TIA now verifies flight of Saudis

[KG]

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.

MORE>>>>http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2004/06/09/Tampabay/TIA_now_verifies_flig.shtml

[Cheswick2.0]

1. Hmmmm, didn't those of us who believed this happened used to be called

conspiracy theorists by the "more rational" folk here at DU?

[WoodrowFan]

9. it's a million miles

from this to MIHOP.

(for the record, I believed the flights happened)

[Killarney]

2. and who has the story?

the freakin' St. Petersburg Times?

WAKE UP MEDIA! DO YOUR FREAKING JOBS!

[thecrow]

13. They wanted to beat Michael Moore to the punch?

And they reported it in a smaller newspaper in Florida during National Reagan Worship Week?
HAHAHA
This will only give more credence to Farenheit 9-11.
I love it!

[oldshoe]

3. Can we reschedule that plane...

...and a few hundred more to take the entire Bush Administration on a one-way flight to Saudia Arabia where they belong?

[rogerashton]

4. Why is this a bad thing?

It has seemed to me all along that getting prominent Saudis out of the country in those circumstances was probably smart. It was a dangerous situation for them.

Of course, it should not have been hidden. But there could have been a lot of anti-Arab sentiment, even violence, and the government was right not to take that chance with a Saudi royal.

It is to the credit of the American people that, in fact, anti-Arab hysteria was limited to a few wingnuts. Perhaps it is even somewhat to the credit of the government, and perhaps reflects the long friendship of the Bush family and the Saudi elite. Certainly, the government's deliberate creation of a wave of anti-French hysteria provides a shameful contrast, and the odor of Saudi involvement in 9-11 would make it politically difficult for the government when this became known. But "in the service, you must always choose the lesser weevil!"

[HootieMcBoob]

8. LOL

Your making me laugh! Stop it ... Stop it seriously my stomach hurts!!!
:7 :7

[StandUpGuy]

10. umm.. ...we've been told it was al qaeda

If they feared anti Arab sentiment after the attacks then why were only Saudi Arabs flown to safety....
Why weren't prominent Iraqis, Egyptians, and Algerians whisked to the safety of the own countries.

The "for their own safety" line is a crock.

If the government didn't trust Americans to differentiate between Al qaeda and the average Arab. Are we to believe they trusted the average American to pick a Saudi out of a group of Arabs ?! ... seems a bit of a stretch.



:tinfoilhat:

[rogerashton]

11. Right, and who "told you" it was al Qaeda?

If so, that, of course, would be treason, comforting the enemy. But, SO FAR AS WE KNOW, the Saudi royal family was not complicit with al Qaeda in the 9-11 attacks. The reports I have seen are that it was either a Saudi royal and his entourage or members of the bin Laden family who were removed. If the latter: the bin Laden family have dissociated themselves from Osama and al-Qaeda. (Whether they are sincere is beside the point, unless there is evidence of their complicity, and I have seen none.)

What could be scandalous about the removal of bin Ladens is that they are old Bush family friends who could be seen as having gotten special treatment. Even so, I think it was probably better to have them out of the country, as either their detention or an incident concerning them would have made international tensions worse at a time when there were very few cool heads to be found. (My head certainly wasn't cool at the time!) If a Saudi royal, all the moreso. And Royals get special treatment in the real world.

One of the things I don't forgive Bush for is going to war against Iraq on the basis of a conjecture -- a conjecture that proved to be false. I would similarly not wish to go to war against Saudi Arabia on a conjecture. Do you disagree?

to Redqueen: As I understand it, only one flight has been confirmed.

to Kiloman: we are talking about a Royal family member and his entourage, I believe, or if not, prominent Saudi subjects. It would be good to know what the Saudi royal family and the Bin Ladens know, but, last I noticed, Saudi Arabia, unlike Buffalo, is a sovereign country. Do you propose an imperialist war against Saudi Arabia in order to question people there about al Qaeda? OK -- better that than Iraq, I will concede, but better neither than either.

to Hootie McBoob:

If you suppose that I was being ironic, you stand corrected. I was not. If you were just having a little fun of your own, let me point out that laughter is not an argument -- but is a pretty effective way of covering your rear end when you don't have an argument to support your position. Which is it?

[SlingBlade]

5. The day Clinton betrayed this Country And nobody said a thing

On April 19th. 1995 a right wing extremist Timothy McVeigh drove an explosives laden rental truck next to the Oklahoma City Federal Building and set the detonator.
The resulting explosion caused the collapse of the building and killed 168 Americans, many of were civilian and not connected with the Government.
Nineteen of which were children, killed and buried beneath the rubble.

Investigators soon connected McVeigh to the Bombing and a Nationwide alert was issued to all police agencies, This was also announced on nationwide news programs such as Cnn as well.

In the meantime, President Bill Clinton was so overwhelmed and consumed with the safety of the McVeigh families safety who lived in Buffalo New York due to the news alert, that he immediately dispatched Federal law Enforcement Agents to fly the McVeigh family to safety in France.

Since safety was the over riding issue here, Even though during a normal homicide investigation family members of the perpetrator are almost immediately interviewed and questioned about the whereabouts or other clues to their wanted family member, This was not done, Due to concern for the safety of the innocent family members.

It was also never an issue that the McVeigh family had been funding the Clinton business interest for over 25 years, It was not an issue, Because prudence ruled.

No cries of indignation were ever heard on the Rush Limbaugh show, The O'Reilly's and the Hannities also saw the compassion and intelligence of the Presidents decision as well as Newt Gigrich and the normal day to day right wing believers, and stood by the President in this time of National mourning, Proclaiming that Americans should never politicize such a thing.

Of course this is fiction, Just as the this mis-administrations tenure has also been a tale of fiction.
But we all know what the truth would have been in similar circumstances....

DON'T WE??????????/?/???/????????//??/????/??????

Want the truth, Just replace Clintons name with Bush.

And McVeigh’s name with Bin Ladden...............

Ha ha !

[KoKo]

15. Excellent, kiloman! Just Excellent! Hope Roger Ashton get's your point

:D

[LittleApple81]

6. Time to go to AAR. Puke. n/t

[redqueen]

7. Just one flight confirmed?

I read there were many flights, and at least a hundred Saudi nationals that were evacuated.

[seabeyond]

12. why does it matter

becasue they lied. they could have said was for safety and all would have nodded ok. why do we care bush national guard history, because he lied. why do we care dui, cause he lied, adn on and on

yet further, one member of the family got back adn mysteriously died, maybe two. a couple were funding the charities paying al queada. fbi didnt get through reviews, that is why we care

[CatWoman]

14. I just read about this on Josh Marshall's site

:kick: