Posted on 06/09/2004 10:38:46 AM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker
By JEAN HELLER, Times Staff WriterThe government has long denied that two days after the 9/11 attacks, the three were allowed to fly.
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| The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, better known as the 9/11 Commission, sent a list of questions to Tampa International Airport. It appears concerned with the handling of the Tampa flight. |
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TAMPA - Two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most of the nation's air traffic still grounded, a small jet landed at Tampa International Airport, picked up three young Saudi men and left.
The men, one of them thought to be a member of the Saudi royal family, were accompanied by a former FBI agent and a former Tampa police officer on the flight to Lexington, Ky.
The Saudis then took another flight out of the country. The two ex-officers returned to TIA a few hours later on the same plane.
For nearly three years, White House, aviation and law enforcement officials have insisted the flight never took place and have denied published reports and widespread Internet speculation about its purpose.
But now, at the request of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, TIA officials have confirmed that the flight did take place and have supplied details.
The odyssey of the small LearJet 35 is part of a larger controversy over the hasty exodus from the United States in the days immediately after 9/11 of members of the Saudi royal family and relatives of Osama bin Laden.
The terrorism panel, better known as the 9/11 Commission, said in April that it knew of six chartered flights with 142 people aboard, mostly Saudis, that left the United States between Sept. 14 and 24, 2001. But it has said nothing about the Tampa flight.
The commission's general counsel, Daniel Marcus, asked TIA in a letter dated May 25 for any information about "a chartered flight with six people, including a Saudi prince, that flew from Tampa, Florida on or about Sept. 13, 2001." He asked for the information no later than June 8.
TIA officials said they sent their reply on Monday.
The airport used aircraft tracking equipment normally assigned to a noise abatement program to determine the identity of all aircraft entering TIA airspace on Sept. 13, and found four records for the LearJet 35.
The plane first entered the airspace from the south, possibly from the Fort Lauderdale area, sometime after 3 p.m. and landed for the first time at 3:34 p.m. It took off at 4:37 p.m., headed north. It returned to Tampa at 8:23 p.m. and took off again at 8:48 p.m., headed south.
Author Craig Unger, who first disclosed the possibility of a post-9/11 Saudi airlift in his book House of Bush, House of Saud, said in an interview that he believes the jet came to Tampa a second time to drop off two former law enforcement agents from Tampa who accompanied three young Saudis to Lexington for security purposes.
The Saudis asked the Tampa Police Department to escort the flight, but the department handed off the assignment to Dan Grossi, a former member of the force, Unger said. Grossi recruited Manuel Perez, a retired FBI agent, to accompany him. Both described the flight to Unger as somewhat surreal.
"They got the approval somewhere," Perez is quoted as telling Unger. "It must have come from the highest levels of government."
While there is no manifest for those aboard the Lear flight to Kentucky, Unger says the foreign nationals left Lexington for London aboard a Boeing 727. That manifest lists eight Saudis, two Sudan nationals, one Tunisian, one Philippine citizen, one Egyptian and two British subjects.
Of those, three listed residences on Normandy Trace Drive in Tampa, and all of them held Florida drivers' licenses. They are Ahmad Al Hazmi, then 19, Fahad Al Zeid, then 20, and Talal M. Al Mejrad, then 18, all male Saudis.
It is not known which, if any, is a Saudi prince.
Perez, the former FBI agent on the flight, could not be located this week, and Grossi declined to talk about the experience.
"I'm over it," he said in a telephone interview. "The White House, the FAA and the FBI all said the flight didn't happen. Those are three agencies that are way over my head, and that's why I'm done talking about it."
Grossi did say that Unger's account of his participation in the flight is accurate.
The FAA is still not talking about the flights, referring all questions to the FBI, which isn't answering anything, either. Nor is the 9/11 Commission.
Unger's book criticizes the Bush administration for allowing so many Saudis, including the relatives of bin Laden, to leave the country without being questioned thoroughly about the terrorist attacks.
Fifteen of the 19 men who hijacked four airlines on Sept. 11 were Saudi, as is bin Laden.
The 9/11 Commission, which has said the flights out of the United States were handled appropriately by the FBI, appears concerned with the handling of the Tampa flight.
"What information, if any, do you have about the screening by law enforcement personnel - including law enforcement personnel affiliated with the airport facility - of individuals on this flight?" the commission asked TIA.
The TIA Police Department said a check of its records indicated no member of its force screened the Lear's passengers.
Despite evidence that the flight occurred, several new questions have arisen.
Raytheon Aircraft is the only facility at TIA that services general aviation, which includes charter flights. When appropriate, Raytheon collects landing fees from those aircraft for TIA and reports to TIA on the flights.
According to airport records, Raytheon collected landing fees from only two aircraft on Sept. 13, one of them a Lear 35. But according to the record, the registration on the Lear is 505RP, a tail number which, according to the latest federal records, is assigned to a Cessna Citation based in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Oskar Rene Poch.
Poch confirmed Tuesday that he owns a Citation with that tail number and did before the terrorist attacks.
"Somebody must have gotten the registration number wrong in Tampa," he said.
TIA spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said it is believed the Lear's Sept. 13 journey began in Fort Lauderdale, possibly at a charter company called Hop-a-Jet Inc. The fact that the four trips in and out of Tampa all carried the flight designation "HPJ32" lends support to that idea.
But an official of Hop-a-Jet who wouldn't identify himself said the company does not own an aircraft with the registration number 505RP. Furthermore, he said, if that tail number is assigned to a Cessna Citation, the company doesn't own any Citations, either.
Most of the aircraft allowed to fly in U.S. airspace on Sept. 13 were empty airliners being ferried from the airports where they made quick landings on Sept. 11. The reopening of the airspace included paid charter flights, but not private, nonrevenue flights.
"Whether such a (LearJet) flight would have been legal hinges on whether somebody paid for it," said FAA spokesman William Shumann. "That's the key."
- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.
As I wrote before, these are not the only two possibilities.
A third is raised in the WND article I posted above. That the Saudis royals were whisked, as you say, from the country to prevent them from being detained as material witnesses.
"At the time the members of the Saudi elite were allowed to leave, the Bush administration was preparing to detain Muslims in the U.S. as material witnesses to the attacks."
I think you are correct as to the author's intent, but a reading of Mayflower Sister's post reveals that it is a mistatement of fact.
Buy a ticket to TIA, and you won't be getting a Florida vacation.
I'm not sure what Clarke is admitting. Here's what I mean:
"The Hill said a political controversy has been brewing over who approved the six controversial flights that carried 140 Saudi citizens."
-- And --
"Most of the 26 passengers aboard a Sept. 20, 2001, fight were relatives of Osama bin Laden, whom intelligence officials blamed for the attacks almost immediately after they happened, The Hill said."
-- And --
"But this new account of the events seemed to contradict Clarke's sworn testimony before the Sept. 11 commission at the end of March, The Hill said."
"The request came to me, and I refused to approve it," Clarke testified. "I suggested that it be routed to the FBI and that the FBI look at the names of the individuals who were going to be on the passenger manifest and that they approve it or not. I spoke with the – at the time – No. 2 person in the FBI, Dale Watson, and asked him to deal with this issue. The FBI then approved … the flight."
So, was Clarke lying then or is he lying now?
Agreed. But, most people wouldn't ask to buy airline tickets to TPA, they'd want to buy plane tickets to Tampa.
Your premise that if "you reject #2 you must support #1" is a distant break from logic but that is not really the point.
This is the sort of thing that is being trumpetted to get ready for the US debut of Moore's film Farenheit 911. The premise of the entire film is that the Bush family have been arm-in-arm buddies with the Saudi royal family since before WWII. This news piece is intended to demonstrate that the friendship between Bush and the Saudis is so strong that he made sure that they were taken care of when Americans had to go without air service and other conveniences.
This is going to be a major theme of the Dem's attack this fall.
No, I believe the names came from the manifest of the 727. There were only three people on the 727 who had Tampa addresses:
Of those, three listed residences on Normandy Trace Drive in Tampa, and all of them held Florida drivers' licenses. They are Ahmad Al Hazmi, then 19, Fahad Al Zeid, then 20, and Talal M. Al Mejrad, then 18, all male Saudis.
Have you bought many tickets online? Most of the sites allow either a city (which will frequently bring up several airports even in cities that are considered one airport towns) or the code (usually saves one or two screens). Yes, if you are paying attention you will notice you are sending yourself to an Islamic capitol instead of Florida's oil rich west coast.
Nope. Not a one.
And if someone didn't notice the difference in the spellinig of the name of the city, I'm sure the price difference would make them sit up and take notice.
Thanks for the info.
This also speaks to the belief that Prsident Bush has about Islam: "Islam means peace" and "We know that Islam is fully compatible with liberty and tolerance".
Perhaps he believes that all those who he percieves as moderate or nominal Muslims actually have a western world-view.
So, after lying about it for years, the govt finally admits this.
What else about the Saudis have they lied about? Not those blank 28 pages.
Their credibility is in tatters.
DEN = FAA abbreviation for Denver. However, the airport is universally referred to as DIA, "Denver International Airport." DIA shows on maps, busses, street signs, and on the news. But the bag tags there say DEN.
FYI
For sure it's hard to tell when a liar is lying but I tend to think that he was more likely to be lying in his public testimony.
He was selling a book, he was getting his 15 minutes and trying to make it look like the White House approved the flights just made his story better.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that we could lay blame for a lot more than bin Laden family flights at the feet of Richard Clarke.
Me, neither. But I did see a funny movie about a war in Albania...
Like U-Haul trailer rental fees, the cost of airline tickets to where you're going depends upon from where you're starting.
Last time I checked, round-trip tickets from LA to NY cost almost twice as much than round-trip tickets from NY to LA. So, it wouldn't surprise me that the cost of tickets from the US to Europe are cheaper than some domestic airfares.
Like I say, I haven't flown commercial in several years, so I'm not all that up to date on the cost of flying airlines.
Forgot to say that I really like your handle. My mom used to sing that song when I was a wee tot.
Thankyee kindly,
Denver - one of the worst set up airports that I have had the misfortune of flying into. I was trying to get a bus from the terminal to the rental car area (even the "on airport" companies are located several miles trom the main terminal.) I stood at the designated stop, but all of the buses were full and wouldn't stop. I finally walked most of the distance along the front of the terminal (unshaded and in the summer heat) until I got to the first terminal stop and managed to squeeze onto a bus.
No wonder that so many of the airlins servicing Denver have filed bankruptcy.
It is an airport that I avoid.
I never heard anybody deny the flight took place, the only think I ever heard denied was the co-accusation that they left without the approval of the FBI and at the insistance of "someone" in the administration.
The deeper I dig, the more I find.
"It's not in our logs ... it didn't occur,'' said Chris White, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's regional office in Atlanta." (Saudi Rescue...The Phantom Flight From Florida)
That's the question right now. Who authorized the Saudis and the Bin Ladens to leave the US before the investigation had even really begun?
There's more:
"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., where the prince's relatives were buying race horses."
"Lexington police Lt. Mark Barnard confirmed a Saudi relative had asked for help in getting protection for the men in Tampa. Two off-duty detectives were assigned. Tampa police records list Sultan bin Fahad as the one requesting the security detail."
"But Tampa's official assistance ended at Raytheon's airport terminal."
"There was a perceived threat, and the family of the person wanted him home right away,'' said Tampa police Sgt. John Solomon. ``The job lasted about five hours. It was handled very quickly."
"`Out Of A Tom Clancy Movie' Meanwhile, Grossi had put Perez on alert and went home to wait. Both men provide security for the National Football League at Raymond James Stadium. Grossi, who retired from the Tampa Police Department in August, has worked in internal affairs and homicide. Perez, who has his own investigative company in St. Petersburg, worked for the FBI for more than 29 years and has experience in counterterrorism and as a bomb technician.
"At 2:30 p.m., Grossi got the call from the police department.
"They said it was happening,'' Grossi said. ``This was out of a Tom Clancy movie.''
"Grossi said he was told the clearance came from the White House after the prince's family pulled a favor from former President Bush. Prince Sultan, the Saudi defense minister, was part of the coalition that fought the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
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