This Memorial Day weekend, we in America honor those who tragically lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks as well as the thousands of American citizens killed serving in the conflicts that followed.

The 9/11 attacks were the deadliest terror event in American history and affected countless families, yet the public is consistently denied crucial information on the role Saudi Arabia may have played in the terror plot.

Along with the Universal Human Rights International, I am calling on President Barack Obama to demonstrate America’s commitment to democracy and transparency by immediately declassifying the 28 classified pages of the 9/11 Report, which outline the potential role Saudi Arabia may have played in financing the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

We cannot fully honor the dead while keeping secret the role of sponsors of the 9/11 terrorists. By ending the decades of unnecessary secrecy and declassifying the 28 pages of the 9/11 Report detailing the role of Saudi Arabia in the deadliest terror attack in America’s history, President Obama will promote democracy and transparency in countries around the world while helping to reduce the flow of money to terrorist groups.

According to both the Bush and Obama Administrations, protecting America’s national security has been the rationale for the continued classification of the 28 pages. However, after a decade of secrecy surrounding the report, Saudi Arabia continues to be the primary ideological and financial sponsor of the Islamic State. Saudi money has helped facilitate deadly terror attacks in California, France and Belgium, as well as the continued beheadings of ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia needs to be held accountable for its continued financing of terrorist groups responsible for creating a refugee crisis and killing thousands of people around the world. Refusing to declassify the 28 pages, which may implicate Saudi Arabia in the financing of the 9/11 attacks, simply allows the cycle of terrorism to continue. Declassifying these documents, however, would either absolve Saudi Arabia from the lingering international suspicions or draw attention to the Saudis’ financing of terrorism. This would put significant pressure on Saudi Arabia to stop facilitating the deaths of innocent people.

Economic backlash is another reason often cited by supporters of continued classification. In a recent visit to Washington, as reported by the New York Post, Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, warned that any action taken by the United States to hold Saudi Arabia in any way accountable for the 9/11 attacks would result in the country selling “$750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.”

If Saudi Arabia is innocent, it has nothing to fear from the declassification of the 28 pages, meaning the decision to do so would in no way impact our economy. If, however, the pages reveal Saudi Arabia did play a role in financing 9/11, allowing them to hide this misdeed by making economic threats is, frankly, an insult to the American people. The lives of American citizens must take precedent over protecting the reputation of a theocratic kingdom or threats of economic instability.

Another justification for maintaining the cover-up of the role of Saudi Arabia in the 9/11 attack is fear that exposure of the Saudis would amount to attacking Islam. Although Saudi Arabia’s religion and government are intertwined and the Saudis host the holiest sites of the Islamic faith, exposing the role of Saudi Arabia in the killing of innocent Americans during the 9/11 terrorist attacks cannot possibly constitute an attack on Islam.

In fact, declassification would be a service to Muslims worldwide. Covering up potentially incriminating evidence about the role of Saudi Arabia in facilitating 9/11 simply shifts the blame to innocent people and spurs actions that harm Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and American soldiers killed fighting in the wrong country for the wrong reasons. Exposing the true financiers of the 9/11 terror attacks would show America’s commitment to genuine justice and help to clarify the reasons behind our military actions in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia may be a strong ally of the United States in the Middle East, but if they did play a part in the tragic events on 9/11, continuing to withhold that information from the American public only benefits Saudi Arabia. Potentially allowing Sadia Arabia to continue financing terror simply because of economic threats or concerns about damaging the country’s reputation constitutes a grave disservice to the entire world.

We call on all Americans to ask their members of Congress to please take time and read the classified 28 pages of the 9/11 Report and join the Universal Human Rights International and the growing chorus of lawmakers calling for an immediate declassification of the 28 pages. This decision represents a real chance to honor the lives of American citizens lost because of the 9/11 attacks and to take real steps to stop the financing of terror on a global scale.

Featured photo courtesy of Nicolas Loubet