(extended the fact that its key people were allowed to slip out of the country in the immediate aftermath, despite a nation-wide travel ban on everyone else)
This is an urban legend:
This is an urban legend:
So it happened, just not before that exact date and time.
Many foreign nationals flew out of the U.S. when the travel ban was lifted.
No, it doesn't, the "special treatment" is documented, it's just that the special treatment wasn't that they flew exactly "before 11:00 A.M. on September 13, 2001." Specifically, FBI lied about the whole issue:
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03/14/10672374-...
"Instead of just noting that the FAA record showed the travel occurred after U.S. airspace was reopened, the FBI said Sultan and his three companions “had arrived in Lexington from Tampa by car.” “The four individuals,” the report went on, “had disobeyed the Prince [Ahmed] by traveling by car instead of by jet as the Prince had instructed them.”"
And the very Snopes page seems to state that the pilot of one of the flights ("the bin Laden flight") was in fact an FBI agent?
Andrews, Bill. "Bin Laden Family's US Exit 'Approved'." Edinburgh Evening News. 3 September 2003.
Buncombe, Andrew. "Fears of Reprisal Force Bin Laden Family to Flee Homes in US." The [London] Independent. 26 September 2001 (p. 3).
Cullen, Kevin. "Bin Laden Kin Flown Back to Saudi Arabia." The Boston Globe. 20 September 2001 (p. A29).
Cullen, Kevin. "Saudi Diplomat: IDs Were Stolen." The Boston Globe. 29 September 2001 (p. A6).
Hayward, Ed. "Hub Attack on Arab Student Investigated As Hate Crime." The Boston Herald. 18 September 2001 (p. 28).
Kurz, Hank. "Organ Network Gets Clearance for Charter Flights." The Associated Press. 13 September 2001.
Lichtblau, Eric. "White House Approved Departure of Saudis After Sept. 11, Ex-Aide Says." The New York Times. 4 September 2003.
Steele, Kathy. "Phantom Flight from Florida." Tampa Tribune. 5 October 2001 (p. 1)
Tyler, Patrick E. "Fearing Harm, Bin Laden Kin Fled from U.S." The New York Times. 30 September 2001 (p. A1).
Associated Press. "FAA Allows Cross-Country Flight of Antivenin to Miami Victim." 13 September 2001.
CBSNews.com. "Returning to the Air." 15 September 2001.