Did Bush Help the Saudis?

I'm surprised this hasn't received more attention.

In former Senator Bob Graham's book, "Intelligence Matters" to be released today, the Senator alleges that two of the Septemember 11th hijakckers received financial and logistical support from agents of the Saudi Arabian government. By the Bush doctrine, which says that all states that support terrorists are subject to attack by the U.S. military, tanks should have rolled into Riyadh, by now. Of course, they haven't, and the official line is that the Saudis didn't have anything to do with 9-11 and that they are one of our most valuable allies in the Middle East.

Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says that the Bush administration blocked a congressional investigation into the Saudi-hijcaker relationship. The Miami Herald received an advance copy of Graham's book and they summarize it this way:

"Graham wrote that the staff of the congressional inquiry concluded that two Saudis in the San Diego area, Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassan, who gave significant financial support to two hijackers, were working for the Saudi government.

Al-Bayoumi received a monthly allowance from a contractor for Saudi Civil Aviation that jumped from $465 to $3,700 in March 2000, after he helped Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhdar -- two of the Sept. 11 hijackers -- find apartments and make contacts in San Diego, just before they began pilot training.

When the staff tried to conduct interviews in that investigation, and with an FBI informant, Abdussattar Shaikh, who also helped the eventual hijackers, they were blocked by the FBI and the administration, Graham wrote.

The administration and CIA also insisted that the details about the Saudi support network that benefited two hijackers be left out of the final congressional report, Graham complained.

Bush had concluded that ''a nation-state that had aided the terrorists should not be held publicly to account,'' Graham wrote. ``It was as if the president's loyalty lay more with Saudi Arabia than with America's safety.''"

Seems like the punisher of "evildoers" doesn't mind turning a blind eye to the actions of his old friends.

Source: www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9584265.htm