http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/11/giulianis-ties.htmlContracts awarded to Rudy Giuliani's private security firm in the Gulf state of Qatar were overseen by a government minister suspected of harboring the al Qaeda terrorist who planned the 9/ll attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, according to security consultants in the region.
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"According to several counterterrorism experts who formerly worked for the U.S. government, Qatar's current Interior Minister and royal family member, Shaikh Abdullah bin Khalid Al-Thani briefly harbored Al Qaeda terrorists in 1996, including the suspected mastermind of the September 11th hijacking plot, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed," wrote Middle East policy analyst Jeremy M. Sharp in the CRS report.
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But the Giuliani firm's contracts put them in contact with the interior ministry, which oversees all security contracts in the country.
"Any company that does security work in Qatar, they have to get permission from the interior ministry," ministry spokesman Hassan Sidibe told the Blotter on ABCNews.com. He referred calls about GS&S contracts to the ministry's Brig. Abdul al-Ansari, who did not return repeated calls and e-mails.
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The firm's work in Qatar was too close for comfort to former law enforcement agents familiar with the country.
"We have a guy who could be president who's taking money from the same accounts that harbored terrorists," said Baer, the former CIA agent. "The general consensus is that
protected Khalid Sheik Mohammed and that they tipped him off and he's still the interior minister."
Baer recounted being introduced to al-Thani in a hotel lobby in Dubai several years ago while he was filming the George Clooney movie, "Syriana."
"Al-Thani was told, 'Here's Bob Baer.' I shook his hand, and I might as well have plugged his finger into a light socket -- he just jumped up and ran away," he said.
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