MORE AMMUNITION FOR THE DEMOCRATS, if they care to use it:

The bin Laden family were granted extraordinary White House privileges to fly out of U.S. airspace following the attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001.

Former White House counter terrorism expert Richard Clarke told Vanity Fair the Bush administration decided to allow a group of Saudis to fly out of U.S. airspace just after Sept. 11– a time when access to the United States was still restricted and required special government approval.

According to the magazine’s sources, at least four flights with about 140 Saudis, including roughly two-dozen members of the bin Laden family, flew to Saudi Arabia that week without even being interviewed or interrogated by the FBI.

That cost us a lot of leverage. And it’s not clear that it got us anything. The really interesting part is that no one admits to being responsible for the decision, now. Of course, the Democrats have their own vulnerabilities.

UPDATE: Snopes says the bin Laden flight story is a hoax. The Snopes entry is old; the Washington Times story above is new, and quotes a former White House terror official. Odd that the Washington Times would be recycling something like this if it’s false.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader suggests that this may explain why Clarke is recycling this claim now.