Does anyone else remember that Michael Moore had done some....

[pepperbear]

investigating about the post 9/11 Saudi families flight for "Fahreneheit 911"? Does anyone else also remember that this talking point was criticised above all the others?

I seem to remember it that way.

[AndyA]

1. Yes, I remember that as well.

I tried to fact check F 9/11, and I couldn't find anything that wasn't 100% on the up and up. The amount of research Moore put into that film was exhaustive.

Moore was correct, and right on target. Again.

[rodeodance]

2. here are the timeline"

Saudi flights (last updated August 9, 2004)



http://www.footnotetv.com/f911chap3-3.html
Fahrenheit 9/11 suggests that Saudi citizens, especially relatives of Osama Bin Laden, were allowed to leave the United States (a) when no other flights were allowed and (b) without being interviewed.

Both these points were investigated and largely rejected by the 9/11 Commission. According to the commission's final report, no Saudi citizens traveled within or left the United States while the national airspace was closed, and many Saudis - including many relatives of Osama Bin Laden - were in fact interviewed before being allowed to leave.

All Flights Occurred After Airspace Began to Re-Open on September 13

The 9/11 Commission reported that it found no evidence that any Saudi nationals were on flights out of the United States before airspace was reopened. It reported that there were nine chartered planes and one government plane that took Saudi nationals out of the United States between September 14 and 24, all after national airspace began to re-open to commercial aviation on the morning of September 13. Moreover, the 9/11 Commission reported that every airport involved in these flights was open when a flight departed and that there was no inappropriate action taken to allow those flights to depart.

A timeline of such flights is below:..........

[rodeodance]

4. The Commission also found no evidence of political intervention in allowing the flights.

The Commission also found no evidence of political intervention in allowing the flights. The Saudi embassy reportedly did request that their citizens be evacuated given the fear of retribution once the nationalities of the hijackers were known. The request was routed to counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke, who routed it to the FBI, which screened the flights with the Federal Aviation Administration and the State Department and effectively approved them. The 9/11 Commission found no evidence that anyone in the Bush administration above Clarke participated in granting the Saudi request.

"Think about it logically: Do you think -- where are we, in a banana republic? I would pick 140 Saudis, put them in aircraft and smuggle them out and nobody will know? Look, people have to take yes for an answer and read what the 9/11 Commission said on this," Saudi Prince Bandar said in an April 2004 interview with NBC News' Tim Russert (on-line here).

[Rosemary2205]

3. Snopes is on the case.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flights.asp

[originalpckelly]

5. He wasn't right, at least totally. There were flights for the Bin Laden family members...

but they were thoroughly questioned by the FBI, or at least that's their story and they're sticking to it.

[w13rd0]

6. Except now it seems that bin Laden may have chartered the flights...

...how the hell do you call that "thoroughly questioning"? Unless you are to have us believe that the Bush administration and the FBI WANTED to do Ossama's bidding...

[texastoast]

7. Weren't they visiting the Bushes here in Houston?

Seems like I remember that.

[Johonny]

8. As far as I remember

The movie suggests that Bin Laden’s family was allowed to leave the US when no US citizens could travel. The wording makes it seem like they were allowed to leave while no one else could fly. Although no actual dates are used in the movie. Moore use to have a fact sheet on his webpage explaining the subtle points. Moore's movie is factually correct. They left after the no fly period, but his movie seems to suggest there was more to it. Moore also suggests that while the family was investigated by the FBI the good they did was poor and certainly not nearly as inconvenience as some people in the US that had no relationship to Bin Laden had during the same period. Either way you look at it the US allowed a large number of the Bin Laden family leave the US right after 9/11 and before a formal commission investigating either Bin Laden's where abouts or the causes into 9/11 had even really started. This seems amazing given what we've done to people with far less terrorist ties in places like GITMO.