Dude, Where's My Country_ - Michael Moore [10]
So, did certain factions within the Saudi royal family execute the attack on September 11? Were these pilots trained by the Saudis? One thing we do know: Nearly all the hijackers were Saudis and they were apparently able to enter the United States legally, thanks, in part, to the special arrangement set up by our State Department and the Saudi government that allowed Saudis to get quickie visas without going through the normal vetting process.49
Mr. Bush, why have the Saudis received red-carpet treatment? Sure, we need their oil. And, yes, they received the same kissy-face welcome from all the presidents before you.
But why have you blocked attempts to dig deeper into the Saudi connections? Why do you refuse to say, “Saudi Arabia attacked the United States!”?
Mr. Bush, does this have anything to do with your family’s close personal relationship with the ruling family of Saudi Arabia? I would like to think that’s not possible. But what is your explanation? That it was just some nut in a cave (who just happened to be on dialysis)? And, after you couldn’t find this nut, why did you try to convince us that Saddam Hussein had something to do with September 11 and al Qaeda, when you were specifically told by your intelligence people that there was no connection?
Why are you so busy protecting the Saudis when you should be protecting us?
Question #4: Why did you allow a private Saudi jet to fly around the U.S. in the days after September 11 and pick up members of the bin Laden family and then fly them out of the country without a proper investigation by the FBI?
Mr. Bush, not that this is personal or anything, but I was stranded in Los Angeles on the morning of September 11. I scrambled to find a rental car, and then drove 3,000 miles to get back home—all because traveling by air was forbidden in the days following the attack.
Yet, members of the bin Laden family were allowed to fly in private jets, crisscrossing America as they prepared to leave the country—can you explain that to me?
Private jets, under the supervision of the Saudi government—and with your approval—were allowed to fly around the skies of America and pick up twenty-four members of the bin Laden family and take them first to a “secret assembly point in Texas.” They then flew to Washington, D.C., and then on to Boston. Finally, on September 18, they were all flown to Paris, out of the reach of any U.S. officials. They never went through any serious interrogation, other than a few questions that the FBI asked them and a request to check each of their passports before leaving.50 One FBI agent I spoke to told me that the FBI was “furious” that they were not allowed to keep the bin Ladens in the country to conduct a real investigation—the kind police like to do when they are trying to track down a murderer. Usually, the police like to talk to the family members of the suspect to learn what they know, who they know, how they might help capture the fugitive.
None of the normal procedures were followed.
This is mind-boggling. Here you have two dozen bin Ladens on American soil, Mr. Bush, and you come up with some lame excuse that you were worried about “their safety.” Might it have been possible that at least one of the twenty-four bin Ladens would have possibly known something? Or maybe just one of them could have been “convinced” to help track Osama down?
Nope. None of that. So while thousands were stranded and could not fly, if you could prove you were a close relative of the biggest mass murderer in U.S. history, you got a free tip to gay Paree!
Of course, the bin Ladens have been your business associates. Why wouldn’t you do a little favor for some old family friends? But, to use the Clinton analogy again, imagine, in the hours after the Oklahoma City bombing,