From the Wall Street Journal, June 1:

Elements of Myth
Enter Into Post-9/11
Flights by Saudis
By ALAN MURRAY

The secret evacuation of Saudi nationals from the U.S. after the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks has achieved grassy-knoll status. Craig
Unger, author of "House of Bush; House of Saud," calls it "the single
most egregious security lapse related to the attacks." Every Bush
hater can cite the basic details: At a time when Americans were
grounded, more than 140 Saudis, including members of the bin Laden
family, were spirited out of the U.S. without questioning by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.

It's a myth. But like all great myths, it has such suggestive power
that it will live on for years, despite its feeble connection to fact.

In a recent column, I criticized Michael Moore for adopting this myth,
both in his most recent book, "Dude, Where's My Country," and in his
new movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11." I mentioned I hadn't seen the film --
Mr. Moore declined to make it available before the Cannes festival --
but I relied on a synopsis provided by his publicist.

Mr. Moore responded, not by disputing the facts of the Saudi flights,
but with a blistering attack on me for daring to "review" a synopsis.
On his Web site, he said that everything I wrote about the film was
"completely false." This despite the fact it all was quoted directly
from his book or the synopsis, and confirmed in a telephone interview
with Mr. Moore himself.

But perhaps I shouldn't have picked on the hero of Cannes, who has
long had a loose relationship to truth. The Saudi story has made its
way into much more respectable journalism. And the flood of critical
e-mail I received after writing that column convinced me the myth has
considerable staying power.

For what it's worth, here are the facts, as gathered by the staff of
the bipartisan 9/11 Commission:

Between Sept. 14 and 24, 2001, six chartered flights carrying mostly
Saudi nationals among their 142 passengers departed from the U.S. The
9/11 Commission found "no credible evidence that any chartered flights
of Saudi Arabian nationals" left before U.S. airspace reopened.
Moreover, all six flights "were screened by law-enforcement officials,
primarily the FBI" to ensure that no one of interest was allowed to
leave. The most controversial flight, filled with members of the
sprawling bin Laden family, left Sept. 20. Of the 26 people aboard --
23 passengers and three private security guards -- the FBI interviewed
22 before the plane was allowed to leave.

Last week, I reviewed these facts with Mr. Unger, who is now a
principal proponent of the Saudi flight myth. "I think most of that is
true," he replied. "I never said any flight left the U.S. while there
were still restrictions on U.S. airspace."

I asked Mr. Unger, what's the problem then? He pointed to an account,
first reported in the Tampa Tribune, of a Lear jet with three Saudi
passengers that flew from Tampa, Fla., to Lexington, Ky., on Sept. 13,
2001, as part of an effort to help prominent Saudis who feared
reprisals in the U.S. While commercial airspace was open at that time,
private planes still weren't allowed to fly, according to Mr. Unger.
He said he believes it couldn't have flown "without a special favor
from the White House." Moreover, he says, he's not sure "the FBI did
their job thoroughly" in screening passengers on the Saudi flights
that later left the U.S.

The 9/11 Commission still is investigating the Tampa flight, but it
has found no evidence that any discussion of Saudi flights rose higher
than Richard Clarke, former antiterrorism czar and now a prominent
critic of President Bush. Moreover, the coordinated Saudi flights
turned out to be a convenience for FBI officials, who were able to
screen all passengers and interview any they wished -- something they
wouldn't have been able to do if the same passengers had traveled on
commercial airlines. To check the FBI's work, the 9/11 Commission this
year ran the names of all passengers on the Saudi flights against
current terrorism-watch lists, and found no matches.

As for bin Laden family members, Mr. Clarke strongly suggested in his
public testimony to the commission that they had been under close
surveillance by U.S. officials for some time. "The FBI was
extraordinarily well aware of what they were doing in the United
States," he testified. Mr. Clarke, who has shown no hesitancy to
criticize the Bush White House, concludes the Saudi flight story "is a
tempest in a teapot."

There are plenty of reasons to question President Bush's handling of
national-security matters during the past 3½ years. But there is no
reason to rely on mythology in the process. Let's have a great debate.
But stick to the facts, please.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

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