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Several Prominent Senators Questioning U.S. Ties to Saudi Arabia
Aired November 25, 2002 - 11:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Several prominent senators are questioning U.S. ties to Saudi Arabia today. A congressional inquiry links cash from the Saudi royal family to two September 11th hijackers.
CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena has been working this story all this morning and she joins us now from Washington.
Kelli, what have you learned?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT; Well, Carol, the investigation into this matter has been going on for more than a year. In a nutshell, two Saudi students received money from the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Those students had a close relationship to two of the September 11th attackers. You're looking them now, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar.
According to sources, the students even gave these two men financial assistance. Now the question, obviously, did the money from the Saudi government make it to the hijackers, and secondly, did the Saudi government know.
So far, there has been no concrete evidence on either front. The FBI is not commenting beyond saying that the two students were charged with visa fraud. They are now, according to sources, back in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government says it's cooperating and suggests that it has been cooperating in the war on terror all along.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI SPOKESMAN: We are going through the process of auditing every single one of them. We have put in place requirements that the charities perform internal audits, because we want to make sure the donors know how the charities are spending their money. We also want to teach the charities how to enforce financial control mechanisms, so that people do not take advantage of the laxness that may exist somewhere. We have also looked at how money is transferred out of Saudi Arabia to ensure that no money can be transferred unless there is an audit trail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARENA: On this particular story, Saudi officials say that the money from Princess Haifa was donated to help defray the cost of medical treatment.
So, Carol, that's what we know at this point.
LIN: Heard from the Saudi, or at least the foreign policy adviser to the Saudi crown prince, but how do investigators here in the United States describe the cooperation from the Saudis on this terror front?
ARENA: Well, they won't say officially, but unofficially, I can tell you that many sources that we have spoken to say that it's inconsistent, at best.
When you ask them, friend or foe, put it in black and white terms, they say, you know what, sometimes it feels very much like foe, sometimes like friend. For example, sometimes when U.S. investigators want direct access to certain individuals, they're not given that access or the Saudi government does the questioning, comes back and reports to U.S. officials.
There's a lot of focus, as you know, and as we heard on charitable donations and organizations, we do know that the U.S. government has tried to move to freeze assets and to deport individuals who are suspected of diverting funds that were given for supposedly legitimate causes that were diverted to terrorist operations, but it's a very murky relationship, has been for a long time, and investigators say that sometimes this stuff goes way above their pay grade, in terms of dealing with Saudi Arabia, because there's so much to be concerned with on the diplomatic front.
LIN: Right, a murky relationship, but perhaps a necessary one as the United States may prepare to go to war can Iraq.
That's right.
ARENA: Thank you very much, Kelli Arena.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired November 25, 2002 - 11:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Several prominent senators are questioning U.S. ties to Saudi Arabia today. A congressional inquiry links cash from the Saudi royal family to two September 11th hijackers.
CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena has been working this story all this morning and she joins us now from Washington.
Kelli, what have you learned?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT; Well, Carol, the investigation into this matter has been going on for more than a year. In a nutshell, two Saudi students received money from the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Those students had a close relationship to two of the September 11th attackers. You're looking them now, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar.
According to sources, the students even gave these two men financial assistance. Now the question, obviously, did the money from the Saudi government make it to the hijackers, and secondly, did the Saudi government know.
So far, there has been no concrete evidence on either front. The FBI is not commenting beyond saying that the two students were charged with visa fraud. They are now, according to sources, back in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government says it's cooperating and suggests that it has been cooperating in the war on terror all along.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI SPOKESMAN: We are going through the process of auditing every single one of them. We have put in place requirements that the charities perform internal audits, because we want to make sure the donors know how the charities are spending their money. We also want to teach the charities how to enforce financial control mechanisms, so that people do not take advantage of the laxness that may exist somewhere. We have also looked at how money is transferred out of Saudi Arabia to ensure that no money can be transferred unless there is an audit trail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARENA: On this particular story, Saudi officials say that the money from Princess Haifa was donated to help defray the cost of medical treatment.
So, Carol, that's what we know at this point.
LIN: Heard from the Saudi, or at least the foreign policy adviser to the Saudi crown prince, but how do investigators here in the United States describe the cooperation from the Saudis on this terror front?
ARENA: Well, they won't say officially, but unofficially, I can tell you that many sources that we have spoken to say that it's inconsistent, at best.
When you ask them, friend or foe, put it in black and white terms, they say, you know what, sometimes it feels very much like foe, sometimes like friend. For example, sometimes when U.S. investigators want direct access to certain individuals, they're not given that access or the Saudi government does the questioning, comes back and reports to U.S. officials.
There's a lot of focus, as you know, and as we heard on charitable donations and organizations, we do know that the U.S. government has tried to move to freeze assets and to deport individuals who are suspected of diverting funds that were given for supposedly legitimate causes that were diverted to terrorist operations, but it's a very murky relationship, has been for a long time, and investigators say that sometimes this stuff goes way above their pay grade, in terms of dealing with Saudi Arabia, because there's so much to be concerned with on the diplomatic front.
LIN: Right, a murky relationship, but perhaps a necessary one as the United States may prepare to go to war can Iraq.
That's right.
ARENA: Thank you very much, Kelli Arena.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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