May 22, 2004

Who let bin Ladens leave U.S.? Remember when the bin Laden family was allowed to be flown out of America by the FBI on Uncle Sam dollars shortly after 9/11 while the rest of America was grounded.? Now Democratics Senators are asking who approved this. The White Hose refuses to answer.

Democrats suspect President Bush, who met privately with the Saudi Arabian ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, on the morning of Sept. 13, 2001, may have personally authorized the controversial flights, several of which took place when all other U.S. commercial air travel had been halted.
It seems Bush's uncle Jonathan is also getting into trouble with the Saudis. (Links via Atrios and Tony Pierce)
posted by Sullivan 20 years ago
  • best typo ever, sully.
  • High damn time the US media started scrutinizing all the bizarre doings of this secretive administration. Thanks, Sully.
  • Nice link, I wish there was more muckraking going on in journalism today.
  • Good links. Thanks, Sullivan. There are more links on this topic in this previous thread.
  • I don't really understand what the big deal is. Bin Laden's family = not terrorists. If I were them, I would certainly want the hell out of this country in the aftermath of that attack. Suppose Bush comes right out and admits to authorizing those flights. What are people going to accuse him of? Looking out for an innocent family in anticipation of violent retribution because of what a disowned relative did?
  • What are people going to accuse him of? Being in bed with powerful Saudi Arabian interests? D'uh.
  • Whilst I agree with de Carabas, and they almost certainly did need protection, flying them out of America when everyone else in the country was grounded does seem a little strange.
  • Bush admit to something? HAHahahAhahahahaAHahahahaa!!
  • Abdullah bin Laden (Osama's brother) has ties to the terrorist front group WAMY.
    The FBI file, marked Secret and coded 199, which means a case involving national security, records that Abdullah bin Laden, who lived in Washington, had originally had a file opened on him "because of his relationship with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth - a suspected terrorist organisation". They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Pakistan.
    More on WAMY.
    The US Treasury has not frozen WAMY's assets, and when we talked to them, they insisted they are a charity. Yet, just weeks ago, Pakistan expelled WAMY operatives. And India claimed that WAMY was funding an organisation linked to bombings in Kashmir. And the Philippines military has accused WAMY of funding Muslim insurgency. The FBI did look into WAMY, but, for some reason, agents were pulled off the trail.
    WAMY has also hosted fundraisers for terrorist groups. This memo to John Ashcroft goes into great detail.
  • Blogger Lerxst asks why the right isn't more angry about this.
    I mean...wouldn't you expect that the loonies who think that the rough "interrogation" of "enemy combatants" is the appropriate response to terrorism, would have wanted Bin Laden's family indefinitely detained. You know, they could have pulled a few "Skull and Bones" fraternity pranks on them just to make sure they didn't know OBL's whereabouts. Why aren't they up in arms about our failure to do everything possible to save American lives?
  • Snopes has answers to most of the questions posed here. Among them: Saudi government officials, ambassadors and college students were also given the opportunity to leave. Every flight except one seems to have left after the commercial airflight ban was lifted. The FBI supervised the flights and were given the opportunity to question the departing Saudis. And, finally, these flights, having been written about extensively in mainstream media publications, were never a secret. And, as Snopes points out, bin Laden was one of 50 children and the overall family has hundreds or possibly thousands of members. The majority were little kids when bin Laden left Saudi Arabia. Even if, as Sullivan points out, another relative of Bin Laden's is connected with terror, that's still only two out of hundreds of relatives. The majority of bin Ladens living in the U.S. were either businessmen or college students. Again: Are we going to accuse Bush of looking out for an innocent family in anticipation of violent retribution because of the actions of a disowned relative? Where, exactly, is the scandal in something that was clearly public knowledge?
  • Snopes often leaps to the fray to protect Republican interests. They're not unbiased.
  • Got some examples of that, Nostrildamus? I've never really noticed it.
  • I've never noticed it either (I think Snopes is a great resource), but I have a feeling you're being sarcastic.
  • Snopes often leaps to the fray to protect Republican interests. They're not unbiased. A metafilter thread about it (on their discussion of this very subject, actually).
  • Bin Laden son marries British divorcee. Talk about an awkward family reunion... Wait -- am I reading this right? He's 26 and she's 51? Coo-coo ka-choo, Mrs. bin Laden...
  • More info here. "Omar bin Laden, who works as a scrap metal dealer in Jedda, is one of 17 children fathered by Osama bin Laden..." You say 'scrap dealer', I say 'shrapnel specialist'.