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The State Department and the Saudis

(Wall Street Journal) James Taranto - The 9/11 investigation commission has found that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the bin Laden lieutenant captured in Pakistan last March, applied for and was granted a visa to visit the U.S. in July 2001, despite being under indictment for terror-related crimes, Reuters reports: "Mohammed took advantage of a third-party U.S. visa processing system to submit his application and photo in Saudi Arabia, using a false Saudi passport and name....Maura Harty, assistant secretary for consular affairs in the State Department, said the U.S. visa application system had improved significantly since Sept. 11, with virtually all visa applicants now getting interviewed by a consular officer." But in the New York Post, Joel Mowbray reports that Harty has a "plan to once again loosen rules for Saudi visas": "I've acquired an internal State Department document that one State official calls a 'preview of the case State is making in the near future, to re-open the floodgates for Saudis,' sent in November from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh and headed, "Losses to U.S. Economy from Fewer Saudi Visitors," making an impassioned pitch for increasing Saudi travel here."
2004-01-28 00:00:00
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