Bush is not a Moron...he is a hypocrite
Saudis' approach to terror censured
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press
Monday, November 25, 2002 – Page A10
WASHINGTON -- U.S. lawmakers pressed for answers yesterday about a possible Saudi money trail in the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings, saying that regardless of whether one exists, the kingdom must stop its "duplicitous" approach toward international terrorism.
Saudi officials spent the weekend having bankers pore over the records of Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of their ambassador to the United States, to see how thousands of dollars from her account might have ended up in the wrong hands, Saudi foreign-policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir said.
But he said it was "crazy" to suggest she had done anything intentionally to support terrorism.
U.S. officials did not know whether the princess had meant for her money to go to Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Basnan, men believed to have provided financial support to two of the 9/11 hijackers while the terrorists lived in the United States.
Mr. al-Jubeir said the princess sent monthly checks to a Saudi woman living in the United States who asked for help paying for medical treatment, and that it has come out only now that the woman was Mr. Basnan's wife and that some of the money ended up with Mr. al-Bayoumi's family as well.
U.S. officials think the men helped Khalif al-Mihdhar and Nawaf Alhamzi after they entered the United States -- the two men were part of the team that crashed a jet into the Pentagon in Washington.
Mr. Basnan is now believed to be back in Saudi Arabia, having been deported, and Mr. al-Bayoumi is either there or in Britain. Saudi officials will probably question them, Mr. al-Jubeir said, but he noted pointedly that U.S. and British officials interrogated them months ago.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the case, and Mr. al-Jubeir said Saudis had bank officials in Washington going through the princess's electronic transactions, which include hundreds or thousands of payments to expatriate Saudi charities and citizens.
"That's when we discovered that some of the cheques were endorsed to third parties," he said on ABC's This Week.
White House officials cautioned that a legitimate explanation is possible.
But lawmakers upbraided the Saudi government for what they see as complicity in anti-American extremism, and said the investigation should pull no punches, despite the risk of offending an important U.S. ally.
Saudi officials "have played a duplicitous game, and that is, they say to the terrorists, 'We'll do everything you want, just leave us alone,' " said Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat.
"That game has got to stop."
Senators Joseph Lieberman and John McCain, who together set up an independent commission to investigate the terror attacks, also offered piercing criticism.
Saudi leaders "have to decide which side they're on," Mr. Lieberman told CBS's Face the Nation.
"The Saudi royal family has been engaged in a Faustian bargain for years to keep themselves in power," Mr. McCain added. |
