Bin Laden may have arranged family's US exit: FBI docs

Is anyoen surprised by this? I thought this was common knowledge. And this was NOT the only flight.

I've known about it as well. Seems like our responsible media is JUST NOW getting the memo on this.Will FOX News report this or will they pass on it? Of course, this was one of Michael Moore's issues with Bush in Fahrenheit 911. Shouldn't they have been questioned?

September 13, 2001: Saudi Royals Fly to Kentucky in Violation of Domestic Flight Ban

After a complete air flight ban in the US began during the 9/11 attacks, some commercial flights begin resuming this day. However, all private flights are still banned from flying. Nonetheless, at least one private flight carrying Saudi royalty takes place on this day. And in subsequent days, other flights carry royalty and bin Laden family members. These flights take place even as fighters escort down three other private planes attempting to fly. Most of the Saudi royals and bin Ladens in the US at the time are high school or college students and young professionals. The first flight is a Lear Jet that leaves from a private Raytheon hangar in Tampa, Florida, and takes three Saudis to Lexington, Kentucky. This flight apparently takes place several hours after a private meeting between President Bush and Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the US. Some think the idea of the flights were approved at that meeting (see September 13, 2001). For two years, this violation of the air ban is denied by the FAA, FBI, and White House, and decried as an urban legend except for one article detailing them in a Tampa newspaper. Finally, in 2003, counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke confirms the existence of these flights, and Secretary of State Powell confirms them as well. However, the White House remains silent on the matter. Officials at the Tampa International Airport finally confirm this first flight in 2004. But whether the flight violated the air ban or not rests on some technicalities that remain unresolved. The Saudis are evacuated to Saudi Arabia over the next several days (see September 14-19, 2001).

Entity Tags: Bandar bin Sultan, Bin Laden Family, Federal Aviation Administration, Bush administration, Richard A. Clarke, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Colin Powell


Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

September 14-19, 2001: Bin Laden Family Members, Saudi Royals Quietly Leave US

Khalil bin Laden at the Orlando, Florida, airport, about to be flown out of the country in the days after 9/11. Following a secret flight inside the US that is in violation of a national private airplane flight ban, members of the bin Laden family and Saudi royalty quietly depart the US. The flights are only publicly acknowledged after all the Saudis have left. About 140 Saudis, including around 24 members of the bin Laden family, are passengers in these flights. The identities of most of these passengers are not known. However, some of the passengers include:

The son of the Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan. Sultan is sued in August 2002 for alleged complicity in the 9/11 plot. He is alleged to have contributed at least $6 million since 1994 to four charities that finance al-Qaeda.

Khalil bin Laden. He has been investigated by the Brazilian government for possible terrorist connections.

Abdullah bin Laden and Omar bin Laden, cousins of bin Laden. Abdullah was the US director of the Muslim charity World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). The governments of India, Pakistan, Philippines, and Bosnia have all accused WAMY of funding terrorism. These two relatives were investigated by the FBI in 1996 (see February-September 11, 1996) in a case involving espionage, murder, and national security. Their case is reopened on September 19, right after they leave the country. Remarkably, four of the 9/11 hijackers briefly live in the town of Falls Church, Virginia, three blocks from the WAMY office headed by Abdullah bin Laden.

Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman Hussayen. He is a prominent Saudi official who is in the same hotel as three of the hijackers the night before 9/11. He leaves on one of the first flights to Saudi Arabia before the FBI can properly interview him about this.

Akberali Moawalla. A Pakistani and business partner of Osama’s brother Yeslam bin Laden. In 2000, a transfer of over $250 million was made from a bank account belonging jointly to Moawalla and Osama bin Laden.(see 2000).

There is a later dispute regarding how thoroughly the Saudis are interviewed before they leave and who approves the flights. Counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke says he agrees to the flights after the FBI assures him none of those on board has connections to terrorism and that it is “a conscious decision with complete review at the highest levels of the State Department and the FBI and the White House.” Clarke says the decision to approve the flights “didn’t get any higher than me.” According to Vanity Fair, both the FBI and the State Department “deny playing any role whatsoever in the episode.” However, Dale Watson, the head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, says the Saudis on the planes “ identified, but they not subject to serious interviews or interrogations” before they leave. An FBI spokesperson says the bin Laden relatives are only interviewed by the FBI “at the airport, as they about to leave.” There are claims that some passengers are not interviewed by the FBI at all. Abdullah bin Laden, who stays in the US, says that even a month after 9/11, his only contact with the FBI is a brief phone call. The FBI official responsible for coordinating with Clarke is Assistant Director Michael Rolince, who is in charge of the Bureau’s International Terrorism Operations Section and assumes responsibility for the Saudi flights. Rolince decides that the Saudis can leave after their faces are matched to their passport photos and their names are run through various databases, including some watchlists, to check the FBI has no derogatory information about them.” <9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 196-197, 209 > Numerous experts are surprised that the bin Ladens are not interviewed more extensively before leaving, pointing out that interviewing the relatives of suspects is standard investigative procedure. MSNBC claims that “members of the Saudi royal family met frequently with bin Laden—both before and after 9/11” , and many Saudi royals and bin Laden relatives are being sued for their alleged role in 9/11. The Boston Globe opines that the flights occur “too soon after 9/11 for the FBI even to know what questions to ask, much less to decide conclusively that each Saudi and bin Laden relative an ‘all clear,’ never to be available for questions again.” Senator Charles Schumer (D) says of the secret flights, “This is just another example of our country coddling the Saudis and giving them special privileges that others would never get. It’s almost as if we didn’t want to find out what links existed.”

Entity Tags: World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman Hussayen, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, US Department of State, Richard A. Clarke, al-Qaeda, Michael Rolince, Omar bin Laden, Bin Laden Family, Bush administration, Abdullah bin Laden, Dale Watson, Khalil bin Laden, Charles Schumer, Federal Bureau of Investigation

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a091301phantomflight#a091301phantomflight



PROBE THIS: Sen Bob Graham said two 9/11 hijackers had direct ties to Saudi intelligence
And this was in the 27 classified pages of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11.

This is actually extremely urgent now, considering how badly the Bushies want their war with Iran, Cheney's recent trip to see the Saudis, and America's vulnerability to being hoodwinked by convenient boogeymen again.

KEY EXCERPTS:

9/11 hijackers tied to Saudi government, Graham says in book

By Frank Davies, Knight Ridder | September 5, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers had a support network in the United States that included agents of the Saudi government, and the Bush administration and FBI blocked a congressional investigation into that relationship, Senator Bob Graham wrote in a book to be released Tuesday.

The discovery of the financial backing of the two hijackers "would draw a direct line between the terrorists and the government of Saudi Arabia, and trigger an attempted coverup by the Bush administration," the Florida Democrat wrote.

And in Graham's book, "Intelligence Matters," obtained by The Miami Herald yesterday, he makes clear that some details of that financial support from Saudi Arabia were in the 27 pages of the congressional inquiry's final report that were blocked from release by the administration, despite the pleas of leaders of both parties on the House and Senate intelligence committees.


He oversaw the Sept. 11 investigation on Capitol Hill with Representative Porter Goss. According to Graham, the FBI and the White House blocked efforts to investigate the extent of official Saudi connections to two hijackers.

http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2007/02/probe-this-sen-bob-graham-said-two-911.html

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Updated On: 6/21/07 at 02:43 PM

You know what else? None of this is even mentioned in the 9/11 Report. A report that was supposed to be "bipartisn."

911 Commission? Bipartisn? The same commission that allowed Bush to testify but only if Dick Cheney was with him? They were happy that Bush arranged the time between video games and cartoons to meet with them.

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Updated On: 6/21/07 at 02:57 PM

I think back to those awful days immediately after 9/11 and all the people stranded in odd places who would have loved to get special treatment from the US governement-- like say, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE who was stranded in Canada, unable to get clearance to fly home to his family in Tennesee. I believe he rented a car and drove down to the Clinton home in upstate New York to stay till he could fly again.

And another odd occurrance: George W. Bush's father was meeting with Osama bin Laden's brother, Shafig bin Laden, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Washington, on the morning of 9/11. They were on Carlyle Group business just a few miles from where hijackers supposedly acting on behalf of Osama bin Laden would fly a plane into the Pentagon.

Updated On: 6/21/07 at 03:18 PM

What I think is amazing is Bill Clinton was in Australia. He had to hop a plane and fly here. He was walking the streets of New York the day after comforting the people and being there for them. Meanwhile, Bush is still hiding under his desk peeing his pants. Took the Texas Prairie Monkey about 3 or 4 days to get to ground zero where he talked tough and posed for his photo op. It disgusts me that even back then Bush knew about the Bin Laden's leaving the USA while he is playing the hero. The man makes me sick!

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