taking care of family?

Tampabay: TIA now verifies flight of Saudis:

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 [Tampa International Airport (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.

I saw a reference to this in the trailer to Michael Moore’s new film ‘Fahrenheit 911’ and recall something about bin Laden family members being evacuated[1], but never considered the legality of it. The fact that the majority of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis as are the bin Laden clan struck me as odd: also, there are well-documented links[2] between the Carlyle Group and the Saudi royals. Some of the bin Laden family were meeting with representatives of the Carlyle Group on the morning of 9/11: must have been an interesting meeting.

Here where I live in Jet City with a major flight corridor over my house, I can still recall the strange feeling when we had no air traffic. None. Not even the floatplanes that ply the San Juans from Lake Union and Lake Washington. It was a week of silence I won’t soon forget. Yet, somehow a 747 was able to leave Lexington, KY, on September 13, just two days after the attacks?

And I love the reason for letting the Saudi nationals leave: “fear of retribution for the attacks.” As if they just walk around in public, easily recognizable as countrymen of the attackers. I think it’s pretty unlikely they spend a lot of time at the 7-11 or pumping their own gas.

For all the talk of an American Empire, I’m not sure there isn’t already an Arab empire with the US as a major fiefdom . . . .

fn1. September 11, 2001: Evacuation of Saudi Nationals

fn2. But since the start of the “war on terrorism”, the firm – unofficially valued at $3.5bn – has taken on an added significance. Carlyle has become the thread which indirectly links American military policy in Afghanistan to the personal financial fortunes of its celebrity employees, not least the current president’s father. And, until earlier this month, Carlyle provided another curious link to the Afghan crisis: among the firm’s multi-million-dollar investors were members of the family of Osama bin Laden.