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Documents: FBI helped Saudis depart after 9/11 attacks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-28 13:43
The FBI played an active role in arranging chartered flights for dozens of
well-connected Saudi nationals -- including relatives of Osama bin Laden --
after the 9/11 terror attacks.
The New York Times reported that the documents show Federal Bureau of
Investigation agents gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi
families who fled the United States, while several other Saudis were allowed to
leave the country without first being interviewed, citing newly-released US
government records.
The Saudi families, in Los Angeles and Orlando, had requested the FBI escorts
out of concern for their personal safety in the wake of the attacks.
The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit
against the Justice Department by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group,
which provided copies to the Times.
FBI officials contacted by the daily reacted angrily to the allegation of
preferential treatment for the Saudis.
One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, when queried by the Times
about the airport escorts said "we'd do that for anybody if they felt they were
threatened -- we wouldn't characterize that as special treatment."
The Saudis' chartered flights -- arranged in the days after the September 11,
2001 terror attacks when most aircraft were still grounded -- long have been a
topic of allegations related to close family ties and associates of US President
George W. Bush and the Saudi royal family.
The charges received their most prominent airing last year by the filmmaker
Michael Moore, in his "Fahrenheit 9/11" documentary.
White House officials have strongly denied any special treatment for the
Saudis.
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