contrapositive

BANDAR GETS CREAMED President George W. Bush had a hard time on Meet the Press a few weeks back, but it was nothing compared to the battering received by Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar this morning.

I wasn't exactly rooting for Bandar to emerge from the interview triumphant, but by the end of the show, I felt embarrassed for him. Some of the exchanges with host Tim Russert were just plain difficult to watch.

The interview also happened to make a bit of news--about the effort to spirit Saudis out of the US while flight restrictions were still in effect, in the days after 9/11.

Bandar suggested that, despite the FBI's denials, the Bureau did play a role in securing flights for members of the Bin Laden family and other Saudis:

MR. RUSSERT: But, Prince, here's the question. This is a photograph of you with the president down at his Crawford ranch. He brought his family. Alison Walsh of The New Yorker wrote you are almost a member of the Bush family. That was her interpretation after doing an enormous amount of research. And 140 Saudis did leave the United States when Americans couldn't fly. The FBI agent--the FBI spokesman, John Inurelli, said, "I can say unequivocally that the FBI had no role in facilitating these flights." Jim Thompson on the 9-11 Commission asked Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, "Did you, the State Department authorize this?" "No, sir." I asked the vice president of the United States on this program, did he know anything about it? "No, sir." Hundred and forty Saudis leave the country two days after September 11, and nobody knows who gave permission. You don't know anything about it. You didn't ask anyone for permission.

PRINCE BANDAR: No, no, no, no.

MR. RUSSERT: You didn't facilitate it in any way. The planes were just allowed to...

PRINCE BANDAR: No, Tim. No, no, no. no. This is becoming exotic now. We had those people in the country, and a lot of them were relatives of the bin Laden family going to school, from teen-agers to some people in college. And we told--asked the FBI that those people are scattered all over America and with tempers high at that time, rightly so, we were worried that somebody and emotions will hurt them.

MR. RUSSERT: So who did you call for permission?

PRINCE BANDAR: We didn't call for--we asked them...

MR. RUSSERT: Who?

PRINCE BANDAR: ...is it possible? The FBI.

MR. RUSSERT: You called the FBI?

PRINCE BANDAR: Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: And they gave permission?

PRINCE BANDAR: And the FBI, according to Richard Clarke in his testimony, called him and he said, "I have no problem if the FBI has no problem." So we gathered them all in here, and then once they were here, they left.

So who's lying--Bandar or the FBI?

Seems like just the kind of question someone in the White House press corps ought to ask Scott McClellan come Monday morning.