WHO IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?
BUSH & BIN LADEN: ALL IN THE FAMILY
On Sept. 24, President Bush called a Rose Garden press conference to
announce a crackdown on terrorist financial networks and those who
support them. "US banks that have assets of these groups or
individuals must freeze their accounts," Bush declared. "And US
citizens or businesses are prohibited from doing business with them."
But Bush's own businesses were once tied to financial figures now
linked to bin Laden, Wayne Madsen reports in the Oct. 19 In These
Times.
In 1979, Bush's first business, Arbusto Energy, obtained financing
from family friend James Bath, who gave Bush $50,000 for a 5% stake in
Arbusto. Bath was then sole US business representative for Salem bin
Laden--brother (among 17) of Osama bin Laden. Writes Madsen: "It has
long been suspected, but never proven, that the Arbusto money came
directly from Salem bin Laden. In a statement issued shortly after the
Sept. 11 attacks, the White House vehemently denied the connection,
insisting that Bath invested his own money, not Salem bin Laden's...
"In conflicting statements, Bush at first denied ever knowing Bath,
then acknowledged his stake in Arbusto and that he was aware Bath
represented Saudi interests. In fact, Bath has extensive ties, both to
the bin Laden family and major players in the scandal-ridden Bank of
Commerce & Credit International (BCCI) who have gone on to fund Osama
bin Laden."
The Pakistan-based BCCI started out as the laundromat for Mujahedeen
heroin profits and was soon bloated with dollars from Manuel Noriega,
Ferdinand Marcos, the Medellin Cartel and just about every terrorist
group on the planet. Before imploding under the weight of multiple
labyrinthine financial schemes, BCCI ripped off depositors of $10
billion, in what former Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau called the
"largest bank fraud in world financial history."
Salem bin Laden died in 1988, but "powerful Saudi Arabian banker and
BCCI principal Khalid bin Mahfouz inherited his interests in
Houston. Bath ran a business for bin Mahfouz in Houston and joined a
partnership with bin Mahfouz and Gaith Pharaon, BCCI's frontman in
Houston's Main Bank."
Bush remained in the loop: "After several incarnations, Arbusto
emerged in 1986 as Harken Energy Corporation. When Harken ran into
trouble a year later, Saudi Sheik Abdullah Taha Bakhsh purchased a
17.6% stake in the company. Bakhsh was a business partner with Pharaon
in Saudi Arabia; his banker there just happened to be bin Mahfouz."
Madsen links bin Mahfouz to Osama's terrorist operations: "According
to USA Today, bin Mahfouz and other Saudis attempted to transfer $3
million to various bin Laden front operations in Saudi Arabia in
1999. ABC News reported the same year that Saudi officials stopped bin
Mahfouz from contributing money directly to bin Laden. (Bin Mahfouz's
sister is also a wife of Osama bin Laden, a fact that former CIA
Director James Woolsey revealed in 1998 Senate testimony.)"
Madsen concludes: "The ties between bin Laden and the White House may
be much closer than [Bush] is willing to acknowledge."
OSAMA'S FRIENDS HAVE FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES A powerful DC law firm
with close ties to the White House has earned hefty fees representing
suspect Saudi billionaires--as well as the Texas-based Islamic charity
fingered last week as a terrorist front. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer &
Feld has represented three wealthy Saudis--Khalid bin Mahfouz,
Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi and Salah Idris--who "have been scrutinized
by US authorities for possible involvement in financing Osama bin
Laden and his terrorist network," reported the Boston Herald
Dec. 11. The firm currently represents purported Hamas front Holy Land
Foundation for Relief and Development in a federal lawsuit filed by
the parents of a man allegedly murdered by Hamas operatives.
Akin, Gump maintains an affiliate office in the Saudi capital of
Riyadh, and is a registered foreign agent for the kingdom. It was paid
$77,328 in lobbying fees by the Saudis during the first six months of
2000, according to public records.
Akin, Gump also represented bin Mahfouz when he was indicted in the
BCCI scandal in the early 1990s. In 1999, the Saudis placed bin
Mahfouz under house arrest, claiming that the National Commercial Bank
he controlled funneled millions to charities serving as fronts for
Osama's terrorist operations.
Two of bin Mahfouz's pals were also represented by Akin,
Gump. Al-Amoudi went to the firm when his Capitol Trust Bank was
investigated for terrorist links by US authorities. When the US froze
the asstes of Idris--a banking protege of bin Mahfouz and the owner of
the Sudanese pharmaceutical plant destroyed by US missiles in August
1998--Akin, Gump filed suit to get the assets unfrozen. The federal
government released the money rather than go to court.
Reports the Herald: "Partners at Akin, Gump include one of President
Bush's closest Texas friends, James C. Langdon, and George R. Salem, a
Bush fund-raiser who chaired his 2000 campaign's outreach to
Arab-Americans. Another longtime partner is Barnett A. 'Sandy' Kress,
the former Dallas School Board president who Bush appointed in January
to work for the White House as an 'unpaid consultant' on education
reform." Salem led the legal team that worked for Idris.
