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Laura PourMeADrink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:02 PM
Original message
FBI must correct disclosures on evacuation of Saudis after 9/11
Edited on Mon Nov-20-06 08:22 PM by Laura PackYourBags
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Judge_orders_FBI_to_correct_disclosures_1120.html

Judge: FBI must correct disclosures on evacuation of Saudis after 9/11

RAW STORY
Published: Monday November 20, 2006

A U.S. district court judge has ordered the FBI to correct disclosures regarding the US government's evacuation of Saudi royals and bin Laden family members after the September 11 attacks in 2001, a conservative, non-partisan group announced today.

"Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Roberts of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to submit 'proper disclosures' to the Court and Judicial Watch by December 15, 2006 concerning the U.S. government's evacuation of Saudi royals and members of the bin Laden family from the United States immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks," the group said in a press release obtained by RAW STORY.

Judicial Watch notes that Judge Roberts criticized "the adequacy of redaction descriptions, the accuracy of the sworn statement submitted with the documents, the validity of exemption claims, and other errors in the FBI’s disclosures.

"The FBI’s 220-page annotated production and accompanying … Declaration together do not, as they must, provide sufficient detail or precision about the withheld information … the FBI’s motion for summary judgment will be denied and the FBI will be directed to file disclosures that fairly meet the requirements of ," wrote Judge Roberts.

Judge Roberts added that one particular FBI exemption argument "strains credulity."

According to Judicial Watch, US government documents reveal that 160 Saudis flew from the US between September 11 and September 15, 2001.

(A 19-page PDF of the Court's opinion can be read at this link
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NOLADEM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:05 PM
Response to Original message
1. Kicked, Recommended, Bookmarked
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NotGivingUp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 09:12 AM
Response to Reply #1
61. Wondering why i'm not reading about this in my morning paper!
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Viva_La_Revolution Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:10 PM
Response to Original message
2. bout time!
K & R
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Spazito Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:15 PM
Response to Original message
3. Wow! This is going to get VERY interesting!
If the documents, as Judicial Watch says, state there were flights ON Sept 11 and continued through until the 15th, this proves they were flying while thousands of American citizens were stranded around the world because THEY were not allowed to fly!

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Scairp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:25 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. Right
And when Michael Moore put this fact in his movie, he was roundly criticized for being wholly incorrect about the actual dates they flew all of those people out of this country. I wonder if anyone will apologize to him.:sarcasm:
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jarnocan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 10:01 PM
Response to Reply #6
12. I know I feel so angry about all those selfrighteous freeper-creep types.
but most won't apologize, they won't pay attention to this- and it likely will be under reported anyway.
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ClintonTyree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 06:33 AM
Response to Reply #6
56. Well, if George Bush allowed flights like these to take place....
then he must have had a very good reason and it's not for us to second guess him. I'm sure it's all quite innocent and has nothing at all to do with the close ties between the Bush family, the Bin Ladens and the House of Saud. :sarcasm:

Nothing to see here citizen, keep moving.

My first thought was of Moore's film as well. The Reich-Wing jumped all over that little bit of information, calling Moore a liar and worse. Aren't these nabobs just a LITTLE bit interested about the reasons Bush let the prime suspect's friends and family flee the country when no one else could board and aircraft? :shrug: I guess not. When 'group think' takes hold all reason flies out the door and their blind allegiance to Bush and his henchmen becomes their only priority. :grr:
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Laura PourMeADrink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:18 PM
Response to Original message
4. 19-page PDF court opinion link
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UpInArms Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:22 PM
Response to Original message
5. When there is a groundswell demaning the truth....
The 9/11 commission should ask who authorized the evacuation of Saudi nationals in the days following the attacks

By Craig Unger | April 11, 2004

IN ITS TOUGH QUESTIONING of Richard Clarke and Condoleezza Rice, the 9/11 commission has already shown itself to be more resolute than some skeptics predicted. Many Americans now realize that multiple warnings of an Al Qaeda attack on American soil crossed the desks of Bush administration officials in the months leading up to 9/11. The administration's previously unchallenged narrative has begun to unravel.

But when hearings resume on Tuesday, we may learn exactly how tough the commission is prepared to be. This time the stars will be Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert S. Mueller III, among others. When they testify -- especially Mueller -- we will see whether or not the commission has the stomach to address what may be the single most egregious security lapse related to the attacks: the evacuation of approximately 140 Saudis just two days after 9/11.

This episode raises particularly sensitive questions for the administration. Never before in history has a president of the United States had such a close relationship with another foreign power as President Bush and his father have had with the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud. I have traced more than $1.4 billion in investments and contracts that went from the House of Saud over the past 20 years to companies in which the Bushes and their allies have had prominent positions -- Harken Energy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group among them. Is it possible that President Bush himself played a role in authorizing the evacuation of the Saudis after 9/11? What did he know and when did he know it?

Let's go back to Sept. 13, 2001, and look at several scenes that were taking place simultaneously. Three thousand people had just been killed. The toxic rubble of the World Trade Center was still ablaze. American airspace was locked down. Not even Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who were out of the country, were allowed to fly home. And a plane bearing a replacement heart for a desperately ill Seattle man was forced down short of its destination by military aircraft. Not since the days of the Wright Brothers had American skies been so empty.

<snip>

The plane taking off from Tampa was the first of at least eight aircraft that began flying across the country, stopping in at least 12 American cities and carrying at least 140 passengers out of the country over the next week or so. The planes included a lavishly customized Boeing 727 airliner that was equipped with a master bedroom suite, huge flat-screen TVs, and a bathroom with gold-plated fixtures. Many of the passengers were high-ranking members of the royal House of Saud. About 24 of them were members of the bin Laden family, which owned the Saudi Binladin Group, a multibillion-dollar construction conglomerate.

...more...

and

http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA3F78EFSC.html">Phantom Flight From Florida

By KATHY STEELE [email protected]
Published: Oct 5, 2001

TAMPA - The twin-engine Lear jet streaked into the afternoon sky, leaving Tampa behind but revealing a glimpse of international intrigue in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on America.

The federal government says the flight never took place.

But the two armed bodyguards hired to chaperon their clients out of the state recall the 100-minute trip Sept. 13 quite vividly.

In the end, the son of a Saudi Arabian prince who is the nation's defense minister and the son of a Saudi army commander made it to Kentucky for a waiting 747 and a trip to their homeland.

The hastily arranged flight out of Raytheon Airport Services, a private hangar on the outskirts of Tampa International Airport, was anything but ordinary. It lifted off the tarmac at a time when every private plane in the nation was grounded due to safety concerns after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Local and federal authorities will say little about the flight.

``It's not in our logs ... it didn't occur,'' said Chris White, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's regional office in Atlanta.

...more...
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SlavesandBulldozers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:48 PM
Response to Original message
7. keep this one kicked folks.
i always like to mention this little tidbit when dumb bastards talk to me about Mr tough on terra.
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Ian David Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:59 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. Maybe their Frequent Flier miles were going to expire on 9/13? n/t
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Spazito Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 08:50 PM
Response to Original message
8. Here is Richard Clarke's testimony on this....
from the 9/11 Commission:

CLARKE: You're absolutely right that the Saudi Arabian government did not cooperate with us significantly in the fight against terrorism prior to 9/11. Indeed, it didn't really cooperate until after bombs blew up in Riyadh.

Now, as to this controversy about the Saudi evacuation aircraft, let me tell you everything I know, which is that in the days following 9/11 -- whether it was on 9/12 or 9/15, I can't tell you -- we were in a constant crisis management meeting that had started the morning of 9/11 and ran for days on end. We were making lots of decisions, but we were coordinating them with all the agencies through the video teleconference procedure.

CLARKE: Someone -- and I wish I could tell you, but I don't know who -- someone brought to that group a proposal that we authorize a request from the Saudi embassy. The Saudi embassy had apparently said that they feared for the lives of Saudi citizens because they thought there would be retribution against Saudis in the United States as it became obvious to Americans that this attack was essentially done by Saudis, and that there were even Saudi citizens in the United States who were part of the bin Laden family, which is a very large family, very large family.

The Saudi embassy therefore asked for these people to be evacuated; the same sort of thing that we do all the time in similar crises, evacuating Americans.

The request came to me and I refused to approve it. I suggested that it be routed to the FBI and that the FBI look at the names of the individuals who were going to be on the passenger manifest and that they approve it -- or not.

I spoke with at that time the number two person in the FBI, Dale Watson, and asked him to deal with this issue.

The FBI then approved -- after some period of time, and I can't tell you how long -- approved the flight.

Now, what degree of review the FBI did of those names, I cannot tell you. How many people there are on the plane, I cannot tell you.

But I have asked since: Were there any individuals on that flight that in retrospect the FBI wishes they could have interviewed in this country. And the answer I've been given is no, that there was no one who left on that flight who the FBI now wants to interview.

ROEMER: Despite the fact that we don't know if Dale Watson interviewed them in the first place.

CLARKE: I don't think they were ever interviewed in this country.

ROEMER: So they were not interviewed here. We have all their names. We don't know if there has been any follow up to interview those people that were here and flown out of the country.

CLARKE: The last time I asked that question, I was informed that the FBI still had no desire to interview any of these people.

ROEMER: Would you have a desire to interview some of these people that...

CLARKE: I don't know who they are.

ROEMER: We don't know who they are...

CLARKE: I don't know who they are. The FBI knew who they were because they...

ROEMER: Given your confidence in your statements on the FBI, what's your level of comfort with this?

CLARKE: Well, I will tell you in particular about the ones that get the most attention here in the press, and they are members of the bin Laden family.

CLARKE: I was aware, for some time, that there were members of the bin Laden family living in the United States.

And, let's see, in open session I can say that I was very well aware of the members of the bin Laden family and what they were doing in the United States. And the FBI was extraordinarily well aware of what they were doing in the United States. And I was informed by the FBI that none of the members of the bin Laden family, this large clan, were doing anything in this country that was illegal or that raised their suspicions.

And I believe the FBI had very good information and good sources of information on what the members of the bin Laden family were doing.

ROEMER: I've been very impressed with your memory, sitting through all these interviews the 9/11 commission has conducted with you. I press you, again, to try to recall how this request originated. Who might have passed this on to you at the White House situation room? Or who might have originated that request for the United States government to fly out -- how many people in this plane?

CLARKE: I don't know.

ROEMER: We don't know how many people were on a plane that flew out of this country. Who gave the final approval, then, to say yes, you're clear to go, it's all right with the United States government to go to Saudi Arabia?

CLARKE: I believe, after the FBI came back and said it was all right with them, we ran it through the decision process for all of these decisions we were making in those hours, which was the Interagency Crisis Management Group on the video conference.

I was making or coordinating a lot of decisions on 9/11 and 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. Since you pressed me, the two possibilities that are most likely are either the Department of State, or the White House Chief of Staff's Office. But I don't know.

ROEMER: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20349-2004Mar24.html
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BillORightsMan Donating Member (921 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 09:01 PM
Response to Original message
10. Who is Judicial Watch?
And why are THEY so interested in the Saudis?

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Watch">Wiki:

  • The group uses litigation as its primary tool and came to public attention after filing eighteen lawsuits against the administration of Democratic U.S. President Bill Clinton and figures in the Clinton administration.
  • They have also received a great deal of funding from Clinton critics, including $7.74 million from conservative anti-Clinton billioniare Richard Mellon Scaife.
  • Judicial Watch receieves funding from mainly conservative sources. In 2002, Judicial Watch received $1.1 million from The Carthage Foundation and a further $400,000 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation. The year before the Scaife Foundation gave $1.35 million and Carthage $500,000.
  • Condemning as "murder" the death of Terri Schiavo, who lived for 15 years in a diagnosed persistent vegetative state and whose husband wished to allow to die.



But, Judicial Watch has also

  • Calling for Republican Tom DeLay to step down as House Majority Leader calling his actions on Medicare "inappropriate" and "unacceptable".
  • Filing a lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton for alleged fraudulent accounting practices.
  • today's actions about the Saudi flights


More information on Richard Mellon Scaife and who he supports at Political Friendster including

  • Heritage Foundation
  • Hoover Institute
  • Cato Institute
  • PNAC
  • "Accuracy" in Media
  • Swift Boat Veterans For Truth


Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

:patriot:
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OnyxCollie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 10:44 PM
Response to Reply #10
14. Judicial Watch is a puzzler.
Edited on Mon Nov-20-06 10:45 PM by blackops
They had made some comments regarding warrantless wiretapping to which I had concurred. I was surprised later when I found out about their right wing leanings. Their agenda generates some cognitive dissonance.
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NVMojo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 10:53 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. I agree about Judicial Watch, I agree with their positions quite a bit ..
Good to see they are pursuing this. It's utter bullshit that Americans were given such second rate treatment while we let these people fly out of the country during such an event ...total freaking bullshit but not as bad as ignoring it.
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Recursion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 11:07 PM
Response to Reply #14
17. I don't know if it's cognitive dissonance
They are conservative. Actually conservative. That is, they profoundly distrust the government. They profoundly distrusted Big Dog, now they profoundly distrust *co. At least it's consistent, and frankly it's good to have the *actual* conservative voice heard, if only to keep the rest of us honest.
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Recursion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 11:05 PM
Response to Reply #10
16. Judicial watch is like a hungry crocodile
Very dangerous, but quite useful if pointed in the right direction.
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nashville_brook Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 09:57 PM
Response to Original message
11. holy crap -- didn't think we'd ever see the Saudi flights investigated
michael moore took a lot of flack for spotlighting this info. it's an amazing vector in the whole 9-11 saga. big kick!
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Laura PourMeADrink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 11:40 PM
Response to Reply #11
20. me too - there is so much - it's easy to forget. I knew we should
have cataloged all Bush's crimes - actually assign a Dewey Decimal system number.
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Lochloosa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 10:08 PM
Response to Original message
13. K/R
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Recursion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 11:07 PM
Response to Original message
18. Wondering if this will be dungeoned... 5... 4... 3...
2...
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Javaman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 09:33 PM
Response to Reply #18
49. Saudi who? nt
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Raster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 11:36 PM
Response to Original message
19. On board one of those flights was a Saudi royal that some suspect may
have had ties to the hijackers or may even have been able to fill in some of the blanks. Upon landing in Saudi Arabia, he was hustled away and was declared DEAD several days later.

Dungeon 9/11 all you like. The facts tell us the truth is nowhere near being told.

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Laura PourMeADrink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-20-06 11:41 PM
Response to Reply #19
21. interesting. now, I wonder how they'd spin that when it really comes
out to the masses?
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Raster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 12:02 AM
Response to Reply #21
22. Look how this has already been spun. According to some of bushco*,
these flights never happened. Now we know different.
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LynnTheDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 12:04 AM
Response to Original message
23. Just for one second here...IMAGINE CLINTON flying Osama bin Laden's family
members OUT of America, when even FORMER US PRESIDENTS weren't allowed to fly, right after the 911 attacks.

Just IMAGINE what the rightwingnuttery & US "media" would say had it been CLINTON.
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0rganism Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 02:14 AM
Response to Reply #23
26. wait... you mean it wasn't?!?! I heard Clinton flew the planes from Mena himself!
The planes were also loaded to the brim with Colombian cocaine and communist sympathizers from Oxford, and one had a bumper sticker reading, "Clenis is my co-pilot" ;)
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TankLV Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 08:31 PM
Response to Reply #26
48. complete with a Hilliary lesbian love fest orgy that bill photographed...
it's all there in them reports - I swear!!!
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orleans Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 02:13 AM
Response to Reply #23
52. (okay lynn, please share your knowledge and let me know how you
got the font so big. what's the trick to that?)

(and i totally agree w/your post!)
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savemefromdumbya Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 12:15 AM
Response to Original message
24. I wonder who put the clamps on the FBI?
very suspicious
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Phrogman Donating Member (940 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 12:46 AM
Response to Original message
25. Does Saudia Arabia have an extradition treaty with the US?
I don't believe they do.
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Twist_U_Up Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 05:01 AM
Response to Original message
27.  U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Roberts is a B.S. Crazy CTer.
Edited on Tue Nov-21-06 05:02 AM by Twist_U_Up
just sayin


:sarcasm:

edit to add the special effects
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Dystopian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 07:37 AM
Response to Original message
28. K&R!!! n/t
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SpiralHawk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 08:17 AM
Response to Original message
29. How do the Freepers explain BushCo's adoration of the bin Laden family?
I mean, the republicons have been on their knees for their beloved bin Laden's for years and years. And then they like to "pretend" they are patriots.

True love never runs smooth.
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ClintonTyree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 06:57 AM
Response to Reply #29
58. They'd readliy admit that it's all about the oil.....
and that it's a GOOD thing to have a President so closely tied to the families that keep the spigot turned on for us. It's all about our American way of life, you know? :eyes: Never mind that these same people are responsible for much of the terrorism that they so vociferously rail against......we just have to keep that oil coming so they can drive their Hummers, four-wheelers, snowmobiles, boats and such. They never even give it a thought that these are the same people we're fighting in Bush's, "war on terra".
They're not a deep thinking lot, whatever they see on the surface is fine with them......except if there's a Democrat having sex involved. Then they'll spend $70 million turning over every rock in Arkansas to find "the truth". :eyes: They're the worlds biggest hypocrites.
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Cocoa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 08:33 AM
Response to Original message
30. I wonder why the 9/11 Commission didn't do this?
maybe it slipped their minds.
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seemunkee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 10:04 AM
Response to Original message
31. Fuck yeah
This has always pissed me off. I remember hearing about the flights at the time and then it got covered up. While they were allowing the Saudis to get out of the country I was having to find alternate means of getting my mother's body home for burial. The funeral home had already taken her to the airport when everything got grounded.
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SutaUvaca Donating Member (472 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 10:48 AM
Response to Original message
32. Jeebus, Marty and Jonesy!
Once those names are public, and connections figured, people are gonna wanna know, WHO said it's okay to fly them home.

A flood of truth would be cathartic and cleansing.
Justice might even enter the picture.
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Laura PourMeADrink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #32
35. I bet is was papa bush.
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John Q. Citizen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 01:47 PM
Response to Reply #32
38. The truth will out, but justice is a long shot if the past is any indication.
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ClintonTyree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 07:00 AM
Response to Reply #32
59. But who's going to tell everyone?
The Corporate Media? :rofl: This story will never see the light of day in the American "press". They don't want to upset their own apple cart.
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gratuitous Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 10:57 AM
Response to Original message
33. Gloriosky, will the new Congress check into this?
There's going to be a lot on the investigative plate once the Democrats take control in January (I love typing that -- when the Democrats take control in January). I hope they leave a little room for follow-up on this and other 9/11-related events. And this time, interview Bush and Cheney separately and under oath.
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elehhhhna Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 11:48 AM
Response to Original message
34. They stopped in Lexington KY for the night so the Royals could finish bidding
on livestock at the Arabian Horse Auctions

...
While the Keating firm, and those defending the prince, did their best to minimize the charges from Zubaydah, journalist Craig Unger published his own investigation, House of Bush, House of Saud, in which he showed that members of the bin Laden family, and other high-ranking Saudi officials—including Prince Ahmed—were allowed to leave the United States in the week after the 9/11 attacks, most without even being interviewed by the FBI.5

The first flight, on September 13, was a private jet that ferried three young Saudis from Tampa, Florida, to Lexington, Kentucky. In Lexington, they joined Saudi royals attending the thrice-yearly Kneeland auction for racehorses. That is where Prince Ahmed was staying. He had been in Kentucky on September 11, and heard the news of the terror attacks while at breakfast in his hotel, the Griffin Gate Marriott Resort. Two acquaintances were with him. One, Richard Mulhall, the racing manager for Ahmed’s Thoroughbred Corporation, told a friend that the prince was “terribly upset, more surprised than anyone.” Ahmed seemed distraught and immediately dialed out on his cell phone, but did not say whom he called. According to Mulhall, Ahmed kept asking, “Who in the world would be crazy enough to do something like this?” Breakfast was cut short and Ahmed hurriedly returned to his suite. The next day he attended the Kneeland auction and spent $1.2 million on two more Thoroughbreds.

Lexington, Ahmed’s base of operations on September 11, had now become the unofficial gathering spot for other ranking Saudis like the three who flew in from Tampa. According to some in Ahmed’s entourage, the FBI visited the prince on September 13. They interviewed him for nearly an hour in his hotel suite. The FBI refuses still to acknowledge that interview. What is undeniable is that three days later, Ahmed flew out of the U.S. on an opulently fitted 727, returning to Saudi Arabia. Most private planes in U.S. airspace had been grounded, and his was the first personal jet to be allowed an international departure.

The rationale later given by Bush administration officials for allowing
flights like Ahmed’s to leave so quickly after 9/11 was fear of reprisals against bin Laden family members and Saudi royals, since fifteen of the nineteen suicide hijackers had been Saudi. But that does not explain why non-Arab British citizens Jack Rusbridge and Anthony John Stafford were also allowed to board the Lexington-to-London flight. They were two of Ahmed’s employees, serving as everything from chauffeurs to personal security. Rusbridge later told an acquaintance that in light of the terror attacks only days earlier, he was surprised the FBI’s only function prior to departure was to ensure that everyone who boarded the plane had a passport that matched a name on the passenger manifest. The FBI did not, incredibly, cross-check the manifests against all government terror watch lists. In addition, 142 Saudis left on six chartered flights within a week of the attacks, and another 150 ranking officials or royal family members left on commercial jets...

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781588364739&view=excerpt
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lovuian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 10:04 PM
Response to Reply #34
51. I'm confused 140 or 160 flown out the coincidence is
20 highjackers missing???

what was it 140 or 160
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elehhhhna Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 10:13 AM
Response to Reply #51
62. oh my. good question.
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progressoid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 12:31 PM
Response to Original message
36. Oh, c'mon people, it was just 160 Saudis. What's the big deal?




Do I need to add this? :sarcasm:
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woodsgirl Donating Member (61 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 12:54 PM
Response to Reply #36
37. Didn't know
judicial watch was so conservative. Wonder if the real conservatives have grown tired of the bushes. wouldn't want to be in their shoes with the supoena power in the House....Isn't it good karma that John Conyers is going to be the chair of the judicil committee after he couldn't get a decent room to hold hearings on the '04 election fraud.Bradblog has some interesting stats on the '06 election. We won much bigger than is being acknowedged.
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Pastiche423 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 01:51 PM
Response to Reply #37
39. Judicial Watch has always been conservative
as well as a big disappointment.

They tried to get cheney's Energy Task Force papers of 2001 opened. Each judege they took their request to, denied them.

Although JW was able to get a few documents, showing how the neocons had prepared to divy uo Iraq's oil fields two or three years prior to Shock and Awe.

Their suits went no where.
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orleans Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 02:18 AM
Response to Reply #37
53. welcome to du woodsgirl. i see you've been around for just a couple
months so i figured a welcome is still in order. :hi:
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Aviation Pro Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 02:26 PM
Response to Original message
40. Governor-elect Crist.....
...your close up is coming up. Ex-Governor-To-Be Little Monkey Bro, hope you like the weather in Paraguay.
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Ms. Clio Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 02:34 PM
Response to Original message
41. there were royals and Bin Ladens or somebody important in Texas, too, it seems
because a plane flew over my house the night of September 13. I will never forget lying in bed and hearing that solitary drone, after two days of deathly silence.

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kurtyboy Donating Member (968 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 06:25 PM
Response to Reply #41
44. I flew the Evening of September 12th, arrived in NY on the 13th
Edited on Tue Nov-21-06 06:26 PM by kurtyboy
I was working for FEMA at the time, and we flew out of Boeing Field in Seattle. We were on a chartered corporate jet, and it was pretty swanky--I was told it spent part of it's time as the team plane for the Sacremento NBA team. The seats were luxurious, I must say...

There was only one flight attendant for the three-dozen or so of us. She was out of Denver, and said that none of her friends would take the flight, out of fear for their own safety. She was a little frightened herself, and it didn't help when we got joined in the skies by military interceptors (I'm certain they were just happy to see someone else to fly with...). It was very eerie, particularly when I looked out the windows and saw dark skies forever---I fly lots and never experienced an empty sky over CONUS.

We got as far as Omaha, and the pilots put the craft down to take on fuel. We got informed: We needed enough fuel so that when we entered New York airspace, we could make it to Canada, if need be. The airport in Omaha was even eerier than the skies--totally empty, except for the security guard and the ground crew who fueled our airframe. We went inside the terminal while that happened, and found a couple of ice chest full of snacks with a note tha simply read, "Thank you. God speed."

I lost it finally, at that point, and I just lost it again when I typed this..........................................

We flew into a Air National Guard base in upstate, and bussed into the city. The bus we caught? On loan from Attica. Talk about rags to riches....

Anyway, if you heard a plane over your Texas home that night, it may have been ferrying my colleagues from Denton. And people in Denver would have heard a similar thing, and in Georgia, and Massachusetts. Additionally, Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams came from all over, although many of them had to wait until restrictions were lifted a day or two later.

Finally, as response teams, I knew we were at least critical enough to get priority over Clinton and Gore, but I never dreamed we were as important as the bin Ladens. (/sarcasm)
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Ms. Clio Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 06:59 PM
Response to Reply #44
45. it did occur to me that it could be emergency personnel
but I also heard that some Saudi students were whisked away from UT Austin.

That's a very powerful story -- I can see how raising these issues would trigger strong and terrible memories for you. I'm so sorry -- what a dreadful time.
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orleans Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 02:33 AM
Response to Reply #45
54. i was picking my daughter up from school at three in the afternoon on 9/11 &
saw a plane fly overhead. freaked me out big time!
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mitchum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 09:43 PM
Response to Reply #44
50. An incredible story. Thanks for posting it.
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Tiberius Donating Member (798 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 11:06 AM
Response to Reply #44
64. Thanks for sharing that
Wow, that is such a strange experience to be in the skies. Still freaks me out when people say the skies were the emptiest since the beginning of the 20th century.

I wonder what your FEMA colleagues thought when it was rolled into DHS....
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redqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 02:45 PM
Response to Original message
42. Took 'em long enough! n/t
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civildisoBDence Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 05:50 PM
Response to Original message
43. Maybe they were flown to secret CIA prisons for interrogation
No? Straight back to the lap of luxury?

Oh.

Newsprism
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NastyRiffraff Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 07:13 PM
Response to Original message
46. K&R
Wow. Finally. Funny how all these things are starting to come out, ain't it?

Stay tuned.
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lovuian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-21-06 08:14 PM
Response to Original message
47. It took the Dems winning both houses to get this to come up
Where has been Judicial Watch in between time???

I think that the World Court was going to bring this up in the War Crimes Court and our Judicial Congress and whole corrupt system has been lying to the American people. FAA NORAD and otheres what happens when these people come out in droves and announce the TRUTH!!!

Michael Moore has been right along
ashcroft is the criminal here this was OUR FBI who did this
APPALING!!!
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orleans Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 02:36 AM
Response to Original message
55. thanks for posting this. i'd recommend but ... it's too late! (sob) n/t
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Blue_Tires Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 06:41 AM
Response to Original message
57. TTT n/t
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sarcasmo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 08:55 AM
Response to Original message
60. Kick.
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saigon68 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-22-06 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
63. The Chimp's "Saudi Scum"
Floats on the top of the bowl
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