5 fascinating items in new 9/11 documents
The 28 pages of declassified intelligence documents analyzed by the 9/11 Commission and released Friday revealed several interesting tidbits about what FBI and CIA officials uncovered in their investigation of the intelligence failures surrounding the terror attacks. Much of the information involved Saudi Arabia, its diplomats and its financial support of Islamic groups and causes.
1. California-based Saudis aided two 9/11 hijackers. Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassan gave money and other help to two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi when they arrived in San Diego in February 2000, FBI officials told the 9/11 commission. "There are indications in the files that his encounter with the hijackers may not have been accidental," the FBI reported.
2. A Los Angeles-area mosque was a "site of extremist-related activity." The King Fahad Mosque in Culver City, Calif., received substantial amounts of money from "Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdulaziz," FBI documents show. "The mosque is reportedly attended by members of the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles and is widely recognized for its anti-Western views," the FBI reported. The FBI identified Shaykh al-Thumairy as one of the imams at the mosque who "may have been in contact" with al-Midhar and al-Hazmi.
3. Ties to the Saudi ambassador.
A telephone number found in the phone book of Abu Zubaydah, a 9/11 plotter captured in Pakistan in March 2002 belonged to a Colorado-based company that managed the "affairs of the Colorado residence of the Saudi Ambassador" Prince Bandar bin-Sultan. according to FBI documents. The longtime Saudi ambassador to the United States, Bandar had especially close ties to the family of Presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush.
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4. Evading U.S. authorities. An unnamed Saudi who was on a State Department watch list slipped into the United States without the notice of the Customs and Immigration and Naturalization services because he traveled here with another Saudi royal, Prince Khalid al-Bandar, the FBI reported. "The FBI only learned of the trip after the fact," the documents showed.
5. Saudis didn't cooperate on bin Laden. Saudi officials were uncooperative in U.S. attempts to learn more about Osama bin Laden, CIA documents show. The former chief of the CIA's anti-bin Laden unit, known as Alec Station, "thought that the U.S. Government's hope of eventually obtaining Saudi cooperation on this matter was contrary to Saudi national interests," the documents show.
Declassified 9/11 pages show ties to former Saudi ambassador