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Phantom Flight From Florida: From The Tampa Tribune

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Phantom Flight From Florida By KATHY STEELE [email protected] Published: Oct 5, 2001

TAMPA - The twin-engine Lear jet streaked into the afternoon sky, leaving Tampa behind but revealing a glimpse of international intrigue in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on America.

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The federal government says the flight never took place. But the two armed bodyguards hired to chaperon their clients out of the state recall the 100-minute trip Sept. 13 quite vividly.

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Communities • Pasco County • Northeast Tampa • N.W. HiHsboTOLigh • South Tampa

In the end, the son of a Saudi Arabian prince who is the nation's defense minister and the son of a Saudi army commander made it to Kentucky for a waiting 747 and a trip to their homeland. The hastily arranged flight out of Raytheon Airport Services, a private hangar on the outskirts of Tampa International Airport, was anything but ordinary. It lifted off the tarmac at a time when every private plane in the nation was grounded due to safety concerns after the Sept. 11 attacks. Local and federal authorities will say little about the flight.

• Centra! Tampa • Brandon • Plant City

"It's not in our logs ... it didn't occur," said Chris White, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's regional office in Atlanta.

• Pinellas County • Hernaiuio County

For private investigators Dan Grossi and Manuel Perez, the bodyguards on the Lear, it was a trip they can't forget.

• Highlands County

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A Special Situation Grossi said Tampa police intelligence detectives called him about 11 a.m. Sept. 13, needing help with a special situation: They had been watching three young Saudi men - at least one a student at the University of Tampa - at their south Tampa apartment, and the trio was scared and wanted to go home. Jim Harf, director of UT's international programs, confirmed one of them is the son of Prince Sultan, the defense minister. University spokesman Grant Donaldson refused to provide details. Perez said he understood the men arrived in Tampa three weeks earlier to receive tutoring in English. The Tampa detectives guarding the men were ordered to stay in Tampa by Police Chief Bennie Holder, so Grossi was offered the job of escorting the trio to Lexington, Ky.,

http://web.archive.org/web/20011108145853/http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA3F78EFSC....

3/26/2004

41. NBC Meet the Press Interview with Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Partial Transcript - April 25, 2004 MR. RUSSERT: Prince Bandar, welcome to MEET THE PRESS. PRINCE BANDAR BIN SULTAN: Thank you. MR. RUSSERT: As I showed Bob Woodward's book, January 11, 2003, you're briefed by Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, about the war in Iraq. That's two months before the American people were told. Do you think that's strange? PRINCE BANDAR: Not at all, because at that time, the options were either the United Nations solution will work and Saddam will respond to it, or that will mean serious consequences which definitely meant ultimately will be war. And you don't make plans the night before you go to war. It takes time to plan. And my country is next door. There's 500 mile of borders with Iraq. And we were interested to know what's going on. MR. RUSSERT: Is Bob Woodward correct that you advised the president to take $200 million and buy off, in effect, the Iraqi army, pay them for their service, buy their loyalty, and that they could be a security force right now in Iraq? PRINCE BANDAR: I don't talk about my conversations with the president or-but I believe that would have been the right way to go. There's no point of Monday-morning quarterbacking now. What we need now to do is to make things work. MR. RUSSERT: In terms of oil supplies, this is the exact captions from Bob Woodward's book: "'I'm worried about the adequacy of the oil market,' the president stated, expressing concern for the world market's ability to absorb temporary shortfalls during a war in the Middle East. The ripple effect in the U.S. Economy could be gigantic, and he asked about the excess production capability of the" United Arab Emirates "and Saudi Arabia. Saudi oil policy could be the saving grace. According to Prince Bandar, the Saudis hoped to fine-tune oil prices over 10 months to prime the economy for 2004. What was key, Bandar knew," was "the economic conditions before a presidential election, not at the moment of the election." Senator Charles Schumer of New York has called on the president to revoke your diplomatic visa for interfering in the presidential election of 2004 by promising the president that you might lower prices before the November election to help his cause. PRINCE BANDAR: So what's the question, Tim? MR. RUSSERT: Did you, in fact, make such a promise to the president? PRINCE BANDAR: I did not. The president talked with me for months about the high oil prices and how that could be damaging to the American economy and the world economy as it's recovering. And I informed him my government's policy, which is to maintain oil prices between $22 to $28. And we prefer $25 as sort of a medium, and that's the extent of that. There was no deal, no election-no connection to the election. And this is not the first time. In 2000, President Clinton asked us to do the same thing because the prices were getting too high, above $30. MR. RUSSERT: But in October of 2000, crude oil was $35 a barrel, so you didn't keep your end of the deal. PRINCE BANDAR: Well, there is a reason, because it's not a matter of crude. The reason you have high prices in the United States is the refineries are not enough to refine. There is a one-

Page 1 of 1 Joanne Accolla From:

Dianna Campagna

Sent:

Friday, April 23, 2004 4:47 PM

To:

Joanne Accolla

Cc:

Team 6

Subject: DOJ Document Request No. 11 I rechecked the information I had sent to you on DOJ No. 11 and we also received documents on 2/27. There was no indication of which items, so it could be any of the outstanding ones. They are at GSA (RDOJ 04016538 - 04016594). Sorry to have overlooked this but my notes were clear on the document sheet but not on my draft to you. Dianna

4/26/2004

Page 1 of 1 Joanne Accolla From:

Caroline Barnes

Sent:

Thursday, April 22, 2004 3:28 PM

To:

Team 6

Subject: Other Docs to Request The only two docs I can think of that I'd like to request (in addition to re-requesting those we have not yet received): 1) TTIC report on AZ 2) Transcript of Pickard's conference call w/SACs in July (?) 2001

4/23/2004

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Questions The 9/11 commission should ask who authorized the evacuation of Saudi nationals in the days following the attacks IN ITS TOUGH QUESTIONING of Richard Clarke and Condoleezza Rice, the 9/11 commis. iT[!;"7J->-JJTYTTT— rv "^'l^™-^" '"T • *5 ~nr

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" ' lEh an'some sfe^jili'& predicted. ' Many Americans now realize thai multiple warnings of an Al QBeda attack on American soil crossed the desks of Bush administration officials in the months leading up to 9/11. Tbe administration's previously unchallenged narrative has begun to unravel. But when hearings resume on Tuesday, we may learn exactly bow tough the commission is prepared to be. This time the stars will be Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert S. Mueller III, among others. When they testify-especially Mueller-we will see whether or not the commission has the dtomach to address what may be the single most egregious security lapse related to the attacks; the evacuation of approximately 140 Saudis just two days after 9/11. This episode raises particularly sensitive questions for the administration. Never before in

history has a. president of the United States liad such a close relationship with another foreign power as President Bush and his father have had with the Satidi royal •fanflly; Ife Hifose'ofSand. I have traced more than $l A billion in investments and contracts that went from the House of Saud over the past 20 years to companies in which the Bushes and their allies have had prominent positions-Barken Energy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group among them. Is it possible that President Bush himself played a role In authorizing the evacuation of the Saudis after 9/11? What did he know and when did he know it? Let's go back to Sept, 13, 2001, and look at several scenes that Were taking place simultaneously. Three thousand people had just been killed. The toxic rubble of the World Trade Center was still ablaze. American airspace was locked down. Not even BUI Clinton and Al Gore, who were out of tb« country, were allowed to fly home. And QUESTIONS, Page DS

Craig Vnser, the former editor of Boston Ma$aziM,-i& the author of House of Bush, House ofSaud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's T&O Most Powerful Dynasties" (Seri.D7ier, March 3004}.

• Urban Legends Reference Pages: Rumors of War (Flight of Fancy)

snopes.com

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Flight of Fancy

Claim: Secret flights whisked bin Laden family members out of the U.S. over the ob of the FBI two days after the September 11 attacks, while a general ban on air tra\l in effect Status: Multiple — see below

• In the two days immediately following the September 11 terrorist attacks on Ar the U.S. government allowed bin Laden family members to fly within the country a general ban on air travel: True. • During that same period the U.S. government allowed bin Laden family member out of the U.S.: False. • The flights carrying bin Laden family members out of the U.S took place o\s of the F • The FBI was denied any opportunity to question departing bin Laden family merr False. Origins: I owe Michael Moore an apology. In a January 2002 interview with Al D'Arric Alan Colmes of the FOX Network, Michael Moore said: Why did this country allow the bin Laden family, two days after — two days after September 11 — to fly around America and pick up all the bin Laden relatives, about 24 of them, and take them to Europe? Not a single one of them was interrogated by the FBI.

That set me off on a tirade, and it shouldn't have. Part of Mr. Moore's statement has since been proved to be correct — during the ban on air travel, some Saudis (including members of the bin Laden family) were transported by air to assembly points in the U.S. in preparation for their leaving the country. In an earlier version of this article, I ranted and raved about his avowing bin Laden flights had taken place while no one was allowed to fly. Yet some did, at least within the U.S. I shouldn't have yelled at him. He was right about that. Actually, I shouldn't have yelled at him even if he'd been dead wrong about everything. There's no good excuse for my having gotten vitriolic about /

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flight.htm

3/26/2004

' The Secret Saudi Flight on 9-13 Could be the Key to the Bush-Saudi-Al Qaeda Connection Page 1 of 6

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http://www.democrats.com/view2.cfm7id = 14289 27-May-03

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz is being sued by families of the 9-11 victims for personally approving millions of dollars of Saudi government funding for terrorist front groups. Amazingly, bin Abdul Aziz arranged for his son to be flown from Florida to Kentucky on 9-13 - a flight the Bush administration denies ever happened, on the second day when ALL civilian flights in the US were prohibited. To make matters worse, bin Abdul Aziz and his Saudi co-defendants hired James Baker's law firm to defend him against the TRILLION dollar 9-11 lawsuit - even as Baker personally represents the Bush administration on crucial intelligence matters. Could this trial expose the deep Saudi connections to Al Qaeda, and the Bush connections to both? Is a Special Prosecutor needed? Is it even possible to investigate the Bush-Saudi-AI Qaeda ties? Stay tuned...

The Secret Saudi Flight on 9-13 Could be the Key to the Bush-Saudi-AI Qaeda Connection By Catherine Arnie About a month after the September llth attacks, I read an article in the Tampa Tribune by Kathy Steele entitled "Phantom Flight From Florida." The intriguing report told the tale of a flight out of Florida that allegedly took place on September 13 - a day when ALL civilian air traffic in the United States was grounded. "This was out of a Tom Clancy movie," according to a retired homicide detective who was hired for the flight. Its mission was to spirit the son of a Saudi prince, the son of a Saudi army commander, and another unidentified Saudi from Florida to Kentucky, because "there was a perceived threat, and the family of the person wanted him home right away." The "person" in danger was the son of Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, who is no minor figure in the Saudi Royal family. Rather, Prince Sultan is the kingdom's minister of defense, the third-ranking position in the Saudi Government, whose powers exceed those of even America's super-powerful Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Dan Grossi and Manuel Perez were the two Floridians who were hired to serve as private bodyguards on the flight. According to the article in the Tampa Tribune, Dan Grossi is a retired Tampa cop who worked in internal affairs and homicide. Perez is a retired

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/the secret_saudi 052703.htm

3/26/2004

Will The Real James A. Baker III Please Stand Up! - BuzzFlash Reader Commentary

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BuzzFlash Reader Commentary H1ME April 18, 2003 | UPDATE June 2, 2003

Will The Real James A. Baker III Please Stand Up! A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY by Jamie Peppard Dear BuzzFlash: Thank you for pointing me to the MSNBC story about Baker Botts representing one of the defendants, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi defense minister, in the 9/11 victims lawsuit. Now, how about taking this opportunity to call for a more comprehensive story about Mr. Baker's role in the Bush administration and affairs in the Middle East? Not many people know that Mr. Baker is the Counsel for Intelligence Policy and, under the direction of the Counsel for Intelligence Policy, the Office of Intelligence Policy is responsible for: " ...advising the Attorney General on all matters relating to the national security activities of the United States. The Office prepares and files all applications for electronic surveillance and physical search under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, assists Government agencies by providing legal advice on matters of national security law and policy, and represents the Department of Justice on variety of interagency committees such as the National Counterintelligence Policy Board. The Office also comments on and coordinates other agencies' views regarding proposed legislation affecting intelligence matters. The Office serves as adviser to the Attorney General and various client agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Defense and State Departments, concerning questions of law, regulation, and guidelines as well as the legality of domestic and overseas intelligence operations." http://www.usdoj.gov/oipr/ In that role, Mr. Baker thanked Congress for enacting the Patriot Act:

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3/26/2004

Flight of Fancy

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Home

The Agonist Document Collection

Flight of Fancy

Claim: Two days after September 1 1 — while all other planes were grounded — a secret flight arranged by George W. Bush flew Osama bin Laden's relatives out of the USA. Status:

False.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2002]

BIN LADEN FAMILY ALLOWED TO FLY DURING GROUND STOPPAGE? Michael Moore was on the Daily Show on Comedy Central and alleged that when all the nation's planes were grounded for 3 days after 9/11, the Bush Administration gave permission for a private Saudi jet to visit 5 cities to pick up around 20 members of the bin Laden family, over the objections of the FBI.

Origins: This just goes to show what a little bit of fact flipped onto its side and then spewed by a public figure can do. Yes, a couple of flights arranged by the Saudi government did collect a number of Osama bin Laden's America-based relatives and whisk them to Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, but this didn't take place during the

http://www.agonist.org/annex/snopes2

3/26/2004