PRESS RELEASE
Bandar’s Role Highlighted in New 9/11 Media Coverage
Aug. 12, 2016 (EIRNS)—The role of former Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar "Bush" bin-Sultan, has stood out as one of the most startling revelations contained in the redacted 28-page chapter from the original Joint Congressional Inquiry, released on July 15. CNN last week featured "Prince and the ‘28 pages’: Indirect 9/11 link to Saudi royal revealed," which included a flow chart going from Bandar, through two Saudi intelligence officers directly to the two lead West Coast hijackers. The CNN story kicked off with the early 2002 raid in Pakistan, in which Abu Zubaydah was captured. The leading Al Qaeda commander had in his phone book the unlisted number of the security company managing Bandar’s Aspen, Col. estate. Another number was the private phone of a security guard at the Saudi embassy in Washington.
The CNN story recounted Bandar’s funding of Osama Bassnan, a Saudi intelligence agent with known ties to Al Qaeda, whose wife received more than $50,000 from Bandar and his wife, Princess Haifa during the period that Bassnan and Omar Al-Bayoumi were providing critical logistical support to two of the 9/11 hijackers, Hazmi and Mihdhar. While former CIA agent Bruce Reidel told CNN that Bandar was so close to President George W. Bush that he could not imagine him willfully supporting terrorist attacks like 9/11, Sen. Bob Graham told CNN that he is demanding the release of all of the FBI and CIA investigative files on the 28 pages released to the public. And that is just the start.
The Center for Security Policy, a neoconservative think tank headed by Frank Gaffney has also released its own 25-page report, summarizing and evaluating the 28 page chapter from the Joint Inquiry, and it makes a strong case for further investigation into the Saudi role in promoting jihadist terrorism.
The London Independent also published a lengthy story last week, focusing on Bandar, and singling out the Colorado security firm ties to Zubaydah as significant new evidence. The Independent quoted Sen. Graham that the Zubayda-Colorado security firm link was "one of the most stunning parts of the investigation," and he insists that lead, among many others, must be pursued today.
