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KansDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-07-06 11:37 AM
Original message
The Bush-Bin Laden Connection...
Since ABC/Disney is about to air their mockumentary, I thought the time was right for posting this information again

THE BUSH-BIN LADEN CONNECTION
Before his death in a 1968 plane crash, Osama Bin Laden's father, Mohammed Bin Laden, made a fortune off construction contracts awarded by the Saudi royal family. The $5 billion per year construction conglomerate, known as the Binladin remained closely tied to the Saudi royal family. After the death of Mohammed bin Laden, control of the company passed to Salem Bin Laden, Osama's half brother. (The Texas Observer, "The Bush-Bin Laden Connection," November 9, 2001 )
JIM BATH AND KHALID BIN MAHFOUZ . The George W. Bush/Jim Bath connection began the following decade. In the early 1970s, the two flew fighter jets together in the Texas Air National Guard. In 1976, Bath was recruited by CIA Director George Herbert Bush to create offshore companies to move CIA funds and aircraft between Texas and Saudi Arabia . (The Texas Observer, "The Bush-Bin Laden Connection," November 9, 2001; Toronto Sun, September 24, 2001)

In 1978, Salem Bin Laden, older brother to Osama, invested a large chunk of money in Bush's Arbusto Energy, Bush's first oil company. Salem appointed James Bath, a close friend of Bush who served with him in the Air National Guard, as his representative in Houston, Texas . Bath himself invested $70,000 in the company. The same year, Bath bought Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of the Saudi Arabian multi-millionaire. ( Toronto Sun, September 24, 2001 )

Bath acted as the Bin Laden family's representative in North America, investing money in various business ventures. Bath also became the business representative of Khalid Bin Mahfouz, a member of Saudi Arabia's most powerful banking family and owners of the National Commercial Bank, the principal bank of the Saudi royal family. Mahfouz's sister was also a wife of Osama Bin Laden. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001; Toronto Sun, September 24, 2001; Wayne Madsen, In These Times)

A friendship was struck between the Bin Ladens and Bushes in the 1970s in Houston , Texas. The Bin Laden family helped fund Arbusto Energy, George W. Bush's first oil venture. One of many investors, Bath gave Bush $50,000 for a 5 percent stake in Arbusto. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001; Wayne Madsen, In These Times, November 12, 2001; Center for Research on Globalization, February 28, 2002)

When Arbusto Energy teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, the company remained solvent by merging with Arbusto 7 Oil Company. Bath invested money from Salem Bin Laden and Mahfouz in the new company. Bath said more than $1-million of the Saudis' money was pumped into Bush's venture. Bath bought the Saudi royalty an airport, office, and apartment buildings. Eventually, Salem and Mahfouz bought an enormous mansion in River Oaks, Houston's most affluent neighborhood. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001)

Bush's third oil firm, Harken Energy, was operated by Alan Quasha, a New York lawyer who was also a Republican Party fundraiser. Sheikh Abdullah Bahksh of Saudi Arabia , a 16 percent shareholder in Harken Energy. He was represented by a Palestinian-born Chicago investor named Talat Othman, who served with George W. Bush on the board of Harken Energy. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001)

Othman made at least three separate visits to the White House to discuss Middle East affairs with then President George Herbert Bush. Just prior to the Gulf War, Harken Energy, with no previous international or offshore drilling experience, was awarded a 35-year petroleum exploration contract with the emirate of Bahrain. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001)

Mahfouz and other Saudis attempted to transfer $3 million to various Bin Laden front operations in Saudi Arabia in 1999. Saudi officials stopped Mahfouz from contributing money directly to Bin Laden. (Wayne Madsen, In These Times)

BILL WHITE. Also in 1970s, Charles W. "Bill" White, a former Annapolis graduate and United States Navy pilot, became part of the Bush-White-Bin Laden connection. Bath hired White as his partner in his real estate firm. Bush used Bath to funnel money from Osama Bin Laden's rich father, Sheikh Bin Laden, to set up Arbusto Energy. Bath went on to make a fortune by investing money for Mahfouz and Sheikh Bin Laden. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001)

In sworn depositions, Bath said he represented four prominent Saudis as a trustee, one of whom was Saudi Sheik Salem Bin Laden. In return, he said, he would receive a 5 percent interest in their deals.

Bath was named in a 1976 trust document as the business representative for Salem Bin Laden who was killed in a private plane crash in Texas in 1988. White claimed that Bath was involved in a secret conspiracy to funnel Saudi money into the United States. He claimed that since 1976, Bath had worked as a CIA liaison to Saudi Arabia . White also claimed that Bath ran an aviation business and obtained several aircraft from the CIA.

Bath operated Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd., an aviation business based in the Cayman Islands, which was owned by Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz. In 1977, Mahfouz joined up with Saudi front man for BCCI, Ghaith Pharaon, and became an investor in the Main Bank of Houston, in which Bath also held a stake.

In 1986, Bath filed 28 frivolous lawsuits against White, leading to White's financial ruin and expulsion from Houston's business community. White announced Bath 's relationship to the Saudis and Bush family.

THE BCCI CONNECTION. Bush's third oil firm, Harken Energy, had ties to the notorious Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), a Middle Eastern banking concern. In 1988, the BCCI scandal broke with the exposure of Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, terrorist leaders Abu Nidal, and the Medellin drug cartel. BCCI also laundered money that involved the Iran-Contra scandal. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001)

Mahfouz was chief operating officer of BCCI. He was fined $212 million to settle felony charges for stealing investors' money. He was also barred from involvement in any American banking activity. The Wall Street Journal in 2000 reported that he provided financing to a "charitable front" that raised money for Bin Laden. He was reportedly placed under house arrest in Saudi Arabia since at least March of 2000. (Wall Street Journal, September 28, 2000)

Another business partner of Bush was involved in BCCI. Sheikh Abdullah Bahksh of Saudi Arabia was a 16 percent shareholder in Harken Energy. Bahksh was a co-investor in BCCI, whose primary objective in the Middle East was to obtain political influence using oil money. Bahrain's prime minister, Sheik Khalifah bin-Sulman al-Khalifah, was a major investor in BCCI's parent company, BCCI Holdings, of Luxembourg. Through its commodities affiliate, Capcom, BCCI was used as a money laundering service by drug traffickers and arms dealers. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001; Wayne Madsen, In These Times, November 12, 2001; Center for Research on Globalization, February 28, 2002)

THE BUSH - BIN LADEN – CARLYLE CONNECTION. As President George Herbert Bush prepared for war in 1991, Osama Bin Laden urged the Saudi royal family to find an Arab solution, by raising an army on their own to fight Hussein. However, the Saudis sided with the Bush administration, allowing American bases on their soil from which to launch attacks. Subsequently, Bin Laden was allowed to leave Saudi Arabia for Sudan with his fortune. In 1996, Bin Laden joined Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001)

The Carlyle Group, a major global corporation, employed prominent former politicians such as the senior Bush to provide an opening to government ministries around the world. Carlyle's ties to the Bush family dated back more than a decade.

Carlyle had ownership stakes in 164 companies which employed more than 70,000 people and generated $16 billion in revenues in 2000. About 450 institutions -- mainly large pension funds and banks -- were Carlyle investors. The California state pension fund invested $305 million with Carlyle, and the Texas teachers pension fund -- whose board was appointed when George W. Bush was governor -- gave Carlyle $100 million to invest in November." (New York Times, March 5, 2001)

In 1990, Carlyle placed George W. Bush on the board of directors of one of its subsidiaries, Caterair, an airline catering company. Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, commented, "George Bush is getting money from private interests that have business before the government, while his son is president. And, in a really peculiar way, George W. Bush could, some day, benefit financially from his own administration's decisions, through his father's investments."

After leaving the White House in January 1993, George Herbert Bush accepted a post as adviser to Carlyle. He helped to strengthen Carlyle's ties to the Saudi royal family. Other high-level officials at Carlyle included former Reagan administration Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci and former senior Bush administration Secretary of State James A. Baker III. (The Texas Observer, Andrew Wheat, The Bush-Bin Laden Connection, November 9, 2001)

The Saudi Binladin group ran a $5 billion business, built by family patriarch Mohammed largely from Saudi government construction contracts. In the 1990s, the Binladin group invested $2 million in the Carlyle Group. (Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2001)

In 1996, the head of Saudi intelligence, Turki bin Faisal, and Khalid bin Mahfouz met in Paris with a representative of Al Qaeda. They agreed to extend the earlier arrangement made between the Saudi royal family and Osama Bin Laden, whereby in return for cash, Al Qaeda agreed not to attack inside Saudi Arabia. The CIA produced an internal report that documents the numerous Saudi charities that funded terrorists. Osama Bin Laden's name was included. (Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001)

While serving as governor of Texas, George W. Bush met with high-level Al Qaeda leaders, hoping to get support to build a pipeline across Afghanistan. (Michael Moore, Dude, Where's My Country?) Four months into his presidency, he rewarded the Taliban by handing over $43 million in May 2001, only six months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

George Herbert Bush worked with the Bin Laden family business on at least two occasions. In August 2001, George W. Bush received a detailed and lengthy presidential daily briefing from the CIA, stating that Bin Laden and Al Qaeda's objective was to launch an attack against the United States. One month later -- on the morning of the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- George Herbert Bush met with Osama Bin Laden's own brother at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington D.C. (Wall Street Journal September 27, 2001, Michael Moore, Dude, Where's My Country?)

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER 9/11? All airlines in the United States were grounded for two days after 9/11. Yet, on September 13, 2001 , the White House authorized six Saudi jets to fly 140 Saudis out of the United States. Twenty-four of them were Laden family members, were allowed to leave American soil and land in Saudi Arabia. (Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack)

Saudi jets to fly 24 Bin Laden relatives out of the United States . The members of the Bin Laden family were never questioned by United States authorities. (Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2001; Judicial Watch, March 5, 2001, September 28, 2001; (Michael Moore, Dude, Where's My Country? Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI, New York: Random House, 1993; Judicial Watch: Bush/Bin Laden Connection, October 6, 2001; CNews, September 30, 2003))

One of Bin Laden's brothers frantically called the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington looking for protection. Saudi's King Fahd sent an urgent message to his embassy in Washington pointing out that there were "Bin Laden children all over America" and ordered, "Take measures to protect the innocents," the ambassador said. (CNews, September 30, 2003)

Judicial Watch called for George Herbert Bush to resign from the Carlyle Group, when it became known that Osama Bin Laden was a major investor in the firm. (Judicial Watch, March 5, 2001) After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman said, "This conflict of interest has now turned into a scandal. The idea of President George W Bush's father, an ex-president himself, doing business with a company under investigation by the FBI in the terror attacks of September 11 is horrible. President Bush should not ask, but demand, that his father pull out of the Carlyle Group." (Judicial Watch, September 28, 2001)

According to London'sThe Guardian, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf struck a deal with the Bush administration not to capture Bin Laden. Musharraf feared that the capture of Bin Laden would trigger incite civil unrest in Pakistan and trigger more Al Qaida attacks on Western targets across the world. (The Guardian, August 23, 2003)

According to Mansoor Ijaz, an American of Pakistan origin believed an agreement was reached between Musharraf and Bush White House authorities shortly after Bin Laden's flight from Tora Bora in Afghanistan in December 2001. (The Guardian, August 23, 2003 )

http://www.0nenation.com/external-webpages/angelfire-book7.htm


HOW OBVIOUS CAN THIS BE???

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catnhatnh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-07-06 12:07 PM
Response to Original message
1. I'm REAL interested in the 12th paragraph of the piece...
about Skyways Aircraft Leasing Ltd....Isn't this the outfit that showed up mysteriously a few months back with tons of cocaine on a DC9 and a phonied up government seal (Presidential looking with the motto "Protectors of the US Skyways"....Anyhow,supposedly they were unable to determine who owned the plane... There's a posting on it down in the forum that "Dare not speak it's name" (9/11 Forum)....I think I'll head down there and do a little reading,Hmmm....
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Imalittleteapot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-07-06 12:08 PM
Response to Original message
2. Haven't you learned?
No one, outside of this board, cares. But thanks for posting. I just emailed the info to some conservative friends asking them revisit "the connection".

They will reply something about Michael Moore propaganda or that Osama has been estranged from his family for years.

:kick:
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Parisle Donating Member (849 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-07-06 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
3. From the Original,...
---- I believe much of this information comes from the 1999 article entitled, "From Oil To Baseball To The Governor's Mansion," ... appearing in New Republic magazine,.... The Mafouz connection is especially important, as is the James Bath acquaintance from Bush's TANG days. This article, alone, contains enough information to sink Bush,... but not that many people have ever seen it.
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Bjorn Against Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-07-06 12:31 PM
Response to Original message
4. Thank you for posting this
Not enough people are aware of this connection, if it were Clinton who was connected to the bin Laden family you could guarantee every American would know.
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progressoid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-07-06 03:48 PM
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5. !
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GeorgeGist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-07-06 04:12 PM
Response to Original message
6. But Bush is losing...
which suggests that he and his neocon pals have been 'Straussed' by bin Laden.
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