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American Morning
Saudi Connection?
Aired August 06, 2003 - 09:18 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI has now interviewed Omar al- Bayoumi, a Saudi man who had been connected with two of the 9/11 hijackers. Saudi Arabia says al-Bayoumi is not a government agent. A government source who read the blacked-out section of the 9/11 report says those pages reveal that al-Bayoumi probably was a Saudi agent.
With us now from Washington, Saudi embassy spokesman Nail Al- Jubeir.
Thanks for being with us this morning, Nail.
NAIL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI EMBASSY SPOKESMAN: Thank you for having me.
COLLINS: I understand that Omar al-Bayoumi has been interviewed twice now in Saudi Arabia. Were Saudi officials present during those interviews?
AL-JUBEIR: Yes, I believe they were present at the time and -- based on the agreement with the U.S. interrogators.
COLLINS: Well, if there were Saudi officials present, it could be perceived that this man was trying to be controlled somehow. If they really believe he has nothing to hide, why not just let him talk and talk alone?
AL-JUBEIR: I believe that was his wish at the time. The request that has been done with the U.S. intelligence, with the FBI at the time was that's what they agreed on.
There is a commission, a joint task force that's operating in Saudi Arabia on that issue and they've been interviewing a lot of people on a number of issues. I believed they've interviewed about a dozen so far on these issues, and there's a cooperation.
Now, it there's more serious stuff, we'll take it from there, but so far we have to wait and see what the Americans come up with the information they've gained from his questioning.
COLLINS: All right, well, earlier this week, we interviewed former CIA case worker Robert Baer. Here's what he had to say about al-Bayoumi's link to your government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA CASE WORKER: He should be in custody right now. He provided material support for a criminal act. You know, if he's been an Iraqi, he'd be in jail now in Guantanamo Bay, but we have this deference to Saudi Arabia, which I think is undermining the war on terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Mr. Al-Jubeir, any truth to that statement?
AL-JUBEIR: Absolutely not. Mr. Bare (ph) hasn't got the truth on Saudi Arabia since he first appeared an expert on it. He's misstated his book, he's got the facts wrong, he's even got the name of the national security agency wrong. And that's the guy the CIA has as agent? This country's in serious trouble if that's the best the U.S. government has to offer as an intelligence.
Now, as far as Mr. Bayoumi, unless Mr. Bare (ph) has more information on Bayoumi, he should come up with it and tell us what it is, because neither U.S. government nor do we have any information leading to that. It's unfortunate that he's already accusing him of being an agent.
COLLINS: Well, you said the last time that you were on CNN, which I believe was July 30th, that you still had not read those 28 classified pages of this report.
AL-JUBEIR: Still haven't.
COLLINS: Do you hope to read them at some point?
AL-JUBEIR: Well, we'll hope that we will read them. It's unfortunate that too many people there who have appeared who claimed to have read these 28 pages, we haven't seen them. We'll wait for them to be released so we can look into it, to be able to challenge some of the findings.
One of the findings that I've been telling people was a report over the weekend by AP, in which they cited a person who claim to have read that, in which he said that al-Bayoumi, after he left California in June of 2001, went to London and met with the Saudi ambassador there, Prince Turki. Now, Prince Turki wasn't an ambassador there until January of this year.
Any basic research -- you know, just go to Google, put "Prince Turki London," and it'll give you that when he was appointed, so it's not really a secret. If that is the misinformation on that in those 28 pages, then we need to make the record clear. Unless the person who claims to have read them never did, and there's just too many people out there who can fill in whatever they want in the 28 pages, and we end up having to defend blank pages. And that's the unfortunate part of it.
COLLINS: And obviously, as you say, because so many people have not read those pages, how can anyone be called an expert?
AL-JUBEIR: Exactly, and that's unfortunate.
We have people, for whatever political motives there are, trying to make it into a big issue. You've got people who've read it, who've made statements saying, "This is damning evidence," and another senator whose read it saying, "There's really no link there." Except one of them happens to be running for president, and hopes to eventually pass the undecided in the Democratic campaign.
And that's unfortunate. We should not be dragged in it, neither should this report be dragged into it. I think this should be a fact- finding to get to the truth, and not to get elected into the White House.
COLLINS: All right, Saudi embassy spokesman Nail Al-Jubeir, thanks so much for your comments this morning.
AL-JUBEIR: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 6, 2003 - 09:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI has now interviewed Omar al- Bayoumi, a Saudi man who had been connected with two of the 9/11 hijackers. Saudi Arabia says al-Bayoumi is not a government agent. A government source who read the blacked-out section of the 9/11 report says those pages reveal that al-Bayoumi probably was a Saudi agent.
With us now from Washington, Saudi embassy spokesman Nail Al- Jubeir.
Thanks for being with us this morning, Nail.
NAIL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI EMBASSY SPOKESMAN: Thank you for having me.
COLLINS: I understand that Omar al-Bayoumi has been interviewed twice now in Saudi Arabia. Were Saudi officials present during those interviews?
AL-JUBEIR: Yes, I believe they were present at the time and -- based on the agreement with the U.S. interrogators.
COLLINS: Well, if there were Saudi officials present, it could be perceived that this man was trying to be controlled somehow. If they really believe he has nothing to hide, why not just let him talk and talk alone?
AL-JUBEIR: I believe that was his wish at the time. The request that has been done with the U.S. intelligence, with the FBI at the time was that's what they agreed on.
There is a commission, a joint task force that's operating in Saudi Arabia on that issue and they've been interviewing a lot of people on a number of issues. I believed they've interviewed about a dozen so far on these issues, and there's a cooperation.
Now, it there's more serious stuff, we'll take it from there, but so far we have to wait and see what the Americans come up with the information they've gained from his questioning.
COLLINS: All right, well, earlier this week, we interviewed former CIA case worker Robert Baer. Here's what he had to say about al-Bayoumi's link to your government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA CASE WORKER: He should be in custody right now. He provided material support for a criminal act. You know, if he's been an Iraqi, he'd be in jail now in Guantanamo Bay, but we have this deference to Saudi Arabia, which I think is undermining the war on terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Mr. Al-Jubeir, any truth to that statement?
AL-JUBEIR: Absolutely not. Mr. Bare (ph) hasn't got the truth on Saudi Arabia since he first appeared an expert on it. He's misstated his book, he's got the facts wrong, he's even got the name of the national security agency wrong. And that's the guy the CIA has as agent? This country's in serious trouble if that's the best the U.S. government has to offer as an intelligence.
Now, as far as Mr. Bayoumi, unless Mr. Bare (ph) has more information on Bayoumi, he should come up with it and tell us what it is, because neither U.S. government nor do we have any information leading to that. It's unfortunate that he's already accusing him of being an agent.
COLLINS: Well, you said the last time that you were on CNN, which I believe was July 30th, that you still had not read those 28 classified pages of this report.
AL-JUBEIR: Still haven't.
COLLINS: Do you hope to read them at some point?
AL-JUBEIR: Well, we'll hope that we will read them. It's unfortunate that too many people there who have appeared who claimed to have read these 28 pages, we haven't seen them. We'll wait for them to be released so we can look into it, to be able to challenge some of the findings.
One of the findings that I've been telling people was a report over the weekend by AP, in which they cited a person who claim to have read that, in which he said that al-Bayoumi, after he left California in June of 2001, went to London and met with the Saudi ambassador there, Prince Turki. Now, Prince Turki wasn't an ambassador there until January of this year.
Any basic research -- you know, just go to Google, put "Prince Turki London," and it'll give you that when he was appointed, so it's not really a secret. If that is the misinformation on that in those 28 pages, then we need to make the record clear. Unless the person who claims to have read them never did, and there's just too many people out there who can fill in whatever they want in the 28 pages, and we end up having to defend blank pages. And that's the unfortunate part of it.
COLLINS: And obviously, as you say, because so many people have not read those pages, how can anyone be called an expert?
AL-JUBEIR: Exactly, and that's unfortunate.
We have people, for whatever political motives there are, trying to make it into a big issue. You've got people who've read it, who've made statements saying, "This is damning evidence," and another senator whose read it saying, "There's really no link there." Except one of them happens to be running for president, and hopes to eventually pass the undecided in the Democratic campaign.
And that's unfortunate. We should not be dragged in it, neither should this report be dragged into it. I think this should be a fact- finding to get to the truth, and not to get elected into the White House.
COLLINS: All right, Saudi embassy spokesman Nail Al-Jubeir, thanks so much for your comments this morning.
AL-JUBEIR: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
