Thursday, September 15, 2011
Former al-Hiijjii Home in Florida (photo: Trulia.com)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probed a possible connection between a Saudi family living in Florida and the hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks, but never informed Congress or the 9/11 Commission about the investigation.
Uncovered by the news website BrowardBulldog.org, the previously unreported story goes something like this:
Less than two weeks before the 9/11 attacks, Abdulazzi al-Hiijjii and his wife, Anoud, who were residents of the gated community of Prestancia near Sarasota, abruptly fled their home, leaving behind three cars and a home filled with furniture, food and personal mail, as well as a private safe left wide open. The home was owned by Anoud’s father, Esam Ghazzawi and his American-born wife, Deborah.
Tipped off by the security chief for the gated community, the FBI stormed the home. They eventually determined, based upon photos of the license plates of cars that entered the gates, that the residence may have been visited by some of the 9/11 hijackers, including leader Mohamed Atta, and that phone calls may have been exchanged between the terrorists and the Hiijiis.
Former U.S. Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who co-chaired the 9/11 Commission, said the FBI never shared details of the investigation with him or others working on the special inquiry. Nor did the federal law enforcement agency tell lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
FBI Found Direct Ties Between 9/11 Hijackers and Saudis Living in Florida; Congress Kept in Dark (by Anthony Summers and Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org)
FBI Investigated another Sarasota Link to 9/11 (by Zac Anderson and Robert Eckhart, Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
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