New Details on F.B.I. Aid for Saudis After 9/11

[cal04]

The episode has been retold so many times in the last three and a half years that it has become the stuff of political legend: in the frenzied days after Sept. 11, 2001, when some flights were still grounded, dozens of well-connected Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, managed to leave the United States on specially chartered flights.

Now, newly released government records show previously undisclosed flights from Las Vegas and elsewhere and point to a more active role by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in aiding some of the Saudis in their departure. The F.B.I. gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, and several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, the documents show.

The Saudi families, in Los Angeles and Orlando, requested the F.B.I. escorts because they said they were concerned for their safety in the wake of the attacks, and the F.B.I. - which was then beginning the biggest criminal investigation in its history - arranged to have agents escort them to their local airports, the documents show. But F.B.I. officials reacted angrily, both internally and publicly, to the suggestion that any Saudis had received preferential treatment in leaving the country.

"I say baloney to any inference we red-carpeted any of this entourage," an F.B.I. official said in a 2003 internal note. Another F.B.I. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this week regarding the airport escorts that "we'd do that for anybody if they felt they were threatened - we wouldn't characterize that as special treatment." The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, which provided copies to The New York Times.



rest of the article
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/politics/27exodus.html?ei=5088&en=f638e70e13037712&ex=1269579600&partner=rssnyt&pagewanted=print&position=

[ClassWarrior]

1. I feel threatened by GWBush**...

Will the FBI fly me to the tropical island of my choice?

NGU.

[acmejack]

29. I would prefer W be flown to a tropical island of my choice!

Cuba or Diego Garcia would do nicely. Perhaps he might be unable in Elba...

[WhiteTara]

44. I vote Gitmo! eom

[alittlelark]

48. I'd vote Haiti... in the middle of the Province....

[WhiteTara]

50. Only if the TonTon Machout get to play with him! eom

[KeepItReal]

2. I guess Tim McVeigh's family could've gotten an FBI ride to the airport?

...No questions asked!?!?

Y'all know where I'm going with this one...

[90-percent]

3. "felt threatened"

Gee, so their feelings about being threatened were more important than the lives of the 3,000 lost on 9/11????

Was there any way possible the FBI could have done two things at once: interview them and and provide them with security until such time as the interviews are finished and then they could go back home?

action on a hypothetical future threat instead of action on the greatest act of terror on US soil in history?

I hope the FBI guys that made these decisions got promoted a few times! I bet Karen Breitweiser is comforted by the fact these Osama siblings were so well looked after.

-85%

[tavalon]

28. Yeah, we'll torture people at Abu Ghraib

to get bogus information from people who had nothing to do with 9/11 but we can't be bothered to interview the relatives of the man who did have everything to do with 9/11. Pretty darn fucked up all the way around.

[leesa]

31. Well, as far as we know. The crime of 9-11 has never been investigated

evidence was tampered with and locked up, no one has been reprimanded for the presumably many screw-ups, etc., etc.

We really have no idea who did 9-11...we only know that BushCo told us it was OBL before the dust started to settle.

[UpInArms]

4. here are some links

http://www.saudiembassy.net/2004News/Statements/StateDetail.asp?cIndex=403

excerpt:

"No commercial planes, including chartered flights, were permitted to fly into, out of, or within the United States until September 13, 2001. After the airspace reopened, six chartered flights with 142 people, mostly Saudi Arabian nationals, departed from the United States between September 14 and 24. One flight, the so-called bin Laden flight, departed the United States on September 20 with 26 passengers, most of them relatives of Osama bin Laden. We have found no credible evidence that any chartered flights of Saudi Arabian nationals departed the United States before the reopening of national airspace.

"The Saudi flights were screened by law enforcement officials, primarily the FBI, to ensure that people on these flights did not pose a threat to national security, and that nobody of interest to the FBI with regard to the 9/11 investigation was allowed to leave the country. Thirty of the 142 people on these flights were interviewed by the FBI, including 22 of the 26 people (23 passengers and 3 private security guards) on the bin Laden flight. Many were asked detailed questions. None of the passengers stated that they had any recent contact with Osama bin Laden or knew anything about terrorist activity.

"The FBI checked a variety of databases for information on the bin Laden flight passengers and searched the aircraft. It is unclear whether the TIPOFF terrorist watchlist was checked. At our request, the Terrorist Screening Center has rechecked the names of individuals on the flight manifests of these six Saudi flights against the current TIPOFF watchlist. There are no matches.

"The FBI has concluded that nobody was allowed to depart on these six flights who the FBI wanted to interview in connection with the 9/11 attacks, or who the FBI later concluded had any involvement in those attacks. To date, we have uncovered no evidence to contradict this conclusion."

...more...

http://fpiarticle.blogspot.com/2005/03/plane-carried-13-bin-ladens.html

At least 13 relatives of Osama bin Laden, accompanied by bodyguards and associates, were allowed to leave the United States on a chartered flight eight days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a passenger manifest released yesterday.

One passenger, Omar Awad bin Laden, a nephew of the al Qaeda leader, had been investigated by the FBI because he had lived with Abdullah bin Laden, a leader of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, which the FBI suspected of being a terrorist organization.

The passenger list was made public by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who obtained the manifest from officials at Boston's Logan International Airport. Lautenberg's office was given the document in recent weeks and released it before today's issuance of the final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

Although much was already known about the "bin Laden flight," Lautenberg provided additional details, including the information that the plane, a 727 owned by DB Air and operated by Ryan International, began its flight in Los Angeles and made stops in Orlando, Dulles International Airport and Boston before continuing to Gander, Newfoundland; Paris; Geneva; and Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft, tail number N521DB, has been chartered frequently by the White House for the press corps traveling with President Bush.

...more...

http://www.emjournal.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/may03015.html

24 members of bin Laden's family whisked out of US after attacks
WASHINGTON, OCT 2-2001-AFP

As many as 24 members of terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden's family were flown out of the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Saudi Ambassador Price Bandar bin Sultan said on US television.

Osama bin Laden, an heir to the family's construction fortune, is believed to be behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon building that have left about 5,700 people dead or missing.

Prince Bandar said late Monday that most of bin Laden's relatives had come to the United States to study but were flown back to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the attacks after the personal intervention of Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz.

"His majesty said it's not fair for those innocent people to be subjected to any harm," the ambassador said, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" program.

"On the other hand, we understood the high emotions," prince Bandar added. "So with coordination with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), we got them all out."

...more...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/30/archive/main313048.shtml

Bin Laden Family Evacuated

Sept. 30, 2001

(CBS) Two dozen members of Osama bin Laden's family were urgently evacuated from the United States in the first days following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, according to the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

One of bin Laden's brothers frantically called the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington looking for protection, Prince Bandar bin Sultan told The New York Times. The brother was sent to a room in the Watergate Hotel and was told not to open the door.

Most of bin Laden's relatives were attending high school and college. The young members of the bin Laden family were driven or flown under FBI supervision to a secret place in Texas and then to Washington, The Times reported Sunday.

Many were terrified, fearing they would be lynched after hearing reports of violence against Muslims and Arab-Americans.

They left the country on a private charter plane when airports reopened three days after the attacks.

(although that last line was incorrect - the airports had not been reopened)

...more...

[Spazito]

5. Here is Richard Clarke's testimony to the 9/11 Commission

on this very issue:

ROEMER: We will certainly be looking to people in future hearings for their recommendations in a host of different areas. So I hope that you might think through this area a little bit more and be available to us.

Mr. Clarke, let me ask you some difficult questions for you to get at the complexity of our relationship with the Saudis.

One the one hand, I think there's a great deal of unanimity that the Saudis were not doing everything they could before 9/11 to help us in a host of different areas; 15 of the 19 hijackers came from there. We had trouble tracking some of the financing for terrorist operations. But we still have too many of the madrassas and the teachings of hatred of Christians and Jews and others coming out of some of these madrassas.

We need to broaden and deepen this relationship. I will ask you a part A and a part B.

Part A is where do we go in this difficult relationship? And part B is to further look at the difficulty here. You made a decision after 9/11 to, I think -- and I'd like to ask you more about this -- to allow a plane of Saudis to fly out of the country. And when most other planes were grounded, this plane flew from the United States back to Saudi Arabia. I'd like to know why you made that decision, who was on this plane, and if the FBI ever had the opportunity to interview those people.

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

His testimony on the Saudi flights begins about 3/4th down the transcript

[DeepModem Mom]

6. kick

[lovuian]

7. FBI let go the Saudis responsible for 9/11

and thats the facts!!!

They got them out before any investigation!!!

WHY???

[daleo]

8. "two prominent Saudi families"

The smart money would bet "Bin Laden" is one of the names.

[oasis]

32. When's the Bob Woodward book coming out about this?

:shrug:

[Moderator]

9. kick to combine

[Judi Lynn]

10. More Saudi flights from U.S. revealed

March 26, 2005, 9:41PM

More Saudi flights from U.S. revealed
Records show a more active FBI role in the exits in the days after 9/11
New York Times


WASHINGTON - Newly released government records reveal previously undisclosed flights from Las Vegas and elsewhere and point to a more active role by the FBI in aiding some Saudis in their departure just after Sept. 11, 2001.The FBI gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, and several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, the documents show.
(snip)

The material sheds new light on the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and it provides details about the FBI's interaction with at least 160 Saudis who were living in or visiting the United States and were allowed to leave the country. Some of the departing Saudis were related to Osama bin Laden.

The documents obtained by Judicial Watch, with major passages deleted, appear to raise some new questions.

FBI records show, for instance, that prominent Saudi citizens left the United States on several flights that had not been previously disclosed in public accounts, including a chartered flight from Providence, R.I., on Sept. 14, 2001, that included at least one member of the Saudi royal family, and on three flights from Las Vegas between Sept. 19 and Sept. 24, also carrying members of the Saudi royal family.

The U.S. government began reopening airspace on Sept. 13, but many flights remained grounded for days afterward.
The three Las Vegas flights, with a total of more than 100 passengers, ferried members of the Saudi royal family and staff members who had been staying at Caesar's Palace and the Four Seasons hotels.
(snip)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3103967
(Free registration is required)

[Journeyman]

11. And the most damning info from the report. . .

The FBI documents left open the possibility that some departing Saudis had information relevant to the Sept. 11 investigation.


It shouldn't matter if you're LIHOP, MIHOP, or a simple believer in the corporate story, this should make everyone hopping mad.

[clem_c_rock]

37. FU**ING MIHOP all the way

Still waiting on someone to explain 1 good reason we can't see those pentagon tapes, or what happened to WTC7.

The official story is the most ridiculous story every told.

Not one group of people benefited more from 911 than the PNAC.

W/out it, NOT ONE of their plans would have ever come to realization.

[Old and In the Way]

41. Actually, one other group has benefited....handsomely.

The House of Saud. Since 9/11-

(1) We've taken out SA's #1 secular threat, their next door neighbor, Saddam Hussin.
(2) We've pretty well taken Iraqi oil off the market...making SA product that much more valuable.
(3) We've deflected all attention away from SA by allowing our troops to be the lightening rods for Islamic fundementalism.
(4) We've exited airbases in their country....just like OBL wanted.

That'll teach them.......

[katty]

57. NO 9-11: NO PNAC Plans could have been executed

[katty]

56. Indeed! Possible 9-11 info and they ESCORT THEM OUT?!

mad? how about beyond furious! and half the country would rather have these liars in office 'protecting' U.S.

[NVMojo]

12. it is a natural thing for the guilty to run or fly in this case....

it is sickening to think we still haven't avenged these people's deaths ...

[clem_c_rock]

38. One good way woiuld be to Mouselini all members of the PNAC

Then you would have brought the real purpetrators to justice.

[GoBlue]

13. Huh?

"Although the F.B.I. took all possible steps ...it is not possible to state conclusively that no such individuals left the U.S. without F.B.I. knowledge.

[NYC]

14. I think the general public is unaware of this.

What is with that strange posture in that photograph?

[Judi Lynn]

15. Dunno, for sure! I've seen several photos of Bush

holding his hand. Just found another one, and, as you see, looks like he's got a firm grip on him in this one, too.



Maybe the man has a problem walking, and doesn't want to use a cane, etc. Could be!

You'd think _{George Bush} would offer to give him a lift!

[NYC]

17. It was Bush's posture I was questioning.

It seems very awkward.

However, you have posted an even worse picture. Sometimes, I wonder if photographers don't like him. The journalists all print the party line, but the photographers always take horrible pictures of him.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Maybe it's not all that easy to get one which looks pleasant.

You shouldn't worry about it. Someone floods the internet with a lot of these excellent, suitable for framing (if you're an imbecile) photographs.

[NYC]

23. The small halo on the right just kills me.

I don't know what they are called, but I call them "saint cards". St. Patrick's Cathedral has a store across the street. In it, they have many saint cards,where the saints have halos around their heads. The small one on the right looks closer to a saint card than the larger halo picture at the bottom.

I know it isn't easy (or maybe even possible) to get a pleasant picture, but often, his posture is so awkward, or he is walking with an awkward gait. I do think photographers don't like him.

[Old and In the Way]

43. He had a barrel full of petro-dollars up his backside.

They would make any corrupt politician look awkward.

[spinbaby]

18. It's cultural

It's normal for Saudi men to hold hands in public. It's a friendship thing, not a sex thing.

[Judi Lynn]

20. Thanks! Didn't know.

With _Bush, a gesture of friendship can entail a nick-name, lowering your taxes, and a no-bid contract, possibly.

[DoYouEverWonder]

39. What George doesn't realize

is that he's holding the king's shit hand. That is a big insult in the arab world.

[alittlelark]

49. My best friend is Persian, and she always points that out.

It is the 'filthy hand' - the only one he holds w *'s with.

[Hekate]

21. Dubya Bush has weird, dissonant, body language at the best of times...

...Prince Bandar (aka Bandar Bush, g'ma Babs's nickname for him) comes from a culture where public affection between men is expected and accepted.

Reading the photo we see two men who are pretty close friends -- in a manly kinda way, to be sure -- but one is comfortable with holding hands and the other not only isn't comfortable, he's pretty sure most of the American people won't see this in the best light for one reason and another.

Hekate

[TrustingDog]

16. Tim McVeigh's family, where are Their records of flight?

[Califooyah Operative]

22. i saved that crazy picture. nt

[cascadiance]

25. Here's another one I saved of he and Blair...

They look like they're having a "chewin'" contest here!



"Where's the spitoon?"

[TomClash]

24. What a surprise. The FBI lied.

[enough]

27. kick

[jdj]

61. LOL Michael Moore was wrong.

Twice as many Saudis left the U.S right after 9/11 than he said.

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. Why isn't this on the front page of DU?

Recommend this thread.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

30. Kick

:kick:

Once again, Michael Moore was right!

Funny how this stuff doesn't come out until after the election.

[Blue_Tires]

34. yeah, i'm also waiting for an apology to Moore

[Frederik]

33. Threatened?

"Another F.B.I. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this week regarding the airport escorts that "we'd do that for anybody if they felt they were threatened - we wouldn't characterize that as special treatment." "

Like, say, threatened by US law enforcement?

[agincourt]

35. I still think the flurry,

to get them out of the country has something to do with bin laden family members warning our authorities beforehand. They don't want a woman in a black veil on the Ophrah Winfrey show saying, "we tried to warn Ashcroft, but they wouldn't listen". Likewise in our tabloid society, not one mention of the exotic dancers who were dating the terrorists. Guess they don't want their offices anthraxed again. A very very very rotten Denmark we live in.

[earthboundmisfit]

36. Didn't Poppy watch 9-11 happen on TV w/some of the Bin Laden family?

In Fahrenheit 911 it showed that Poppy Bush was meeting at a posh hotel (in Washington, I think) with some members of the Bin Laden family as the 9-11 tragedy happened. Their meeting related to some business investment relationship (of course). I've always thought that quite odd - and it's yet another piece of info about 9/11 that never was brought out by the MSM, to my knowledge. First I heard of it was in Michael Moore's movie.

[lostnfound]

40. No, Poppy left DC shortly before it happened..but yes, he was at an

annual meeting or semiannual meeting for principles in the Carlyle Group the night before. Which included one of the binLaden relatives.

[Old and In the Way]

42. Don't think so.

He stayed at the WH on 9/10 and the Board of Director's meeting was on the morning of 9/11, with his partners, the bin Laden family. Poppy and Barb did become scarce at some point during that day. I think they ended up in Wisconsin or something.

I wonder what he and Dick Cheney talked about the evening of 9/10...

[DoYouEverWonder]

45. As usual, Poppy's story doesn't add up

He slept over the WH on 9-10, but W and Jeb were both in FL. Why would you go to the WH if your son who happened to be the president wasn't going to be home that night? It's not like Poppy and Babs are regular sleep over guests.

Then there was that little board meeting of the Carlyl Group with Jim Baker presiding which was on the morning of 9-11, but Poppy and Babs caught an early flight out before they shut down US airspace?

[yorgatron]

46. "pay no attention

to the man behind the curtain"

[Goathead]

59. No it was James Baker III

another Carlyle player with the Bin Laden family, they were at the Ritz Carleton in D.C. when 9/11 happened. He probably got them out.

[ignatius 2]

47. Oh yeah, no preferential treatment at all. Anybody else who looked

remotely muslim those days were sent to camps, harrassed by police or freeper types. But they weren't born to wealth, the kings family or carried the Bin Laden name.

No way those guys at the FBI would have let them leave the country without the approval of upper management. Any good investigative journalists outthere? I bet the FBI has still a few good men and women who could tell a tale or two.

[librechik]

51. waiting for all the apologies due Richard Clarke

after Hannity and mob slandered him for this...

don't worry, I'm not holding my breath

[Mark E. Smith]

52. NY TIMES: Documents Show FBI Helped Saudis Depart After 9-11 Attacks

WASHINGTON (AFB) - The FBI played an active role in arranging charter flights for dozens of well-connected Saudi nationals - - including relatives of Osama bin Laden -- after the 9-11 terror attacks.

The New York Times reported that the documents show Federal Bureau of Investigation agents gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, while several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, cited newly-released US govt documents.

The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Dept by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, which provided copies to the Times.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050327/pl_afp/usattackssaudis

If this had happened when Clinton was president the right would be out in the streets with torches and nooses.

[RetroLounge]

53. Hmmm, another Lie by the Right exposed...

Michael Morre was right, of course...

RL

[Guckert]

54. I'm sure an apology to Michael Moore is soon to come????

especially from Rush and Hannity???

[Imagevision]

55. Further adding credibility to F-9-11

[Goathead]

58. Damn, after Pearl Harbor we rounded up Japanese

and put them in concentration camps. What a reversal on policy.

[Bridget Burke]

60. Plenty of Muslims were rounded up after 9/11.

Just not the rich Saudis.

I remember the New Yorker article that first broke the story--not long after 9/11. (It's not online.) A few relatives of Osama who left at that time were profiled. They did NOT seem the type of people who had supported him; one young woman living in a downtown loft, following the arts, hardly seemed a fanatic.

None of these people were questioned before they left the country. Relatives of murderers are routinely questioned--not as suspects, but in an effort to investigate crimes. I got the idea these people would have loved to tell anything they knew if it could help. But they never got the chance.

[varun]

62. Documents show FBI helped Saudis depart after 9/11 attacks: New York Times

Michael Moore was right in F9/11...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050327/pl_afp/usattackssaudis

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The FBI (news - web sites) played an active role in arranging chartered flights for dozens of well-connected Saudi nationals -- including relatives of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) -- after the 9/11 terror attacks.

The New York Times reported that the documents show Federal Bureau of Investigation agents gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, while several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, citing newly-released US government records....

[varun]

63. Documents show FBI helped Saudis depart after 9/11 attacks: New York Times

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