:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 4.11.2004 ::

:: The Bush League ::

All in the family?
Taking a look at the relationship between Bush clan and Saudi rulers
By JOHN FREEMAN
Special to The Kansas City Star

On Sept. 13, 2001, the United States imposed a nationwide no-fly zone, and yet more than 140 individuals were permitted to leave America.

Nearly all of them were Saudi, and roughly two dozen were kin to Osama bin Laden. What kind of intelligence failure allowed this to happen? Were these individuals seriously questioned? Who allowed them to leave?

And given that 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington were Saudi, what was the rush in squandering what may have been a potential intelligence mother lode?

Craig Unger first reported this story in Vanity Fair. In House of Bush, House of Saud, he places this incredible scenario in the context of a decades-old relationship between the ruling clan of Saudi Arabia and America's pre-eminent political dynasty: the Bush family.

In a year when the president will campaign as tough on terror and homeland security, Unger's book makes essential reading. Not only does it pose disturbing questions about Saudi involvement in 9/11 (wittingly or unwittingly), but it also presents a frighteningly believable case that the Bush administration's cozy relationship with the royal house of Saud precipitated this catastrophe.

Read more here.

ALSO
From The Boston Globe:
Unasked questions
The 9/11 commission should ask who authorized the evacuation of Saudi nationals in the days following the attacks
By Craig Unger, 4/11/2004

IN ITS TOUGH QUESTIONING of Richard Clarke and Condoleezza Rice, the 9/11 commission has already shown itself to be more resolute than some skeptics predicted. Many Americans now realize that multiple warnings of an Al Qaeda attack on American soil crossed the desks of Bush administration officials in the months leading up to 9/11. The administration's previously unchallenged narrative has begun to unravel.

But when hearings resume on Tuesday, we may learn exactly how tough the commission is prepared to be. This time the stars will be Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert S. Mueller III, among others. When they testify -- especially Mueller -- we will see whether or not the commission has the stomach to address what may be the single most egregious security lapse related to the attacks: the evacuation of approximately 140 Saudis just two days after 9/11.

This episode raises particularly sensitive questions for the administration. Never before in history has a president of the United States had such a close relationship with another foreign power as President Bush and his father have had with the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud. I have traced more than $1.4 billion in investments and contracts that went from the House of Saud over the past 20 years to companies in which the Bushes and their allies have had prominent positions -- Harken Energy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group among them. Is it possible that President Bush himself played a role in authorizing the evacuation of the Saudis after 9/11? What did he know and when did he know it?

Craig Unger, the former editor of Boston Magazine, is the author of "House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties" (Scribner, March 2004).

Read more here.

PLUS
BuzzFlash interview: Craig Unger
From WorkingForChange.com

BuzzFlash: Despite your book, despite, again, other journalists who have brought this issue up, there is still the 800-pound elephant in the room that the Bush administration just doesn’t want to talk about. You never hear them voluntarily bring up Saudi Arabia. Is that likely to change in an election year? Are the Democrats likely to make it an issue? Or are we just going to go through this election with Saudi Arabia again being like the relative you don’t want to talk about?

Craig Unger: It absolutely should be an issue. And you have the 9/11 Commission which I think has to address many of these questions. You have the Kerry campaign, which I believe should raise some of these questions. It’s an elemental question in American foreign policy -– how do you deal with this? If we’re going to have a serious war on terror, President Bush -– and this may be one place where I really agree with him -– has said how he responded to 9/11 should be an issue in the campaign. I agree with him absolutely on that. We might disagree on how well he’s done, but the Saudi role in all this is very, very important.

I would like to redirect attention back to, if I may, to what I call the great escape -- the evacuation of Saudis. The Bush administration clearly played a role. They clearly authorized that. Why did they do that? How could they possibly have done it? They were already arresting people in Guantanamo and detaining them for months and months and months. But Saudis who may have had knowledge of this were whisked out of the country in the dead of night.

poated by me

:: 3:33:00 PM [+] ::
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