Declassified 9/11 Commission interview reveals Bush stance on Saudis, Cheney reaction to downed United plane

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The White House has declassified and released the 9/11 Commission's notes on an interview they held with then-President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in 2004, exploring the situations prior to, during and after the attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

One area of discussion was how the U.S. had been working on counterterrorism prior to the attacks. Bush said that in early 2001 his administration had been working "to change the conditions that caused terror to arise." In particular, Bush mentioned working on relations with Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia.

"This was a difficult problem," the document states, describing what Bush said. The president explained that Crown Prince Abdullah had been unhappy with the U.S. approach to Israel and the Palestinian intifada.

"He was disgruntled with the United States."

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Later in the document, it describes how one of the commissioners noted that "a big issue was the role of the Saudis," citing a report of Saudi imams preaching a message of jihad in Iraq, and Saudi Arabia not giving the U.S. access to a former al Qaeda chief financial officer. The document also mentions how the commissioner "mentioned the belief of an INS inspector who testified… that there was pressure not to interfere with Saudis."

In response to this, Bush gave a candid description of the state of U.S.-Saudi relations at the time.

"The President replied that a fundamental political question for any President was how to deal with the Saudis. There was a sort of split personality there. Some found favor with al Qaeda and the extremists, supporting their radical policies. The U.S. had to have a process to push them to change their ways," the document says.

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Bush went on to explain that the Saudi royal family "was not a monolith," as different members had different beliefs and did not necessarily know what the others were doing. 

"The family was a complex organization, with different power centers," Bush is described as saying.

Bush said he was concerned about Saudi Arabia becoming "an al Qaeda country." More curious was his worry that Saudi Arabia, controlled by Sunnis, would align with Iran, a major Shiite rival.

The discussion reveals how in some ways things have changed and how in others they remain the same. Today, Saudi Arabia is on much better terms with Israel. While they have not reached any formal peace agreement, there have been rumors that one could come in the future. Saudi Arabia has also opened its airspace to Israel. 

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At the same time, how to deal with Saudi Arabia has remained a complex, sensitive matter, as evidenced by recent events. President Biden had said during his campaign that the Arab nation should be treated like a "pariah," only to then travel there over the summer to discuss a variety of issues. The Saudi-led OPEC+ group then decided to severely cut oil production, prompting U.S. officials to threaten to reconsider the relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Despite all that, the two countries remained in cooperation, as evidenced by their sharing of intelligence last week related to a threat of an Iranian attack.

Much of the early portion of the interview dealt with Sept. 11 itself and how Bush and Cheney responded to the news of the attacks as they got more and more information. The discussion included talk about how Bush authorized shooting down a plane if necessary.

President George W. Bush has his early morning school reading event in Sarasota, Florida, interrupted by chief of staff Andrew Card on Sept. 11, 2001, shortly after news of the terrorist attacks was available. (Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images)

"Then they heard that an aircraft was down in Pennsylvania. The Vice President thought we'd shot it down," the document says.

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This, of course, was a reference to United Airlines Flight 93, which famously crashed into the ground when passengers fought back against hijackers, preventing them from carrying out an attack.

There were apparently other occasions where Bush authorized the military to shoot down a plane, but in each situation, "the problem was resolved without shots being fired."