I had always thought the bin Laden family flight...

[SHRED]

...just after 9/11, was during the period of time when our airlines were grounded.

I am a little slow on this I guess.
I could have sworn "Fahrenheit 9/11" claimed this.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flights.asp

[Erika]

1. Yes. It's easily googled

Try it.

[SHRED]

2. Snopes says false based on 9/11 Commission

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flights.asp

[Erika]

4. Try Googling it

They flew out of Tampa.

[soup]

12. The flight from TIA

Phantom Flight From Florida
By KATHY STEELE [e-mail]
Published: Oct 5, 2001

TAMPA - The twin-engine Lear jet streaked into the afternoon sky, leaving Tampa behind but revealing a glimpse of international intrigue in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on America.

The federal government says the flight never took place.

But the two armed bodyguards hired to chaperon their clients out of the state recall the 100-minute trip Sept. 13 quite vividly.

In the end, the son of a Saudi Arabian prince who is the nation's defense minister and the son of a Saudi army commander made it to Kentucky for a waiting 747 and a trip to their homeland.

The hastily arranged flight out of Raytheon Airport Services, a private hangar on the outskirts of Tampa International Airport, was anything but ordinary. It lifted off the tarmac at a time when every private plane in the nation was grounded due to safety concerns after the Sept. 11 attacks.
http://web.archive.org/web/20011108145853/http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA3F78EFSC.html



TIA now verifies flight of Saudis

The government has long denied that two days after the 9/11 attacks, the three were allowed to fly.

By JEAN HELLER, Times Staff Writer
Published June 9, 2004

TAMPA - Two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most of the nation's air traffic still grounded, a small jet landed at Tampa International Airport, picked up three young Saudi men and left.

The men, one of them thought to be a member of the Saudi royal family, were accompanied by a former FBI agent and a former Tampa police officer on the flight to Lexington, Ky.

The Saudis then took another flight out of the country. The two ex-officers returned to TIA a few hours later on the same plane.

For nearly three years, White House, aviation and law enforcement officials have insisted the flight never took place and have denied published reports and widespread Internet speculation about its purpose.

But now, at the request of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, TIA officials have confirmed that the flight did take place and have supplied details.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/09/Tampabay/TIA_now_verifies_flig.shtml

[China_cat]

15. Snopes sometimes gets it wrong.

[niyad]

3. unfortunately, the 9/11 commission itself is suspect, as is the report,

which was, if I recall, sent for approval to the White House. See what david ray griffin's book has to say about it.

[ConsAreLiars]

5. Here is what Moore said in the movie (and after the lies)

http://www.michaelmoore.com/warroom/smackdown/index.php?id=6

-------------------
What the movie says is this: "It turns out that the White House approved planes to pick up the bin Ladens and numerous other Saudis. At least six private jets and nearly two dozen commercial planes carried the Saudis and the bin Ladens out of the U.S. after September 13th. In all, 142 Saudis, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, were allowed to leave the country."
-------------------

[Erika]

6. The Bush family and the Bin Laden family had been business

partners for decades all the way back to Prescott Bush. Oil supercedes national loyalty with these people.

[rucky]

7. So it was after the lockdown. Here's my question:

How is it that 24 of Osama Bin Laden's relatives were cleared in two days?

We've taken it on faith that Osama has fallen "out of graces" with his huge Saudi family. How did investigators conclude that so quickly?

At best, it's sloppy investigation (or extremely efficient??). At its worst, it's aiding and abeting.

in contrast...

How is it that hundreds of low-level terror SUSPECTS have NOT been cleared (or indicted) in Guantanamo after 4+ YEARS?!

[Binka]

8. I Know Someone Who Was On One Of Those Planes

The Carlyle Group was meeting in DC at the Ritz Carlton on 9/11. Poppy was there so was James Baker and according to my eye witness they were not shocked by the events unfolding.

Bin Ladens and other notable Arabs put on planes and flown to Dubai.

[TomClash]

10. Puttin' on the Ritz

I would love to have been a fly on the wall during those discussions.

Any more info?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. The man that funded Atta was meeting with Porter Goss & Bob Graham that AM

too. Gen Mahmoud, head of Pakistan's ISI.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Of course they weren't shocked

[Justice Is Comin]

9. And Bush and Bandar

were smoking cigars on the Whitehouse balcony toasting to the Bin Ladens secretive royal escorts from the United States to never never land.

Where prying eyes and complicit knowledge could never be merged.

[izzie]

14. That is very interesting. I am also sure the FBI had the word -----

We had a day full of how well the FBI works and the CIA so------