Clarke claims responsibility (for bin Laden family flight after 911)

[Rose Siding]

Clarke claims responsibility -for Bin Laden family flight after 911
Message:
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.”

Most of the 26 passengers aboard one flight, which departed from the United States on Sept. 20, 2001, were relatives of Osama bin Laden, whom intelligence officials blamed for the attacks almost immediately after they happened.

Clarke’s claim of responsibility is likely to put an end to a brewing political controversy on Capitol Hill over who approved the controversial flights of members of the Saudi elite at a time when the administration was preparing to detain dozens of Muslim-Americans and people with Muslim backgrounds as material witnesses to the attacks.

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

[cspiguy]

1. it saddens to see such a powerful one become so obsessed with face-time

to sell his book. He could have apoligized, given his testimony, and sat down for greater historical benefit to the nation.

[displacedtexan]

6. Where did that come from, C spi guy?

Correct me if I'm off base, but your comment is one of the current rightwing talking points.

Maybe I just misunderstood your post.

[GregW]

13. Nah - I think you nailed it.

'nuff said.

[RedEarth]

17. My thoughts exactly.....

That line seems to be straight from Karl.

[0007]

32. A long hard look and then your post - I think you got it right

[LynzM]

2. Um, I thought that he said...

In the hearings that it would have been necessary to have it approved by Bush or Cheney? Perhaps I am remembering wrong? Anybody have more info?

[Kadie]

12. I remember him saying that too.

That he didn't know where the approval came from, but that it would have been from high up.

[lebkuchen]

16. He also didn't know, during the hearings, how many were flown out

or who they were. Essentially, he claimed ignorance.

If it's all "much ado about nothing," then why didn't he just say during the hearings that he was responsible?

[displacedtexan]

3. He sort of wrote that in his book.

But he never said whose idea it was... just that it had been done.

[nycmjkfan]

4. Sarcasm on...

I thought those flights didn't exist?

Then again that Clarke he's a lying opportunist, only out to make a buck on his book. Also what's he doing organizing these flights, he should stick to internet terrorism, which was the ONLY thing he did for the administration.


Did I cover all the Freeper bases?

[GOPBasher]

29. Welcome to DU!

Hello! :hi:

[bullimiami]

5. No Way

That is just not possible.

I believe he may have arranged the flights and took care of logistics.

But he didnt have the authority, motivation or inclination to approve them.

I have no idea why he would say it but I think either he is lying or the story is wrong.

WHY?

[ClassWarrior]

7. Is he trying to put the BinLaden flights into the mainstream?

n/t

[Rose Siding]

10. It seems he did have authority

snip>
In the first minutes after hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, Rice placed Clarke in her chair in the Situation Room and asked him to direct the government's crisis response. The next day, Clarke returned to find the subject changed to Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A13607-2004Mar21?language=printer

What I'm trying to remember is whether anything that came out of his book and testimony stuck hard to Bush. It did give him credibility with Bush oppostition. Now, just as Moore's movie (which highlights Bush/Bin Laden connections, as well as this flight) gets press, Clarke pipes up.

I'm skeptical of his independence at this point.

[Jivenwail]

8. He said in his testimony before the 9/11 commission

That he did not know who approved the flights. But it was not Clarke.

I don't know where this is coming from, but he did not approve the Bin Laden flights of the US. I've read his book and I've seen more than a few interviews with him and this is bunk, whoever is spreading it.

[leetrisck]

9. His testimony and his book say the same

thing - Clarke did not give clearance for them to leave the country - it had to come from higher up - he got the first call & it went from there to where??? Geez, nobody knows. I trust Clarke

[daleo]

11. Denial and/or retraction coming up?

You are right - this doesn't scan.

[Gin]

15. Clarke was in charge that day (9-11).in the next couple days...others

were in charge along with him....the flights went out a few days after 9-11...didn't they?

[gbwarming]

14. He handed it off to FBI, but left the final approval kind of open...

http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing8/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-03-24.htm

<Clarke testimony>
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 the 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.

<snip>

MR. 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"?

MR. 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 that 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 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 of the White House Chief of Staff's Office. But I don't know.

MR. ROEMER: Thank you.

[Momof1]

18. Thats exactly what he said, he had NO IDEA who was on the

flights. He never saw a manifest. He was told it was members of the Bin Laden family. But at his 9/11 testimony he still had no idea actually who was on the flight. The manifest was cleared by the FBI. But he did give final approval for the flight after the FBI signed off.

[Just Me]

31. This inconsistency leaves me,...well, speechless.

The article is rather ambiguous, as well.

Could be that the FBI said, "we have to get these people out because they will be endangered" and Clarke said, "okay, do it". It could be that simple.

I just,...I don't know WTF it is about the obsession with the Saudis who basically created and financed the freakin' radicals who flew planes in the the towers. The BFEE also basically helped to create this radical group.

[Virginian]

19. Sooner of later, Rove "gets to" many of them and they change stories.

BushCo has something on most of these guys and usually makes them change something they said. Then the discrediting begins again.

Clarke's word will be worthless when they get through with him.

[grasswire]

20. read the article...

...the whole thing is very muddy. Someone has been ordered to protect someone else. Cheney is probably at the bottom of it all.

I found this tidbit alarming: "....World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, Rice placed Clarke in her chair in the Situation Room and asked him to direct the government's crisis response."

Are we to understand that SHE would have been directing a crisis response, ordinarily?

Be very afraid.

[robbedvoter]

21. here's Bandar:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4829855   
RUSSERT: Unger wrote about it in The Boston Globe and now his book.  "...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. ... Let's go back to Sept. 13, 2001. ... American air space
was locked down. ... But some people desperately wanted to fly out of
the country.  That same day, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi
Arabian ambassador to the United States, long-time friend of the Bush
family, dropped by the White House.  He and President Bush went out to
the Truman Balcony for a private conversation.  ...the Saudis
themselves say that Prince Bandar was trying to orchestrate the
evacuation of scores of Saudis from the United States despite the
lockdown on air travel." There was a flight from Tampa to Lexington.  A
former Tampa cop, a former FBI agent were on board providing security. 
The passengers included three young Saudis.  "The planes took off from
Tampa with the first of eight aircraft that began flying around the
country, stopping in at least 12 American cities, carrying 140
passengers out of the country over the next week," "24 of whom were
members of the bin Laden family."
Did you talk to President Bush about allowing those Saudi citizens to
go home?
PRINCE BANDAR:  No.
MR. RUSSERT:  You never brought it up.
PRINCE BANDAR:  Period.  But if you allow me, Tim, my only comment
about this--the book and this quote you just read to me, in French,
it's hogwash, number one.  Number two, 9-11 Commission just
declared--let me read to you what they declared.  9-11 Commission
released a statement that says that "The FBI has concluded that
nobody--nobody was allowed to depart on these six flights who the FBI
wanted to interview in connection with 9/11 attacks or who the FBI
later concluded had any involvement in the attack.  The statement also
says that the Saudi flights were screened by law enforcement officials,
primarily FBI, to ensure that people on these flights did not pose a
threat to the national security and that nobody of interest to the FBI
with regard to 9/11 investigation was allowed to leave the country."
Now, the tragedy here, Tim, is that there are people who don't know how
to take yes for an answer.  If the 9-11 Commission says this, if the
FBI says this and you still get people coming up with books saying, but
they smuggled them.
MR. RUSSERT:  But, Prince, here's the question.  This is a photograph
of you with the president down at his Crawford ranch.  He brought his
family.  Alison Walsh of The New Yorker wrote you are almost a member
of the Bush family. That was her interpretation after doing an enormous
amount of research.  And 140 Saudis did leave the United States when
Americans couldn't fly.  The FBI agent--the FBI spokesman, John
Inurelli, said, "I can say unequivocally that the FBI had no role in
facilitating these flights."  Jim Thompson on the 9-11 Commission asked
Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, "Did you, the State
Department authorize this?"  "No, sir."  I asked the vice president of
the United States on this program, did he know anything about it?  "No,
sir."  Hundred and forty Saudis leave the country two days after
September 11, and nobody knows who gave permission.  You don't know
anything about it.  You didn't ask anyone for permission.
PRINCE BANDAR:  No, no, no, no.
MR. RUSSERT:  You didn't facilitate it in any way.  The planes were
just allowed to...
PRINCE BANDAR:  No, Tim.  No, no, no.  no.  This is becoming exotic
now.  We had those people in the country, and a lot of them were
relatives of the bin Laden family going to school, from teen-agers to
some people in college.  And we told--asked the FBI that those people
are scattered all over America and with tempers high at that time,
rightly so, we were worried that somebody and emotions will hurt them.
MR. RUSSERT:  So who did you call for permission?
PRINCE BANDAR:  We didn't call for--we asked them...
MR. RUSSERT:  Who?
PRINCE BANDAR:  ...is it possible?  The FBI.
MR. RUSSERT:  You called the FBI?
PRINCE BANDAR:  Yes.
MR. RUSSERT:  And they gave permission?
PRINCE BANDAR:  And the FBI, according to Richard Clarke in his
testimony, called him and he said, "I have no problem if the FBI has no
problem."  So we gathered them all in here, and then once they were
here, they left.  Now, the other airplanes were for Saudi officials who
were here on vacation.  And after this disaster took place, they all
had to go back home to official positions. But it is not true that they
were flying when Americans were not flying, Tim. Americans were flying
and restrictions were lifted, but there were--I mean, the stoppage was
lifted but there were restrictions.  But think about it logically.  Do
you think--where are we, in a Banana Republic?  I would take 148
Saudis, put them on aircraft and smuggle them out and nobody will know?
Look, people have to take yes for an answer and read what 9-11
Commission said on this.

[Spazito]

22. Wow, I just tried to access his testimony on the Commission's website...

and got this: The page you requested was not found on our site. Please notify the webmaster or use our search below to find the page you are seeking.

If you click on this link that used to have the testimony of everyone the day Clarke testified you get the same message! Try it, maybe someone else can find it.

http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing8/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-03-24.htm

Edited to add: I was able to access this before, posted his testimony on a previous link.

[amber dog democrat]

23. He's been ordered to fall on his sword.

This is the only way I can understand it. There is pressure being applied.

[skypilot]

25. Ordered by whom?

He's not still part of the administration is he?

[amber dog democrat]

26. I really don't know.

and maybe its irresponsible to make this kind of an assertion with nothing to back it up. It just appears, in my opinion, - granted, its only an opinion, that someone in his family, or maybe Clark himself is being held hostage to some kind of reprocussion. I am way too paranoid for my own good, but if pressure can be placed on someone to adopt a more favorable stance to powerful vested interests, then a public mea culpa could be the net result. Its all hypothetical, granted.
I just don't think that man had the authority to let the family of the terrorist who planned the 9-11 attack leave the US when all other flights were grounded.

We may never know the back room negotiations taking place between Saudi leaders and the executive branch. It looks very suspicious.

[Betty The Younger]

24. According to this statement on 9/11-13 Clark was President of the US!

“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.”

Funny how Bush* always seems to be out of the loop. I guess they couldn't get him out from under the coffee table.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

34. Yeah, I noticed this too. Several times he states that he was

making the decisions.

That is waaaay too low on the pay grade for that kind of horsepower, I don't give a shit who you are.

No way will I accept that a deputy-assistant National Security staffer was making decisions in the place of The President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Treasury, Attorney General, Secretary of Transportation, Secretaries of Army, Navy, Air Force, National Security Advisor, Director of Central Intelligence, or White House Chief of Staff.

Do you?

and I am sure I missed quite a few who would out-rank him in this fast list.

[keithyboy]

27. Bet the talking heads will latch on to this; while ignoring the Berg tape

Clarke owes all of us a better explanation than this one. Who asked to let them go in the first place.

Who asked for permission and who approved the request. Key questions.

[Rose Siding]

28. Too many questions

snip>
He said that many members of the bin Laden family had been subjects of FBI surveillance for years before the attacks and were well-known to law-enforcement officials.

“It’s very funny that people on the Hill are now trying to second-guess the FBI investigation.”
end snip>

"Well-known" so we let them go without even interviewing all of them? *Hanson* was "well-known" by the FBI and plenty in the govt knew Chalabi pretty well. This says the didn't even question all 140:

snip>
“We did know who was on the flights and interviewed anyone we thought we needed to,” she said. “We didn’t interview 100 percent of the flight. We didn’t think anyone on the flight was of investigative interest.”

[stepnw1f]

30. Rove Twisting The Truth Again

He may be claiming responsibility for allowing them to leave by handing the responsibility and final decision making to the FBI. This is possibilty kids.

[Spazito]

33. Clarke is not saying anything that is not consistant with his testimony...

to the Commission and it does NOT answer the question: Who initially requested that the Bin Laden family and other Saudis be allowed to fly when all commercial flights were still grounded. Here is his testimony to the 9/11 commission:

Here is Clarke's testimony from the 9/11 Commission's transcripts...


MR. 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 -- let me tell you everything I know, which is that some -- 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. Someone -- and I wish I could tell you who, 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 Ladin 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 the 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.

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

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

MR. 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.

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

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

MR. CLARKE: I don't know who they are.

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

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

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

MR. 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 Ladin family. I was aware for some time that there were members of the bin Ladin 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 Ladin 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 Ladin 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 about what the members of the bin Ladin family were doing.

MR. ROEMER: I've been very impressed with your memory, sitting through all these interviews that 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 on this plane?

MR. CLARKE: I don't know.

MR. 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"?

MR. 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 that 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 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 of the White House Chief of Staff's Office. But I don't know.

MR. ROEMER: Thank you.



BTW, you can no longer access his testimony on the Commission website which is interesting in itself. I happened to have researched and copied this part of his testimony about two weeks ago which is why I still have this part. Here is the link to the page where his testimony was archived:

http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing8/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-03-24.htm