threat and the truth should not be hidden.
RT talked to a survivor of the 9/11 tragedy William Rodriguez, who was working as a janitor at the World Trade Center when the attacks happened. Since he was entrusted with a pass key to the WTC stairwells, he helped hundreds of people escape to safety, and has received several awards for heroism.
RT: Let's talk about these 28 classified pages of the 9/11 report. Why is the government concealing information about one of the biggest tragedies in US history?
William Rodriguez: We have been fighting for this release for the last 15 years when the 9/11 Commission was created and after that probably 12 years we’ve been fighting for the release of these 28 pages. And we have not received any indication that it will happen. Why keeping this information secret for so long, when we have been open on all other levels of information about what happened on 9/11 surprises not only the families of the victims and survivors, but many of the people involved in 9/11 commission itself. We are survivors and we are horrified that this has taken this long to try to get to the truth about what really happened on that day. Why the government is keeping this information, whatever interests…?
RT: Why does President Obama oppose the legislation that would let Americans sue Saudi Arabia over 9/11?
WR: It is obvious that all the interests that are basically manipulating not only the politics of the US, but the economy. When you heard the Saudi government is basically threatening us with $740 billion of dumping assets, it is a clear indication that we don’t control what is going on in our own government. All the governments are basically continuously manipulating what we are doing here. And survivors again are horrified that this is happening. At this point the President has not read yet any of the 28 pages.
RT: You've been interviewed as part of the investigation into the attacks. Tell us about your impressions.
WR: As a personal experience, I was one of the persons who was interviewed - as many other people - by the 9/11 Commission. My testimony was not included in the final report. It was kept as confidential and secret for a long time, maybe it is still so. I have been talking about for the longest… from the very moment I was pulled from the rubble I felt that the government was very nervous about the information that I was giving. And I gathered that if that happened to my testimony, it probably happened to many other testimonies as well. The problem with this is that it created a bunch of conspiracy theories because of their secrecy, because of that confidentiality that they put as secret testimony of so many people that testified for the 9/11 Commission. We still do not know what really happened on 9/11.
RT: Maybe one of the reasons why the things are happening the way they are with the report is because Saudi Arabia is a US ally… Do you agree or disagree with that?
WR: Yes, I agree with that. It seems immoral and unacceptable that they are manipulating our government here [while we are trying] to get to the truth about what happened on 9/11 because several government officials, they didn’t say it was top officials, but they did say they were low level officials. By that probably means that there was a connection with the top level. We don’t know. I’m speculating here. Those people should be held accountable. When this happened we went against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan because they supported Bin Laden. Why can’t we do the same thing with the Saudis? It is a double standard and we, the victims and survivors, do not accept it.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.