From the DAILY MIS-LEAD, May 20, 2004:

Stonewalling on bin Ladin/Saudi Flights after 9/11


And from the links cited by the author of the article:

Secretary of State Powell on Meet the Press 09/07/2003


Saudi Government provided aid to 9/11 hijackers, sources say


Questions for debate:

(1) Should the Bush administration disclose information about the flights in question by the bin Laden family/Saudis after the 9/11 attack?

(2) Should the Bush administration release the 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission report about the Saudi government?

(3) Why or why not?

In answer to the first two questions, they should have released that information two years ago! Yet another attempt to make things (in this case, our relationship with Saudi Arabia) seem better by hiding the truth.

Why should they have disclosed it? Because since the early 1970's, it's been obvious to anyone paying attention that when our government hides information, there's a large group of people who will distrust its intentions. Especially when so much of the information leaks out anyway and almost always embarrasses the administration hiding the information. Better to release the information and move on instead of having it dribble out and be cause for lots of discussion and idle speculation.

I remember the reporting of this in the Boston Globe. One Saudi was in fact at Harvard. I cannot find the story but my recollection is that the FBI cleared these folks and they were allowed to leave for their own safety. To my knowledge not ONE of those that left has ever been implicated in the 9/11 plot.

The fact that the Saudi government may have had knowledge of the bin laden organization was well know going back to the Clinton Administration. And what has this to do with Saudi citizens? Are you implying we should have held them hostage for something their government might have done?

Why should the Bush administration release anything? The information is out there in the public domain. This is little more than our biased press doing their best to make a story out of anything that will help Kerry.

If you want the scoop on the Saudi’s and bin laden look up the John O’Neil story. He labeled the Saudis as complicit under Bill C and L. Freeh ostracized him from the FBI for even making the allegation.

I am not implying anything, Ted.

I posed the questions, and I would appreciate your answering them. Whatever is in the public domain is open to speculation, as you know.

Are the American people entitled to get this information from the Bush administration? If not, why?

Edited to add: There is one advantage to the Bush administration coming forward with the information. They can present it in whatever way they like, rather than leaving it open to the "slings and arrows of outrageous [press releases]."

Ted, the Bin Laden son and several Bin Laden relatives were flown out, day of, Sept 11., when all flights in the US were downed, by government sanction, in several flights connecting across the US. Does this say anything to you at all? Like Bush is so in bed with the Saudis that they get free flights out of the US when no other flight as allowed in US airspace?



It was government officials flown out, not Saudi citizens of your regular sortid. The government did not fly out some assortment of Saudi citizens for their comfort. Who do you think runs Saudi Arabia?, the Haus of Saud... they were flown out, along with the Bin Ladens, for no particular reason, except to get them home before the crap hit the fan about Osama, (its interesting they knew so soon Osama was to be implicated) secretly, when the US government thought noone would notice. The Haus of Saud is probably the largest supporter of terrorism in todays world. Understand now why the question is posed?

In answer to the questions, everything should be released. Everything. But I doubt it will happen until some journalist digs in deep.

What “government officials” were flow out? The bin laden family member were not government officials. Also as you must know on 9/11 and shortly thereafter we had no evidence that the government of Saudi Arabia had anything to do with 9/11. And if we are trying to imply that the Bush administration did something wrong exactly what was that? And as I said Saudi Arabia has been a strong ally through numerous administrations.

(1) Should the Bush administration disclose information about the flights in question by the bin Laden family/Saudis after the 9/11 attack?
Yes, perhaps in context of the 9/11 commission or in response to #2 below.

(2) Should the Bush administration release the 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission report about the Saudi government?
Yes, no question.

(3) Why or why not?
There is no doubt that the Saudis are bad actors. They don't have complete control over their people, so they allow extremists to operate with relative impugnity within and without the kingdom, causing us long-term harm. But we need their oil, so administration after administration tolerates them. I would like to see their record examined more closely, with the potential downside being yet another front on the 'war on terror' opening.

Snopes comments on some of the facts / fallacies quoted, notably that these flights most likely did NOT fly out before the 14th or so, the same day you and I were first able to fly. Powell was speaking generally responding to Russert's 'just after 9/11' question - he never gave a date. http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flight.htm

That would have been a good question to pose to Richard Clark during the 9/11 meetings. That's right, the darling of the left, Richard Clark greenlighted the flights of the Saudi nationals after being assured by the FBI they were no threat.

'The adviser, Richard Clarke, who ran the White House crisis team after the attacks but has since left the Bush administration, said he agreed to the extraordinary plan because the Federal Bureau of Investigation assured him that the departing Saudis were not linked to terrorism. The White House feared that the Saudis could face "retribution" for the hijackings if they remained in the United States, Mr. Clarke said.'

-NY Times; September 4, 2003

Ok, so Clarke "agreed to" the plan, but WHO HATCHED THE PLAN?

Keeping the information a secret doesn't let us evaluate whether the move was a good one or an evil one, does it?

Should the Bush administration disclose information about the flights in question by the bin Laden family/Saudis after the 9/11 attack?

Absoutely. I cannot think of a reason the details of this shouldn't be public.

However, I would point anyone who is interested to snopes for information answering questions like, Why did bin Laden family members want to leave the U.S.?, Were bin Laden family members told to leave the U.S.?, Which Saudis left the U.S.?, When did bin Laden family members leave the U.S.?, Who paid for the flights?, Did flights of bin Laden family members leave the U.S. "secretly"?, Did flights take bin Laden family members out of the U.S. over the objections of the FBI?, Was the FBI denied the chance to question departing bin Laden family members?, Did bin Laden family members have any important information to impart to the FBI?, and Did the FBI in fact question the Saudis before they left?

(2) Should the Bush administration release the 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission report about the Saudi government?

Again, absolutely. It reflects badly on the President to keep this information secret. The public may not need to know everything in that report due to security reasons, but the 9/11 commission should have total access.

What blows my mind is that one of the first things our president did after 9/11 was think to help his Bin Laden pals get out of the country. That really shows where the prioritys are in the mind of our president.

From what I hear the FBI was pretty *** NOTICE: THIS WORD IS AGAINST THE RULES. FAILURE TO REMOVE IT WILL RESULT IN A STRIKE. *** off about it too. I am sure they had quite a few questions for the Bin Ladens, as would any law enforcement agency have for the family of someone responsible for the deaths of 3000+.