Fayed Sues CIA -- Suggesting Cover Up

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/650178

Aug. 30, 2000, 10:42AM
Fayed sues U.S. to release Diana documents

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Mohammed Al Fayed said today he would file a lawsuit to force U.S. officials to release documents that he said could reveal the truth behind the car crash that killed Britain's Princess Diana and his son Dodi three years ago.

Making a statement on a videotape at a Washington news conference, Fayed said the Central Intelligence Agency and other U.S. agencies were withholding the documents as part of a cover-up.

"I believe they are withholding some of the documents at the request of the British secret services," an emotional Fayed said. "They cannot afford to let the truth be known because they know exactly where the truth lies."

Diana and Dodi were killed in a car crash in Paris Aug. 31, 1997. Fayed believes it was a murder plot to prevent his son and the mother of the heir to the British throne from marrying.

Fayed, who owns London's Harrods luxury department store, has unsuccessfully tried to subpoena the documents through another U.S. court case and will now sue for them under the Freedom Of Information Act.

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I'm wondering why in the world he thinks the CIA would supposedly have documents on it that they are trying to hide.

Seriously! A woman from England and a man from ?? (Where is Dodi Fayed from?) have a car accident in France, and the U.S. CIA is covering it up? Not to mention, I don't think France has exactly been a priority for the CIA.

I think Mr. Fayed is overestimating the CIA, or hoping the relatively lenient US laws will help him on a fishing expedition.

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I see. The CIA was using spy sattelites to spy on her!

From MSNBC: Al Fayed to sue CIA over Diana
Egyptian-born tycoon says U.S. agency withheld key documents about death Mohammed Al Fayed appeals to the U.S. government for help in finding out "the truth" behind the deaths of his son, Dodi, and Princess Diana.

MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS -- WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 — Mohamed Al Fayed, convinced the car crash that killed his son Dodi and Britain’s Princess Diana was no accident, said Wednesday that he will sue the CIA and other U.S. agencies this week for documents that could shed light on the incident.

REITERATING HIS conspiracy theory that “evil and racist forces” working through Britain’s security service killed the couple, Al Fayed said he hoped the documents from the CIA and other agencies would finally reveal the truth — that the Royal family wanted to prevent his son Dodi from marrying Diana. “The car crash that took the lives of these two lovely people has been portrayed as a traffic accident caused by a drunk driving at high speed. The reality is that it was murder,” Al Fayed said in a statement released at a Washington news conference called to announce the lawsuit. Lawyers for Al Fayed said the lawsuit will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, the third anniversary of the death of Diana and Dodi in Paris.

NBC’s legal expert Robert Windrem believes the chances of the Al Fayed family succeeding in its suit under the Freedom of Information Act are limited. While the FOIA does cover all government agencies, there are nine exemptions under which documents can be denied. The one the government has the greatest latitude with is the first exemption, the national security exemption.

In addition, a second exemption, called the statutory exemption, limits disclosure of material related to the National Security Agency, America’s electronic eavesdropping agency. Under the national security exemption, the government does not even have to inform a requester if such documents exist, let alone their descriptions or details. The exemption covers all sorts of national security issues, including operations, foreign government information, sources and methods of gathering intelligence, whether they be electronic or human. Materials related to the accident that killed Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed—if they even exist—could presumably be covered by any one of those categories.

FRENCH JUDGE SAID CRASH WAS ACCIDENT
A French judge closed an investigation into the crash in September 1999, concluding the accident occurred because the couple’s driver from the Ritz Hotel, Henri Paul, was drunk.

Al Fayed said he had forensic proof, which was submitted to the Court of Appeal in Paris, that the blood sample taken from Paul contained over 21 percent carbon monoxide. “This seriously calls into question whether the blood was his, for Henri Paul died instantaneously upon impact and could not have breathed in the noxious fumes,” Al Fayed said, adding that Henri Paul spent at least three years working for MI6, the British foreign intelligence service.

Speaking on a video broadcast at the news conference, an emotional Al Fayed said the CIA and other U.S. agencies were withholding documents as part of a cover-up. “I believe they are withholding some of the documents at the request of the British Secret Services,” Al Fayed said. “They cannot afford to let the truth be known because they know exactly where the truth lies,” he said, adding that it was too painful for him to speak in public about the deaths.

VERY MUCH IN LOVE
Al Fayed said the couple, who were “very much in love” and planned to announce their engagement, were killed because the British royal family did not want Dodi to marry the mother of the heir to the British throne. “The Royal household ... would never have accepted my son, a naturally tanned, curly-haired Egyptian being married to the mother of the future king of England and becoming his stepfather,” Al Fayed said. “The drama of Romeo and Juliet continues to repeat itself almost 500 years after William Shakespeare penned his tragic story,” said Al Fayed.

Al Fayed, who owns London’s Harrods luxury department store, has unsuccessfully tried to subpoena the U.S. documents through another U.S. court case and will now sue for them under the Freedom of Information Act.

FAYED SAYS SATELLITES SPIED ON DIANA
Al Fayed charged that U.S. intelligence agencies had used the most sophisticated satellite systems to spy on Diana, possibly during her time with Dodi, and this information had allegedly been passed on to MI6. “There are at least 39 documents, consisting of 1,054 pages held by the NSA alone,” Al Fayed said. “I will never rest until the truth is discovered. Those responsible for the murders must be brought to justice.” Al Fayed’s lawyers said they were looking in particular, for documents about the Justice Department’s decision not to investigate people who had tried to extort money from Al Fayed in exchange for CIA documents that later turned out to be bogus.

Lawyer Mark Zaid, who is representing Al Fayed in the United States, anticipated the lawsuit would be lengthy but said he hoped it would provide “some closure” for Fayed. Expounding theories about the crash in the tunnel in Paris, Harrods head of security John McNamara said sources told them that Paul spent several hours with French security officers before driving Diana and Dodi to their deaths. He said a blinding light had been shone into Paul’s Mercedes while it was in the tunnel and that French medical staff had taken excessive time getting the seriously injured princess to a hospital.

Commenting on the credibility of his boss, who has scandalized the Royal family and British establishment with his claims, McNamara said: “He’s been labeled a madman ... I believe he has real reason to question what happened on Aug. 31.” The CIA, which has declined to comment on the lawsuit until it is filed, has previously said any claims of U.S. involvement in the tragedy are “ludicrous.”

WHAT CAN THE NSA HEAR?
It remains unclear what exactly the National Security Agency, America’s eavesdropping agency, have picked up on Princess Diana and how would material like that have been handled inside the nation’s most secret intelligence agency.

Jeffrey T. Richelson, intelligence historian and author of the upcoming “Wizards of Langley” about intelligence-gathering technology, says the NSA could very well have picked conversations “of her talking or people talking about her” but that there are prohibitions on it being provided to the British government under most circumstances. “The NSA would be prohibited from passing it on to British authorities unless the British government had legal authority to monitor her conversations,” said Richelson, noting that the British would have to present such a request to the NSA through its general counsel office. The restrictions have long been in place, he added.

It is possible, Richelson noted, that the U.S. monitored any threats to the Princess’s safety during Diana’s visits to Bosnia and Africa for her anti-landmine campaign. Such monitoring of threats is exempted from the legal restrictions. It is also possible, he said, that the British could have asked the U.S. for help during those trips. “If a threat was intercepted, even inadvertently, they could have passed it on to British authorities. But that goes for any threat made against any citizen of the UK-USA countries,” said Richelson, describing the intelligence alliance between the U.S. and four English-speaking allies — the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The alliance has a worldwide network of listening posts as do a variety of nations, but unlike other nations, there are certain legal restrictions on the monitoring of each other’s citizens.

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[This message has been edited by dc sports (edited August 30, 2000).]

 

Shhhh. That's why it's a conspiracy.

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