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By Root 1794 0

re 9/11: CR, 241. Iranian contacts with al Qaeda went back at least as far as bin Laden’s time in Sudan. Up to ten of the future muscle hijackers traveled through Iran, as did Binalshibh—who said they did so because Iran did not stamp Saudi passports. Numerous al Qaeda operatives fled to Iran following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, and members of the bin Laden family were given sanctuary there. In 2010, in what was surely a crude exercise in political mischief making, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed that 9/11 had been merely a “big fabrication” to justify U.S. actions abroad (CR, 240, trial transcript, U.S. v. Ali Mohamed, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY, 10/20/00, Shenon, 372, int. Thomas Joscelyn, FrontPage Magazine, 9/28/07, ABC News, 2/11/10, Newsweek, 8/19/02, Tenet, 244, The Independent [U.K.], 3/7/10);

4 “convincing evidence”: www.thedailybeast.com, 5/20/11, Daily Mail (U.K.), 5/20/11, www.newsmax.com, 5/19/11.

5 no evidence Iraq: CR, 66, Staff Statement 15, CO;

6 last-minute changes/​Snell/​Jacobson/​De: Shenon, 398–.

7 Bandar delight/posted: press statement, 7/22/04, www.saudiembassy.net. Prince Bandar’s own name and that of his wife, Princess Haifa—whose name featured in an intriguing part of the investigators’ work, described later, in the Notes to Ch. 33—made fleeting appearances in the Report’s endnotes, but not in the text (CR, 482n66, 498n123, 557n27, 563n19);

8 “no evidence”/“problematic”/“a commitment”: CR, 171, 371–;

9 Khilewi/“A Saudi citizen”: Middle East Quarterly, 9/98, & see WP, 8/25/94, New Yorker, 10/22/01;

10 Khalifa: see Ch. 20 and related Notes, “In re search of luggage and personal belongings, Khalifa v. U.S,” 3/6/95 cited in ed. Berger, Khalifa, “Top al Qaeda Fundraiser Dead,” www.counterterrorismblog.org.

11 limousine/​“high-ranking”/​Prince Sultan: Anonymous, Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2002 [author was in fact Michael Scheuer], 138–, Lance, Triple Cross, 166, “Mohammed Jamal Khalifa: Life & Death Secrets,” INTELWIRE. Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8/11/00. The authors are unaware of any response by or on behalf of Prince Sultan to the report that he welcomed Khalifa home. Nor have they been able to establish that Khalifa did carry a diplomatic passport.

12 “Since 1994”/“ ’96 is the key”: New Yorker, 10/16/01;

13 Paris meeting/protection money: Complaint, Thomas Burnett et al. v. al Baraka Investment & Development et al., U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, pt. 1080, Trento, 306–, Greg Palast, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, NY: Plume, 2004, 99–;

14 Kerrey: LAT, 6/20/04;

15 “It’s a lovely”: transcript, Frontline: “Saudi Time Bomb,” www.pbs.org;

16 Turki recalled: Time, 8/31/03, int. Turki, OnLine NewsHour: Inside the Kingdom, 1/21/02, www.pbs.org, Lacey, Inside the Kingdom, 208–, 364, Wright, 266–, 288–, Anthony Cordesman, “Saudi Security & the War on Terrorism,” Center for Strategic & International Studies, 4/22/02, Bergen, 240;

17 Others say two trips: Rashid, 48 & see LAT, 6/20/04;

18 Khaksar/deal: Guardian, 3/2/03, NYT, 3/24/09 & see WP, 1/15/06;

19 Turki deny: MSNBC, 9/5/03;

20 met with OBL: Reeve, 194—citing interview with U.S. intelligence source;

21 “at least two”/“The deal was”: U.S. News & World Report, 1/6/02;

22 named the two: Henderson, formally a journalist with the BBC and the Financial Times, later named Naif and Sultan in this connection in articles in The Wall Street Journal and in a paper published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The authors are not aware that Prince Naif or Prince Sultan has commented on the allegation (WSJ, 8/3/05, “After King Abdullah: Succession in Saudi Arabia,” Policy Focus 96, 8/09);”hundreds”/“Saudi official”: int. & corr. Simon Henderson, WSJ, 8/12/02.

23 7,000: WSJ, 2/15/11;

24 “They would go out”: MSNBC, 9/5/03 & see WP, 7/19/07;

25 “We’ve got”: U.S. News & World Report, 10/11/98;

26 “an interminable”/“Your Royal Highness”: Tenet, 106–;

27 Gore/“The United”: CR, 122.

28 “never lifted”/clerics: Baer, See No Evil,