Former Senator Bob Graham Urges Obama to Reopen Investigation into Saudi Role in 9/11 Attacks

Former Florida governor and senator Bob Graham is calling on President Obama to reopen the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks after new information has emerged about the possible role of prominent Saudis in the 9/11 plot. According to recent news reports, a wealthy young Saudi couple fled their home in a gated community in Sarasota, Florida, just a week or so before Sept. 11, 2001, leaving behind three cars and nearly all of their possessions. The FBI was tipped off about the couple but never passed the information on to the 9/11 Commission investigating the attacks, even though phone records showed the couple had ties to Mohamed Atta and at least 10 other al-Qaeda suspects. Graham joins us to discuss the news he’s called "the most important thing about 9/11 to surface in the last seven or eight years." As the former chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a post he held on September 11, 2001, Graham chaired the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the attacks. He’s just written a novel called "Keys to the Kingdom,” which follows a fictitious former senator and co-chair of the 9/11 congressional inquiry who is murdered near his Florida home after he uncovers an international conspiracy linking the Saudi Kingdom to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Graham says he chose to write the novel after his 2004 non-fiction book, "Intelligence Matters," was heavily censored 

JUAN GONZALEZ: Former Florida Senator Bob Graham is calling on President Obama to reopen the investigation into the September 11th attacks after new information has emerged about the possible role of prominent Saudis in the 9/11 attack.

According to recent news reports, a wealthy young Saudi couple fled their home in a gated community in Sarasota, Florida, just a week or so before 9/11, leaving behind three cars and nearly all of their possessions. The FBI was tipped off about the couple but never passed the information on to the September 11 Commission, even though phone records showed the couple had ties to Mohamed Atta and at least 10 other al-Qaeda suspects.

Former Senator Bob Graham described the news as, quote, "the most important thing about 9/11 to surface in the last seven or eight years." Graham said, "The key umbrella question is: What was the full extent of Saudi involvement prior to 9/11 and why did the U.S. administration cover this up?"

AMY GOODMAN: Back in 2004, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore drew attention to the fact that the White House had also approved planes to pick up the bin Ladens and numerous other Saudis shortly after the Twin Towers were hit. In this clip from his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore speaks with Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who was on the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation at the time.

SEN. BYRON DORGAN: We had some airplanes authorized at the highest levels of our government to fly to pick up Osama bin Laden’s family members and others from Saudi Arabia and transport them out of this country.

MICHAEL MOORE: It turns that the White House approved planes to pick up the bin Ladens and numerous other Saudis. At least six private jets and nearly two dozen commercial planes carried the Saudis and the bin Ladens out of the U.S. after September 13th. In all, 142 Saudis, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, were allowed to leave the country.

AMY GOODMAN: That was a clip from Fahreneheit 9/11 by Michael Moore.

We’re joined now by former Florida governor and senator, Bob Graham. He’s in Washington, D.C. As the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a post he held on September 11, 2001, he chaired the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the deadly attacks. He has just written a novel called Keys to the Kingdom.