- (AFP) -- Saudi money was sent to two college students
in southern California who closely aided two of the September 11 airplane
hijackers, US media reported.
-
- Newsweek magazine reported that tens of thousands of
dollars were sent to the students via the bank account of Princess Haifa
Al-Faisal, wife to the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar
bin Sultan.
-
- The potentially explosive information comes as Washington
is seeking cooperation from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer,
in stabilizing oil prices and cooperating in a possible war with Iraq.
-
- The money was transferred to the bank account of Omar
Al Bayoumi, a student in San Diego, in early 2000, just before alleged
hijackers Khalid Almidhar and Nawaf Alhazmi arrived in Los Angeles, FBI
sources told Newsweek.
-
- The FBI said Almidhar and Alhazmi later participated
in the hijacking of American Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon
on September 11, 2001.
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- Al Bayoumi befriended the two men, hosted a welcome party
in San Diego and helped secure an apartment for them, according to Newsweek.
-
- When Al Bayoumi left the United States in July 2001,
monthly payments of 3,500 dollars were sent to the account of another student,
Osama Basnan, who the magazine describes as a close associate of Al Bayoumi
and a known al-Qaeda sympathizer.
-
- Five of the 19 alleged September 11 hijackers were Saudi
citizens and most were believed to have been used as unskilled "muscle"
to protect the kamikaze pilots.
-
- Meanwhile a draft report by a joint US Congressional
committee looking into the events of September 11 blamed both the FBI and
the CIA for not aggressively pursuing leads linking the hijackers to Saudi
Arabia -- including the money sent to the two San Diego students, the New
York Times reported Saturday.
-
- The draft report complained of a lack of cooperation
from Saudi officials in the investigation but did not reveal the source
of the money sent to San Diego or the amount of the payments.
-
- The preliminary findings "caused a bitter behind-the-scenes
dispute between the panel's staff and officials at the FBI and the CIA,"
with officials at each agency disagreeing with the draft findings, the
Times reported.
-
- The Washington Post reported that FBI agents found the
phone number of a Saudi embassy employee in Bayoumi's San Diego apartment.
-
- FBI agents questioned two employees of the embassy's
Islamic affairs section about the calls, Saudi embassy officials told the
Post. But they insisted there was no link between any Saudi government
employee and Bayoumi.
-
- The Post also reported that money had been sent to the
Saudi students in San Diego, stating that it came from a "wealthy
Saudi source."
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