[Peace-discuss] Saudi jet story false

[C. G. Estabrook]

Ricky-- 

You don't entirely have to give up the story -- it's not quite false, and
it does show the relation between elite US groups and those in SA.  The
first account is from the Boston Globe (the "Tuesday night" referred to is
September 18), and the second is from the New Yorker.  Regards, Carl


[1] Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company The Boston Globe

September 21, 2001, Friday, THIRD EDITION 

SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A30 

LENGTH: 329 words 

HEADLINE: AMERICA PREPARES / MILITARY MOVES / BIN LADEN KIN;  FAMILY
WEIGHED STAYING IN US

BYLINE: By Kevin Cullen, and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff

BODY:  Although many of the Boston-area relatives of Osama bin Laden flew
to Saudi Arabia this week, some were reluctant to listen to warnings by
their government and the FBI last week that they faced possible
retaliatory violence.

A Saudi diplomat said it remained unclear how many of bin Laden's
relatives remain in the United States, where some work and others go to
school. "Some of them didn't want to leave. They think they can ride it
out," said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition he was not named. The
diplomat said the bin Ladens were advised by their government and the FBI
they should return to Saudi Arabia for their own safety. "The advice given
last week was that they should consider leaving, at least until things
cool down," he said.

At least five members of bin Laden's large family flew out of Logan
International Airport Tuesday night on a private jet, which aviation
sources described as a Boeing 727 reconfigured so it had only 30
first-class seats.

In addition, at least one of bin Laden's 27 brothers, Kalil, reportedly
boarded a jet in Orlando, Fla., which had been chartered by the Saudi
government, had stopped in Los Angeles, Orlando, and then Boston Wednesday
night before flying to Saudi Arabia.

The bin Ladens, who paid for their own plane, and about two dozen Saudi
citizens who took up their government's offer to fly home free, were
questioned by the FBI before being allowed to leave the United States.

Although the FBI has repeatedly searched the Charlestown condominium
complex where one of bin Laden's brothers, Mohammaed, owns six luxury
apartments and where some of the relatives live, the Saudi government says
there is no indication bin Laden's relatives are considered suspects.

All of bin Laden's relatives, members of one of Saudi Arabia's richest
families, have publicly disowned him and renounced his extremist views and
his Al Qaeda terror organization, which advocates killing Americans in a
holy war.

LOAD-DATE: September 21, 2001


[2] From THE HOUSE OF BIN LADEN by JANE MAYER, which appeared in THE NEW
YORKER Issue of 2001-11-12.

...Around two dozen other American-based members of the bin Laden family,
most of them here to study in colleges and prep schools, were said to be
in the United States at the time of the attacks. The New York Times
reported that they were quickly called together by officials from the
Saudi Embassy, which feared that they might become the victims of American
reprisals. With approval from the F.B.I., according to a Saudi official,
the bin Ladens flew by private jet from Los Angeles to Orlando, then on to
Washington, and finally to Boston. Once the F.A.A. permitted overseas
flights, the jet flew to Europe. United States officials apparently needed
little persuasion from the Saudi Ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar
bin Sultan, that the extended bin Laden family included no material
witnesses. The Saudi Embassy says that the family cooperated with the
F.B.I. The Saudi government has said that the family signed a statement
officially disowning Osama in 1994, a year after the first terrorist
attack on the World Trade Center. The Saudi government also stripped bin
Laden of his citizenship, which resulted in self-exile to Sudan. When I
asked a senior United States intelligence officer whether anyone had
considered detaining members of the family, he replied, "That's called
taking hostages. We don't do that."

	--30--