Saudis and Bush To Meet Over 9/11 Allegations

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_____The Post on 9/11 Report_____

• Broader Probe of Terror Threat Underway (The Washington Post, Jul
27, 2003) • Hill's 9/11 Probe Finds Multiple Failures (The
Washington Post, Jul 25, 2003) • A History of Missed Connections
(The Washington Post, Jul 25, 2003) • White House, CIA Kept Key
Portions of Report Classified (The Washington Post, Jul 25, 2003)
 
 
 
_____Congressional Report_____

• Joint Inquiry on 9/11 Attacks • Findings and Conclusions (PDF)
• Excerpts From the Report • The Panel's Findings
 
 
 
_____Timeline_____

• Before Sept. 11: Al Qaeda activity and U.S. government responses
 
 
 
 
   
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By Glenn Kessler and Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 29, 2003; Page A01


Saudi officials, furious over a congressional report issued last week
alleging possible links between individuals in the Saudi government
and some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, have requested and been granted a
meeting today between Foreign Minister Prince Saud Faisal and
President Bush.

The hastily scheduled White House visit, which will take place shortly
after Bush meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
demonstrates the level of Saudi anger and the kingdom's clout with the
Bush administration. A key issue in the dispute is that 28 pages of
the 900-page report, in a section dealing with allegations about Saudi
Arabia, were entirely classified -- but well-publicized -- and some
U.S. officials said it appeared the Saudi government was moving toward
asking the president to declassify those pages.

A Saudi official said Saud is coming to Washington to meet with the
president to discuss "issues of mutual concern." A U.S. official said
the request for a presidential meeting came late last week.

Before the report was released, congressional officials had fought
hard to declassify the pages dealing with Saudi Arabia, especially
Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.).

The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan,
who will also attend the meeting with Bush, said last week that the
material was classified most likely because it could not be
substantiated. "Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide," he said. "We can
deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages."

Yesterday, Graham sent a letter to Bush citing Bandar's statement last
week as a reason for declassifying those pages. Bandar "is frustrated
by the fact that there are rumors and speculation but the Saudi
government does not have the ability to engage," Graham said in an
interview. Not only would release of the information inform the
American public, he said, but "it is now important to the relations
between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to make it public."

The information has remained classified for several reasons, including
the sensitivity of the foreign government, the likelihood of revealing
sources and methods used to gather the information and the fact that
there may be ongoing criminal investigations that would be compromised
were they to be made public, officials said. Were the Saudi government
to request that the 28 pages be declassified, it is likely that CIA
officials would review the matter and release at least parts of the
section, one administration official said.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, and the report cited a CIA
memorandum that said connections between some hijackers and some
Saudis living in the United States amounted to "incontrovertible
evidence that there is support for these terrorists" from Saudi
officials.

The declassified section refers only to "foreign support." But
officials from various branches of the U.S. government said those two
words refer to Saudi Arabia.

Much of the new allegations is the result of brief investigations
conducted by the Sept. 11 inquiry staff. House and Senate members of
the inquiry have repeatedly said they do not know whether the
allegations are true, and have criticized the FBI in particular for
not pursuing them more quickly, especially the case of a network of
businessmen and religious figures in San Diego who provided some of
the hijackers with financial and logistical support.

But the report holds out the possibility that the Saudi-related
allegations "could reveal legitimate, and innocent, explanations for
these associations."

The report makes no accusation that it was ever the policy of the
Saudi government to support terrorism. Rather, the questionable
activity involved Saudi citizens, some of whom worked for the Saudi
government.

Two of the hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, were
befriended upon their arrival in California by a Saudi named Omar
Bayoumi, an employee of the Saudi civil aviation authority who had
been the subject of a counterterrorism investigation begun in
1998. Bayoumi, who had large amounts of cash from Saudi Arabia, put
down a security deposit and first month's rent on an apartment for the
conspirators and set them up with an interpreter, a man whose brother
is the subject of a counterterrorism investigation.

After Sept. 11, when the FBI renewed its investigation of Bayoumi,
agents found he "has connections to terrorist elements," including
ties to al Qaeda, the report said. A search of his apartment turned up
jihadist literature, and his salary was paid by a man whose son's
photograph was found in an al Qaeda safe house in Pakistan.

The FBI also determined after the attacks that Osama Bassnan, another
Saudi man who had befriended the San Diego hijackers, "is an extremist
and a bin Laden supporter." The FBI was aware of Bassnan previously
and received reports that in 1993 he was host of a party in Washington
for Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric now imprisoned for his
role in the first World Trade Center attack. "However, the FBI did not
open an investigation" at the time.

Bassnan and his family received charitable support from Princess Haifa
al-Faisal, wife of Bandar, and members of the joint inquiry have
complained they have had to press the FBI to determine whether any of
those or other royal family money may have been used to aid the
hijackers.



© 2003 The Washington Post Company