Explains why Bush got his friends out of the country so fast

Doesn't it?

WASHINGTON — Documents gathered by lawyers for the families of Sept. 11 victims provide new evidence of extensive financial support for Al Qaeda and other extremist groups by members of the Saudi royal family, but the material may never find its way into court because of legal and diplomatic obstacles.

The case has put the Obama administration in the middle of a political and legal dispute, with the Justice Department siding with the Saudis in court last month in seeking to kill further legal action. Adding to the intrigue, classified American intelligence documents related to Saudi finances were leaked anonymously to lawyers for the families. The Justice Department had the lawyers’ copies destroyed and now wants to prevent a judge from even looking at the material.

The Saudis and their defenders in Washington have long denied links to terrorists, and they have mounted an aggressive and, so far, successful campaign to beat back the allegations in federal court based on a claim of sovereign immunity.

Allegations of Saudi links to terrorism have been the subject of years of government investigations and furious debate. Critics have said that some members of the Saudi ruling class pay off terrorist groups in part to keep them from being more active in their own country.

But the thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents compiled by lawyers for the Sept. 11 families and their insurers represented an unusually detailed look at some of the evidence.

Internal Treasury Department documents obtained by the lawyers under the Freedom of Information Act, for instance, said that a prominent Saudi charity, the International Islamic Relief Organization, heavily supported by members of the Saudi royal family, showed “support for terrorist organizations” at least through 2006.

But we already knew this.... and they are trying to get rid of the evidence.

Why? We already know if we really had wanted to retaliate against the 9/11 hijackers, we would have invaded Saudi Arabia.

Excuse me while I pick up my jaw off the floor

Headline that makes one gape: Ex-Saudi ambassador: Kingdom could have helped U.S. prevent 9/11.

Really? How about keeping 15 of the 9/11 hijackers at home?

Speaking to the Arabic satellite network Al-Arabiya on Thursday, Bandar -- now Abdullah's national security adviser -- said Saudi intelligence was "actively following" most of the September 11, 2001, plotters "with precision." "If U.S. security authorities had engaged their Saudi counterparts in a serious and credible manner, in my opinion, we would have avoided what happened," he said.

And from here, a listing of recent Saudi Arabian terrorists:

Table A: The Saudi Killers

The actual car bombers, suicide bombers and hijackers from the last twelve years of major terrorist attacks on the U.S. who have hailed from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi National Guard Bombers
Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd Bin Nasser Al-Mothem
Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Ibrahim Al-Sa’eed
Riyadh Bin Suleiman Bin Is’haq Al-Hajeri
Muslih Bin Ali Bin Ayedh Al-Shemrani400

Khobar Towers Bombers
Ahmed al-Mughassil
Ali al-Houri
Hani al-Sayegh
Abdallah al-Jarash
Hussein al-Mughis401

African Embassy Bombers
Jihad Mohammad Ali al-Makki
Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-‘Owhali402

USS Cole Bombers
Hassan al-Khamri
Ibrahim al-Thawar403

September 11 Hijackers
American Airlines Flight 11
Waleed al-Shehri
Wail al-Shehri
Satam al-Suqami
Abdulaziz al-Omari
United Airlines Flight 175
Ahmed al-Ghamdi
Hamza al-Ghamdi
Mohand al-Shehri
American Airlines Flight 77
Hani Hanjour (pilot-hijacker)
Nawaf al-Hazmi
Khalid al-Mihdhar
Majed Moqed
Salem al-Hazmi
United Airlines Flight 93
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Ahmad al-Haznawi
Ahmed al-Nami404

Riyadh Residential Compound Bombers
Khaled Mohammad bin Muslim
Al-Juhani
Mohammed Othman Abdullah Al-Walidi
Al-Shehri
Hani Saeed Ahmad Al Abdul-Karim
Al-Ghamdi
Jubran Ali Ahmad Hakami Khabrani
Mohammed bin Shadhaf Ali Al-Mahzoum
Al-Shehri
Abdul-Karim Mohammed Jubran Yazji
Majed Abdullah Sa'ad bin Okail.405

Mosul Mess Tent Bomber
Ahmed Said Ahmed al-Ghamdi406



Table B: Suicide Bombings in Iraq
“Most of those who blow themselves up in Iraq are Saudi nationals.”
Mowaffak Rubaie, National Security Adviser, Iraq
· The August 29, 2003, car bomb outside Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrine,
the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, which killed leading Shiite cleric
Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir Hakim and more than 80 other
people.407
· The March 2, 2004, suicide bombings of crowds near Shiite
shrines in Baghdad and Karbala, which killed 181 people.408
· The February 28, 2005, car bomb detonated outside a medical
clinic in Hillah, which killed 125 people, the vast majority of
whom were Shiite police and National Guard recruits who were
waiting to take a physical.409
· The July 16, 2005, fuel tanker bomb detonated outside a Shiite
mosque in Musayyib, which killed 90 people.410
· The September 14, 2005, car bomb in which the driver lured a
crowd of Shiite day laborers to his van before detonating his
explosives, killing 114.411
· The September 29, 2005, car bombs detonated in the mostly Shiite
town of Balad, which killed at least 102 people.412
· The November 18, 2005, suicide bombs detonated at two Shiite
mosques in the town of Khanaqin, which killed 74 people.413
· The January 5, 2006, suicide bomb outside the Imam Hussein
shrine in Karbala, which killed 63 people.414
· The April 7, 2006, suicide bombings of the Buratha Mosque in
Baghdad, which killed 79 Shiite worshipers.415
· The January 16, 2007, suicide bombing/car bombing of the Shiite
Mustansiriya University in Baghdad which killed at least 70.416
· The February 3, 2007, suicide truck bombing in an outdoor market
in a Shiite section of Baghdad, which killed 135 people.417
Note that these are just the major attacks targeting Iraqi Shiites, in
addition to countless smaller ones.

What will Bush do about this? Nothing.

Shocked U.S. officials realize that 15 of the 9/11 hijackers

Came from Saudi Arabia. 'Hey!', said one official. 'How long has this been known?'

Bush administration officials are voicing increasing anger at what they say has been Saudi Arabia's counterproductive role in the Iraq war.

[snip]

...Bush administration officials are voicing increasing anger at what they say has been Saudi Arabia's counterproductive role in the Iraq war. They say that beyond regarding Mr. Maliki as an Iranian agent, the Saudis have offered financial support to Sunni groups in Iraq. Of an estimated 60 to 80 foreign fighters who enter Iraq each month, American military and intelligence officials say that nearly half are coming from Saudi Arabia and that the Saudis have not done enough to stem the flow.

One senior administration official says he has seen evidence that Saudi Arabia is providing financial support to opponents of Mr. Maliki. He declined to say whether that support was going to Sunni insurgents because, he said, "That would get into disagreements over who is an insurgent and who is not."

[snip]

Of course, the Saudi government has hardly masked its intention to prop up Sunni groups in Iraq and has for the past two years explicitly told senior Bush administration officials of the need to counterbalance the influence Iran has there. Last fall, King Abdullah warned Vice President Dick Cheney that Saudi Arabia might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq's Shiites if the United States pulled its troops out of Iraq, American and Arab diplomats said.

Several officials interviewed for this article said they believed that Saudi Arabia's direct support to Sunni tribesmen increased this year as the Saudis lost faith in the Maliki government and felt they must bolster Sunni groups in the eventuality of a widespread civil war.

Just why are the Saudis our 'friends'? Oh... never mind....





Update: Driftglass says it best.