| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"laura bush - VEHICULAR HOMICIDE" |
| Date: |
02 Feb 2006 08:44:51 PM |
| Object: |
Bush boots Cindy from SOTU - But invites 9-11 terrorist |
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-scahill/a-911-conspirator-in-kin_b_15003.html
A 9/11 Conspirator in King Bush's Court? (29 comments )
While Cindy Sheehan was being dragged from the House gallery moments
before President Bush delivered his State of the Union address for
wearing a t-shirt honoring her son and the other 2,244 US soldiers
killed in Iraq, Turki al-Faisal was settling into his seat inside the
gallery. Faisal, a Saudi, is a man who has met Osama bin Laden and his
lieutenants on at least five occasions, describing the al Qaeda leader
as "quite a pleasant man." He met multiple times with Taliban leader
Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Yet, unlike Sheehan, al-Faisal was a welcomed guest of President Bush
on Tuesday night. He is also a man that the families of more than 600
victims of the 9/11 attacks believe was connected to their loved ones'
deaths.
Al-Faisal is actually Prince Turki al-Faisal, a leading member of the
Saudi royal family and the kingdom's current ambassador to the US. But
the bulk of his career was spent at the helm of the feared Saudi
intelligence services from 1977 to 2001. Last year, The New York Times
pointed out that "he personally managed Riyadh's relations with Osama
bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar of the Taliban. Anyone else who had
dealings with even a fraction of the notorious characters the prince
has worked with over the years would never make it past a U.S.
immigration counter, let alone to the most exclusive offices in
Washington." Al-Faisal was also named in the $1 trillion lawsuit filed
by hundreds of 9/11 victims' families, who accused him of funding bin
Laden's network. Curiously, his tenure as head of Saudi intelligence
came to an abrupt and unexpected end 10 days before the 9/11 attacks.
"Nobody explained the circumstances under which he left," says As'ad
AbuKhalil, author of The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty,
Fundamentalism, and Global Power. "We know for sure that he was tasked
by the United States government back in the late 1970s and on to
assemble the kind of Arab Muslim fanatical volunteers to help the
United States and the C.I.A. in the fight against the Soviet communist
regime [in Afghanistan]. In the course of doing that, this man is
single-handedly most responsible for the kind of menace that these
fanatical groups now pose to world peace and security." Yet, there
al-Faisal sat on Tuesday as President Bush spoke of his war on terror
and Cindy Sheehan was being booked. At one point, the cameras even
panned directly on al-Faisal listening intently to Bush.
The 9/11 families' lawsuit charged that al-Faisal secretly traveled to
the southern Afghan city of Kandahar twice in 1998 where he met with
bin Laden's representatives and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Based on sworn testimony from Taliban intelligence chief, Mullah
Kakshar, the lawsuit claimed that al-Faisal allegedly received
assurances that al Qaeda would not use "the infrastructure in
Afghanistan to subvert the royal families' control of Saudi
government." In return, according to the lawsuit, the Saudis promised
not to seek bin Laden's extradition or the closing of his training
bases. Al-Faisal also allegedly promised Mullah Omar financial
assistance. Shortly after the meetings, the Saudis reportedly shipped
the Taliban 400 new pickup trucks. According to the London Observer,
Kakshar also said that al-Faisal "arranged for donations to be made
directly to al-Qaeda and bin Laden by a group of wealthy Saudi
businessmen. 'Mullah Kakshar's sworn statement implicates Prince Turki
as the facilitator of these money transfers in support of the Taliban,
al-Qaeda and international terrorism,'" according to the lawsuit.
Al-Faisal does not deny he traveled to Afghanistan in 1998 for
meetings with Mullah Omar, but he insists it was to "convey an
official Saudi request to extradite Osama bin Laden." al-Faisal has a
long history in Afghanistan. He worked closely in the 1980s with the
both the CIA and the mujahadeen that would later form both al Qaeda
and the Taliban.
Ultimately, a judge dismissed the 9/11 families' lawsuit against
al-Faisal and his cohorts, saying US courts lacked jurisdiction over
the matter. But many of those families believe firmly that al-Faisal
was connected to the attacks that killed their loved ones. The obvious
question is: how does the president justify the ejection of a Gold
Star Mother from the State of the Union, while openly welcoming a man
believed by hundreds of victims' families to be connected to the
attack Bush uses to justify every shred of his violent policies?
During his speech, Bush said, "It is said that prior to the attacks of
September the 11th, our government failed to connect the dots of the
conspiracy." Perhaps he should have just looked over his wife's
shoulder up there in the gallery during the State of the Union.
.
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