:41:01
Uh, not usually, no sir.
:41:02
No no, do they give you any trouble?
:41:04
The Saudis?
:41:05
Uh, no comment on that one,
:41:06
I'm not going to answer.
:41:07
Uh, okay,
:41:08
I'll take that as a yes.
:41:11
It turns out that Saudi Prince Bandar
:41:12
is perhaps the best protected ambassador
:41:14
in the US.
:41:16
The US State Department provides him
:41:17
with a six-man security detail.
:41:20
Considering how he and his family,
:41:22
and the Saudi elite own seven percent of America,
:41:25
it's probably not a bad idea.
:41:30
Prince Bandar is so close to the Bushes
:41:32
they consider him a member of the family,
:41:34
and they even have a nickname for him:
:41:36
Bandar Bush.
:41:38
Two nights after September 11th,
:41:40
George Bush invited Bandar Bush
:41:42
to the White House for a private dinner and talk.
:41:47
Even though bin Laden was a Saudi,
:41:49
and Saudi money had funded al Qaeda,
:41:52
and fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudis,
:41:56
here was the Saudi ambassador
:41:58
casually dining with the President.
:42:00
On September 13th,
:42:03
what were they talking about?
:42:06
Were they commiserating?
:42:08
Or comparing notes?
:42:11
Why would Bandar's government
:42:14
block American investigators
:42:16
from talking to the relatives
:42:17
of the fifteen hijackers?
:42:22
Why would Saudi Arabia become reluctant
:42:24
to freeze the hijackers' assets?
:42:30
The two of them rocked out on the Truman Balcony
:42:32
so that Bandar could smoke a cigar and have a drink.
:42:36
In the distance, across the Potomac,
:42:39
was the Pentagon, partially in ruins.
:42:42
I wonder if Mr. Bush told Prince Bandar not to worry
:42:46
because he already had a plan in motion.
:42:50
You come in September 12th,
:42:52
ready to plot what response we take to al Qaeda.
:42:56
Let me talk to you about the response
:42:58
that you got from top administration officials.