The 'Bin Laden Flight': What Happened?

Friday, June 22, 2007

By Brian Todd, CNN's Situation Room

June 21, 2007

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Thousands of people dead, U.S. landmarks destroyed or shattered.

Amid the shock and chaos after the 9/11 attacks, how did the family -- the relatives of Osama bin Laden living here in the United States actually get out of the country?

Let's go to CNN's Brian Todd.

He's watching this story -- Brian, I take it there's been some new documents that have been released and that's causing a bit of a stir.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

In those frightful days after 9/11, U.S. officials dealt with a fog of information and these newly released documents seem to add to the confusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TODD (voice-over): More than a week after the attacks, a couple of days after more than 100 Saudi nationals, including members of Osama bin Laden's family, are flown out of the U.S. on chartered flights, an FBI document mentions one of the flights: "The plane was chartered either by the Saudi Arabian royal family or Osama bin Laden."

The plane in question left on September 19th. The FBI document was written on September 21st.

Was the FBI still sure not sure if bin Laden was involved in arranging a flight carrying his family members even after it had left?

The bureau is eager to clarify.

RICHARD KOLKO, FBI SPOKESMAN: By the time that flight ever left the U.S. we knew, A, for a fact, Osama bin Laden had nothing to do with it; And, B, the people on that flight had no information pertinent to the investigation.

Still, observers say this about the document's seemingly second guessing.

CRAIG UNGER, "VANITY FAIR": What this suggests is the sloppiness of the FBI's records, of its documents.

TODD: How did that get into the FBI's records at a time they knew bin Laden wasn't involved?

An FBI official says it got caught up in a swirl of information circulating at the time.

KOLKO: And what's in that report filed by an FBI agent from Los Angeles is information that he had gathered from the airport. We were able to quickly determine that it was not Osama bin Laden that had chartered that flight.

TODD: The group Judicial Watch, which requested the documents be released, also questions whether the FBI adequately screened everyone on a flight carrying some members of bin Laden's family.

FBI officials say they did.

We asked a member of the 9/11 Commission.

TIM ROEMER, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: We were satisfied that they did that, that they were very concerned about who was on these flights and who was leaving the country, and that they did a good job on that front. (END VIDEO TAPE)

TODD: So who did arrange for those chartered flights of Saudi nationals?

The 9/11 Commission says an official at the Saudi embassy made some of the contacts and a member of the royal family, the former ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, has said he called the FBI and top counter-terrorism officials of the United States to make that request -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What about the accusation, Brian, that some Saudis were allowed to fly out on charter flights before the U.S. actually reopened its air space after 9/11?

TODD: Well, these documents mention only that some Saudis may have tried to get on charter flights before air space reopened. But these papers and the 9/11 Commission report say that none of the Saudis were allowed to take off before the air space reopened on September 13th.

BLITZER: Brian Todd watching this story for us, a very confusing story.

Thanks, Brian, very much.

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