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State Dept. Back to it Old habits.
A chief witness will be Chief of Consular Affairs Maura Harty, the woman in charge of the State Departmentâs processing of visas. Sheâll undoubtedly be grilled on how several hijackers got visas despite plainly dubious applications. And she may have to explain the program "Visa Express," which let all Saudi residents apply for visas at private Saudi travel agencies - until Congress made State stop it, 10 months after 9/11. But will panel members ask about her plan to once again loosen rules for Saudi visas? Harty only became consular chief in late 2002, but as No. 2 helped devise the policy of giving Saudis preferred visa treatment. And what she has brewing suggests sheâs still eager to please the nation that sent us 15 of the 19 hijackers. Even though the Department of Homeland Security - by Congressâ orders - has final say, State still hopes to lower the bar for approving Saudi visa applicants. If nothing else, the older agency may well outmaneuver the overstretched, infant one.State was always a favorite spot of the old Soviet spies as well. Some things never change. Iâve 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." Itâs a five-page cable sent in November from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh. Headed "Losses to U.S. Economy from Fewer Saudi Visitors," it makes an impassioned pitch for increasing Saudi travel here. I get the uncomfortable feeling the Soddys have been doing this all along, albeit sans visas. According to my sources at Consular Affairs, the cable was written in large part to reflect the sentiments of Harty and her deputies - who naturally agreed with what they got. The documentâs opening sentence sets the tone: "According to conservative Embassy estimates, the U.S. economy has lost over $2.7 billion since Sept. 11, 2001, as a result of reduced Saudi expenditures on U.S. goods and services." Howâd they get that number? " âBack of the envelopeâ calculations," the cable admits, along with "anecdotal evidence" from such authoritative sources as "one former Commerce department official" and "one tourism industry representative from the Orlando area." I hope their security practices arenât as abysmal as their statistics. With language that the Saudi princesâ PR firms would love, the cable consistently - and solely - emphasizes the economic harm to America. Another State official calls the economic arguments "mere pretext" for making the Saudi royal family happier. Several State officials report discussions to "ease the process" for visas. Our enemies are relentless in their drive to wreck this country, and State seems to have signed off on a process that speeds it up. The cable cites $500 million lost because fewer Saudi students are attending school in America. It makes no mention of the much more than $500 million in damages caused by Saudis who already attended school - flight school, to be exact - here. Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed reportedly told U.S. authorities that they chose Saudi operatives because they had the easiest access to visas. (Of course, it surely helped that the kingdom is a breeding ground for radical Islam.) ...try universal center for radical Islam exceedly only by the Iranians. But the greatest concern regarding Saudi visa policy cited in the State cable is the "damage" to the "relationship": "The real damage is not the billions of dollars in lost revenue, but the long-term chilling effect on the U.S.-Saudi relationship that will result from less contact and exchanges." I can live with a chill. The 9/11 Commission needs to ask Harty: What would be so wrong with that?
Posted by: badanov 2004-01-27 |
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