Reply #4: here are some links [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://www.saudiembassy.net/2004News/Statements/StateDetail.asp?cIndex=403

excerpt:

"No commercial planes, including chartered flights, were permitted to fly into, out of, or within the United States until September 13, 2001. After the airspace reopened, six chartered flights with 142 people, mostly Saudi Arabian nationals, departed from the United States between September 14 and 24. One flight, the so-called bin Laden flight, departed the United States on September 20 with 26 passengers, most of them relatives of Osama bin Laden. We have found no credible evidence that any chartered flights of Saudi Arabian nationals departed the United States before the reopening of national airspace.

"The Saudi flights were screened by law enforcement officials, primarily the FBI, to ensure that people on these flights did not pose a threat to national security, and that nobody of interest to the FBI with regard to the 9/11 investigation was allowed to leave the country. Thirty of the 142 people on these flights were interviewed by the FBI, including 22 of the 26 people (23 passengers and 3 private security guards) on the bin Laden flight. Many were asked detailed questions. None of the passengers stated that they had any recent contact with Osama bin Laden or knew anything about terrorist activity.

"The FBI checked a variety of databases for information on the bin Laden flight passengers and searched the aircraft. It is unclear whether the TIPOFF terrorist watchlist was checked. At our request, the Terrorist Screening Center has rechecked the names of individuals on the flight manifests of these six Saudi flights against the current TIPOFF watchlist. There are no matches.

"The FBI has concluded that nobody was allowed to depart on these six flights who the FBI wanted to interview in connection with the 9/11 attacks, or who the FBI later concluded had any involvement in those attacks. To date, we have uncovered no evidence to contradict this conclusion."

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http://fpiarticle.blogspot.com/2005/03/plane-carried-13-bin-ladens.html

At least 13 relatives of Osama bin Laden, accompanied by bodyguards and associates, were allowed to leave the United States on a chartered flight eight days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a passenger manifest released yesterday.

One passenger, Omar Awad bin Laden, a nephew of the al Qaeda leader, had been investigated by the FBI because he had lived with Abdullah bin Laden, a leader of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, which the FBI suspected of being a terrorist organization.

The passenger list was made public by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who obtained the manifest from officials at Boston's Logan International Airport. Lautenberg's office was given the document in recent weeks and released it before today's issuance of the final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

Although much was already known about the "bin Laden flight," Lautenberg provided additional details, including the information that the plane, a 727 owned by DB Air and operated by Ryan International, began its flight in Los Angeles and made stops in Orlando, Dulles International Airport and Boston before continuing to Gander, Newfoundland; Paris; Geneva; and Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft, tail number N521DB, has been chartered frequently by the White House for the press corps traveling with President Bush.

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http://www.emjournal.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/may03015.html

24 members of bin Laden's family whisked out of US after attacks
WASHINGTON, OCT 2-2001-AFP

As many as 24 members of terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden's family were flown out of the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Saudi Ambassador Price Bandar bin Sultan said on US television.

Osama bin Laden, an heir to the family's construction fortune, is believed to be behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon building that have left about 5,700 people dead or missing.

Prince Bandar said late Monday that most of bin Laden's relatives had come to the United States to study but were flown back to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the attacks after the personal intervention of Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz.

"His majesty said it's not fair for those innocent people to be subjected to any harm," the ambassador said, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" program.

"On the other hand, we understood the high emotions," prince Bandar added. "So with coordination with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), we got them all out."

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/30/archive/main313048.shtml

Bin Laden Family Evacuated

Sept. 30, 2001

(CBS) Two dozen members of Osama bin Laden's family were urgently evacuated from the United States in the first days following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, according to the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

One of bin Laden's brothers frantically called the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington looking for protection, Prince Bandar bin Sultan told The New York Times. The brother was sent to a room in the Watergate Hotel and was told not to open the door.

Most of bin Laden's relatives were attending high school and college. The young members of the bin Laden family were driven or flown under FBI supervision to a secret place in Texas and then to Washington, The Times reported Sunday.

Many were terrified, fearing they would be lynched after hearing reports of violence against Muslims and Arab-Americans.

They left the country on a private charter plane when airports reopened three days after the attacks.

(although that last line was incorrect - the airports had not been reopened)

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