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"So these 28
pages I believe are going to come out and I think it's good that
they come out. People shouldn't take them as evidence of Saudi
complicity in the attacks," Brennan said in an interview with
Saudi-owned Arabiya TV, according to a transcript provided by
the network.
The withheld section of the 2002 report is central to a dispute
over whether Americans should be able to sue the Saudi
government, a key U.S. ally, for damages.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill on May 17 allowing the families of
Sept. 11 victims to do so, setting up a potential showdown with
the White House, which has threatened a veto.
Saudi Arabia denies providing any support for the 19 hijackers -
most of whom were Saudi citizens - who killed nearly 3,000
people in the Sept. 11 attacks. Riyadh strongly objects to the
bill.
It has said it might sell up to $750 billion in U.S. securities
and other American assets if it became law.
Brennan called the 28-page section merely a "preliminary
review."
"The 9/11 commission looked very thoroughly at these allegations
of Saudi involvement ... their conclusion was that there was no
evidence to indicate that the Saudi government as an institution
or senior Saudi officials individually had supported the 9/11
attacks," he added.
The Office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence is
reviewing the material to see whether it can be declassified.
Former U.S. Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired the congressional
inquiry into the attacks, said in April that the White House
will likely make a decision by June on whether it would release
the classified pages.
(Reporting By Noah Browning, Sami Aboudi and Ali Abdelatti;
Editing by Kevin Liffey and Paul Simao)
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