NYT: White House Approved Departure of Saudis After Sept. 11, Ex-Aide Says

[Nambe]

Top White House officials personally approved the evacuation of dozens of influential Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, from the United States in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when most flights were still grounded, a former White House adviser said today.

The adviser, Richard Clarke, who ran the White House crisis team after the attacks but has since left the Bush administration, said he agreed to the extraordinary plan because the Federal Bureau of Investigation assured him that the departing Saudis were not linked to terrorism. The White House feared that the Saudis could face "retribution" for the hijackings if they remained in the United States, Mr. Clarke said.

The fact that relatives of Mr. bin Laden and other Saudis had been rushed out of the country became public soon after the Sept. 11 attacks. But questions have lingered about the circumstances of their departure, and Mr. Clarke's statements provided the first acknowledgment that the White House had any direct involvement in the plan and that senior administration officials personally signed off on it.

Mr. Clarke first made his remarks about the plan in an article in Vanity Fair due out Thursday, and he expanded on those remarks today in an interview and in Congressional testimony. The White House said today that it had no comment on Mr. Clarke's statements. ---

Privatize bush It’s a Good Thing

[kainah]

1. Is there a trend developing for the second anniversary?

Is the press, perhaps, going to tell some of the stories they should have been reporting on 9/12/01?

[TruthIsAll]

13. No. The WH did that? Really? You're kidding. Impossible. And we

are just finding out now! It must be true. The NYT says so.

Wait a minute. I seem to recall a discussion about this in Sept. 2001...RIGHT HERE ON DU!

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. At the very least,

this is just another example for the inequality between the rich and the poor in this country. Poor Arabs had just as much chance of "retribution" as wealthy Saudis.

At the very worst... well, I'm not even going to go there.

[MoonAndSun]

3. WOW, is the NYTimes really reporting this story??

If I hadn't just read it off their website I would never have believed it.

The fact that they have pointed the finger to the White House should make this another nail in bush*'s coffin.

We'll have to wait and see how the network news picks up on this. I don't care about the cable shows, Tweety, Wolfie, etc. Most Americans still get their nightly news from the Big 3 and if this is reported it should make a big splash.

[LauraK]

4. Oops! The WH knew who was innocent on 9/11.

Turn that coin over and you get the FBI busting guilty people within hours. So many facts, so few explanations.

[proud patriot]

5. The scottsman this morning NYT tonight Woooooo Hooooo

Anyone who supports bush is a traitor to the security of our nation .

[arcane1]

10. amen, sister!

"Anyone who supports bush is a traitor to the security of our nation"

:hi:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. Just goes to show you Snopes can be full of shit

and didn't they (admin) already deny that this happened?

[MoonAndSun]

8. I wonder how snopes.com will respond to this, NSMA...

they were adamant that this was not the correct story. We shall see how this plays out.

[w4rma]

14. My "comment" to Snopes

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flight.htm
http://www.snopes.com/cgi-bin/comments/comments.asp
http://www.snopes.com/message/

Here is new information, hot off the press from the New York Times pertaining to:

Flight of Fancy
Claim: Two days after September 11 -- while all other planes were grounded -- a secret flight arranged by George W. Bush flew Osama bin Laden's relatives out of the USA.
Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flight.htm

White House Approved Departure of Saudis After Sept. 11, Ex-Aide Says

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 — Top White House officials personally approved the evacuation of dozens of influential Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, from the United States in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when most flights were still grounded, a former White House adviser said today.

The adviser, Richard Clarke, who ran the White House crisis team after the attacks but has since left the Bush administration, said he agreed to the extraordinary plan because the Federal Bureau of Investigation assured him that the departing Saudis were not linked to terrorism. The White House feared that the Saudis could face "retribution" for the hijackings if they remained in the United States, Mr. Clarke said.
…
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flight.htm

IMHO, the status should be changed to True.

[Octafish]

7. First things first: Louis Freeh, you're under arrest.

Then, soon: "George W Bush, a jury of your peers has found you guilty of treason..."

EDIT: punctuation

[Nottingham]

9. Well It looks like that is a CONFIRM! New YorK times!Finally!

Its so good that the American News is finally catching up!

This is a Major Major Break through! :bounce:

I sent this to my Republican Friend! :bounce:

[paulthompson]

11. Here's the link, more info

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/04/politics/04SAUD.html?ex=1063252800&en=808be44ae0b6c3aa&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Check this paragraph out from the article:

"Mr. Schumer said in an interview that he suspected that some of the Saudis who were allowed to leave, particularly two relatives of Mr. bin Laden who he said had links to terrorist groups themselves, could have shed light on the events of Sept. 11."

And then check out this entry from my 9/11 Timeline for more on these two:

September 11, 1996: An FBI investigation into two relatives of bin Laden, begun in February 1996, is closed. The FBI wanted to learn more about Abdullah bin Laden, "because of his relationship with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) - a suspected terrorist organization." (Guardian, 11/7/01) Abdullah was the US director of WAMY and lived with his brother Omar in Falls Church, Virginia, a town just outside Washington. The coding on the document, marked secret, indicates the case involved espionage, murder, and national security. WAMY has its offices at 5613 Leesburg Pike. Remarkably, it is later determined that four of the 9/11 hijackers lived at 5913 Leesburg Pike at the same time the two bin Laden brothers were there. WAMY has not been put on a list of terrorist organizations in the US, but it has been banned in Pakistan. (BBC Newsnight, 11/6/01, Guardian, 11/7/01) The Bosnian government later says a charity with Abdullah bin Laden on its board had channeled money to Chechen guerrillas, something that "is only possible because the Clinton CIA gave the wink and nod to WAMY and other groups who were aiding Bosnian guerrillas when they were fighting Serbia, a US-approved enemy." The investigation into WAMY is only restarted two days after 9/11, and after the bin Laden brothers have left the US. (Best Democracy Money Can Buy, by Greg Palast, 2/03)

So even while the FBI was arresting Muslims, including literally by looking up random names in the phone book, they were letting go two bin Laden relatives that they knew from a previous investigation had direct ties to al-Qaeda. They restart an investigation into these two the same day they let them leave the country!

But these two were not the only bin Laden relatives with such ties. Here are a few more timeline entries:

February 2001 (B): A former CIA anti-terror expert later claims that an allied intelligence agency sees "two of Osama's sisters apparently taking cash to an airport in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), where they are suspected of handing it to a member of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization." This is cited as one of many incidents showing an "interconnectedness" between Osama bin Laden and the rest of his family. (New Yorker, 11/5/01)

February 26, 2001: Bin Laden attends the wedding of his son Mohammad in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Although bin Laden is supposedly long estranged from his family, bin Laden's stepmother, two brothers and sister are also said to have attended, according to the only journalist who was invited. (Reuters, 3/1/01, Sunday Herald, 10/7/01)

July 4-14, 2001: Bin Laden, America's most wanted criminal with a $5 million bounty on his head, supposedly receives lifesaving treatment for renal failure from American surgeon specialist Dr. Callaway at the American hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He is possibly accompanied by al-Qaeda #2 Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri plus several bodyguards. Callaway later refuses to answer any questions on this matter. (Le Figaro, 10/31/01, Agence France-Presse, 11/1/01, London Times, 11/01/01) During his stay, bin Laden is visited by "several members of his family and Saudi personalities," including Prince Turki al Faisal, then head of Saudi intelligence, as well as two CIA officers. (Guardian, 11/1/01)

[paulthompson]

12. Speaking of Snopes

I've sent Snopes this link:

The Phantom Flight from Florida
The Tampa Tribune, October 5, 2001

http://www.unansweredquestions.org/timeline/2001/tampatribune100501.html

and other such links, but they've always refused to change their "urban legend" page. Read the above link if you want to know more details on these mysterious flights.

[Virginian]

17. Details and trivia about that location.

"and lived with his brother Omar in Falls Church, Virginia, a town just outside Washington. The coding on the document, marked secret, indicates the case involved espionage, murder, and national security. WAMY has its offices at 5613 Leesburg Pike. Remarkably, it is later determined that four of the 9/11 hijackers lived at 5913 Leesburg Pike at the same time the two bin Laden brothers were there."

The specific region of Falls Church where these addresses are located is called Bailey's Crossroads. This area has a dense concentration of new immigrants from all over the world, most of whom do not speak English. It also boasts one of the few mosques in the area.

A little tidbit of trivia: The WAMY office was next to what was once the Alexandria Airport, but the "Skyline" has changed significantly since it closed in the 1960s. One of the residential highrise buildings, developed on land that was once the airport, had a portion collapse during construction in the 1970s.

[Democat]

15. Right wingers said that Michael Moore made that up

Even Snopes (who seems to defend Bush more often than not) said it wasn't true.

I guess Michael Moore bashers have some appologizing to do.

[VolcanoJen]

16. Dupe... locking

Although the reports are from different stories, this is esssentially the same story that was first posted here on LBN:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=95261

Nambe, you New York Times link would be helpful within the earlier thread.

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator