Posted on 11/29/2002 12:29:23 PM PST by FreeSpeechZone
Dirty Dozen?
Dirty Dozen? The FBI May Have Dragged Its Feet on Investigating the Saudi Money Trail
Nov. 26 — Although the CIA had a secret list of 12 prominent Saudi businessmen accused of continuing to funnel millions to Osama bin Laden, ABCNEWS has learned that the FBI may have dragged its feet in following the Saudi money trail.
The list of the 12 names has been in the hands of the Saudi government for the last nine months, ABCNEWS has learned. One of the men on the list is Yassin al-Kadi, a Saudi multimillionaire involved in banking, chemicals, diamonds and real estate.
But ABCNEWS has now learned that the FBI shut down the investigation on al-Kadi two years ago.
The closure of the investigation came even after allegations that the Saudi businessman may have helped finance the 1998 attacks on two U.S. embassies in east Africa.
American law enforcement agents said the FBI had begun to build a substantial case against al-Kadi when orders came from Washington to drop it.
An FBI affidavit, obtained by ABCNEWS, contains details of the aborted investigation of al-Kadi, including his ownership of a suspicious chemical plant in suburban Chicago and allegations that a Muslim FBI agent may have thwarted the investigation two years before the Sept. 11, 2001.
According to the Wall Street Journal today, in an affidavit dated March 21, 2000, an FBI agent from the organization's Chicago counterterrorism squad alleged that Gamal Abdel-Hafiz, a Muslim FBI agent, refused to cooperate with an FBI probe into BMI Inc., a now-defunct Secaucus, N.J., company currently under U.S. investigation in the probe of al-Kadi.
But in an internal complaint, Abdel-Hafiz claimed his reputation had been tarnished and his career undermined by agents who questioned his loyalty to the United States, said the report.
And in an interview with ABCNEWS' John Miller last year, al-Kadi denied sending any money to bin Laden or to his shadowy al Qaeda network. "To hear such an accusation had been put on myself, this is a complete mistake," he said. "A big one."
U.S. officials say the CIA is now tracking huge sums of money that the businessmen on the list have allegedly been moving into accounts in Europe, Africa and Asia.
According to U.S. officials, al-Kadi and all the other businessmen on the secret list have close personal and business connections with the Saudi royal family.
From the Princess’ Bank Account
The latest news comes amid allegations that the Saudi royal family may have indirectly funneled money to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
In a report published in Newsweek, the magazine alleged that money from an account in the name of Princess Haifa al-Faisal — wife of Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and daughter of the late King Faisal — reached the hijackers.
Officials said that princess sent checks for tens of thousands of dollars to the wife of a man named Osama Basnan.
According to the report, Basnan's wife endorsed some checks over to Omar al-Bayoumi, who Newsweek reports may have given money to Khalid Almidhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, two of the hijackers that crashed into the Pentagon.
Saudi officials, however, say the money was transferred to help Basnan's wife with her medical expenses.
Speaking on Good Morning America on Monday, Saudi Foreign Policy Adviser Adel al-Jubeir said his country was cooperating with the United States in the war on terror "like no other country in the world."
Saudi Man Denies Handing Cash to 9/11 Hijackers
And in an interview published in the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper from his home in the Saudi port city of Jeddah today, Basnan denied funding the two Sept. 11 hijackers and said he had been cleared by U.S. investigators.
"My wife did not give the money to Omar Bayoumi or anyone else and our debts are bigger than what we received from Princess Haifa," he said.
"When I wanted to cover costs of medical treatment, I wrote a letter to Prince Bandar and he agreed, and my wife spoke to the princess' office which agreed to grant her monthly assistance via check more than once," he said.
Basnan was arrested in the United States for visa fraud last August but was ordered deported to Saudi Arabia.
Political Storm
The allegations created a political storm over the weekend, with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., promising to "look under every rock" to pursue the allegations "because we believe there's a lot of information there."
Speaking on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America on Monday, Shelby also hinted that U.S.-Saudi relations were especially strained due to the new allegations. "We have, at best, not a great relationship with the Saudis," he said. "It's transactional and we should keep that in mind."
The Bush administration is also under fire from U.S. lawmakers, who charge it's often too willing to look the other way when it comes to the Saudis.
"When the president says they're either with us or against us, I think by and large the Saudis are against us and they've been against us for the last 15 years," said Ken Adelman, a member of the Defense Policy Board, which provides the Defense Department guidance on major matters of defense policy.
Bush officials said they will wait until the ongoing FBI investigation is over before responding to any of the criticism.
ABCNEWS' Brian Ross contributed to this report
While both U.S. and Saudi investigators are working overtime to uncover the money trail that led from the wife of Saudi ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin Sultan to 9/11 co-conspirators Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaq Albazmi, Newsweek magazine's Jonathan Alter says he suspects the story exposes p-dark administration secret.
"The thing that is really becoming clear to me is that a number of developments a year ago in this larger story are now making sense," Alter told nationally syndicated radio host Don Imus Tuesday morning. "For instance, the administration resisted having an independent commission investigate events surrounding Sept. 11."
"Even after Pearl Harbor in the middle of World War II they had independent commission. They had one after the Kennedy assassination. So John McCain and Joe Lieberman and others were saying, 'Let's have an independent commission.' The administration said, 'No, no, no, no.'
"Why?," asked Alter, before answering his own question.
"Now this is speculative, but could it be that some of these connections to our ally Saudi Arabia were disturbing (and) difficult for the administration to have see the light of day. So that's why you see Dick Cheney this weekend saying, ll, this is all classified.s needs to be - these are security breaches.'
"And on Capitol Hill, Sen. Shelby and Graham, both of whom know a lot about national security issues - one Democrat, one Republican - are saying, 'Excuse me. This should not be classified. We need to know this. The American public needs to know this. This is not about sources and methods of intelligence. It's about what our, quote, ally, unquote, was doing in advance of Sept. 11.'" (End of Excerpt)
How long will it be before a certain New York senator with her eyes on the White House rushes to the Senate floor to pick up where Mr. Alter left off?
Bush has a major problem with S.A. The problem is the Arab tradition of soliciting and paying brides and blood money. The Arabs think it is a just form of 'smart business.' Ergo, bin Laden has been extracting major bribes and blood money from Saudi souces. His threat, express or implied, is the treat to destabilize the 'Kingdom' with an Islamic revolution led by Wahabbi fundamentalists.
So the Saudis pay blood money, and lie about it, talk out both sides of their mouths. Now Bush has a big delemma on his hands .... because the the long tradition of Arab lying, double dealing, murder, and crazy Islamic B.S.
Frankly, I believe Bush is trying to work through this crazy Arab B.S. as best he can. Let us pray he is successful.
He's NOT DENYING the accusation. He's saying that whoever fingered him has made a BIG MISTAKE. There's a difference.
That would be during the Clinton administration.
So it wasn't just the Bush administration, during its first months, that instructed the FBI to lay off investigating prominent Saudis.
That would be during the Clinton administration.After 9-11, the Bush Admin. ordered the FBI to not investigate bin Ladens family in this country. However, Clinton ordered FBI files (on bin Laden's brother and WAMY)closed in 1996. Also, the Clinton White House axed the terror-fund probeSo it wasn't just the Bush administration, during its first months, that instructed the FBI to lay off investigating prominent Saudis.
I've also never forgotten that she didn't have "time" to visit Israel. Her outright support for the terrorists was one reason I was shocked that she actually won the NY Senate seat. Of course, I seriously doubt that she won it legitimately...
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