Looks like Sen. Graham is about to reveal what was in those 27 pages...

[Junkdrawer]

of the congressional inquiry's final report that were blocked from release by the administration.

And, wow, is it EXPLOSIVE:

Graham book: Inquiry into 9/11, Saudi ties blocked

WASHINGTON - Two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers had a support network in the United States that included agents of the Saudi government, and the Bush administration and FBI blocked a congressional investigation into that relationship, Sen. Bob Graham wrote in a book to be released Tuesday.

The discovery of the financial backing of the two hijackers ''would draw a direct line between the terrorists and the government of Saudi Arabia, and trigger an attempted coverup by the Bush administration,'' the Florida Democrat wrote.


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9584265.htm

Can you say Treason?

[Junkdrawer]

1. Link to LBN thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x802727

[Carla in Ca]

23. Just a reminder

The book Phony Fighter Pilot by Hugh Scott also comes out on the 7th.

[Kanary]

2. I wish some of these explosives would hurry up and ignite!

Thanks for posting....... I wondered what happened to that....

Kanary

[AmerDem]

3. interesting

[Digit]

26. LOL! Great picture!!!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. Bob Graham is one of the best senators ever.

[burythehatchet]

5. I pray he's not in danger of being heart attacked.

[saracat]

7. I love Bob Graham.

Out of all the candidates ,he was one of the nicest human beings as well as the brightest.And the only candidate to ever ask me for my picture! Giggle.

[Tangledog]

24. I didn't know much about Bob Graham...

...until his brief campaign. I saw him a few times on talking-heads shows, and wow, is he smart. I would believe anything he says about intelligence and information gathering.

[burythehatchet]

6. and the beat goes on.....

[Nite Owl]

8. How anyone could think of voting for *

after reading this is totally beyond me. With all the stuff about him how can anyone say that he is a man of character. This is the kind of stuff that we should be able to win on in a landslide. I'm just afraid that the stuff in the Kitty Kelly book is what the public enjoys hearing and talking about more.

[leftchick]

46. because he has a "good old boy personality and he is the one....

most people want to have a beer with"! Nevermind the fact that if you ever had a "beer" with him it would probably turn into 20 and he would piss on your car. Amerikans don't think that far ahead.

[July]

48. Who wants to have a beer with a guy who doesn't drink beer?

I can't help laughing whenever I hear people say that about Bush. I always reply, "I want to have a beer with the guy who actually drinks beer."

[TankLV]

58. No, I think he would piss IN you car - and then vomit on YOU, to boot.

Just to be accurate!

[senseandsensibility]

9. When does the book come out?

It can't be soon enough.

[faithnotgreed]

10. the release date on amazon says tuesday the 7th

[senseandsensibility]

11. Woo-hoo!

Good timing. Let's hope it coincides with a more aggressive Kerry message and wipes little * out of the water! Well, we can hope, can't we?

[Junkdrawer]

12. Graham is on Meet the Press tomorrow...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3898804/

[ogsball]

13. But they said Michael Moore was lieing?

I don't understand. You mean he was right?

[proud patriot]

14. I Dare Call It Treason

You betcha I do

[Junkdrawer]

15. These guys don't work for us...

they work for the interests of a class that is moving employment overseas and are bent on capturing control of the world's oil. They only want the US for it's military.

And THAT, my fellow Americans, is textbook Treason.

[Nordic]

21. "They only want the US for it's military." Wow.

I hadn't thought of that, and I daresay I believe you're completely right.

These are people who are bound to no particular country.

They're "above" that.

[Junkdrawer]

49. Multi-National Capitalists....Neo-Colonialism...

If you're a ruthless capitalist, you look at Iraq, Iran, the Caspian Basin, and you see Oil.

If you look at China, you see cheap labor and an emerging market.

If you look at the US, you see the world's most powerful military and a slowly declining market.

When asked "What have we become?", one DU wag said: "In a word, Mordor".

[Tamyrlin79]

41. I have often thought the same thing re: the military

[Pepperbelly]

43. very wrong but you have to remember ...

the military IS us.

It's also our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and cousins. And our friends and neighbors.

The "military" is not an abstract. It is made of us.

[Rabelais]

16. stay away from planes, Bob

please.

[oasis]

17. Woo hoooooo. Now follow up with Chris Matthews,Jon Stewart, Robert Sheer

Arianna Huffington, Aaron Brown, Mike Wallace and the gang.

It's pretzel time.

[bo44]

18. The media will let this news drop from sight like one my posts

Lead balloon. Although there is good reason for mine drop into the morass of lame posts Senator Graham's revelations warrant serious attention. Won't get it though because the media has a Bush to crown.

[Junkdrawer]

19. All it will take is Kerry to ask questions about this...

and it's an issue.

My guess is that he'll wait for Graham to make the charges. And Graham is on MTP tomorrow...

[bo44]

22. I hope he does

I too have been fighting pessimistic thoughts about Kerry's ability to street fight. If he uses this news as a weapon and anything else he can pick up I would feel much better.

[illiteratepresident]

33. See my posts below

[sampsonblk]

35. Kerry has to press the issue...

...and stop disavowing points in our favor.

[Nordic]

20. "It was as if the president's loyalty lay more with Saudi Arabia than with

America's safety.''

The most telling line in the article.

Something that Fahrenheit 9/11 makes abundantly clear.

[veluthukaran]

25. Him and Dean are great!!!!!!!!!!

yeah

[Tatiana]

56. Hi

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[TheDonkey]

27. DU must make sure the media covers this story

this is a bombshell.

[soup]

40. Pick a state

and get it out there.

Democratic Underground's Media Blaster
http://www.democraticunderground.com/cu/cu.php?az=blaster

Thank you Senator Graham.
http://graham.senate.gov/email.html

[UdoKier]

28. Yet another blockbuster story...

that our whore media will turn into an irrelevant footnote.

(sigh)

Kudos to Graham for putting this out. I always liked and admired him (he was my senator).

[andino]

29. Some Backgound information

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-07-29-saudis-bush_x.htm

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/s072403.html
QUOTE:

The most serious omission, in my view, is part 4 of the report which
is entitled "Finding, Discussion and Narrative Regarding Certain
Sensitive National Security Matters." That section of the report
contained 27 pages between pages 396 through 422. Those 27 pages have
almost been entirely censured. This is the equivalent of ripping out a
chapter in the middle of a history book before giving it to your child
or grandchild and then telling her "good luck on the test."
The declassified version of this finding tells the American people
that our investigation developed "information suggesting specific
sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers while
they were in the United States."
In other words, officials of a foreign government are alleged to have
aided and abetted the terrorist attacks on our country on September 11
which took over 3,000 lives.
I would like to be able to identify for you the specific sources of
that foreign support but that information is contained in the censured
portions of this

<[Page S9888>]

report which are being denied to the American people.
What are the consequences of this? It significantly reduces the
information available to the public about some of the Government's most
important actions, or more accurately, inactions prior to September 11.
Second, it precludes the American people from asking their Government
legitimate questions such as, How was the information that our
Government might have had prior to September 11 utilized after
September 11 to enhance the security of our homeland and American
interests abroad? Third, almost 2 years after the tragedy of September
11, the administration and the Congress, in the main, have not
initiated reforms which would reduce the chances of another September
11.

<SNIP>

Will post some more later

[illiteratepresident]

31. The whole fascinating web of connection unravels

http://www.stewwebb.com/Money%20Laundering%20BCCI%20A%20Mysterious%20Mover%20of%20Money%20and%20Planes102891.html
http://www.TIME.com: TIME Magazine
B.C.C.I. Bank of Credit & Commerce International.
A Mysterious Mover of Money and Planes
By JONATHAN BEATY
Oct. 28, 1991
The Harken Energy folks are not the only Texas-based colleagues of George W. Bush with fortuitous, if not extraordinary, Arab connections. Another is the mysterious Houston businessman James R. Bath, a deal broker whose alleged associations run from the CIA to a major shareholder and director of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International. The President's son has denied that he ever had business dealings with Bath, but early 1980s tax records reviewed by TIME show that Bath invested $50,000 in Bush's energy ventures and remained a stockholder until Bush sold his company to Harken in 1986.
Bath's penchant for secrecy has been frustrated by a feud with a former business partner, Bill White, who claims that Bath was a front man for CIA business operations. White contends that Bath has used his connections to the Bush family and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen to cloak the development of a lucrative array of offshore companies designed to move money and airplanes between the Middle East and Texas. White, an Annapolis graduate and former Navy fighter pilot, claims it was Bentsen's son Lan who suggested that White go into the real estate development business with Bath, a former Air Force fighter pilot. The partners prospered together at first, but since their falling out they have dueled in five lawsuits in which Bath has kept the upper hand, White claims, by privately asserting to the court that he had "national security" connections. White now claims in court that Bath wanted to borrow $550,000 from their real estate venture to cover funds that Bath had "misappropriated" from an aircraft company he controlled.

Bath, 55, acknowledges a friendship with George W. Bush that stems from their service together in the Texas Air National Guard, and says he is "slightly" acquainted with the President. But Bath vehemently denies White's accusations. "I am not a member of the CIA or any other intelligence agency," he says, describing White's portrayal as a "fantasy." Even so, Bath, while insisting he is nothing more than a "small, obscure businessman," is associated with some of the most powerful figures in the U.S. and Middle East. Private records show, and associates confirm, that Bath is a "representative" for several immensely wealthy Saudi families, an unusual position for any small-time Texas businessman.

Bath got his start in real estate in 1973 by forming a partnership with Lan Bentsen. One purpose, sources tell TIME, was to find investments for the Senator's blind trust. Bath and Bentsen have said they have not been partners for years, but secretaries at Bath's office still answer the phone with a cheery "Bath Bentsen Interests." Bath says he simply hasn't got around to changing the name of his company.

Bath opened his own aircraft brokerage firm in 1976, but his Middle East connections first surfaced two years later, when he became a shareholder and director of Houston's Main Bank. His fellow investors were former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Connally; Saudi financier Ghaith Pharaon, an alleged B.C.C.I. front man; and Saudi banker Khaled bin Mahfouz, who subsequently became a major B.C.C.I. shareholder. Pharaon later sold his Main Bank holdings and bought the National Bank of Georgia, allegedly on behalf of B.C.C.I. Unusual transactions involving Main Bank in the late 1970s came to light last year when a researcher discovered that the small community bank, at a time when it held only $58 million in deposits, had been buying $10 million a month in new $100 bills. Purpose: unknown.

Bath controlled a fleet of companies connected to his aircraft business, and he enjoyed unusual carte blanche to direct the U.S. investments of several wealthy Middle Easterners. Associates confirm that Bath has brokered more than $150 million in private plane deals in recent years, concentrated in sales and leases to Middle Eastern royalty and other influential figures. Pharaon is believed to have bought several expensive jets for his construction company. One Bath entity, Skyway Aircraft, leased a $10 million Gulfstream II to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., which is controlled by Sheik Zayed bin Sultan an- Nahayan, the President of the United Arab Emirates and the current owner of B.C.C.I. Bath's partners in Skyway, one of four similarly named companies he controls, are artfully hidden. The firm that incorporated Bath's companies in the Cayman Islands is the same one that set up a money-collecting front company for Oliver North in the Iran-contra affair.

Even if Bath is a clandestine public servant, the U.S. may not always get a bargain. The Houston Post reported last year that the U.S. had spent millions of dollars more than necessary by fueling military aircraft, including Air Force One, at privately owned Southwest Airport Services at Ellington Field rather than using a government fuel station there. Bath operates and holds a majority ownership stake in Southwest Airport Services, which the Post said was charging a markup of as much as 60% on the fuel. So far, the paper's charges have prompted no official investigations.

— With reporting by S.C. Gwynne/Houston
Copyright © 2003 Time Inc. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced, in whole or in part by any means or in any medium, mechanical or electronic, without expressed written permission of TIME Inc.

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

[illiteratepresident]

32. Why Kerry should be the Next President - Tell Everyone this:

Kerry Busted up the BCCI criminal enterprise that was funding terrorists...
yup...he should be ashamed of what he has done !

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html

All that changed in early 1988, when John Kerry, then a young senator from Massachusetts, decided to probe the finances of Latin American drug cartels. Over the next three years, Kerry fought against intense opposition from vested interests at home and abroad, from senior members of his own party; and from the Reagan and Bush administrations, none of whom were eager to see him succeed.

By the end, Kerry had helped dismantle a massive criminal enterprise and exposed the infrastructure of BCCI and its affiliated institutions, a web that law enforcement officials today acknowledge would become a model for international terrorist financing. As Kerry's investigation revealed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, BCCI was interested in more than just enriching its clients--it had a fundamentally anti-Western mission. Among the stated goals of its Pakistani founder were to "fight the evil influence of the West," and finance Muslim terrorist organizations. In retrospect, Kerry's investigation had uncovered an institution at the fulcrum of America's first great post-Cold War security challenge.

...

Kerry pounced, demanding (and winning) authorization from the Foreign Relations Committee to open a broad investigation into the bank in May 1991. Almost immediately, the senator faced a new round of pressure to relent. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Democratic doyenne Pamela Harriman personally called Kerry to object, as did his fellow senators. "What are you doing to my friend Clark Clifford?," staffers recalled them asking, according to The Washington Post. BCCI itself hired an army of lawyers, PR specialists, and lobbyists, including former members of Congress, to thwart the investigation.

But Kerry refused to back off, and his hearings began to expose the ways in which international terrorism was financed. As Kerry's subcommittee discovered, BCCI catered to many of the most notorious tyrants and thugs of the late 20th century, including Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the heads of the Medellin cocaine cartel, and Abu Nidal, the notorious Palestinian terrorist. According to the CIA, it also did business with those who went on to lead al Qaeda.

And BCCI went beyond merely offering financial assistance to dictators and terrorists: According to Time, the operation itself was an elaborate fraud, replete with a "global intelligence operation and a Mafia-like enforcement squad."

By July 1991, Kerry's work paid off. That month, British and U.S. regulators finally responded to the evidence provided by Kerry, Morgenthau, and a concurrent investigation by the Federal Reserve. BCCI was shut down in seven countries, restricted in dozens more, and served indictments for grand larceny, bribery, and money laundering. The actions effectively put it out of business what Morgenthau called, "one of the biggest criminal enterprises in world history."

[UdoKier]

30. I just e-mailed that to EVERYONE I know.

Except my mom, lost her addy.

[RainDog]

34. I bet this ties in to Sibel Edmonds' FBI issues

she went back to translate documents that were supposedly not important, remember, and talked about treason at the highest levels of our govt.

[illiteratepresident]

36. Let's not foget this either - fired for being gay...maybe not?

Could this have been just an excuse?

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Cpa7Uf4KbCEJ:www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu/audio/2003_12_DemNow.doc++fires+seven+%22arabic+translators%22+because+they+are+gay&hl=en&start=3
Despite Increased Post-9/11 Need, Military Fires
37 Arabic Translators For Being Gay
December 5, 2003


The military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy has led the Pentagon to fire 37 Arabic translators at a time when the military needed them more than ever. We talk to Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

A recent post in the Washington Post began:

Kathleen Glover was cleaning the pool at the Sri Lankan ambassador's residence recently when she heard the sound of Arabic drifting through the trees. Glover earned $11 an hour working for a pool-maintenance company, skimming leaves and testing chlorine levels in the backyards of Washington. No one knew about her past. But sometimes the past found her.

Glover recognized the sound instantly. It was the afternoon call to prayer coming from a mosque on Massachusetts Avenue. She held still, picking out familiar words and translating them in her head.

She learned Arabic at the Defense Language Institute (DLI), the military's premier language school, in Monterey, Calif. Her timing as a soldier was fortuitous: Around her graduation last year, a Government Accounting Office study reported that the Army faced a critical shortage of linguists needed to translate intercepts and interrogate suspects in the war on terrorism.

"I was what the country needed," Glover said.

She was, and she wasn't. Glover is gay. She mastered Arabic but couldn't handle living a double life under the military policy known as "don't ask, don't tell." After two years in the Army, Glover, 26, voluntarily wrote a statement acknowledging her homosexuality.

Confronted with a shortage of Arabic interpreters and its policy banning openly gay service members, the Pentagon had a choice to make.

Which is how former Spec. Glover came to be cleaning pools instead of sitting in the desert, translating Arabic for the U.S. government.

In the past two years, the Department of Defense has discharged 37 linguists from the Defense Language Institute for being gay. Like Glover, many studied Arabic. At a time of heightened need for intelligence specialists, 37 linguists were rendered useless because of their homosexuality.

To discuss this, we are joined by Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also an adjunct professor of history at New York University and New School University.

TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we are joined right now by someone who has looked closely at this issue, Nathaniel Frank. He is a senior research fellow at The Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an adjunct professor of history here in New York at New York University and New School University.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

NATHANIEL FRANK: Hi.

AMY GOODMAN: The significance of this, the story just coming out now, and can you explain what is happening?

NATHANIEL FRANK: Well, the story is not just coming out now, but it's been updated since we now have this number of 37 linguists having been fired under the policy at a time of heightened national security. And last year when the story first came out, to take one example, the Army had 84 slots to fill of Arabic translators and could only fill 42 of them. So if you take this number, 37, it's a very high number of slots that could have been filled that the government is deciding shouldn't be filled because it's insisting on enforcing an outdated policy.

[Laughing Mirror]

50. I think you've got something there

Why indeed enforce an outdated policy at a time when the translators would appear to be needed more than ever? But, as Sibel Edmonds as shown us at the FBI, the policy in the translation department was NOT to translate certain documents for whatever the reason.

[Only Me]

37. This ties in with the Bush Sr oil deals with Bin Ladins family,

The Carlyle group, He worked for their consulting firm while the
FBI was investigating the group for terrorist activity ater the
9-11 bombings. Imagine, a former president an father to the current president, working for the family of the terrorist that
bomb the WTC and Washington. Imagine, the president has even had a long history with them him self and did work for them in 1989-1990.
I guess thats why bin ladens families' plane was allowed to
leave the airport after all routes was close because of our state
of emergency after the bombings.

ALL goes back to one big tasty coverup!




http://www.bushnews.com/family.htm
http://www.campaignwatch.org/more1.htm

[SeekingTruth]

38. Something about Mr Graham...

like Dean, he took on Bush when it was unpopular...this man has balls and we should all thank him for it...

[Placebo]

39. THIS BETTER GET A LOT OF MEDIA PLAY.

If it doesn't, I'm going to be so pissed. This is huge.

[Disturbed]

42. J; Kerry needs to..

break this down in simple language and declaritive sentences and hammer it repeatedly!

[Keirsey]

45. Intelligence Matters

Title of Graham's book is a great double entendre, referring as well to Dubya's inadeqacies in that area.

[Shopaholic]

52. It won't.

I'm firmly convinced that someone could dig out video of * and ole FU with their arms wrapped around OBL and the media would ignore it. Or invent an excuse for it. I've really given up on the media being our savior and saving this country from another four years of this "presidency". They are not on our side and are firmly in the pocket of BushCo. We can't get them to cover these stories-no matter how important--no matter how hard we try. They delight in ignoring us--it makes them feel powerful instead of like the whores they are. And without media coverage, the message will not get out and we will not take back the country. I'm sorry to sound so pessimistic about this thing but I'm really depressed about the futility of it all. How many of these stories have come along that should have been spread across the front page of every paper in this country (and the world?) How many of these stories that we thought should have been talked about night and day on Cable and Network news completely ignored? I've lost count and I've lost heart.

[liberalcanuck]

44. Kick!

:kick:

[Junkdrawer]

51. Kick

:kick:

[Cats Against Frist]

47. Wow, I hope this isn't just giving me false hope

This should be HUGE news, and if it's not, we will be able to determine, once and for all, if the MSM are a bunch of hacks. Like some here, I still hold on to a (very) thin thread of belief that the media will do what's right. But if this isn't front page news in every paper, and top story -- I'm probably going to leave this country.

And Kerry -- must -- MUST! -- make this a part of his speeches, and say he'll call for a REAL investigation on how the Bush administration bamboozled the American people. He needs to go on a holy mother fucking rolling crusade.

[EndElectoral]

53. Why was Graham not the Meet the Press rather than Maitlin/Carville? Absurd

[Junkdrawer]

54. He was on in the 1/2 hour before Maitlin/Carville, but...

he was on with Buchanan and Newt and they only touched on this charge at the very end. Russert said: "to be continued"...

[UdoKier]

55. kick.

And I intend to keep kicking this thing out of the memory hole until the press starts to cover it.

[Tatiana]

57. I would like to congratulate Senator Graham for his courage....

and excellent timing.

Perfect timing really. We needed this piece of news right now. Let's see if our fourth estate does its job.

[TankLV]

59. Just saw this on the CNN "crawler" at the bottom of the screen.

Kerry is calling for an investigation into this latest scandal.

Let's see if they drop this or not.

[bindersen]

60. How is this possible?!?!

If this had happened here in Norway, our prime minister would be hanged by his balls for this. It is absolutely horrendous what those crooks in the white house is doing.

[midwayer]

61. UPDATE: Mary Schneider / Federal Whistleblower

I wonder how much, if any of this will be revealed:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x18765

[robertpaulsen]

62. Kicked and bookmarked!

Big news that will hopefully get bigger with the passing of time.

:kick:

[walldude]

63. Graham was great on Bill Mahar

The day after the report came out. He was trying to keep a lid on it but Mahar kept talking about that country that rhymes with Baudi Barabria being blacked out of the report. I'm glad to see he's doing a book about it.

[Julian English]

64. Kerry response to this

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Sen. John Kerry released the following statement today on allegations made in Sen. Bob Graham's (D-Fla.) new book:

"Sen. Graham is a respected member of the United States Senate and a former chairman of the Intelligence Committee. These are serious allegations being made by a well respected and informed leader. If the White House and the FBI did in fact block an investigation into the ties between the Saudi government and the 9-11 hijackers, then this would be a massive abuse of power. We need an independent investigation into these allegations immediately to determine if the very agencies charged with investigating the war on terror have been compromised by White House politics."

Paid for by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.

[mmonk]

65. Very good

and he needs to repeat it on the campaign trail whenever appropriate.

[Carla in Ca]

66. Any mention of Riggs Bank being involved?

n/t