A very interesting read, thanks a lot.
Full agreement.Still, assuming the Saudi officials are innocent, keeping this secret has simply made it worse. And if some of the officials are guilty, then they need to be held responsible.
There was absolutely no point in keeping Saudi involvement 'secret' all through 2001-2008 period: anybody with at least a trace of clue about US-Saudi relations knew they were, while those Saudis that wanted to do so were just given years of time to continue making troubles (or at least financing those who did so). ...which they would've been unable to do, if sacked on time.
There's even less so a reason to keep this secret ever since.
I - and I'm surely the first to admit I'm poorly informed about what's up in the USA - have first heard of this report in... must've been in late 2012 or early 2013... around the time Prince Bandar was sacked from all of his positions. Back then the story was that he was sacked (and Saudis didn't get deeper involved in Syria) in exchange for keeping this report back.
From my POV, that was little else but treachery (treachery of the US government against its own people): absolutely nothing in US interest.
Indeed, considering probable repercussions at earlier times (say: before 2012, when it would've likely caused sacking of nearly all the top royals too, and their replacement by more sane people), it was counter-productive and not the least in Saudi interests either.
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