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Arabia |
A Saudi Money Trail? |
2002-11-23 |
The FBI is investigating whether the Saudi Arabian government — using the bank account of the wife of a senior Saudi diplomat — sent tens of thousands of dollars to two Saudi A smoking gun seems almost redundant at this point... THE BUREAU, THEY SAY, has uncovered financial records showing a steady stream of payments to the family of one of the Gotta have that contact on the ground to slip into the target area... Sources familiar with the evidence say the payments — amounting to about $3,500 a monthâcame from an account at Washingtonâs Riggs Bank in the name of Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, the wife of Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and the daughter of the late Saudi King Faisal. Prince Bandar is the voice is sweet reason, who just lo-o-o-o-ves the U.S. of A. I wasn't aware that the Soddies were in the habit of After Al Bayoumi left the country in July 2001âtwo months before the September 11 terror attacksâpayments for roughly the same amount began flowing every month to Osama Basnan, a close associate of Al Bayoumiâs who also befriended the hijackers. A federal law-enforcement source told NEWSWEEK that Basnanâwho was recently convicted of visa fraud and is awaiting deportationâwas a known âAl Qaeda sympathizerâ who âcelebrated the heroes of September 11â at a party after the attacks and openly talked about âwhat a wonderful, glorious day it had been.â "Welcome back to Soddy Arabia, Mr Basnan. And may I compliment you on how fraudulent your visa is?" Administration officials stressed repeatedly in interviews that they do not know the purpose of the payments from Princess Haifaâs account. It is also uncertain whether the money was given to the hijackers by Al Bayoumi or Basman. White House sources also raised a number of other cautionary notes, saying that it was not uncommon for wealthy Saudis to provide financial assistance to struggling Saudi families in the United States. âThe facts are unclear, and thereâs no need to rush to judgement,â said one administration official. "Allow me to poo-poo this story. The witnesses are all dead, the tracks are all covered, so it's obviously a complete falsehood..." But other sources describe the financial records as âexplosiveâ and say the information has spurred an intense, behind-the-scenes battle between congressional leaders and the Bush administration over whether evidence highly embarrassing to the Saudi government should be publicly disclosedâespecially at a time that the White House is aggressively seeking Saudi support for a possible war against Iraq. âThis is a matter of the foreign-policy interests of the United States,â said another administration official, who cited the need to prevent a rift in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. He means an overt rift. If all of us stuck with open-source information can see the pattern, you know damned well that the guys reading intel every day have even stronger opinions than we do... A spokesperson for Princess Haifa said âshe will cooperate fully with the United States.â The princess hasnât been asked about the payments by any representatives of the U.S. government, and she wasnât aware of the allegations until today, her spokesperson said. "That's right. I just walked back into my apartment and eleven guys jumped out of the closet, waving a NEWSWEEK story and hollering 'Surprise!'" |
Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
#7 Fred: This revelation could shock me to death. Not the Soddy thing. I just discovered that Pepe Escobar lacks good grooming: www.globaldevelopment.org/pepe.jpg |
Posted by: Anonymous 2002-11-23 22:43:02 |
#6 ...and I'll bet the lawyers for the Victims of 9/11 are grinning ear too ear. Where's my affidavit? |
Posted by: John 2002-11-23 18:49:41 |
#5 France? Why France? What the hell do they have that we would want? EuroDisneyland? Bad hygiene, attitudes and asshole waiters? Arab-immigrant public housing ghettos? I'll pass. The wine's overrated too.... |
Posted by: Frank G 2002-11-23 15:04:08 |
#4 First Iraq, then Iran, then France. |
Posted by: PJ 2002-11-23 14:43:47 |
#3 my guess is US-Saudi relations will start to turn nasty shortly after Saddam is squashed and Iraq is at least somewhat stable. Doing anything sooner would throw too many more variables into the mix. |
Posted by: Anonymous 2002-11-23 14:37:12 |
#2 Heck, if the REAL reason for us invading Iraq was "Ooooil", then we have enough reasons to attack Saudi Arabia: they're a WAY softer target... |
Posted by: Ptah 2002-11-23 14:33:36 |
#1 Now, the question is, will Bush have the balls to act against the Soddies or will he continue to coddle his former "friends." I agree with you that this "smoking gun" is in a sense a yawn, but it will push the public and the press to force our government and our pathetic FBI to act. |
Posted by: Rodger Dodger 2002-11-23 08:35:16 |