Saudis: We Could Have Stopped 9/11

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar bin Sultan claims the 9/11 attacks could have been prevented if the US had consulted the kingdom in a "credible" way. The claim mirrored remarks earlier in the week by King Abdullah that the Saudis could have helped the British stop the September 2005 train bombings in London, too. Bandar, who was ambassador to the US for 21 years, is now Abdullah's national security adviser.

"If U.S. security authorities had engaged their Saudi counterparts in a serious and credible manner,” the prince said in a documentary aired last night, “we would have avoided what happened."  All but four of the 9/11 perpetrators were Saudi nationals. An American official said his comments should be taken “with a grain of salt." (More Saudi Arabia stories.)