seruriermarshal
06-20-2004, 08:48 AM
9/11 commission: Saudis, Pakistan aided bin Laden
Countries helped al-Qaida flourish
By JOSH MEYER
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- Pakistan and Saudi Arabia helped set the stage for the Sept. 11 attacks by cutting deals with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden that allowed his al-Qaida terror network to flourish, according to several senior members of the Sept. 11 commission and U.S. counter-terrorism officials.
The financial aid to the Taliban and other assistance by two of the most important American allies in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism date at least to 1996 and appear to have helped immunize them from al-Qaida attacks within their own borders until long after the 2001 strikes, those officials said in interviews.
The officials said that by not cracking down on bin Laden, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia significantly undermined efforts to combat terrorism worldwide, giving the Saudi exile the haven he needed to train tens of thousands of fighters.
And they have concluded that the governments' ongoing funding of his Taliban protectors enabled bin Laden to withstand international pressure and expand his operation into a global network that could carry out the Sept. 11 attacks.
Saudi Arabia provided funds and equipment to the Taliban and probably directly to bin Laden and didn't interfere with al-Qaida's efforts to raise money, recruit and train operatives and establish cells throughout the kingdom, commission and U.S. officials said.
Pakistan provided even more direct assistance, its military and intelligence agencies often coordinating efforts with the Taliban and al-Qaida, they said.
Such efforts allowed al-Qaida's network of cells to burrow deeply into the social and religious fabric of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, enabling the organization to survive the U.S.-led demolition of its headquarters in Afghanistan in 2001, to regroup and to launch new waves of attacks.
Only after Pakistan and Saudi Arabia launched comprehensive efforts to take out their domestic al-Qaida cells -- as late as last year in the case of Saudi Arabia -- did the two nations became victims of terrorist attacks. And officials in both countries acknowledge that al-Qaida's fund-raising, recruiting and training structure is now so firmly rooted that it will be extremely difficult to eliminate.
For years, there have been unsubstantiated allegations that the governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia intentionally ignored bin Laden's efforts in their countries or even cut deals with him, either out of sympathy for his efforts or to protect themselves from attack. That claim is made in a lawsuit by the families of Sept. 11 victims against Saudi Arabia.
Both governments have strenuously denied this and did so again Saturday.
"President (Pervez) Musharraf has been taking serious steps against extremism from the day he took power in October of 1999," including trying to purge the government of al-Qaida sympathizers, said Talat Waseem, a spokeswoman for the Pakistan government.
A senior Saudi official acknowledged that Sept. 11 commission investigators and members asked about such matters during two visits to Saudi Arabia and in interviews with Prince Turki al Faisal, the longtime intelligence minister who is now ambassador to Britain.
"This whole notion of us buying off bin Laden is nonsense," said the Saudi official, who declined to be identified. "It's nuts. Do you trust a thug and a murderer like bin Laden? You can't."
But commission investigators have come to believe that these allegations are credible, based on their exhaustive review of all of the classified intelligence known to the U.S. government. Its 60 or so members also conducted thousands of interviews in the United States and abroad and had access to the interrogations of al-Qaida's most senior operatives in U.S. custody, including Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
"There's no question the Taliban was getting money from the Saudis, and there's no question they got much more than that from the Pakistani government," said former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., one of 10 members of the congressionally appointed commission.
Kerrey said the commission officials believe Saudi officials received assurances of safety in return for their generosity, even if there is no hard, specific evidence.
"Whether there was quid pro quo with the Saudis, we don't know. But certainly the Pakistanis believed that there was. They benefited enormously from their relationship with the Taliban and al-Qaida."
Kerrey said the findings are based almost entirely on information already known to officials in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, most of it as early as 1997 -- just months after bin Laden moved his operations from Sudan to Afghanistan.
The commission is investigating why U.S. officials didn't do more over the years to force Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to sever their ties with bin Laden and the Taliban.
"All we're doing is looking at classified documents from our own government, not from some magical source," Kerrey said.
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From (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2637416)
Countries helped al-Qaida flourish
By JOSH MEYER
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- Pakistan and Saudi Arabia helped set the stage for the Sept. 11 attacks by cutting deals with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden that allowed his al-Qaida terror network to flourish, according to several senior members of the Sept. 11 commission and U.S. counter-terrorism officials.
The financial aid to the Taliban and other assistance by two of the most important American allies in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism date at least to 1996 and appear to have helped immunize them from al-Qaida attacks within their own borders until long after the 2001 strikes, those officials said in interviews.
The officials said that by not cracking down on bin Laden, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia significantly undermined efforts to combat terrorism worldwide, giving the Saudi exile the haven he needed to train tens of thousands of fighters.
And they have concluded that the governments' ongoing funding of his Taliban protectors enabled bin Laden to withstand international pressure and expand his operation into a global network that could carry out the Sept. 11 attacks.
Saudi Arabia provided funds and equipment to the Taliban and probably directly to bin Laden and didn't interfere with al-Qaida's efforts to raise money, recruit and train operatives and establish cells throughout the kingdom, commission and U.S. officials said.
Pakistan provided even more direct assistance, its military and intelligence agencies often coordinating efforts with the Taliban and al-Qaida, they said.
Such efforts allowed al-Qaida's network of cells to burrow deeply into the social and religious fabric of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, enabling the organization to survive the U.S.-led demolition of its headquarters in Afghanistan in 2001, to regroup and to launch new waves of attacks.
Only after Pakistan and Saudi Arabia launched comprehensive efforts to take out their domestic al-Qaida cells -- as late as last year in the case of Saudi Arabia -- did the two nations became victims of terrorist attacks. And officials in both countries acknowledge that al-Qaida's fund-raising, recruiting and training structure is now so firmly rooted that it will be extremely difficult to eliminate.
For years, there have been unsubstantiated allegations that the governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia intentionally ignored bin Laden's efforts in their countries or even cut deals with him, either out of sympathy for his efforts or to protect themselves from attack. That claim is made in a lawsuit by the families of Sept. 11 victims against Saudi Arabia.
Both governments have strenuously denied this and did so again Saturday.
"President (Pervez) Musharraf has been taking serious steps against extremism from the day he took power in October of 1999," including trying to purge the government of al-Qaida sympathizers, said Talat Waseem, a spokeswoman for the Pakistan government.
A senior Saudi official acknowledged that Sept. 11 commission investigators and members asked about such matters during two visits to Saudi Arabia and in interviews with Prince Turki al Faisal, the longtime intelligence minister who is now ambassador to Britain.
"This whole notion of us buying off bin Laden is nonsense," said the Saudi official, who declined to be identified. "It's nuts. Do you trust a thug and a murderer like bin Laden? You can't."
But commission investigators have come to believe that these allegations are credible, based on their exhaustive review of all of the classified intelligence known to the U.S. government. Its 60 or so members also conducted thousands of interviews in the United States and abroad and had access to the interrogations of al-Qaida's most senior operatives in U.S. custody, including Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
"There's no question the Taliban was getting money from the Saudis, and there's no question they got much more than that from the Pakistani government," said former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., one of 10 members of the congressionally appointed commission.
Kerrey said the commission officials believe Saudi officials received assurances of safety in return for their generosity, even if there is no hard, specific evidence.
"Whether there was quid pro quo with the Saudis, we don't know. But certainly the Pakistanis believed that there was. They benefited enormously from their relationship with the Taliban and al-Qaida."
Kerrey said the findings are based almost entirely on information already known to officials in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, most of it as early as 1997 -- just months after bin Laden moved his operations from Sudan to Afghanistan.
The commission is investigating why U.S. officials didn't do more over the years to force Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to sever their ties with bin Laden and the Taliban.
"All we're doing is looking at classified documents from our own government, not from some magical source," Kerrey said.
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From (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2637416)