[Wolfstar]

One momentous Bush-era episode on which Mr. Clarke can shed some light is his decision to approve the flights of the bin Laden clan out of the U.S. in the days after 9/11, when all other flights were grounded.

Can someone explain the significance of this to me? I pay zero attention to Leftist/Dem/fringe-Right conspriacy theories, so haven't got a clue what the point of this is supposed to be. On 9/11/01, itself, other than military, Coast Guard, and possibly police aircraft, ALL flights were cancelled. However, in the "days after," I know it isn't true that ALL flights were grounded. In addition to military, Coast Guard, police, fire and rescue, and some government flights, a few civilian flights were permitted to move some VIP's when necessary — for example, ambassasors, high-profile foreign nationals, and so on. So, if it is true that bin Laden relatives were moved out of the country, why is this "momentous"?

[neverdem]

Maybe "momentous" was a poor choice of adjectives, but it struck many people as more than curious that bin Laden's relatives were given this privilege of flight(literally) which was denied to the rest of the U.S. civilian population.

In particular, it was used by the hard left to imply that there was some sort of collusion that "Bush knew", when in reality it was probably provided as a favor to our erstwhile allies in Saudi Arabia, lest these relatives fall victim to physical violence from a mob of angry Americans wanting revenge, IMHO. If bin Laden's relatives and the White House had advance knowledge, then I think they would have left the U.S. prior to Sep 11, 2001.

[cyncooper]

From what I've read, the bin Laden family was flown within the U.S. border to a common gathering point during the time flights were grounded. They did not leave the country until the restriction was lifted.

As to why it's being brought up? The kitchen sink theory. They're flailing wildly and twisting events to suit their purposes.

Turns out this event which the left wants to use (I heard Joe Klein on Matthews' Sunday show 2 or 3 weeks ago say this WILL be an issue in the campaign) involved their new golden (ack) boy, Clarke.