Revealed: Saudi's new links to 9/11

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Aug 3, 2003 | by Neil Mackay INVESTIGATION

Prince Saud's protestations were backed up by the Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. However, Prince Bandar's wife, Princess Haifa bint Faisal, the daughter of the late King Faisal, is believed to have written cheques worth about (pounds) 80,000 which eventually went to none other than Omar al- Bayoumi. The FBI is now investigating whether Saudi royal charitable funds were indirectly funnelled by al-Bayoumi to the two hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.

After al-Bayoumi left the US prior to September 11, the payments were sent to Osama Bassnan, a friend of both al-Bayoumi and the two hijackers. Adel al-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, denies any connection between the royal family and terrorists. Prince Bandar is said to be outraged at the allegations and claims his wife had responded to a begging letter from a destitute Saudi student in the US.

According to a multi-billion-pound lawsuit filed by relatives of those who died on September 11, 2001, the Saudi ambassador to London, Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud, paid al-Qaeda a massive bribe four years ago to prevent attacks in the kingdom. Prince Turki, who has consistently condemned al-Qaeda, is the former head of Saudi intelligence. Some 500 bereaved families are suing Prince Turki, as well as other prominent Saudi individuals and business and charities, for supporting al-Qaeda. The Prince privately disputes these claims as "nonsense".

US officials suspect that millions of dollars donated by the Saudi government and wealthy Saudis were diverted by Islamic charities to al-Qaeda. The UN Security Council believes that Saudi Arabia transferred more than (pounds) 300 million to al-Qaeda over the past decade.

The role of Islamic charities, in particular the International Islamic Relief Organisation (IIRO), is central to the suspicions falling on the Saudis.

Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, who founded IIRO in the Philippines, is also bin Laden's brother-in-law. The US state department has labelled Khalifa as a "known financier of terrorist operations". The FBI also linked him to the plotters behind the bungled 1993 truck- bombing of the World Trade Centre.

A Democrat senator, Charles E Schumer, has written to the Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar, calling for the Saudi interior minister, Prince Nayef, to be removed for failing to stem the flow of terrorist money from the kingdom.

He wrote that the Prince had a "well-documented history of suborning terrorist financing and ignoring the evidence when it comes to investigating terrorist attacks on American".

The Republican senator Arlen Specter believes the federal authorities have been soft on the Saudis because of strategic interests and oil. Many suspect that the 28 allegedly incriminating pages in the congressional report may have been kept classified by the Bush administration for fear of embarrassing their Saudi allies. "There is considerable concern here in congress about Saudi Arabia being shielded for foreign policy purposes," said Specter.