Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harbi

     NOTE: This article takes the position that the 9/11 attack was a criminal act and that those who assisted in that attack should be punished. To that extent it is not neutral. All specific challenges to the facts stated in this article are refuted by the U.S. Military translation of a video tape starring Osama Bin Laden and Khaled al-Harbi, the link to which is in the body of the article and in the "Sources". 

Indianapatriot

File:Al harbi and bin laden.jpg

Although not thought to be an al-Qaida leader, Khaled al-Harbi (right) appears in this al-Qaeda video alongside Osama bin Laden.

Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harbi, (Arabic: خالد بن عودة بن محمد الحربي) (c.1963 - present) is a Saudi national who was associated with Osama bin Laden's mujahadeen group in the 1980s, and is thought to have rejoined bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the mid-1990s. Also known as Abu Suleiman al-Makki (Arabic: ابوسليمان المكي), he has a thick beard and requires the use of a wheelchair.

Al-Harbi may have fought in Bosnia and Chechnya, as well as Afghanistan losing the use of his legs at some point. Some reports claim that he was married to the daughter of al-Qaeda elite Ayman al-Zawahiri. This appears not to be true. Unidentified U.S. officials have allegedly claimed that, although al-Harbi is close to bin Laden, he is not a senior member of al-Qaeda or an operational planner.

File:Khaled al-Harbi.jpg

After taking advantage of a Saudi amnesty offer, al-Harbi was interviewed by reporters.

He is the person talking to Osama bin Laden on the video tape when bin Laden appears to admit planning the 9/11 attacks. In the tape, Khaled al-Harbi states that the tape was being made at the request of the brothers who support al Qaida. The tape is an obvious fund-raising tool. In the tape, Khaled al-Harbi admits he knew the 9/11 attacks were going to occur, stating that he and those with him began wondering why they had not heard news of the attacks, and then they got the news.

The U.S. Military translation of the video tape is at : [1]

On the tape Bin Laden is identified as "UBL" and Khaled al-Harbi as "Shaykh".

The introduction to the translation states that the tape was made in mid-November 2001 in Afghanistan. The U.S. bombing of Afghanistan begin on October 7, 2001. Therefore the bombing had started when bin Laden risked making the video with Khaled al-Harbi.

The fact that bin Laden would take the time to meet with Khaled al-Harbi while the bombing of Afghanistan by the United States had commenced, clearly establishes that Khaled al-Harbi was very important to al-Qaeda.

Khaled al-Harbi even explained the relationship on the video, saying to bin Laden:

"We don't want to take much of your time, but this is the arrangement of the brothers. People now are supporting us more, even those ones who did not support us in the past, support us more now."

That statement was followed by bin Laden and Khaled al-Harbi celebrating the success of the 9/11 attacks.

The 9/11 Commission Report, at the chapter titled "A money trail?", states that al-Qaeda was financed by "financial facilitators" who raised money in mid-eastern nations, primarily Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, Khaled al-Harbi even knew that the 9/11 attacks were going to occur, as he so stated in the video, saying that he was waiting for the news of the 9/11 attacks, was beginning to worry that he had no news of the attacks and then was overjoyed to hear of the attacks.

Afterwards, he lived in hiding along the Iranian-Afghani border until he surrendered himself to the Saudi Arabian embassy in Iran on July 13, 2004. His surrender was part of a one-month amnesty offer by the Saudi government on June 23; however, the amnesty has been reported to apply only to those who committed attacks inside Saudi Arabia; al-Harbi has not been charged with any such acts.

No matter what the terms of the amnesty were, on 12 November 2004, Khaled al-Harbi was released, as on that day the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced that all who had surrendered under the "amnesty" had been released.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has stated that it will not extradite anyone involved in the 9/11 attacks to the United States.

Khaled al-Harbi will never be punished for his role in the 9/11 attacks. To this time, the "brothers" who "support" bin Laden appear safe in Saudi Arabia.

External links

• Report: Fourth militant surrenders to Saudis: Amnesty for al-Qaida associates to end soon, MSNBC, July 16 2004
• Saudi officials identify man on bin Laden tape, CNN, December 14 2001

Sources

• Reuters
• US Military translation of tape [2]
• Saudi official news agency release of 12 November 2004 concerning the release of those asking for amnesty. Statement regarding extradition by Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz to the Council of Ministers, July 2003.
• Date of US military bombing starting in Afghanistan : [3]