Chris
July 28th 03, 07:01 PM
Note that the Saudi "Prince Bandar" in this article is the very same
Prince Bandar who conspired in the mid 80's with then-CIA director,
William Casey, to perpetrate the deadly March 8, 1985 car bombing
attack in front of a mosque in Beirut, which killed 80 innocent people
and injured hundreds.
Chris (USA)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/26/national/26SAUD.html
Classified Section of Sept. 11 Report Faults Saudi Rulers
By David Johnston
New York Times
Saturday 26 July 2003
WASHINGTON, July 25 - Senior officials of Saudi Arabia have
funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable groups and
other
organizations that may have helped finance the September 2001 attacks,
a
still-classified section of a Congressional report on the hijackings
says, according to people who have read it.
The 28-page section of the report was deleted from the nearly
900-page declassified version released on Thursday by a joint
committee of the
House and Senate intelligence committees. The chapter focuses on the
role
foreign governments played in the hijackings, but centers almost
entirely on
Saudi Arabia, the people who saw the section said.
The Bush administration's refusal to allow the committee to
disclose the contents of the chapter has stirred resentment in
Congress, where some lawmakers have said the administration's desire
to protect the ruling
Saudi family had prevented the American public from learning crucial
facts
about the attacks. The report has been denounced by the Saudi
ambassador to
the United States, and some American officials questioned whether the
committee had made a conclusive case linking Saudi funding to the
hijackings.
The public report concluded that the F.B.I. and C.I.A. had known
for years that Al Qaeda sought to strike inside the United States, but
focused
their attention on the possibility of attacks overseas.
The declassified section of the report discloses the testimony of
several unidentified officials who criticized the Saudi government for
being
uncooperative in terrorism investigations, but makes no reference to
Riyadh's financing of groups that supported terror.
Some people who have read the classified chapter said it
represented a searing indictment of how Saudi Arabia's ruling elite
have, under the guise of support for Islamic charities, distributed
millions of dollars to
terrorists through an informal network of Saudi nationals, including
some in the
United States.
But other officials said the stricken chapter retraces Saudi
Arabia's well-documented support for Islamic charitable groups and
said the
report asserts without convincing evidence that Saudi officials knew
that
recipient groups used the money to finance terror.
The public version of the report identified Omar al-Bayoumi, a
Saudi student who befriended and helped finance two Saudi men who
later
turned out to be hijackers.
Mr. Bayoumi helped pay the expenses for the men, Khalid Almidhar
and Nawaq Alhazmi. Mr. Bayoumi, the report said, "had access to
seemingly
unlimited funding from Saudi Arabia." The report said Mr. Bayoumi was
employed by the Saudi civil aviation authority and left open his
motivations for supporting the two men.
The Saudi ambassador to the United States has angrily denied that
his country had failed to cooperate with the F.B.I. and C.I.A. in
fighting
terrorism and dismissed accusations that it helped finance two of the
hijackers
as "outrageous."
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador, said in a
statement after the report was released on Thursday that his country
"has been one of the most active partners in the war on terrorism, as
the president and
other administration officials have repeatedly and publicly attested."
Prince Bandar dismissed the report's assertions about Saudi
involvement in the hijackings.
"The idea that the Saudi government funded, organized or even
knew about Sept. 11 is malicious and blatantly false," Prince Bandar
said.
"There is something wrong with the basic logic of those who spread
these
spurious charges. Al Qaeda is a cult that is seeking to destroy Saudi
Arabia as
well as the United States. By what logic would we support a cult that
is
trying to kill us?"
He added: "In a 900-page report, 28 blanked-out pages are being
used by some to malign our country and our people. Rumors, innuendos
and
untruths have become, when it comes to the kingdom, the order of the
day."
Asked to comment on the report today, a Saudi Embassy
representative said Prince Bandar was out of town and could not be
reached.
Today, a senior Democratic senator wrote to President Bush asking
for the White House to demand that the Saudis turn over Mr. Bayoumi,
who is
believed to be residing in the kingdom.
"The link between al-Bayoumi and the hijackers is the best
evidence yet that part of official Saudi Arabia might have been
involved in the
attacks," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York. "If the Saudi
royal family is as committed to fighting terrorism as it claims, it
will turn this guy
over to U.S. officials immediately so that we can finally get to the
bottom of his role in the attacks and his links to Al Qaeda."
Behind the immediate issue of whether Saudi Arabia played any
role in terrorism are a complex web of political, military and
economic
connections between the two countries. Successive Republican and
Democratic
administrations have aggressively sought to maintain the relationship
with a huge producer of oil and an ally in the Arab world.
One section of the report took issue with Louis J. Freeh, the
former F.B.I. director, who testified to the joint committee that the
bureau "was able to forge an effective working relationship with the
Saudi police and
Interior Ministry."
The report quoted several senior government officials, who were
not identified, expressing contradictory views. One government
official
told the panel "that he believed the U.S. government's hope of
eventually
obtaining Saudi cooperation was unrealistic because Saudi assistance
to the U.S.
is contrary to Saudi national interests."
Another official said: "For the most part it was a very troubled
relationship where the Saudis were not providing us quickly or very
vigorously with response to it. Sometimes they did, many times they
didn't. It was just very slow in coming."
Prince Bandar who conspired in the mid 80's with then-CIA director,
William Casey, to perpetrate the deadly March 8, 1985 car bombing
attack in front of a mosque in Beirut, which killed 80 innocent people
and injured hundreds.
Chris (USA)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/26/national/26SAUD.html
Classified Section of Sept. 11 Report Faults Saudi Rulers
By David Johnston
New York Times
Saturday 26 July 2003
WASHINGTON, July 25 - Senior officials of Saudi Arabia have
funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable groups and
other
organizations that may have helped finance the September 2001 attacks,
a
still-classified section of a Congressional report on the hijackings
says, according to people who have read it.
The 28-page section of the report was deleted from the nearly
900-page declassified version released on Thursday by a joint
committee of the
House and Senate intelligence committees. The chapter focuses on the
role
foreign governments played in the hijackings, but centers almost
entirely on
Saudi Arabia, the people who saw the section said.
The Bush administration's refusal to allow the committee to
disclose the contents of the chapter has stirred resentment in
Congress, where some lawmakers have said the administration's desire
to protect the ruling
Saudi family had prevented the American public from learning crucial
facts
about the attacks. The report has been denounced by the Saudi
ambassador to
the United States, and some American officials questioned whether the
committee had made a conclusive case linking Saudi funding to the
hijackings.
The public report concluded that the F.B.I. and C.I.A. had known
for years that Al Qaeda sought to strike inside the United States, but
focused
their attention on the possibility of attacks overseas.
The declassified section of the report discloses the testimony of
several unidentified officials who criticized the Saudi government for
being
uncooperative in terrorism investigations, but makes no reference to
Riyadh's financing of groups that supported terror.
Some people who have read the classified chapter said it
represented a searing indictment of how Saudi Arabia's ruling elite
have, under the guise of support for Islamic charities, distributed
millions of dollars to
terrorists through an informal network of Saudi nationals, including
some in the
United States.
But other officials said the stricken chapter retraces Saudi
Arabia's well-documented support for Islamic charitable groups and
said the
report asserts without convincing evidence that Saudi officials knew
that
recipient groups used the money to finance terror.
The public version of the report identified Omar al-Bayoumi, a
Saudi student who befriended and helped finance two Saudi men who
later
turned out to be hijackers.
Mr. Bayoumi helped pay the expenses for the men, Khalid Almidhar
and Nawaq Alhazmi. Mr. Bayoumi, the report said, "had access to
seemingly
unlimited funding from Saudi Arabia." The report said Mr. Bayoumi was
employed by the Saudi civil aviation authority and left open his
motivations for supporting the two men.
The Saudi ambassador to the United States has angrily denied that
his country had failed to cooperate with the F.B.I. and C.I.A. in
fighting
terrorism and dismissed accusations that it helped finance two of the
hijackers
as "outrageous."
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador, said in a
statement after the report was released on Thursday that his country
"has been one of the most active partners in the war on terrorism, as
the president and
other administration officials have repeatedly and publicly attested."
Prince Bandar dismissed the report's assertions about Saudi
involvement in the hijackings.
"The idea that the Saudi government funded, organized or even
knew about Sept. 11 is malicious and blatantly false," Prince Bandar
said.
"There is something wrong with the basic logic of those who spread
these
spurious charges. Al Qaeda is a cult that is seeking to destroy Saudi
Arabia as
well as the United States. By what logic would we support a cult that
is
trying to kill us?"
He added: "In a 900-page report, 28 blanked-out pages are being
used by some to malign our country and our people. Rumors, innuendos
and
untruths have become, when it comes to the kingdom, the order of the
day."
Asked to comment on the report today, a Saudi Embassy
representative said Prince Bandar was out of town and could not be
reached.
Today, a senior Democratic senator wrote to President Bush asking
for the White House to demand that the Saudis turn over Mr. Bayoumi,
who is
believed to be residing in the kingdom.
"The link between al-Bayoumi and the hijackers is the best
evidence yet that part of official Saudi Arabia might have been
involved in the
attacks," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York. "If the Saudi
royal family is as committed to fighting terrorism as it claims, it
will turn this guy
over to U.S. officials immediately so that we can finally get to the
bottom of his role in the attacks and his links to Al Qaeda."
Behind the immediate issue of whether Saudi Arabia played any
role in terrorism are a complex web of political, military and
economic
connections between the two countries. Successive Republican and
Democratic
administrations have aggressively sought to maintain the relationship
with a huge producer of oil and an ally in the Arab world.
One section of the report took issue with Louis J. Freeh, the
former F.B.I. director, who testified to the joint committee that the
bureau "was able to forge an effective working relationship with the
Saudi police and
Interior Ministry."
The report quoted several senior government officials, who were
not identified, expressing contradictory views. One government
official
told the panel "that he believed the U.S. government's hope of
eventually
obtaining Saudi cooperation was unrealistic because Saudi assistance
to the U.S.
is contrary to Saudi national interests."
Another official said: "For the most part it was a very troubled
relationship where the Saudis were not providing us quickly or very
vigorously with response to it. Sometimes they did, many times they
didn't. It was just very slow in coming."