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What Did They Know and When Did They Know It
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FBI AND US SPY AGENTS SAY BUSH SPIKED
BIN LADEN PROBES BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER
The Guardian (London)
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Officials told to 'back off' on Saudis
before September 11
by Greg Palast and David Pallister
FBI and military intelligence officials in
Washington say they were prevented for political reasons from carrying out full
investigations into members of the Bin Laden family in the US before the
terrorist attacks of September 11.
US intelligence agencies have come under criticism for their wholesale failure
to predict the catastrophe at the World Trade Centre. But some are complaining
that their hands were tied.
FBI documents shown on BBC Newsnight last night and obtained by the Guardian
show that they had earlier sought to investigate two of Osama bin Laden's
relatives in Washington and a Muslim organisation, the World Assembly of Muslim
Youth (WAMY), with which they were linked.
The FBI file, marked Secret and coded 199, which means a case involving national
security, records that Abdullah bin Laden, who lived in Washington, had
originally had a file opened on him "because of his relationship with the
World Assembly of Muslim Youth - a suspected terrorist organisation".
WAMY members deny they have been involved with terrorist activities, and WAMY
has not been placed on the latest list of terrorist organisations whose assets
are being frozen.
Abdullah, who lived with his brother Omar at the time in Falls Church, a town
just outside Washington, was the US director of WAMY, whose offices were in a
basement nearby.
But the FBI files were closed in 1996 apparently before any conclusions could be
reached on either the Bin Laden brothers or the organisation itself. High-placed
intelligence sources in Washington told the Guardian this week: "There were
always constraints on investigating the Saudis".
They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over
this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from
investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi
royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by
Pakistan.
"There were particular investigations that were effectively killed."
Only after the September 11 attacks was the stance of political and commercial
closeness reversed towards the other members of the large Bin Laden clan, who
have classed Osama bin Laden as their "black sheep".
Yesterday, the head of the Saudi-based WAMY's London office, Nouredine Miladi,
said the charity was totally against Bin Laden's violent methods. "We seek
social change through education and cooperation, not force."
He said Abdullah bin Laden had ceased to run WAMY's US operation a year ago.
Neither Abdullah nor Omar bin Laden could be contacted in Saudi Arabia for
comment.
WAMY was founded in 1972 in a Saudi effort to prevent the "corrupting"
ideas of the west ern world influencing young Muslims. With official backing it
grew to embrace 450 youth and student organisations with 34 offices worldwide.
Its aim was to encourage "concerned Muslims to take up the challenge by
arming the youth with sound understanding of Islam, guarding them against
destructive ideologies, and instilling in them level-headed wisdom".
In Britain it has 20 associated organisations, many highly respectable.
But as long as 10 years ago it was named as a discreet channel for public and
private Saudi donations to hardline Islamic organisations. One of the recipients
of its largesse has been the militant Students Islamic Movement of India, which
has lent support to Pakistani-backed terrorists in Kashmir and seeks to set up
an Islamic state in India.
Since September 11 WAMY has been investigated in the US along with a number of
other Muslim charities. There have been several grand jury investigations but no
findings have been made against any of them.
Current FBI interest in WAMY is shown in their agents' interrogation of a
radiologist from San Antonio, Texas, Dr Al Badr al-Hazmi, who was arrested on
September 12 and released without charge two weeks later. He had the same
surname as two of the plane hijackers.
He was also questioned about his contacts with Abdullah bin Laden at the US WAMY
office.
Mr Al-Hazmi said that he had made phone calls to Abdullah bin Laden in 1999
trying to obtain books and videotapes about Islamic teachings for the Islamic
Centre of San Antonio.
To view the BBC television broadcast of the Palast investigation, go to http://www.GregPalast.com
Posted
with permission.
Greg Palast, author of the book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Is an
investigative reporter for London's Sunday paper, The Observer,
And BBC TV's
Newsnight.
Read, view or subscribe to his columns at www.GregPalast.com.
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What Did
They Know and When Did They Know It
