Steve Quayle News Alerts

Sept. 4, 2003

Two years after Osama bin Laden gave the final order to attack the World Trade Center, current and former U.S. officials tell NBC News that members of the Saudi royal family met frequently with bin Laden — both before and after 9/11.

AMONG OTHER CONNECTIONS: Officials say for years some Saudi princes paid homage to bin Laden in his Afghan hideaway, sometimes flying falcons — a favorite Arab sport — with the terror king.

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wayne Downing was President Bush’s national director for combating terrorism and is now an NBC News analyst. “They would go out and see Osama, spend some time with him, talk with him, you know, live out in the tents, eat the simple food, engage in falconing, some other pursuits, ride horses. And then be able to go back home and kind of have the insider secret knowledge, that yes, we saw Osama, and we talked to him,” Downing says.

PROTECTION MONEY

Not only that, says Downing, but the Saudis paid al-Qaida protection money through charities to prevent attacks on the kingdom. Downing said it was an unwritten covenant: “As long as you behave yourself, we’re not going to crack down on you.”

At the center of the charge that the Saudis paid off al-Qaida is Prince Turki al Faisal, for decades the powerful Saudi intelligence chief. Now he’s the kingdom’s ambassador to Great Britain.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Prince Turki fiercely denies any deal with bin Laden. “These allegations are totally spurious and allegations without any factual basis at all,” he says.

But now there are new questions about Prince Turki — charges that he met twice with bin Laden’s top recruiter and planning chief, Abu Zubaydah.

Gerald Posner, the author of a controversial new book, “Why America Slept,” says the Saudis made a deal with al-Qaida. “They had the blessing of the Saudis as long as they stayed away from Saudi Arabia in terms of fomenting trouble,” Posner says. “According to Zubaydah, the Saudis essentially made a deal with al-Qaida where they said to al-Qaida, ‘Look, you conduct jihad, fine, but you don’t conduct it inside the kingdom. You conduct it in other areas. We’ll leave you alone. We won’t ask for the extradition of bin Laden, and we’ll make sure that money continues to flow to you.’”

Once again, Turki denies it: “Al-Qaida did not only just declare jihad against America, they declared jihad against the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and as the director of intelligence of the kingdom, one of my responsibilities was to track Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.”

WHO'S WHO - Saudi funding probe

------------------------------------------------------------------------Princess Haifa al-Faisal

The daughter of the late King Faisal is married to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Sources familiar with the FBI investigation say she sent about $51,000 to Majeda Dweikata Ibrahin, the wife of Saudi national Osama Basnan, from 1998 to May 2002. The Saudis say the money was sent to Dweikata as a charitable contribution to help pay bills arising from her treatment for a rare thyroid condition. But the sources told NBC News that some of the checks were endorsed to three other people – Dweikata’s husband, Osama Basnan; Janet Basnan, an as-yet-unidentified woman; and Mana al-Bayoumi, who may be Omar al-Bayoumi’s wife. Investigators say Omar al-Bayoumi helped Sept. 11 hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi get settled in San Diego when they arrived in the country around New Year’s Day 2000.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Osama Basnan

A Saudi businessman living in San Diego with his wife, Majeda Dweikata Ibrahin, and six children, Basnan appealed to Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan for assistance paying his wife’s medical bills. The request was routed to the ambassador’s wife, Princess Haifa al-Faisal, who sent Dweikata a $15,000 stipend in 1998 and payments of $2,000 a month beginning in December 1999 and continuing through May 2002, sources tell NBC News. Some of the checks to Dweikata were endorsed to three other people – Osama Basnan; Janet Basnan, an as-yet-unidentified woman; and Mana al-Bayoumi, who may be Omar al-Bayoumi’s wife. Investigators say Omar al-Bayoumi helped two Sept. 11 hijackers get settled in San Diego when they arrived in the country. Basnan and Dweikata were arrested on Aug. 22 and detained for 85 days on immigration charges before being deported. In an interview on Nov. 26, Basnan said all the money was used to pay medical bills and denied that any of the checks were given to other people. He acknowledged that he knew al-Bayoumi through a San Diego mosque where they both worshipped.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Prince Bandar bin Sultan

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States has been a prominent figure in Washington for decades, where he has been friends with successive presidents and other senior officials while also acting as a frequent critic of U.S. policies in the Mideast. His wife, Princess Haifa al-Faisal, made what she says were charitable donations to a Saudi couple living in San Diego. The FBI believes the money may have ended up in the hands of Sept. 11 hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Majeda Dweikata Ibrahin

Dweikata, a Jordanian citizen, is the wife of Saudi businessman Osama Basnan. Between 1998 and May 202, she received payments of approximately $51,000 from Saudi Princess Haifa al-Faisal to help her family pay medical bills arising from her treatment for a rare thyroid condition. FBI investigators have been unable to determine why some of the checks were endorsed to three other people – her husband, Janet Basnan and Mana al-Bayoumi, who may be the wife of Omar al-Bayoumi. Omar al-Bayoumi has been linked to Sept. 11 hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. Dweikata and her husband were arrested on Aug. 22, 2002, and detained for 85 days on immigration charges before being deported.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Omar al-Bayoumi

Checks from Saudi Princess Haifa al-Faisal have been traced to a Mana al-Bayoumi, who is believed to be Omar al-Bayoumi’s wife. Some FBI investigators believe that Omar al-Bayoumi was an al-Qaida advance man who helped lay the groundwork for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City and Washington. Al-Bayoumi, who had been living in the United States for several years, assisted hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi when they arrived in the country in early 2000. According to Newsweek magazine, he drove the pair to San Diego, threw a welcoming party and helped them get an apartment next to his, guaranteeing the lease and putting up $1,550 in cash to cover the first two months’ rent. He later helped them open a bank account and recruited a friend to help them obtain Social Security cards and call flight schools in Florida to arrange flying lessons, the magazine reported. Two months before the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Bayoumi moved to England. He was detained and questioned there, but released without charges. He has since vanished and is believed to have returned to Saudi Arabia.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Khalid al-Mihdhar

One of five hijackers who commandeered American Airlines Flight 77 and flew it into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Al-Mihdhar, a Saudi citizen, was able to enter the United States early in 2000 despite being placed on a immigration "watch list" after being photographed meeting with two bin Laden operatives in Malaysia. Upon arrival in the United States, al-Mihdhar and fellow hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi were given assistance by Omar al-Bayoumi, who has been tangentially linked to the money trail extending back to Saudi Princess Haifa al-Faisal. U.S. authorities were seeking al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi in the weeks before the attacks but were unable to find them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Mana al-Bayoumi

One of three people to whom checks sent by Saudi Princess Haifa al-Faisal to Majeda Dweikata Ibrahin were endorsed, according to sources. Investigators believe, but are not certain, that al-Bayoumi is the wife of Omar al-Bayoumi, who aided two of the Sept. 11 hijackers when they entered the country and is suspected of being an al-Qaida advance man. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in October that al-Bayoumi’s wife, whom it identified as Manal Ahmed Bagader, was arrested with Dweikata on shoplifting charges at a San Diego shopping mall in April 2001. The paper cited court records as saying the women pleaded guilty and paid their fines. It is not clear whether Bagader and Mana al-Bayoumi are the same person.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Nawaf al-Hazmi

One of five hijackers who commandeered American Airlines Flight 77 and flew it into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Upon arrival in the United States early in 2000, al-Hazmi and fellow hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar were given assistance by Omar al-Bayoumi, who has been tangentially linked to the money trail extending back to Saudi Princess Haifa al-Faisal. U.S. authorities were seeking al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar in the weeks before the attacks but were unable to find them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------Janet Basnan

One of three people to whom checks sent by Saudi Princess Haifa al-Faisal to Majeda Dweikata Ibrahin were endorsed. Nothing else has been revealed about Basnan, nor is it known if she is related to Dweikata’s husband, Osama Basnan.

OTHER PRINCES

Posner also says Zubaydah told U.S. interrogators his protectors included three other Saudi princes — most surprising Prince Ahmed bin Salman, owner of Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem — and also Pakistan’s top air marshal.

Zubaydah’s interrogation is controversial. Was he given sodium pentothal — truth serum? The CIA denies it. And intelligence officials say he has repeatedly changed his story and also planted false leads with his interrogators about attacks on U.S. banks and bridges.

Did Zubaydah actually implicate the Saudi princes and the Pakistani air marshal? The men themselves cannot say. The princes died within days of one another, the Pakistani seven months later in a plane crash.

Prince Turki al Faisal says, “They had absolutely nothing to do with bin Laden or al-Qaida or Afghanistan, and this is what makes it so really, I could say, disgusting, to make such allegations against them especially when they are dead and cannot defend themselves.”

U.S. officials say the Saudis finally got the message: In May, al-Qaida bombed three compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 35, including nine Americans.

Gen. Downing added, “I think it’s a very significant turnaround, as far as the Saudis cooperating with us and cracking down on the dissidents inside the country, because they realize now with these attacks that these people have the power to do them serious harm if not threaten the regime directly.”

http://www.msnbc.com/news/961979.asp?0cv=CB10