T5 B68 Press Accounts Fdr- Entire Contents- Saudi Flights- 2 Emails and 6 Media Reports (1st Pgs for Reference)

8/14/2019 T5 B68 Press Accounts Fdr- Entire Contents- Saudi Flights- 2 Emails and 6 Media Reports (1st Pgs for Reference)

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Phantom Flight From Florida: From The Tampa Tribune Page 1 of 3

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Friday, March 26

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Phantom Flight From FloridaBy KATHY STEELE ksteele@ta mpa trib.com

Publ ished: Oct 5, 2001

TAMPA - The twin-engine Lear jet streaked into the afternoon sk y, leaving Tampabehind but revealingaglimpseof international intrigue in the aftermath of terroristattacks on America.The federal government says the flight never took place.But the two armed bodyguards hired to chaperon their clients out of the state recall the100-minute trip Sept. 13 quite vividly.In the end, the son of a Saudi Arabian prince who is the nation's defense minister andthe son of a Saudi army commander made it to Kentucky for a waiting 747 and a trip totheir homeland.The hastily arranged flight out of R aytheon Airport Services, a private hangar on theoutskirts of Tampa International Airport, was anything but ordinary. It lifted off thetarmac at a time w hen every private plane in the nation was grounded due to safetyconcerns after the Sept. 11 attacks.Local and federal authorities will say little about the flight."It's not in our logs ... it didn't occur," said Chris White, spokesman for the FederalAviation Administration's regional office in Atlanta.For private investigators Dan Grossi and Manuel Perez, the bodyguards on the Lear, itwa s a trip they can't forget.A Special Situation Grossi said Tampa police intelligence detectives called him about11 a.m. Sept. 13, needing help with a special situation: They had been watching threeyoung Saudi men - at least one a student at the University of Tampa - at their southTampa apartment, and the trio w as scared and wanted to go home.Jim Harf, director of UT's international programs, confirmed one of them is the son ofPrince Sultan, the defense minister.University spokesm an Grant D onaldson refused to provide details. P erez said heunderstood the men arrived in Tampa three w eeks earlier to receive tutoring in English.The Tampa detectives guarding the men were ordered to stay in Tampa by Police ChiefBennie Holder, so Grossi was offered the job of escorting the trio to Lexington, Ky.,

http://web.archive.org/web/20011108145853/http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA3F78EFSC.... 3/26/2004


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41. NBC Meet the Press Interview with Prince Bandar Bin SultanPartial Transcript - April 25,2004MR. RUS SER T: Prince Bandar, welcome to MEET TH E PRESS.PRINCE BANDAR BIN SULTAN : Thank you.MR. RUS SER T: As I showed Bob Woodward's book, January 11, 2003, you're briefed by VicePresident Cheney, Secretary of D efense R umsfeld, about the war in Iraq. That's two mon thsbefore the American people were told. Do you think that's strange?PRINCE BAN DAR : Not at all, because at that time, the options were either the U nited N ationssolution will work and Saddam will respond to it, or that will mean serious consequences whichdefinitely meant ultimately will be war. And you don't m ake plans the night before you go to war. Ittakes time to plan. And my country is next door. There's 500 m ile of borders w ith Iraq. And w ewere interested to know w hat's going on.MR. RUSSERT: Is Bob Woodward correct that you advised the president to take $200 million an dbuy off, in effect, the Iraqi army, pay them for their service, buy their loyalty, an d that they couldbe a security force right now in Iraq?PRINCE BANDAR: I don't talk about my conversations with the president or-but I believe thatwould have been the right way to go. There's no point of Monday-morning quarterbacking now.What we need now to do is to make things work.MR. RU SSE RT : In terms of oil supplies, this is the e xact captions from Bob Wood ward's book:"'I'm worried about the ade quacy of the oil market,' the president stated, expressing concern forthe world marke t's ability to absorb tempo rary shortfalls during a w ar in the Middle East. Theripple effect in the U .S. Econom y could be gigantic, and he asked about the e xcess productioncapability of the" United Arab Emirates "and S audi Arabia. Saudi oil policy could be the savinggrace. According to Prince B andar, the Saudis hoped to fine-tune oil prices over 10 months toprime the econom y for 2004. What was key, Bandar knew," was "the econom ic conditions beforea presidential election, not at the m oment of the election."Senator Charles Schumer of New York has called on the president to revoke your diplomatic visafor interfering in the presidential election of 2004 by promising the president that you might lowerprices before the Novem ber election to help h is cause.PRINCE BAND AR: So what's the question, Tim?MR. RUSSERT: Did you, in fact, make such a promise to the president?PRINCE BAN DA R: I did not. The president talked with m e for m onths about the high oil pricesan d how that could be damaging to the American economy and the world economy as it'srecovering. And I informed him my go vernmen t's policy, which is to maintain oil prices between$22 to $28. And we prefer $25 as sort of a medium, and that's the extent of that. There was nodeal, no election-no connection to the election. And this is not the first time. In 2000, PresidentClinton asked us to do the sam e thing because the prices were getting too high, above $30.MR. RUSSERT: But in October of 2000, crude oil was $35 a ba rrel, so you didn't keep your endof the deal.PRINCE BANDAR:Well, there is a reason, because it's not a matter of crude. Th e reason yo uhave high prices in the United States is the refineries are not enough to refine. There is a one-


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Page 1 of 1Accolla

From: Dianna CampagnaSent: Friday, April 23, 2004 4:47 PMTo: Joanne AccollaCc: Team 6Subject: DOJ Document Request No. 11

11 and we also received documents on 2/27. There was no indication ofitems, so it could be any of the outstanding ones. They are at GSA (RDOJ 04016538 - 04016594). Sorry to havethis but my notes were clear on the document sheet but not on my draft to you. Dianna


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Page 1 of 1

From: Caroline BarnesSent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 3:28 PMTo: Team 6Subject: Other Docs to Request

e only two docs I can think of that I'd like to request (in addition to re-requesting those we have not yet received):1) TTIC report on AZ2) Transcript of Pickard's conference call w/SACs in July (?) 2001


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H i U f l P R . 1 1 . 2 0 0 4 1 t a d i : 4 7 P M -

QuestionsThe 9/11 commission should ask whoauthorized the evacuation ofSaudinationals in the days followingthe attacks

IN ITS TOUGH QUESTIONING of RichardClarke and Condoleezza Rice, the 9/11 commis-. iT[!;"7J-> JJTYTTT rv " l "'"T *5 ~nr " iT" lE h an'some sfe^jili'& predicted. ManyAmericans

|:v'$

no w realize thai multiple warningsof an Al QB-eda attack on A merican soil crossed the desks ofBush administration officials inthemonths ead-ing up to 9/11. Tbe administration'spreviouslyunchallengednarrativehas begun to unravel.

B ut when hearings resume on Tuesday, wema y learn exactly bow tough the commissionis prepared to be. This time the stars will beA t-torney General John Ashcroft and FBIdirectorRobert S. Mueller III, among others.When theytestify-especially Mueller-we will see whetherornot the commissionhas thedtomach to addresswhat may be the single most egregious securitylapse related to the attacks; theevacuation of ap-proximately 140Saudis just two days after 9/11.

This episode raises particularly sensitivequestions for the administration. Never before in

history has a .president of the United States liadsuch a close relationship with another foreignpower as President Bush and his father have hadwith the Satidi royal fanflly; Ife Hifose'ofSand. Ihave traced more than $lA billion in investmentsand contracts that went from the House of Saudover the past 20years to companies in whichthe Bushesand their allies have had prominentpositions-Barken Energy, Halliburton, and theCarlyle Groupamong them. Is it possible thatPresident Bush himself playedarole In authoriz-ing the evacuation of the Saudis after 9/11? Whatdid heknow andwhen did heknow it?

Let's go back to Sept, 13, 2001, and look atseveral scenes that Were taking place simulta-neously. Three thousand people had just beenkilled. The toxic rubble of the World TradeCenter was still ablaze. American airspacewas locked down. Not even BUI Clinton andAl Gore, who were out of tb country, were al-lowed to fly home.A nd QUESTIONS, Page DS

Craig Vnser, the former editor of Boston Ma$aziM,-i& th e author of House of Bush,House ofSaud:The Secret Relationship Between the World's T & O Most Powerful Dynast ies" (Seri.D7ier, March 3004}.


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Urban Legends Reference Pages: Rumors of War (Flight of Fancy) Page 1 o f 11

s n o p e s . c o m Flight of Fancy

Claim: Secret flights whisked bin Laden family members out of the U.S. over the obof the FBI two days after the September 11 attacks, while a general ban on air tra\l in effec

Status: Multiple see below In the two days immediately following the September 11 terrorist attacks on Arthe U.S. government allowed bin Laden family membersto fly within the countrya general ban on air travel: True. During that same period the U.S. government allowed bin Laden family memberout of the U.S.: False. The flights carrying bin Laden family members out of the U.S took place o\s of the The FBI wasdenied any opportunity to question departing bin Laden family merr

False.Origins: I owe Michael Moore an apology. In a January 2002 interview with Al D'ArricAlan Colmes of the FOX Network, Michael Moore said:

Why did this country allow the bin Laden family, two days after two days after September 11 to fly around America and pick upall the bin Laden relatives, about 24 of them, and take them toEurope? Not a single one of them was interrogated by the FBI.That set me off on a tirade, and it shouldn't have. Part ofMr. Moore's statement has since been proved to be correct during the ban on air travel, some Saudis (including members ofthe bin Laden family) were transported by air to assembly points inthe U.S. in preparation for their leaving the country. In an earlierversion of this article, I ranted and raved about his avowingbin Laden flights had taken place while no one wasallowed to fly.Yet some did, at least within the U.S.I shouldn't have yelled at him. He was right about that.Actually, I shouldn't have yelled at him even if he'd been deadwrong about everything. There's no good excuse for my having gotten vitriolic about /

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flight.htm 3/26/2004


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' The Secret Saudi Flight on 9-13 Could be the Key to the Bush-Saudi-Al Qaeda Connection Page 1 of 6

About VFPVF P HomepageBrochure FrontBrochure BackCalendarHow To ContributeGroups InfoeGroups Send MailJoin/Renew (on-line)Join/Renew (by mail)kinksNeed a DD214?Ou r PurposePositionsStatementsNewsletterPJlQtosProjectsPress ReleaseRelief AgenciesResolutionsStaffTributesVF P ProductsEmail VF PDonateVFP is a 501 (c)3 organ-ization. All contributionsare tax deductible.Veterans for PeaceWilson "Woody" PowellNational AdministratorWorld Community Center438 North SkinkerSt. Louis MO 631 30(314)725-6005Chapter Contacts

VETERANS FOR PEACEVeterans W orking Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. W agePeace!http://www.democrats.com/view2.cfm7id=1428927-May-03Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz is being suedby families of the 9-11 victims for personally approving millions ofdollars of Saudi government funding for terrorist front groups.Amazingly, bin Abdul Aziz arranged for his son to be flown fromFlorida to Kentucky on 9-13 - a flight the Bush administrationdenies ever happened, on the second day when ALLcivilian flightsin the USwere prohibited. To make matters worse, bin Abdul Azizan d his Saudi co-defendants hired James Baker's law firm to defendhimagainst the TRILLION dollar 9-11 lawsuit - even as Bakerpersonally represents the Bush administration on crucialintelligence matters. Could this trial expose the deep Saudiconnections to Al Qaeda, and the Bush connections to both? Is aSpecial Prosecutor needed? Is it even possible to investigate theBush-Saudi-AI Qaeda ties? Stay tuned...The Secret Saudi Flight on 9-13 Could be the Keyto the Bush-Saudi-AI Qaeda ConnectionBy Catherine ArnieAbout a month after theSeptember llthattacks, I read anarticle in theTampa Tribune by Kathy Steele entitled "Phan tom Flight From Florida." Theintriguing report told the tale of a flight out of Florida that allegedly tookplace on September 13 - a day when AL L civilian air traffic in the UnitedStates was grounded."This was out of a Tom Clancy movie," according to a retired homicidedetective who was hired for the flight. Its mission was to spirit the son of aSaudi prince, the son of a Saudi army commander, an d anotherunidentified Saudi from Florida to Kentucky, because "there was aperceived threat, and the family of the person wanted him home rightaway."The "person" in danger was the son of Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, who isno minor figure in the Saudi Royal family. R ather, Prince Sultan is thekingdom's minister of defense, the third-ranking position in the SaudiGovernment, whose powers exceed those of even America's super-powerfulDefense Secretary D onald R umsfeld.Dan Grossi and Manuel Perez were the two Floridians who were hired toserve as private bo dyguards on the flight.According to the article in the Tampa Tribune, Dan Grossi is a retiredTampa cop who worked in internal affairs and homicide. Perez is a retired

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/the secret_saudi 052703.htm 3/26/2004


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Will The Real James A. Baker III Please Stand Up! - BuzzFlash ReaderCommentary Page 1 o f 4

BuzzFlash Reader Commentary

April 18, 2003 | UPDATE June 2, 2003

H 1 M E

CONTRIBUTOR ARCHIVES

Will The Real James A. Baker III Please StandUp!A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARYby Jamie PeppardDear BuzzFlash:Thank you for pointing me to the MSNBC story about Baker Bottsrepresenting one of the defendants, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz,the Saudi defense minister, in the 9/11victims lawsuit. Now, howabout taking this opportunity to call for a more comprehensivestory about Mr. Baker's role in the Bush administration and affairsin the Middle East?Not many people know that Mr. Baker is the Counsel forIntelligence Policy and, under the direction of the Counsel forIntelligence Policy, the Office of Intelligence Policy is responsiblefor:

" ...advising the Attorney General on all matters relating tothe national security activities of the United States. TheOffice prepares and files all applications for electronicsurveillance and physical search under the ForeignIntelligence SurveillanceAct of 1978, assists Governmentagencies by providing legal advice on matters of nationalsecurity law and policy, and represents the Department ofJustice on variety of interagency committees such as theNational Counterintelligence Policy Board. The Office alsocomments on and coordinates other agencies' viewsregarding proposed legislation affecting intelligence matters.The Office serves as adviser to the Attorney General andvarious client agencies, including the Central IntelligenceAgency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Defenseand State Departments, concerning questions of law,regulation, and guidelines as well as the legality of domesticand overseas intelligence operations."http://www.usdoj.gov/oipr/

In that role, Mr. Baker thanked Congress for enacting the PatriotAct:"Again, we are grateful for the tools Congress provided us last fall

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http://www.buzzflash.eom/contributors/03/04/l 8_baker.html 3/26/2004


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Flight of Fancy Page 1 of6

Home

The Agonist Document Collection

Flight of Fancy

Claim: Twodays after September 1 1 while all other planes weregrounded a secret flight arranged by George W. Bush flew Osama binLaden's relatives out of the USA.Status: False.Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2002]

BIN LADEN FAMILY ALLOWED TO FLY DURING GROUNDSTOPPAGE? Michael Moore was on the Daily Show on ComedyCentral and alleged that when all the nation's p lanes were grounded for3 days after 9/11, the Bush Administration gave permission for aprivate Saudi jet to visit 5 cities to pick up around 2 0 mem bers of thebin Laden family, over the objections of the FB I.Origins: This just goes to show what a little bit of fact flipped onto itsside and then spewed by a public figure can do.Yes, a couple of flights arranged by the Saudigovernment did collect a number of Osama binLaden's America-based relatives and whisk themto Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks, but this didn't take place during the

http://www.agonist.org/annex/snopes2 3/26/2004

Documents

T5 B68 Press Accounts Fdr- Entire Contents- Saudi Flights- 2 Emails and 6 Media Reports (1st Pgs for Reference)