Word: haifa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...country's oil wealth to seduce Presidents and preserve his nation's alliance with the U.S. But when National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice met Bandar at the White House last Tuesday, the ambassador had reason to be concerned. Revelations that charitable donations by Bandar's wife Princess Haifa al-Faisal were sent to associates of two Sept. 11 hijackers had some Congressmen questioning Saudi Arabia's commitment to the war on terrorism. And Administration hard-liners were leaking word to the Washington Post of a White House staff proposal to deliver an ultimatum to Riyadh about Saudi financing of terrorists...
...Saudi Arabia's harshest critics in the media and on Capitol Hill have sought to portray the kingdom's rulers as intimately involved with al-Qaeda terrorism, although some of the evidence offered to support these claims is far from convincing - the suggestion that Princess Haifa, the wife of the Saudi ambassador to Washington sent money to 9/11 hijackers, for example, turns out to be based on a charitable check she wrote to a woman who, unbeknownst to the princess, had signed it over to a man who made brief loan to two of the hijackers without knowing their terrorist...
...Princess Haifa story may be the least of Al-Jubeir's problems. The absence of democracy, freedom of speech, women's equality and religious diversity in the Kingdom don't endear it to Americans as a lovable ally. The fact that the Saudis, mindful of their own restive public opinion, can't simply be seen to be doing the U.S. bidding doesn't help either. And, of course, there are profoundly different views on how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which translate into sharp differences between Washington and Riyadh over whether to categorize groupings such as Hamas as terrorists...
...hubbub began when congressional investigators leaked word that prominent Saudis--including Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.--may have given money to associates of two 9/11 hijackers. The connection was tenuous but intriguing. Sources close to the case told TIME that beginning in January 1999 monthly payments of $2,000 were made from Princess Haifa's checking account to Majida Dwaikat, wife of Osama Bassnan. A Saudi national, Bassnan was living in San Diego last year and has been linked to Omar al Bayoumi, a Saudi student who befriended two men who wound...
...Charity, the Saudis say. In 1998 Bassnan wrote to the Saudi embassy in Washington pleading for assistance for his four kids and his ailing wife. A spokesman for Princess Haifa says "she had no knowledge that funds she gave away for charity may have been passed on to others." It's quite common for Saudi royals to give away large sums to countrymen who ask. What's more, agents haven't turned up evidence that Bassnan knew about the 9/11 plot, and the FBI has concluded that Bayoumi was not a witting accomplice...