Former CIA Agent Robert Baer wrote: “it was obvious to me that the [Qatari] foreign minister had a lot of clout in Washington. The money he put into lobbying and public-relations firms from 1997 to 1999–$24,628,799.36, to be exact–bought him a piece of the U.S. justice system. The money allowed Qatar to stiff the FBI team sent to Doha in February 1996 to arrest [senior al Qaeda operative] Khalid Sheikh Muhammad.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Robert Baer, Sleeping with the Devil, Page 198