Reply #3: Archive of original (and only?) article from October 5, 2001

[soup]

>snip<
Grossi said he was told the clearance came from the White House after the prince's family pulled a favor from former President Bush. Prince Sultan, the Saudi defense minister, was part of the coalition that fought the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

To the United States, Saudi Arabia is a key component in the emerging coalition of nations in the war on terrorism.

The White House referred questions on the trip to the State Department, which denied involvement, and the National Security Council, which did not return messages.
full article:
http://web.archive.org/web/20011108145853/http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA3F78EFSC.html
note: my emphases added

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and another snip from today's article:

>snip<
Perez, the former FBI agent on the flight, could not be located this week, and Grossi declined to talk about the experience.

"I'm over it," he said in a telephone interview. "The White House, the FAA and the FBI all said the flight didn't happen. Those are three agencies that are way over my head, and that's why I'm done talking about it."

Grossi did say that Unger's account of his participation in the flight is accurate.

The FAA is still not talking about the flights, referring all questions to the FBI, which isn't answering anything, either. Nor is the 9/11 Commission.
>snip<
note: my emphases added
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If Perez is unavailable, Grossi is 'over it', and the FAA, FBI and 911 Commission aren't talking about it, maybe it's time that the source was questioned - "Hey, *jr. you got some splaining to do!"

tinfoil hat is feeling a little looser this morning