Author: Michael Isikoff
Publication: MSNBC News
Date: November 22, 2002
URL: http://www.msnbc.com/news/838867.asp?0cv=CA01
The Feds probe a possible new Saudi
link to Al Qaeda: Hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi were aboard
American Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon
The FBI is investigating whether
the Saudi Arabian government-using the bank account of the wife of a senior
Saudi diplomat- sent tens of thousands of dollars to two Saudi students
in the United States who provided assistance to two of the September 11
hijackers, according to law-enforcement sources.
The bureau, they say, has uncovered
financial records showing a steady stream of payments to the family of
one of the students, Omar Al Bayoumi. The money moved into the family's
bank account beginning in early 2000, just a few months after hijackers
Khalid Almidhar and Nawaf Alhazmi arrived in Los Angeles from an Al Qaeda
planning summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, according to the sources. Within
days of the terrorists' arrival in the United State, Al Bayoumi befriended
the two men who would eventually hijack American Flight 77, throwing them
a welcoming party in San Diego and guaranteeing their lease on an apartment
next door to his own. Al Bayoumi also paid $1,500 to cover the first two
months of rent for Al Midhar and Alhazmi, although officials said it is
possible that the hijackers later repaid the money.
Sources familiar with the evidence
say the payments- amounting to about $3,500 a month-came from an account
at Washington's Riggs Bank in the name of Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, the
wife of Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan,
and the daughter of the late Saudi King Faisal. After Al Bayoumi left the
country in July 2001-two months before the September 11 terror attacks-payments
for roughly the same amount began flowing every month to Osama Basnan,
a close associate of Al Bayoumi's who also befriended the hijackers. A
federal law-enforcement source told NEWSWEEK that Basnan-who was recently
convicted of visa fraud and is awaiting deportation-was a known "Al Qaeda
sympathizer" who "celebrated the heroes of September 11" at a party after
the attacks and openly talked about "what a wonderful, glorious day it
had been."
Administration officials stressed
repeatedly in interviews that they do not know the purpose of the payments
from Princess Haifa's account. It is also uncertain whether the money was
given to the hijackers by Al Bayoumi or Basman. White House sources also
raised a number of other cautionary notes, saying that it was not uncommon
for wealthy Saudis to provide financial assistance to struggling Saudi
families in the United States. "The facts are unclear, and there's no need
to rush to judgement," said one administration official.
But other sources describe the financial
records as "explosive" and say the information has spurred an intense,
behind-the-scenes battle between congressional leaders and the Bush administration
over whether evidence highly embarrassing to the Saudi government should
be publicly disclosed-especially at a time that the White House is aggressively
seeking Saudi support for a possible war against Iraq. "This is a matter
of the foreign-policy interests of the United States," said another administration
official, who cited the need to prevent a rift in the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
A spokesperson for Princess Haifa
said "she will cooperate fully with the United States." The princess hasn't
been asked about the payments by any representatives of the U.S. government,
and she wasn't aware of the allegations until today, her spokesperson said.
Administration officials expressed
concerns that premature disclosure of the evidence of the financial payments
could jeopardize the ongoing FBI probe, especially the bureau's efforts
to apprehend and develop a case against Al Bayoumi. Upon leaving the United
States last year, Al Bayoumi flew to Great Britain where he enrolled in
a graduate-level business program at Birmingham's Aston University. He
was arrested by New Scotland Yard after September 11 but adamantly denied
any connection to the attacks or knowledge of the hijacker's links to Al
Qaeda and was released a week later for lack of evidence. He is now believed
to be back in Saudi Arabia. Law-enforcement officials say they are still
intensely investigating his activities, suspecting that he may have served
as an "advance man" for the hijackers.
The leaders of a joint House-Senate
Intelligence Committees investigation have vigorously pushed for the release
of a classified report that lays out the evidence of the Saudi money flow.
But Bush administration officials, led by Attorney General John Ashcroft
and FBI Director Robert Mueller, have adamantly refused to declassify the
evidence upon which the report is based. Senate Intelligence Committee
chairman Sen. Bob Graham declined to discuss the evidence gathered by the
joint inquiry, but he said he was upset over the Bush administration's
intransigence. "This one stinks of people using classified information"
for political purposes, said Graham.
