Excerpt from very lengthy Washington Times article:
As a Democratic senator from Florida, Bob Graham co-chaired the joint committee that wrote those 28 pages. He is one of the nation’s most outspoken critics of the commission’s Saudi conclusion and is convinced there is a direct link between the hijackers and Saudi officials.
His interest focuses on several figures, including Omar al Bayoumi, who assisted hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid Almihdhar after they arrived in Southern California in January 2000. Al-Hazmi and Almihdhar were sent to California by plot leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to learn English, then how to pilot an airliner for what he called the "Planes Operation."
Mr. Graham also concluded that Saudi diplomat Fahad al Thumairy, an official of the Islamic and Cultural Affairs section of the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Los Angeles, also helped the hijackers.
The U.S. pulled Mr. Thumairy's visa and banned him from the U.S.
Mr. Graham said in a sworn affidavit on Jan. 28, 2015, in a civil case: "Al Bayoumi met al Hazmi and al Mihdhar at a restaurant in Los Angeles in late January 2000, immediately following a meeting between al Bayoumi and al Thumairy at the Saudi consulate. Shortly thereafter, the two hijackers traveled to San Diego, where al Bayoumi held a dinner in their honor, helped them find an apartment, fronted the initial payments of that apartment, and provided them continuing financial assistance going forward. During the period that he supported the hijackers, al Bayoumi’s allowances from a ghost job with a Saudi private firm and contractor to the Saudi government increased eightfold. During that same period, al Bayoumi had an unusual number of telephone conversations with Saudi government officials in both Los Angeles and Washington." |