| US agents told to back off bin
Ladens |
The BBC says that America's special agents backed away from the bin
Laden family soon after George W Bush became president.
Agents were also told to back off the Saudi royals - although that has
all changed since September 11.
The findings come from documents obtained from the FBI investigation of
the US terror attacks by the Newsnight programme.
The papers show that despite the myth that Osama is the black sheep of
the family, at least two other American-based members of it are suspected
of links with a possible terrorist organisation.
Newsnight says it has uncovered a long history of shadowy connections
between the State Department, the CIA and the Saudis.
The former head of the American visa bureau in Jeddah from 1987 to
1989, Michael Springman, told the programme: "In Saudi Arabia I was
repeatedly ordered by high-level State Department officials to issue visas
to unqualified applicants.
"People who had no ties either to Saudi Arabia or to their own country.
I complained there. I complained here in Washington to Main State, to the
Inspector General and to Diplomatic Security and I was ignored."
He added: "What I was doing was giving visas to terrorists - recruited
by the CIA and Osama bin Laden to come back to the United States for
training to be used in the war in Afghanistan against the then
Soviets."
The US allegedly wanted to keep the pro-American Saudi royal family in
control of the world's biggest oil spigot, even at the price of turning a
blind eye to any terrorist connection - so long as America was safe.
The programme said the younger George Bush made his first million with
an oil company partly funded by the chief US representative of Salem bin
Laden, Osama's brother, who took over as head of the family after his
father Mohammed's death in a plane crash in 1968.
Story filed: 03:10 Wednesday 7th November
2001
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