Anyone reading House of Bush - House of Saud

[madmax]

I've only finished the first chapter and I'm livid. Has anyone on the 9/11 Commission ask 'anybody' about the bin Laden family leaving the US when all flights were grounded? Or any question whatsoever of Bush family involvement with the bin Laden's/Banatar Saud/Poppy Bush, Carlyle Group?


I heard them question Ashcroft the other day about flying chartered jets and if it was because he was advised not to because of terrorist threats. He said he flew commercial for personal travel.

I'd like to hear someone asked about the bin Ladens leaving without so much a fair thee well or being questioned at all by the FBI. I know the answer but, I'd like them to ask, 'who authorized their leaving'.

[sjgman9]

1. I read the book

Its a lot of stuff I already knew. Its quite interesting. Id love to see Bush read the books that are being put out about him...


BWHAHAHA! At least I can joke with myself.


Yeah, the book made me angry. So do a lot of anti-bush books.

I dont see how Bush is conservative, nor compassionate. He's a reactionary. How the hell are republicans supporting this guy?

[yardwork]

2. Richard Clarke was asked this question.

His answer was very interesting. I was listening carefully, but this recollection is from memory. If I get a detail wrong, I know someone will correct me.

Clarke said that he received a request to allow the bin Laden family to leave while he was in the "war room" after 9/11. He does not remember who handed him the request. After being pressed, Clarke stated that it was "probably" either the State Department or the Chief of Staff's office.

Clarke referred the request to the FBI, which he says was SOP. The FBI reviewed the names and decided that they were ok to leave. When Clarke received the FBI's ok, he approved the request.

This raises a whole lot of questions in my mind. I give Clarke the benefit of assuming he is telling the truth. But who who initiated the request? Who in the FBI vetted the list and gave approval? And, most importantly, how does anybody know if the list approved by the FBI matched the actual passengers on that plane?

[madmax]

4. The question in your last paragraph

is answered in the first chapter. They don't know.

Thanks for posting. If I there is a repeat sometime of Clark's testimony I'll watch. I'll also check in his book.

Never is my life have I bought so many hardcover books - on politics no less ;)

[SimpleMan]

3. The Chairman was on Washington Journal today...

He claims that the Saudis didn't leave until the flying restrictions were lifted, and after they were vetted by the FBI. In short, he claims the whole thing is a myth.

If you want to contact them, "BridgeTheGap" kindly put up a great post with their e-mail addresses:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1410256

BTW, he also said that there wasn't anything strange about the fact that it took so long after the first plane was declared hijacked before the first fighters were scrambled.

[dennis4868]

6. Well the Chirman is either full of shit....

or he is covering up for Bushit or is plain dumb....the saudis were allowed all fly from their location in the US to Kentucky when there was a ban on flying. They then flew out of the US back to Saudia Arabia after the ban was lifted...however, the book mentions that even though the ban was lifted when they flew to their country the FBI was not suppose to allow anyone from Saudia Arabia out of the country.

So YES, they did fly when there was a ban on flying...to Kentucly. And then flew to thewir home country when the ban was lifted but not for them because they were saudia arabians! Fuck you Mr. Chairman!

[eridani]

5. Infuriating book

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2004/03/11/unger_1/index_np.html

Immediately after 9/11, dozens of Saudi royals and members of the bin Laden family fled the U.S. in a secret airlift authorized by the Bush White House. One passenger was an alleged al-Qaida go-between, who may have known about the terror attacks in advance. Our first excerpt from "House of Bush, House of Saud." Craig Unger

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/04/con04155.html

Why was the Fired Head of Saudi Intel in the United States, While 15 Saudis Were Carrying Out Their 9-11 Mission?

Within two weeks after September 11, 2001, with commercial flights grounded in the United States, the Bush administration allowed select commercial jets to fly out of the country. Four manifests from these flights have now been released by Craig Unger, author of the nonfiction bestseller "House of Bush, House of Saud." The passenger lists are posted online at http://www.houseofbush.com/files.php .

When former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke was asked about the flights at the commission’s last hearing, he responded that "someone" in the Saudi embassy requested them and that he refused, kicking the request over to the FBI. The FBI, dominated by the White House, permitted them.

Among passengers jetting away were some individuals who would have been "persons of interest" in any traditional investigation, and others with round-the-clock access to them. A September 13 flight from Lexington KY to London carried fifteen passengers including eight Saudis; a Las Vegas-to-Switzerland flight the next day carried seven Saudis; a New York-to-Paris flight on September 22 carried twelve passengers including four Saudis; and a Las Vegas-to-Paris flight on September 24 carried 24 passengers including 11 Saudis.

-snip-

Two of these dubious flights departed from Las Vegas, where at least five of the September 11 suspects visited several times between May and August 2001. At least one suspect from each of the four planes hijacked stayed in Las Vegas; all together, the hijackers made at least six trips there. Yet, a few days after 9-11, 31 passengers were allowed to fly out of Vegas, only three or four of them youngsters born in the 1980s or 1990s. One Saudi royal passenger was Prince Turki bin Faisal, more famous as the head of Saudi Arabia’s bloodstained and much feared intelligence service from 1977 until he was abruptly fired in August 2001.