WHY DID BUSH LET BIN LADEN FAMILY FLY OUT ON 9-11

Claim: Secret flights whisked bin Laden family members and Saudi nationals out of the U.S. immediately after September 11 while a general ban on air travel was still in effect, and before the FBI had any opportunity to question any of the passengers.

Status: False.

Origins: In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on America, the Federal Aviation Administration immediately ordered all flights in the United
States grounded, and that ban stayed in effect until September 13. (Even then, for that first day commercial carriers were mostly either completing the interrupted flights of September 11 or repositioning empty aircraft in anticipation of the resumption of full service. New passenger flights did not generally resume until the 14th.) During that two-day period of full lock-down, only the military and specially FAA-authorized flights that delivered life-saving medical necessities were in the air. The enforcement of the empty skies directive was so stringent that even after the United Network for Organ Sharing sought and gained FAA clearance to use charter aircraft on September 12 to effect time-critical deliveries of organs for transplant, one of its flights carrying a human heart was forced to the ground in Bellingham, Washington, 80 miles short of its Seattle destination, by two Navy F/A-18 fighters. (The organ completed its journey after being transferred to a helicopter.)

The claim that bin Laden family members (and other Saudis) were allowed to secretly fly out of the U.S. and back to Saudi Arabia while a government-imposed ban on air travel was in effect, all without any intervention by the FBI, has since been negated by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the "9/11 Commission"). In their final report, the commission noted:
Three questions have arisen with respect to the departure of Saudi nationals from the United States in the immediate aftermath of 9/11: (1) Did any flights of Saudi nationals take place before national airspace reopened on September 13, 2001? (2) Was there any political intervention to facilitate the departure of Saudi nationals? (3) Did the FBI screen Saudi nationals thoroughly before their departure?

First, we found no evidence that any flights of Saudi nationals, domestic or international, took place before the reopening of national airspace on the morning of September 13, 2001. To the contrary, every flight we have identified occurred after national airspace reopened.

Second, we found no evidence of political intervention. We found no evidence that anyone at the White House above the level of [National Security Council official] Richard Clarke participated in a decision on the departure of Saudi nationals ... The President and Vice President told us they were not aware of the issue at all until it surfaced much later in the media. None of the officials we interviewed recalled any intervention or direction on this matter from any political appointee.

Third, we believe that the FBI conducted a satisfactory screening of Saudi nationals who left the United State on charter flights. The Saudi government was advised of and agree to the FBI's requirements that passengers be identified and checked against various databases before the flights departed. The Federal Aviation Administration representative working in the FBI operations center made sure that the FBI was aware of the flights of Saudi nationals and was able to screen the passengers before they were allowed to depart.

The FBI interviewed all persons of interest on these flights prior to their departures. They concluded that none of the passengers was connected to the 9/11 attacks and have since found no evidence to change that conclusion. Our own independent review of the Saudi nationals involved confirms that no one with known links to terrorism departed on these flights.
The 9/11 Commission also expanded on the following points in footnotes to the section of the report quoted above:
During the morning of September 11, the FAA suspended all nonemergency air activity in the national airspace. While the national airspace was closed, decisions to allow aircraft to fly were made by the FAA working with the Department of Defense, Department of State, U.S. Secret Service, and the FBI. The Department of Transportation reopened the national airspace to U.S. carriers effective 11:00 A.M. on September 13, 2001, for flights out of or into airports that had implemented the FAA's new security requirements.

After the airspace reopened, nine chartered flights with 160 people, mostly Saudi nationals, departed from the United States between September 14 and 24. In addition, one Saudi government flight, containing the Saudi deputy defense minister and other members of an official Saudi delegation, departed Newark Airport on September 14. Every airport involved in these Saudi flights was open when the flight departed, and no inappropriate actions were taken to allow those flights to depart.

Another particular allegation is that a flight carrying Saudi nationals from Tampa, Florida, to Lexington, Kentucky, was allowed to fly while airspace was closed, with special approval by senior U.S. government officials. On September 13, Tampa police brought three young Saudis they were protecting on an off-duty security detail to the airport so they could get on a plane to Lexington. Tampa police arranged for two more private investigators to provide security on the flight. They boarded a chartered Learjet. The plane took off at 4:37 P.M., after national airspace was open, more than five hours after the Tampa airport had reopened, and after other flights had arrived at and departed from that airport. The three Saudi nationals debarked from the plane and were met by local police. Their private security guards were paid. and the police then escorted the three Saudi passengers to a hotel where they joined relatives already in Lexington. The FBI is alleged to have had no record of the flight and denied that it occurred, hence contributing to the story of a "phantom flight." This is another misunderstanding. The FBI was initially misinformed about how the Saudis got to Lexington by a local police officer in Lexington who did not have firsthand knowledge of the matter. The Bureau subsequently learned about the flight.

These flights were screened by law enforcement officials, primarily the FBI. For example, one flight, the so-called Bin Ladin flight, departed the United States on September 20 with 26 passengers, most of them relatives of Usama Bin Ladin. Screening of this flight was directed by an FBI agent in the Baltimore Field Office who was also a pilot ... The Bin Ladin flight and other flights we examined were screened in accordance with policies set by FBI headquarters and coordinated through working-level interagency processes. Although most of the passengers were not interviewed, 22 of the 26 people on the Bin Ladin flight were interviewed by the FBI. Many were asked detailed questions. None of the passengers stated that they had any recent contact with Usama Bin Ladin or knew anything about terrorist activity.

It wasn't Bush.

That other guy said he alone gave the order.

What was his name, Richard Clark, or perhaps Bill Clinton, or Al Gore.

The kind of people who wish to damage America.

SO .. no flights went out while US airspace was closed. the flight the OP is referring to went out on 9/20/01 and WAS AUTHORIZED BY RICHARD CLARKE.


FROM THE HILL.com

"Richard Clarke, who served as President Bush’s chief of counterterrorism, has claimed sole responsibility for approving flights of Saudi Arabian citizens, including members of Osama bin Laden’s family, from the United States immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

pedro sa da bandeira
Former White House counterterrorism adviser testifies before the 9-11 commission.

-------------------------------------------------------------​-------------------


In an interview with The Hill yesterday, Clarke said, “I take responsibility for it. I don’t think it was a mistake, and I’d do it again.”

Most of the 26 passengers aboard one flight, which departed from the United States on Sept. 20, 2001, were relatives of Osama bin Laden, whom intelligence officials blamed for the attacks almost immediately after they happened.

Clarke’s claim of responsibility is likely to put an end to a brewing political controversy on Capitol Hill over who approved the controversial flights of members of the Saudi elite at a time when the administration was preparing to detain dozens of Muslim-Americans and people with Muslim backgrounds as material witnesses to the attacks.

Several Democrats say that at a closed-door meeting May 6, they pressed members of the commission investigating the attacks of Sept. 11 to find out who approved the flights.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who attended the meeting, said she asked former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) and former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, a Republican, “Who authorized the flight and why?”

“They said it’s been a part of their inquiry and they haven’t received satisfactory answers yet and they were pushing,” Boxer added.

Another Democrat who attended the meeting confirmed Boxer’s account and reported that Hamilton said: “We don’t know who authorized it. We’ve asked that question 50 times.”

Referring to questions about who authorized the flights, former Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.), one of the 10 members of the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission, said in an interview Monday: “In my mind, this isn’t resolved right now. We need more clarity and information from the relevant political sources and FBI sources.”

But Clarke yesterday appeared to put an end to the mystery.

“It didn’t get any higher than me,” he said. “On 9-11, 9-12 and 9-13, many things didn’t get any higher than me. I decided it in consultation with the FBI.”
"

It makes no difference, the FBI was pissed these people were allowed to leave the country without being questioned in anyway.

IF you get charged with mass murder, just try and let your family tell them to fuck off and leave the country without being questioned aobut what you know about your mass murdering family member.

"Status: False. "

No link, you stink. One of the flights left from Tampa International Airport, everyone here heard it because there were no other planes, and even Bush-loyal Tampa Tribune had to cover the flight because it was so blatantly obvious that the whole damn west side of town saw it.

2267 ... you are familiar with google, are you not? or perhaps some other search engine? you could, in fact, LOOK IT UP!!!!! instead of having people spoon feed you stuff.

"flight left Tampa everyone heard it" yeah it left Tampa 6 hours after the Tampa airport re-opened. see the above report

I do not know why bitch!!!!!!

5855, you can't provide a link because you formatted it to look like Snopes and it's not.

Put up or shut up.

2267 ... stick this up yous:

[link to www.snopes.com]

now, how'z about a nice "gee, i'm sorry"

HEHEHE 2267 got burned. LOSER.

Right after you shove this up yours:
[link to www.saintpetersburgtimes.com]

"t left Tampa 6 hours after the Tampa airport re-opened"

Nope, you are wrong.

How's about a nice "Gee, I'm sorry."

Dickweed.

i'm waiting....

" For nearly three years, White House, aviation and law enforcement officials have insisted the flight never took place and have denied published reports and widespread Internet speculation about its purpose.

But now, at the request of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, TIA officials have confirmed that the flight did take place and have supplied details."


So what else do they lie about? And how do you help them?

again .. direct from the 9/11 commission report. and i am sorry ... i was wrong, the tampa flight took off 5 hours after the airport reopened. my bad


"On September 13, Tampa police brought three young Saudis they were protecting on an off-duty security detail to the airport so they could get on a plane to Lexington. Tampa police arranged for two more private investigators to provide security on the flight. They boarded a chartered Learjet. The plane took off at 4:37 P.M., after national airspace was open, more than five hours after the Tampa airport had reopened, and after other flights had arrived at and departed from that airport."

and it is the same link as above.

"after the airport reopened"

The airport WASN'T reopened yet. Read the article again.

"The flight from Tampa to Lexington was one of several flights that Saudi Arabian citizens took in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, WHEN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WAS PROHIBITED FROM FLYING. Many of the Saudis were members of the Saudi royal family or the bin Laden family."

[link to www.hillnews.com]

read the article closely .... is says the tampa flight departed at 4.37. FAA records for Tampa indicate this was 11th flight in or out of Tampa that day. National airspace WAS OPEN and TAMPA was OPEN.

i beleive the first paragraph of the artilce says something like "while much of the nations airspace had yet to open" or something like that ( i should have copied it. IT MOST POINTEDLY DOES NOT SAY TAMPA WAS CLOSED

[link to govinfo.library.unt.edu]

Business partners get special treatment.

yes here it is ... the article you originally pointed me to says"Two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most of the nation's air traffic still grounded, a small jet landed at Tampa International Airport, picked up three young Saudi men and left.

"WHEN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WAS PROHIBITED FROM FLYING. "

From that liberal commie bastion, The Hill.

Friends of the family.

The two families go back years.

If I knew any bin Laden's that well, I'd be in Gitmo.

If only one person in America could have been investigated for their ties to the bin Laden's, it would be George Bush.

Unfortunatly, he is above the law.

For those of you who believe this didn't happen...wait...just a second. I built a really hot fire in my woodstove and the woodstove is starting to melt! It will probably collapse on itself as if it had been professionally demolished any second! Holy shit, I have an emergency on my hands!

I'll have to get back to this post later!

US Govt: "That flight never happened, did not did not did not, never happened (three years go by) never happened, well okay, it happened. But trust us about everything else. We wouldn't lie to the American people."

directly from the 9/11 commission report:


"The Department of Transportation reopened the national airspace to U.S. carriers effective 11:00 A.M. on September 13, 2001, for flights out of or into airports that had implemented the FAA's new security requirements."


So as of 11AM on 9/13 the airspace was open. the tampa flight was the 11th aircraft into or out of tampa on 9/13 according to the FAA. the Tampa flight left at 4.37PM ...nothing wrong with that. Sorry, but the 5/18 story in The Hill has it wrong. the rest of the country was not prohibited from flying if the airport was up to spec.

and the first article you linked to made just that distinction saying "most of" because only airports up to spec could reopen on the 13th

I noticed chemtrails in the days after 9/11.

Some planes were still flying.

Chem planes were safe to fly for two reasons.

1) Hard to notice them, they are really high and don't make much noise.

2) No one notices chemtrails, they think they are real clouds.

CALLING ALL BUSHBOTS!!!

Why in the hell were they allowed to leave the country at any time, until the FBI could take a few questions or wire thier nuts to the outlet plug.