From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: (Michael Moore got at least this much right, despite the outraged comments from the FBI and neocons).

FBI helped Saudis leave U.S.
Monday, March 28, 2005

Washington, D.C. - The FBI gave "well-connected" Saudi families escorts to the airport after the Sept. 11 attacks, the New York Times reported Sunday, citing government documents.

Two Saudi Arabian families and several citizens were escorted by FBI officials and flew home without being interviewed, the newspaper said, citing documents from the U.S. Justice Department newly obtained by Judicial Watch, a legal watchdog, and given to the Times.

Some of the escorted Saudis were relatives of Osama bin Laden, the newspaper said. The documents showed one of the flights departed on Sept. 14, 2001, from Providence, R.I., and included a member of the Saudi royal family, the newspaper said. The U.S. government began allowing flights on Sept. 13, 2001, although most were still grounded.

An unidentified FBI official told the newspaper that the agency would assist "anybody if they felt they were threatened," the newspaper said, while in 2003, the agency "reacted angrily" to suggestions that Saudis received preferential treatment, the newspaper said.

I would have expected something like this to have made it to the front page, even if below the fold. I was wrong.

What I'd like to know is this: Were there other groups that requested to leave the country during those days and were refused because flights were grounded? Were the Saudis given special dispensation?