The FBI knew for years that Saudi diplomats were helping fugitives in the US. Here's why they looked
The FBI knew for years that Saudi diplomats were helping fugitives in the US. Here's why they looked the other way.
*Saudi Arabia has repeatedly helped Saudi citizens evade prosecutors and the police in the United States and flee back to their homeland after being accused of serious crimes here.
*The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have been aware of the Saudi actions for at least a decade.
*But successive American administrations have avoided confronting the Riyadh government out of concern that doing so might jeopardize Saudi cooperation in the fight against Islamist terrorism.
The government of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly helped Saudi citizens evade prosecutors and the police in the United States and flee back to their homeland after being accused of serious crimes here, current and former US officials said.
The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies have been aware of the Saudi actions for at least a decade, officials said. But successive American administrations have avoided confronting the government in Riyadh out of concern that doing so might jeopardize US interests, particularly Saudi cooperation in the fight against Islamist terrorism, current and former officials said.
"It's not that the issue of Saudi fugitives from the US wasn't important," said retired FBI agent Jeffrey Danik, who served as the agency's assistant legal attache in Riyadh from 2010 to 2012. "It's that the security relationship was so much more important. On counterterrorism, on protecting the US and its partners, on opposing Iran, the Saudis were invaluable allies.
American officials said Saudi diplomats, intelligence officers, and other operatives have assisted in the illegal flight of Saudi fugitives, most of them university students, after they were charged with crimes including rape and manslaughter. The Saudis have bailed the suspects out of jail, hired lawyers to defend them, arranged their travel home and covered their forfeited bonds, the officials said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-knew-that-saudi-diplomats-were-helping-fugitives-the-us-2019-4?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=mobile&referrer=twitter
= new reply since forum marked as read
say shit because they might help us get the terrorists they themselves created and trained. That right there is a sign of a healthy relationship. 
