The Great Escape (blackout on Saudi flights after 9/11)

[UpInArms]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/01/opinion/01UNGE.html?ex=1086667200&?en=8ea782a3c57f8a68&?ei=5062&?partner=GOOGLE

Americans who think the 9/11 commission is going to answer all the crucial questions about the terrorist attacks are likely to be sorely disappointed — especially if they're interested in the secret evacuation of Saudis by plane that began just after Sept. 11.

We knew that 15 out of 19 hijackers were Saudis. We knew that Osama bin Laden, a Saudi, was behind 9/11. Yet we did not conduct a police-style investigation of the departing Saudis, of whom two dozen were members. of the bin Laden family. That is not to say that they were complicit in the attacks.

Unfortunately, though, we may never know the real story. The investigative panel has already concluded that there is "no credible evidence that any chartered flights of Saudi Arabian nationals departed the United States before the reopening of national airspace." But the real point is that there were still some restrictions on American airspace when the Saudi flights began.

In addition, new evidence shows that the evacuation involved more than the departure of 142 Saudis on six charter flights that the commission is investigating. According to newly released documents, 160 Saudis left the United States on 55 flights immediately after 9/11 — making a total of about 300 people who left with the apparent approval of the Bush administration, far more than has been reported before. The records were released by the Department of Homeland Security in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative, nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington.

...more...

(edited to fix my broken link)

[sundancekid]

1. will be interesting what Michael Moore's documentary will say ...

... any word on the release of Fahrenheit 911 yet????

[LastDemocratInSC]

2. Every good mystery deserves an interesting turn in the plot ...

From "The Hill"

http://www.thehill.com/news/052604/clarke.aspx

-------------

Richard Clarke, who served as President Bush’s chief of counterterrorism, has claimed sole responsibility for approving flights of Saudi Arabian citizens, including members of Osama bin Laden’s family, from the United States immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In an interview with The Hill yesterday, Clarke said, "I take responsibility for it. I don’t think it was a mistake, and I’d do it again."


// skipping down a few paragraphs


"It didn’t get any higher than me," he said. "On 9-11, 9-12 and 9-13, many things didn’t get any higher than me. I decided it in consultation with the FBI."

"I believe after the FBI came back and said it was all right with them, we ran it through the decision process for all these decisions that we were making in those hours, which was the interagency Crisis Management Group on the video conference,” Clarke testified. "I was making or coordinating a lot of the decisions on 9-11 in the days immediately after. And I would love to be able to tell you who did it, who brought this proposal to me, but I don’t know. The two — since you press me, the two possibilities that are most likely are either the Department of State or the White House chief of staff’s office."

-------------

[Democat]

3. Judicial Watch is on the case too

June 3, 2004

From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:

Dear Friends and Supporters:

Yesterday, we sent to the 9/11 Commission documents showing that Saudi nationals were allowed to fly out of the United States in the days immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The documents, which we received through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, were highlighted in a June 1 op-ed in the New York Times by journalist and author Craig Unger. Our documents show that a previously unreported 160 Saudis left on 55 commercial flights between Sept. 11 and 15, 2001. Unger has information about another 142 Saudis who departed the country on six charter flights. (By the way, the documents we uncovered are from just one of the seven agencies we asked for information related to the flights. Click here to view the documents.) There is no evidence that any of the hundreds of Saudis who fled the country, including members of the bin Laden family, were questioned by our government before being allowed to leave. Hopefully, the 9/11 Commission will ask some serious

Related documents:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/archive/2004/homelandsecurity.pdf