Posted on 09/05/2002 7:18:24 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
One of two young American women involved in a celebrated Saudi-American abduction case praised Osama bin Laden during an off-camera interview with Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" this week, before she and her sister announced they wanted to stay in Saudi Arabia where their father took them against their will in 1986.
"The sisters repeatedly said they don't want to see their mother and they don't want to come to the United States," reported Stacey Hocheiser, a producer for the "O'Reilly Factor," after arranging an interview in London with the daughters of Pat Roush, Aliyah and Aisha Geshyan.
When asked what she thought of the 9-11 terrorist mastermind, "Aisha spoke up pretty quickly and said that she thought Osama bin Laden was a peaceful person," Hocheiser added.
The two women, ages 19 and 24, have been the subject of a bitter 16-year custody battle by Roush, who claims the Saudi government has conspired with her ex-husband, a Saudi citizen, to keep them in the country against their will.
Mrs. Roush, who was also on hand as Hocheiser described the interview to O'Reilly, said her daughters were not speaking freely when they said they didn't want to see her again, arguing that the women had been intimidated by Saudi officials.
And Hocheiser acknowledged that the Saudis would only allow "The O'Reilly Factor" to interview the women with a Saudi representative on hand to monitor the exchange.
"I did have a media adviser with me from the Saudi Arabian government the entire time (during the interview)," the Fox News producer said.
"In fact, at the very end of the meeting, I said to the sisters, would they be willing to tell their story on camera? And I noticed that the media adviser -- I noticed her motioning to the sisters, shaking her head as if to say no."
After the gesture, Hocheiser said Roush's daughters did indeed refuse to go on camera.
But "The O'Reilly Factor" also arranged a meeting for Aliyah and Aisha with the U.S. consul in London, where they could have invoked their status as U.S. citizens and obtained their freedom, Hocheiser said.
"And if they wanted to get out, that was their opportunity to get out, was it not?," O'Reilly asked.
"That's right," replied Hocheiser. "In fact, they said to me that they're adults now, they're free to do whatever they want. They said they could leave if they wanted to go to the U.S. The government wasn't stopping them. But they said they had no interest to go to the U.S."
Mrs. Roush was livid that she hadn't been told her daughters had visited London and bitterly disputed the contention that they were free to leave.
"The Saudi Arabian government videotaped my daughters when they were first kidnapped by their Saudi Arabian father 10 months after they were kidnapped in 1986," she complained. "And they -- the consul general of the American embassy was there. And they told my daughters to say on camera, We hate the United States, we hate our mother."
Citing Aisha's bizarre praise for bin Laden, O'Reilly agreed that her daughters had been brainwashed, but said it was a tragic situation that was ultimately impossible to change.
"Look, it is entirely conceivable that your daughters are brainwashed or threatened or whatever," he told Roush. "But there comes a point in everybody's life, if they want freedom, they have to fight for it. And it looks to me like your two daughters do not want freedom."
Among them, 1)this was the first time the girls had been "allowed" to leave Saudia Arabia since they were abducted, with the Saudi government stating that prior to this exit visa had been denied for some unknown reason.
2) The girls were carefully guarded at all times on their "vacation" and never permitted to speak freely.
3) Our State Department has undermined all efforts by the mother to get her children back.
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