First, everyone insisted that the post-9/11 flights whisking Saudis out of the country only happened after regular air travel had resumed. The usually-reliable Snopes page was vehement on the subject. Then the story changed — it turned out to be verifiable that Saudis had flown during the air-travel ban, but only within the borders of the U.S. Snopes updated its page to reflect this information (and issued a deserved apology to Michael Moore), with a little prodding from this site and others.
Well, looks like Snopes is due for another update:
TAMPA – Two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most of the nation’s air traffic still grounded, a small jet landed at Tampa International Airport, picked up three young Saudi men and left.
The men, one of them thought to be a member of the Saudi royal family, were accompanied by a former FBI agent and a former Tampa police officer on the flight to Lexington, Ky.
The Saudis then took another flight out of the country. The two ex-officers returned to TIA a few hours later on the same plane.
For nearly three years, White House, aviation and law enforcement officials have insisted the flight never took place and have denied published reports and widespread Internet speculation about its purpose.
But now, at the request of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, TIA officials have confirmed that the flight did take place and have supplied details.
…a reader reminds me that Spinsanity has harped on this a time or two as well.