- CounterPunch.org - https://www.counterpunch.org -

Bob Graham’s Political Tsunami

 

Senator Bob Graham’s new book, “Intelligence Matters” is a political tsunami. Along with many unexplored allegations concerning both 9-11 and the war in Afghanistan, Graham creates an important link between the Bush Administration and the attacks of Sept. 11.

This connection, in fact, corroborates the suspicions of many Americans who have studied 9-11 and believe that (at the very least) the administration facilitated the attacks by suppressing FBI investigations of terrorist activity in the US.

So, far, Graham’s allegations have remained entirely unreported and do not appear in the 9-11 Commission’s report. They are none the less stunning.

Unbeknownst to any of us, the FBI had an “asset” who was in close contact with two of the Saudi terrorists located in San Diego. Actually, they were on such intimate terms that the FBI informer rented a home to them when he was traveling.

The two Saudis, Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassan, had been followed into the US by the CIA, but the FBI still maintains that they were not notified of their whereabouts; EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD AN INFORMER WORKING CLOSELY WITH THEM?

How believable is that?

As Frank Davies in the Miama Herald reports, “the staff of the congressional inquiry concluded that two Saudis in the San Diego area, Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassan, who gave significant financial support to two hijackers, were working for the Saudi government.”

“Al-Bayoumi received a monthly allowance from a contractor for Saudi Civil Aviation that jumped from $465 to $3,700 in March 2000, after he helped Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhdar — two of the Sept. 11 hijackers — find apartments and make contacts in San Diego, just before they began pilot training.” (Herald)

Incredibly, when Graham tried to serve the FBI with a subpoena to produce the elusive “informer”, (Abdussattar Shaikh) the FBI refused to accept the subpoena and balked at providing his location to the Senate investigating committee.

Graham writes that the FBI was blocked by the Bush Administration from either producing the informer or providing knowledge of his whereabouts.

Why?

Up to this point, many had concluded that the FBI was hiding information to conceal its own failings. That, however, does not explain why the administration would get involved.

It also doesn’t explain why both the Administration and the CIA have insisted that “details about the Saudi support network that benefited two hijackers be left out of the final congressional report.”

According to Graham, Bush said that, ”a nation-state that had aided the terrorists should not be held publicly to account.” This, of course, is a dramatic departure from the fundamental tenet of the “Bush Doctrine”; that states are entirely responsible for terrorist activity within their borders. This was the logic the drove the US to war with Afghanistan.

Graham wrote that, “It was as if the president’s loyalty lay more with Saudi Arabia than with America’s safety.”

This is true, but not nearly as important as the larger allegation that the Bush Administration was ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN SUPPRESSING AN FBI INVESTIGATION THAT LED TO THE DEATHS OF 3000 AMERICANS.

Graham’s book provides crucial evidence that the administration can be implicated in the greatest case of “criminal negligence” in the nation’s history. His claims significantly reinforce the view that the Bush regime “intentionally” created the conditions for a massive terrorist attack to facilitate their ambition of a global war for the world’s dwindling oil reserves.

It also suggests that the administration cannot afford to leave office according to the normal protocols. Future “investigative panels” would certainly uncover evidence that would only further detail the administration’s level of involvement.

This casts a pall over the upcoming elections.

What are these people capable of if it looks like they might lose?

MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com