Ex-Saudi ambassador: Kingdom could have helped U.S. prevent 9/11

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CNN

Saudi Arabia could have helped the United States prevent al Qaeda's 2001 attacks on New York and Washington if American officials had consulted Saudi authorities in a "credible" way, the kingdom's former ambassador said in a documentary aired Thursday.

The comments by Prince Bandar bin Sultan are similar to the remarks this week by Saudi King Abdullah that suggested Britain could have prevented the July 2005 train bombings in London if it had heeded warnings from Riyadh.

Speaking to the Arabic satellite network Al-Arabiya on Thursday, Bandar -- now Abdullah's national security adviser -- said Saudi intelligence was "actively following" most of the September 11, 2001, plotters "with precision."

"If U.S. security authorities had engaged their Saudi counterparts in a serious and credible manner, in my opinion, we would have avoided what happened," he said.

Bandar was the Saudi ambassador to Washington for nearly 22 years before he was replaced in 2005. A knowledgeable U.S. official told CNN that Bandar's comments should be taken "with a grain of salt."



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/01/saudiarabia.terrorism/index.html

[babylonsister]

1. Wow, those ingrates. nt

[roguevalley]

14. yeah. they could have kept their bombers home.

[kurth]

2. Yeah, like rapists could have helped women prevent rape

[Demonaut]

3. "Bandar Bush"

all bush had to do was knock on the guest room door of the White House and ask

[PSPS]

4. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were saudis.

[yurbud]

7. Joint Congressional Inquiry found Saudi intel HELPED 9/11 hijackers

and Bush didn't seem to mind one fucking bit.

Sounds like a lovers quarrel between Bush & Saudis.

http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2007/02/probe-this-sen-bob-graham-said-two-911.html

[coalition_unwilling]

19. 15 of the 9/11 hijackers carried Saudi passports, if the official

narrative is to be believed. Not sure Saudi citizenship (or any citizenship) was ever definitively established for any of the purported hijackers, even if one believes 100% the official narrative.

[dansolo]

21. Do you think the Saudis are the good guys?

While I believe that the official 9/11 story is full of holes, and that there was a lot more that they could have done to prevent the attacks. But most evidence shows that the administration was shielding the Saudis in the limited investigating that occurred prior to the attacks.

[coalition_unwilling]

24. I do not think the Saudis are "the good guys". But I do not think

they are necessarily "the bad guys" either, as I tend to resist thinking in Manichean terms, especially when 9/11 had all the hallmarks of an intel false flag\black ops. (See the history of the American intelligence community in regards to the putative "Operation Northwoods" ca. 1960-63).

Even if the hijackers were carrying Saudi passports and even if they were Saudi citizens, this does not mean they were not agents\patsies (unwitting or witting) of an intel black ops sanctioned by, and perhaps operated by, the intelligence services of one or more of the Western powers.

The Saudi dictatorship is notoriously brutal and corrupt. For all *'s blather about "promoting democracy" in the Middle East, if there were free and fair elections in Saudi Arabia, a government would take shape there that is very sympathetic to bin Laden's aims and agenda. Even though the current Saudi government is illegitimate and oppressive, this does not necessarily implicate any ordinary Saudi in anything.

[Make7]

5. CIA Director Tenet Has Direct, Private Channels to Saudi Leaders

 

Late 1990s: CIA Director Tenet Has Direct, Private Channels to Saudi Leaders

George Tenet, appointed as CIA director in 1997, develops close personal relationships with top Saudi officials, especially Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the US. Tenet develops a habit of meeting with Bandar at his home near Washington about once a month. But CIA officers handling Saudi issues complain that Tenet doesn’t tell them what he discusses with Bandar. Often they are only able to learn about Tenet’s deals with the Saudis later and through Saudi contacts, not from their own boss. Tenet also makes one of his closest aides the chief of the CIA station in Saudi Arabia. This aide often communicates directly with Tenet, avoiding the usual chain of command. Apparently as a favor to the Saudis, CIA analysts are discouraged from writing reports raising questions about the Saudi relationship to Islamic extremists. [Risen, 2006, pp. 185]

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=alate1990stenetchannel

- Make7

[Make7]

6. August 27, 2001: Saudis Threaten to End Their Alliance with US

Edited to add date to subject line

August 27, 2001: Saudis Threaten to End Their Alliance with US

Crown Prince Abdullah, the effective leader of Saudi Arabia, is upset with US policy over Israel and Palestine and threatens to break the Saudi alliance with the US. He has Prince Bandar, Saudi ambassador to the US, personally deliver a message to President Bush on August 27. Bandar says, “This is the most difficult message I have had to convey to you that I have ever conveyed between the two governments since I started working here in Washington in 1982.” He brings up a number of issues, including the complaint that since Bush became president US policy has tilted towards Israel so much that the US has allowed Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to “determine everything in the Middle East.” The message concludes, “Therefore the Crown Prince will not communicate in any form, type or shape with you, and Saudi Arabia will take all its political, economic and security decisions based on how it sees its own interest in the region without taking into account American interests anymore because it is obvious that the United States has taken a strategic decision adopting Sharon’s policy.” Bush seems shocked and replies, “I want to assure you that the United States did not make any strategic decision.” Secretary of State Powell later confronts Bandar and says, “What the fuck are you doing? You’re putting the fear of God in everybody here. You scared the shit out of everybody.” Bandar reportedly replies, “I don’t give a damn what you feel. We are scared ourselves.” Two days later, Bush replies with a message designed to appease the Saudi concerns (see August 29-September 6, 2001). [Woodward, 2006, pp. 77-79]

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a082701saudipolicy

- Make7

[JerseygirlCT]

8. More pathetic Saudi attempts to look important

in the world.

They see their good buddy on his way out, and I think they're getting concerned.

[Divine Discontent]

26. that's part of the way I read it also

that, "see on both instances if you'd have sought out the great Kingdom, we would have helped, we are important"


yeah, important in providing the world with some of its few true terrorists...

[JerseygirlCT]

29. Yes, there's a lot of attempted prestidigitation

going on here... watch how important we are, and ignore the fact that we sent most of the attackers your way...

[Divine Discontent]

30. wow

prestidigitation... you have given me a new word. thanks.

[gratuitous]

9. Gee Bandar

Since 15 of the highjackers came from your country, then yeah, I suppose if your government had done a slightly better job of policing its own citizens, the World Trade Center towers might still be standing and 3,000 people might still be alive.

On another level, the attacks of 9/11 might have been prevented if the idiot squatting in our Oval Office had decided to do his fucking job instead of taking a month off after a grueling 28 weeks in office.

[Orangepeel]

10. yeah, they could have not funded it and Saudi citizens could have not been the hijackers.

But is this guy the famous "Bandar Bush?" How much more engaged did he want to be with the White House? Like, literally engaged to Jenna, or what?

[Javaman]

11. "These are not the droids you are looking for"

"move along"

shoulda coulda woulda nice to know 6 fucking years later, huh?

so these terrorist enablers are crying over something now?

ah what a wonderful twisted world we live in.

[Zorra]

12. The PNAC needed a "catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor"

in order to put an end to democracy in the US, and institute their new, improved, corporate brand of domestic and imperial fascism.

Gosh dang, do ya think maybe the PNAC didn't want more evidence that they were "Letting It Happen On Purpose"?
:think:

[Flabbergasted]

13. If our faithful "ally on terror" wanted to stop terror attacks his official could have

told the media anonymously. This really boils my blood. The guy promotes jihad, promotes hate in Saudi funded schools, and then flaunts it in front of our face. Hell is too good for this ass.

What the fuck does he mean by credible?

[librechik]

15. bribes not big enough, i guess.

otherwise, they would have stopped that massacre they are implicated in.

Put that traitor in jail! Prince Bandar Bush indeed!

[annabanana]

16. Wasn't Poppy actually WITH one of the Saudi's on 9/11?

The table was so big they couldn't hear each other? What?

[3waygeek]

27. IIRC, it was one of the bin Ladens

specifically Shafiq bin Laden, Osama's brother, at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington.

[Lilith Velkor]

17. No shit.

:eyes:

[CJCRANE]

18. Bush-Cheney didn't want to prevent 9/11

and he knows it.

[dysfunctional press]

28. especially not after poppy had gone to such great lengths to arrange it.

nt

[ohio2007]

20. listen to what the Queen of England thinks of the House of Saud King

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD38SQ8srXw&eurl=http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2007/10/king-abdullah-v.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzJkW1ZqEjg

[agincourt]

22. OK another country that warned our conservative gov't

Some protection, eh? I think any president would have prevented 9/11 except for Bush/Cheney/Rove.

[FarCenter]

23. I don't think that the Saudis were the only ones to warn us

I think it is a good bet that the German intelligence had also fully briefed Washington about the Hamburg cell.

Bush-Cheney wanted a cause for war, and the let the 9/11 plot go forward.

[Divine Discontent]

25. OK, this is shocking.....

dude who visited W at the white house for dinner the next night and smoked a cigar, said this??? and Saudi didn't force it (contact)? I'm so confused... they like it like that.