FW: [FedUp] will the commission ask the obvious question?
Frances Morey
austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
Sun Apr 11 23:48:10 2004
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And the beat goes on...
Frances
.
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From: "Beverly Veltman" <bveltman@hotmail.com>
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Subject: FW: [FedUp] will the commission ask the obvious question?
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<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV class=RTE>
<P><BR><BR></P></DIV><BR><BR><BR>bveltman@hotmail.com
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: "Dan Thibodeau" <djthibodeau@comcast.net>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: fed_up_with_status_quo@yahoogroups.com
<DIV></DIV>>To: <fed_up_with_status_quo@yahoogroups.com>
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: [FedUp] will the commission ask the obvious question?
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 18:46:04 -0400
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>You're probably aware of this, but this is a good summary article by the
<DIV></DIV>>author of House of Bush, House of Saud:
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Unasked questions
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>The 9/11 commission should ask who authorized the evacuation of Saudi
<DIV></DIV>>nationals in the days following the attacks
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>By Craig Unger, 4/11/2004
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>IN ITS TOUGH QUESTIONING of Richard Clarke and Condoleezza Rice, the 9/11
<DIV></DIV>>commission has already shown itself to be more resolute than some skeptics
<DIV></DIV>>predicted. Many Americans now realize that multiple warnings of an Al Qaeda
<DIV></DIV>>attack on American soil crossed the desks of Bush administration officials
<DIV></DIV>>in the months leading up to 9/11. The administration's previously
<DIV></DIV>>unchallenged narrative has begun to unravel.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>But when hearings resume on Tuesday, we may learn exactly how tough the
<DIV></DIV>>commission is prepared to be. This time the stars will be Attorney General
<DIV></DIV>>John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert S. Mueller III, among others. When
<DIV></DIV>>they testify -- especially Mueller -- we will see whether or not the
<DIV></DIV>>commission has the stomach to address what may be the single most egregious
<DIV></DIV>>security lapse related to the attacks: the evacuation of approximately 140
<DIV></DIV>>Saudis just two days after 9/11.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>This episode raises particularly sensitive questions for the administration.
<DIV></DIV>>Never before in history has a president of the United States had such a
<DIV></DIV>>close relationship with another foreign power as President Bush and his
<DIV></DIV>>father have had with the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud. I have
<DIV></DIV>>traced more than $1.4 billion in investments and contracts that went from
<DIV></DIV>>the House of Saud over the past 20 years to companies in which the Bushes
<DIV></DIV>>and their allies have had prominent positions -- Harken Energy, Halliburton,
<DIV></DIV>>and the Carlyle Group among them. Is it possible that President Bush himself
<DIV></DIV>>played a role in authorizing the evacuation of the Saudis after 9/11? What
<DIV></DIV>>did he know and when did he know it?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Let's go back to Sept. 13, 2001, and look at several scenes that were taking
<DIV></DIV>>place simultaneously. Three thousand people had just been killed. The toxic
<DIV></DIV>>rubble of the World Trade Center was still ablaze. American airspace was
<DIV></DIV>>locked down. Not even Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who were out of the country,
<DIV></DIV>>were allowed to fly home. And a plane bearing a replacement heart for a
<DIV></DIV>>desperately ill Seattle man was forced down short of its destination by
<DIV></DIV>>military aircraft. Not since the days of the Wright Brothers had American
<DIV></DIV>>skies been so empty.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>But some people desperately wanted to fly out of the country. That same day,
<DIV></DIV>>Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the
<DIV></DIV>>United States and a long-time friend of the Bush family, dropped by the
<DIV></DIV>>White House. He and President George W. Bush went out to the Truman Balcony
<DIV></DIV>>for a private conversation. We do not know everything they discussed, but
<DIV></DIV>>the Saudis themselves say that Prince Bandar was trying to orchestrate the
<DIV></DIV>>evacuation of scores of Saudis from the United States despite the lockdown
<DIV></DIV>>on air travel.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Meanwhile, a small plane in Tampa, Fla. took off for Lexington, Ky.
<DIV></DIV>>According to former Tampa cop Dan Grossi and former FBI agent Manny Perez,
<DIV></DIV>>who were on the flight to provide security, the passengers included three
<DIV></DIV>>young Saudis. Given the national security crisis, both Grossi and Perez were
<DIV></DIV>>astonished that they were allowed to take off. The flight could not have
<DIV></DIV>>taken place without White House approval.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>The plane taking off from Tampa was the first of at least eight aircraft
<DIV></DIV>>that began flying across the country, stopping in at least 12 American
<DIV></DIV>>cities and carrying at least 140 passengers out of the country over the next
<DIV></DIV>>week or so. The planes included a lavishly customized Boeing 727 airliner
<DIV></DIV>>that was equipped with a master bedroom suite, huge flat-screen TVs, and a
<DIV></DIV>>bathroom with gold-plated fixtures. Many of the passengers were high-ranking
<DIV></DIV>>members of the royal House of Saud. About 24 of them were members of the bin
<DIV></DIV>>Laden family, which owned the Saudi Binladin Group, a multibillion-dollar
<DIV></DIV>>construction conglomerate.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>All this occurred at a time when intelligence analysts knew that 15 of the
<DIV></DIV>>19 hijackers were Saudi, that Saudi money was one of the major forces behind
<DIV></DIV>>Al Qaeda, and that the prime suspect -- Osama bin Laden -- was Saudi as
<DIV></DIV>>well.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>For its part, the Bush administration has erected the proverbial stone wall
<DIV></DIV>>on the topic of the Saudi evacuation. The White House told me that it is
<DIV></DIV>>"absolutely confident" the Sept. 13 flight from Tampa did not take place.
<DIV></DIV>>The FBI said "unequivocally" it played no role in facilitating any flights.
<DIV></DIV>>The Federal Aviation Administration said that the Tampa-to-Lexington flight
<DIV></DIV>>was not in the logs and did not take place.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>But they are all wrong.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>. . .
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>How can I be sure? I have interviewed not only Dan Grossi and Manny Perez,
<DIV></DIV>>but also sources who helped orchestrate the flights. I tracked down photos
<DIV></DIV>>of the interior of one of the planes. Former counterterrorism czar Richard
<DIV></DIV>>Clarke told me, and later the 9/11 commission, about discussions in the
<DIV></DIV>>White House that allowed the flights to begin.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Clarke says his advice was that the Saudis should be able to leave only
<DIV></DIV>>after they had been vetted by the FBI. A basic procedure in any crime
<DIV></DIV>>investigation is to interview friends and relatives of the primary suspect.
<DIV></DIV>>When I talked to FBI special agents who participated in the Saudi
<DIV></DIV>>evacuation, however, they said that they identified the passengers boarding
<DIV></DIV>>the flights but did not have lengthy interviews with them.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>"Here you have an attack with substantial links to Saudi Arabia," says John
<DIV></DIV>>L. Martin, a former Justice Department official who supervised investigation
<DIV></DIV>>and prosecution of national security offenses for 18 years. "You would want
<DIV></DIV>>to talk to people in the Saudi royal family and the Saudi government,
<DIV></DIV>>particularly since they have pledged cooperation."
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Robert Mueller had taken over at the FBI just one week before 9/11 and
<DIV></DIV>>cannot be held responsible for the bureau's shortcomings before the attacks.
<DIV></DIV>>But he should be asked about the departure of the Saudis. How is it possible
<DIV></DIV>>that this could have happened? Did the White House order the evacuation --
<DIV></DIV>>and thereby interfere in an investigation into the murder of nearly 3,000
<DIV></DIV>>people?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>If such interviews had taken place, investigators might have uncovered a
<DIV></DIV>>trove of intelligence. During the summer of 2001, just a few months before
<DIV></DIV>>9/11, several of the bin Ladens attended the wedding of Osama's son in
<DIV></DIV>>Afghanistan, where Osama himself was present. Carmen bin Laden, an estranged
<DIV></DIV>>sister-in-law of the Al Qaeda leader, has said she suspects many family
<DIV></DIV>>members have continued to aid and abet him. Could the bin Ladens have shed
<DIV></DIV>>light on these assertions? Two relatives, Abdullah and Omar bin Laden, had
<DIV></DIV>>been investigated by the FBI as recently as September 2001 for their ties to
<DIV></DIV>>the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, which has allegedly funded terrorism.
<DIV></DIV>>The 9/11 commission should ask Mueller if they were on board. I have also
<DIV></DIV>>obtained documents showing that Abdullah and Omar were being investigated by
<DIV></DIV>>the FBI in September 2001. Mueller should be asked about the status of that
<DIV></DIV>>investigation.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>The Clinton administration had attempted to crack down on the Saudi funding
<DIV></DIV>>of Islamic charities that funneled money to terrorists. More recently we
<DIV></DIV>>have since had one revelation after another about Saudi royals who
<DIV></DIV>>"inadvertently" funded terrorists. The Commission should ask Mueller if the
<DIV></DIV>>Saudis who were allowed to leave were involved in financing terrorism. How
<DIV></DIV>>could the FBI be sure without seriously interrogating them?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>In addition, I have obtained passenger lists for four of the Saudi
<DIV></DIV>>evacuation flights. (The documents can be seen at my website,
<DIV></DIV>>www.houseofbush.com.) Out of several dozen names on those lists, the most
<DIV></DIV>>astonishing is that of the late Prince Ahmed bin Salman.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>A prominent figure in the Saudi royal family, Prince Ahmed is best known in
<DIV></DIV>>this country as the owner of War Emblem, winner of the 2002 Kentucky Derby.
<DIV></DIV>>But his name is of interest for another reason. As reported last year by
<DIV></DIV>>Gerald Posner in "Why America Slept," Prince Ahmed not only had alleged ties
<DIV></DIV>>to Al Qaeda, but may also have known in advance that there would be attacks
<DIV></DIV>>on 9/11. According to Posner, Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda operative who was
<DIV></DIV>>part of Osama bin Laden's inner circle and was captured in 2002, made these
<DIV></DIV>>assertions when he was interrogated by the CIA. The commission should ask
<DIV></DIV>>Mueller about Zubaydah's interrogation. They should also ask whether the FBI
<DIV></DIV>>interrogated Prince Ahmed before his departure.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>But Prince Ahmed will never be able to answer any questions because not long
<DIV></DIV>>after the CIA interrogation, he died of a heart attack at the age of 43. Yet
<DIV></DIV>>we do know that he was on one of the flights.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>. . .
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>That leaves the question of the White House's participation in expediting
<DIV></DIV>>the departure of so many Saudis who may have been able to shed light on the
<DIV></DIV>>greatest crime in American history.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Is it possible that the long relationship between President Bush's family
<DIV></DIV>>and the House of Saud led Bush to turn a blind eye to the Saudi role in
<DIV></DIV>>Islamic fundamentalist terrorism? Rather than aggressively seeking justice
<DIV></DIV>>for the victims of 9/11, did the president instead authorize the departure
<DIV></DIV>>of rich Saudi royals without even subjecting them to interrogation?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>That may be the most difficult question of all for the commission to tackle.
<DIV></DIV>>If the commission dares to confront this issue, it will undoubtedly be
<DIV></DIV>>accused of politicizing the most important national security investigations
<DIV></DIV>>in American history -- in an election year, no less. If it does not, it
<DIV></DIV>>risks something far worse -- the betrayal of the thousands who lost their
<DIV></DIV>>lives that day, and of the living who want answers.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Craig Unger, the former editor of Boston Magazine, is the author of "House
<DIV></DIV>>of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most
<DIV></DIV>>Powerful Dynasties" (Scribner, March 2004).
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>C Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Dan Thibodeau
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>54 Larkspur Drive
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Amherst, MA 01002
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>413-253-0774
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>djthibodeau@attbi.com
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
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