on C-Span 7:34 a.m.: Richard Clarke allowed Saudis to fly on 9/12?

[LittleApple81]

That is what the NY Times reported said?

[NNN0LHI]

1. That is true according to his sworn testimony

He did so after giving a list of those wanting to leave to the FBI and they said to let them all leave.

Don

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Then isn't this the first time

that any WH official has acknowledged that these flights actually took place? Up until now it's all be rumor and speculation?

[nostamj]

2. it was not Clarke's decision.....

Recently, however, Richard Clarke, the former head of anti-terrorism at the National Security Council, gave some answers while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on terrorism. "I do recall the State Department coming to us that week ," Clarke testified,

saying that the Saudi Embassy felt that in the wake of the terrorist attacks, Arabs in this country, particularly Saudis, might be victims of retribution attacks, and they wanted therefore to take some Saudi students and the Saudi citizens back to their kingdom for safety, and could they be given permission to fly, even though we had grounded all flights. Now, what I recall is that I asked for flight manifests of everyone on board and all of those names need to be directly and individually vetted by the FBI before they were allowed to leave the country. And I also wanted the FBI to sign off even on the concept of Saudis being allowed to leave the country. And as I recall, all of that was done. It is true that members of the bin Laden family were among those who left. We knew that at the time. I can't say much more in open session, but it was a conscious decision with complete review at the highest levels of the State Department and the FBI and the White House.

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1282/18_55/109411350/p1/article.jhtml

[bearfartinthewoods]

5. do you have a cite for "it wasn't his decision" ?

i ask because i have a memory of him saying that he could have stopped it if he wantewd to but since it had been vetted he saw no reason to.

[nostamj]

6. i think he facilitated it

but was told to by the WH. he said it had to be Andy Card or Cheney IIRC that gave the word to do it...

[bearfartinthewoods]

9. i remember him saying card but i thought the other option

he mentioned was someone from state. in any case it's ridiculous that he can't be more specific. i mean come on, did that request come on paper? where is it? we ought to be able to find out who brought it to him.

[bearfartinthewoods]

3. he said it himself

he said he couldn't remember who asked him to do it but when the request came accross his desk he vetted it with the fbi and when they didn't object he said ok. he said he viewed it in a similar vein to how the US evacuates Americans from countries where they may be at risk.

[acmavm]

4. The guy worked for bush*, I'm sure he has beem complicit in a lot

of the crap that has gone on. But maybe he's had a change of heart (or maybe sleepless nights due to a guilty conscience). Remember, all the people who supported bush* & Co. at the beginning of this mess and are turning on him now have a lot to do with the on-going fiasco that is called 'the war on terrorism'. They didn't stand up to bush* and his warmongering buddies before things started to spiral out of control, but now they are having second thoughts. I guess that you can apply the better late than never axiom here, but it doesn't make the situation any better, and it doesn't change what's happened. American soldiers are still dead, thousands of innocent Iraqis are still dead, and the terrorist movement has gained thousands of converts.

Excuse me when I say it would have been far better to have these pangs of conscience before we attacked, when it would have done us some good. Now we're stuck, and we don't know how to get out.

[Eurobabe]

8. this is explained in greater detail in House of Bush/Saud

first chapter etc, by Criag Unger. Highly recommended reading.