Through the account of their ambassador to the US.  

9-11 Hijackers: A Saudi Money Trail?    
The Feds probe a possible new Saudi link to Al Qaeda    

By Michael Isikoff


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 judgment,” 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.

[url]http://www.msnbc.com/news/838867.asp?0cv=CA01[/url]  

[red]Thread title edited to remove profanity. -DF[/red]

Was this ever in doubt?

They're not really our friends? What a suprise [rolleyes]

I sense this issue will be downplayed in the immediate future as a matter of course:  forces are committed to a build-up in and around Kuwait for an inevitable incursion and "regime change" in Iraq (one of the largest oil producing nations in the middle east, larger by any remote comparison than any constituency of the Texan Bush family and any oil exploration initiative on federal, i.e., OUR land, in Alaska) -- Saudi Arabia is an absolute strategic necessity to this end.  All this, even though no direct tie (such as the recently uncovered Saudi connection), has been established between Saddam's regime and al Qaeda, and CIA reports Iraq cannot produce "the bomb" for several more years.  

Meanwhile, it has been reported, again, that North Korea, one of, if not THE, most dangerous, radical, and desperate regime in recent time, can and will produce nuclear weapons, i.e. "weapons of mass destruction" in the immediate near future.  Audio tapes have confirmed that Osama bin Laden is in fact alive and most likely being supported by yet another of our "allies," Pakistan, also ready, willing, and able to use nuclear weapons in the region!  Further, and even more unbelievably, Pakistan helped North Korea with its nuclear weapon program!  Yet, still, Onward to Baghdad!  

Our troops are the currency to be spent "for freedom, fear or oil; [their] blood, the coin paid, dark on some foreign soil..."  [Cortland E. Richmond].  The Bush agenda had better damn well be worth it!

O'DubhGhaill
Force Recon Association member #2259

I have never doubted that the damn Saudi's were at the bottom of 9/11 and many other acts of war against the US.  IMHO they declared war on US in 73 with the oil embargo!  I truly hope the coming showdown with Iraq widens into a regional war so we can kick ass in Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, and several other shitholes that so richly deserve it.  Nukes on those morons would suit me just fine.

N Korea?  They are certainly a risk but keep in mind they border China and better be careful how they behave.  The Chinese don't want them having nukes any more than we do....  Given enough time they will starve in large numbers and see their economy crumble like the old USSR.  I can wait.