Bob Graham speaking out about 9/11 again. Also 2 archived articles Saudi flights after 9/11

[madfloridian]

Last edited Tue Dec 17, 2013, 12:40 AM - Edit history (1)

Bob Graham has been one of the most trusted sources not just about about the Iraq War, but about his knowledge surrounding the events of 9/11. He is out and about again on this topic. I was watching this long interview at Huffpost live with Bob Graham today, December 16, 2013.

Senator Bob Graham On Bush-Saudi-9/11 Coverup

He mentions that members of some Saudi families were able to fly when other flights were grounded. I think he has been quite upset over having so much knowledge of what really happened back then....and his inability to talk about it because he is sworn to secrecy. He refers to the families trying to get answers in court and otherwise, and he has empathy with them. That part starts about 5 minutes into the video.

I saved two articles about these flights. The oldest one is from 2001 from the Tampa Tribune.

Phantom Flight From Florida

TAMPA - The twin-engine Lear jet streaked into the afternoon sky, leaving Tampa behind but revealing a glimpse of international intrigue in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on America.
The federal government says the flight never took place.

But the two armed bodyguards hired to chaperon their clients out of the state recall the 100-minute trip Sept. 13 quite vividly.

In the end, the son of a Saudi Arabian prince who is the nation's defense minister and the son of a Saudi army commander made it to Kentucky for a waiting 747 and a trip to their homeland.

The hastily arranged flight out of Raytheon Airport Services, a private hangar on the outskirts of Tampa International Airport, was anything but ordinary. It lifted off the tarmac at a time when every private plane in the nation was grounded due to safety concerns after the Sept. 11 attacks.

A spokesman for the FAA said "It's not in our logs ... it didn't occur."

There was another from the St.Pete Times (Now the Tampa Bay Times) in June 2004.

TIA now verifies flight of Saudis

TAMPA - Two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most of the nation's air traffic still grounded, a small jet landed at Tampa International Airport, picked up three young Saudi men and left.

The men, one of them thought to be a member of the Saudi royal family, were accompanied by a former FBI agent and a former Tampa police officer on the flight to Lexington, Ky.

The Saudis then took another flight out of the country. The two ex-officers returned to TIA a few hours later on the same plane.

For nearly three years, White House, aviation and law enforcement officials have insisted the flight never took place and have denied published reports and widespread Internet speculation about its purpose.

But now, at the request of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, TIA officials have confirmed that the flight did take place and have supplied details.

Bob Graham is one of my favorite persons, one who has gained my respect in so many ways. I will never forget that in 2002 he told his fellow senators that if they did not read the entire NIE, not just the sanitized version....that blood would be on their hands.

2002 Senator Bob Graham D-FL about Iraq vote. "the blood's going to be on your hands"

The Palm Beach Post link is no longer available, but I saved the text and the article.

..."On Oct. 9, 2002, Graham — the guy everyone thought of as quiet, mild-mannered, deliberate, conflict-averse — let loose on his Senate colleagues for going along with President Bush's war against Iraq.

"We are locking down on the principle that we have one evil, Saddam Hussein. He is an enormous, gargantuan force, and that's who we're going to go after," Graham said on the floor. "That, frankly, is an erroneous reading of the world. There are many evils out there, a number of which are substantially more competent, particularly in their ability to attack Americans here at home, than Iraq is likely to be in the foreseeable future."

He told his fellow senators that if they didn't recognize that going to war with Iraq without first taking out the actual terrorists would endanger Americans, "then, frankly, my friends — to use a blunt term — the blood's going to be on your hands."

It was a watershed moment. Gone was the meticulous thinker who would talk completely around and through a problem before answering a question about it...

At that same link are the words of Bill and Hillary Clinton fully supporting the Iraq invasion. Stands in contrast to Graham's blunt honesty.