Ex-Saudi ambassador: Kingdom could have helped U.S. prevent 9/11

[Bell]

Saudi Arabia could have helped the United States prevent al Qaeda's 2001 attacks on New York and Washington if American officials had consulted Saudi authorities in a "credible" way, the kingdom's former ambassador said in a documentary aired Thursday.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/01/saudiarabia.terrorism/index.html#cnnSTCText


Did we allready knew the Saudi's were 'in on it' or are they new conspirators?

We all can prevent big dissasters by using 20/20 hindsight. But anywoo, how significant is this? Any more info on this? Would it really have prevented 9/11?

[Gravy]

It's meaningless without specifics. I wasn't able to watch the video. Does he give any specifics about actionable intelligence? I'm guessing not.

[Bell]

Ouch, I missed the video! :o

I saw this come by on CNN, watched it from the corner of my eye (hey, this forum needs my attention too, you know) and looked up the article on CNN.com

I'll watch it now...

ETA: Oh well, nothing there that isn't in the article.

[T.A.M.]

Seems the essence of it is this...

"We were tracking the hijackers. Noone came to us about them, so 9/11 happened."

TAM:)

[Bell]

Seems the essence of it is this...

"We were tracking the hijackers. Noone came to us about them, so 9/11 happened."

TAM:)

Indeed, that was what I got from it. Nothing said why the Saudis were tracking them or that the Saudis knew they were planning a big attack.

[T.A.M.]

I would imagine it was a combination of American Intelligence not bothering to inquire, combined with the Saudi's, in particular factions perhaps not sympathetic to the USA, making no effort to say "Guess what we know".

TAM:)

[GreNME]

I think their claim regarding 9/11 is dubious, but I would actually like for the Saudis to stop feeding the insurgent forces in Iraq. I think that would be a very nice start.

[ConspiRaider]

This is Bandar?


"If U.S. security authorities had engaged their Saudi counterparts in a serious and credible manner, in my opinion, we would have avoided what happened," he said.

Bandar was the Saudi ambassador to Washington for nearly 22 years before he was replaced in 2005. A knowledgeable U.S. official told CNN that Bandar's comments should be taken "with a grain of salt."


I guess Bush learned his lesson though. After all, didn't he tell Bandar about his decision to invade Iraq, before he told the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell?

[boloboffin]

Bandar was the one claiming to have shown Bush all about foreign policy, was he not? Which book did I read that in?

Why didn't Bandar say to Bush, "Oy, these knuckleheads in Afghanistan, I think you may have a real problem, Mr. President."

The real question is: Why is Bandar saying this now?

[Bell]

Thinking about it, two scenarios come to mind:

1.) The Saudis know these terrorists are in the US.
2.) The Saudis know these terrorists are in the US and planning a big attack.

In the first case, the hijackers could have been redflagged.
In the second case, the hijackers could have been rounded up by law enforcement.

In both cases I wonder why the Saudis did not inform US intelligence?

My only conclusion would be that the Saudid had nothing on them beside a suspison.

[GreNME]

Thinking about it, two scenarios come to mind:

1.) The Saudis know these terrorists are in the US.
2.) The Saudis know these terrorists are in the US and planning a big attack.

In the first case, the hijackers could have been redflagged.
In the second case, the hijackers could have been rounded up by law enforcement.

In both cases I wonder why the Saudis did not inform US intelligence?

Because the Saudi government are a bunch of self-serving authoritarians who tend to not get involved with anything unless there is a direct and immediate benefit to them-- consequently, the same reasons their population is mostly poor and uneducated.

My only conclusion would be that the Saudid had nothing on them beside a suspison.

Or no one high enough knew while those who had knowledge at the time didn't care.

Yeah, I trust the Saudi government about as far as not at all.