Movers and sheikhs

How the Bin Ladens became corporate giants while gaining wealth and favor from the Saudi royals

By Richard A. Clarke | March 30, 2008

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
By Steve Coll
Penguin, 671 pp., illustrated, $35

One of the many conspiracy theories surrounding Sept. 11, 2001, is some inchoate suspicion about the request the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., made to fly out Saudi citizens and members of the Bin Laden family in the days after the attack. That Osama Bin Laden's relatives were among those asking to leave and that the government let them go is seen as some sort of indicator of a hidden hand, of secrets, evil deeds. Who let them go?

I did. When the embassy request came to me as the White House crisis manager, it seemed understandable that these people might think themselves at risk after disclosures that almost all of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis. I had arranged evacuation flights for Americans from crisis zones many times when I thought they might be at risk. So I approved the request on condition that the FBI sign off on the Saudi flights and everyone on them. The FBI did not want to interview the passengers then and has not asked to interview them since. Why wouldn't the bureau want to investigate what the Bin Ladens were doing here?