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ADNAN KHASHOGGI LINKED TO 911 TERRORISTS |
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PART 19: ROOTS -- AN
IRAN-CONTRA/AL QAEDA READER "the presence of Secord in Best's Azerbaijani oil venture ought to have raised blood red flags around the world..." edited by Alex Constantine ------------------------ "Aid for Terrorists" In spite of repeated attempts at unification, the Afghan rebel' groups are as divided as ever. Infighting was pushed to a new peak recently by Sayed Ahmad Gailand, the head of the "National Islamic front of Afghanistan." Gailani confirmed statements made by the Afghan government, when he told a press conference in London, England in early November 1981 that it is incomprehensible and unforgivable' that the West is aiding certain rebel groups who are terrorizing the Afghan population.' Gailani, who likes to style himself as a moderate and who is asking for Western aid himself, singled out Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Islamic Party which has shot villagers who had refused to pay them taxes, and sometimes burnt down villages which supported other resistence groups.' Kekmatyar received U.S. and Pakistani support as early as 1973 when Pakistan clandestinely trained some 5,000 Afghan "rebels" to destabilize the government of Muhammad Daoud. --------------------- "God Save the Shah: American Guns, Oil and Spies in Azerbaijan" by Mark Irkali, Tengiz Kodrarian and Cali Ruchala "GARY BEST HAS made it his business not to be found. A self-described electronics importer,' he has left a long trail of anecdote and innuendo of past misdeeds but few testifying witnesses. He was a marginal figure in one of the many subplots of the Iran-Contra Scandal, though how exactly he was related to the activities of Oliver North and his co- conspirators is unclear. His importing business was concentrated primarily in Southeast Asia, but somehow brought him into contact with the Afghan Mujahedin, Iran-Contra conspirator Richard Secord and legendary Air Force special operations commander Brigadier General Harry Heinie' Aderholt. His current mailing address, and his current profession, are unknown. "In 1985, Gary's business was headquartered in Marietta, Georgia. What exactly his company did, and how he spent his days, is a mystery. Bob Fletcher, another figure on the periphery of Iran-Contra, claims that in 1985, Gary Best became a partner in his toy company, which he and other Iran-Contra figures planned to use as a cover for illicit weapons transfers of the sort that made Ollie (and Secord) famous.... He allegedly made several visits to the USSR as well as to Mujahedin headquarters in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and former associates say that Best bragged about his friendship with sometime-Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who, like many former Mujahedin, is now a sworn enemy of the United States. At the time of writing, Hekmatyar had just been placed on a terrorist list by the State Department, and a staffer contacted at his movement's headquarters in Pakistan was understandably reluctant to discuss too many things with outsiders that spoke English. A week later, the staffer, who claimed to be Hekmatyar's son-in-law, told us that no one in the organization had ever heard of Gary Best.... "According to Andrew, Best has a warrant out for his arrest in the United States and is probably traveling under a false passport.... The "crowd" expanded in 1991 to include another ghost from America's past: prominent Iran-Contra co- conspirator Richard Secord. Whereas the partnership of Best and Aderholt could be written off as a curious pairing, the presence of Secord in Best's Azerbaijani oil venture ought to have raised blood red flags around the world. "Secord is a man that many people believe should have been in jail in 1991 - just two years after copping a plea to a count of lying to Congress (he was facing trial on eleven other felony charges). Instead, we are to believe that this former mastermind of arms shipments and shady deals with guerrillas and Ayatollahs was taken by the possibilities of dead oil wells in Azerbaijan. "Best, Aderholt and Secord, with their lack of background in public relations, might be forgiven for picking such an Orwellian name for their venture as "MEGA Oil." Assuming that Aderholt and Secord were, as they say they are, accidental patsies in Best's devious schemes, it's still difficult to believe the atrocious due diligence that two men with extensive backgrounds in intelligence executed. Conducting a post-mortem on MEGA Oil - noting its birthdate and vital statistics - is almost as difficult as tracking down Gary Best. "MEGA Oil's American partners wrote in press releases that the company was based in either Marietta or Atlanta, Georgia. A search of public records finds not one but two companies known as "MEGA Oil USA." One is called "MEGA Oil USA/Vista Joint Ventures," and was incorporated in 1985. "MEGA Oil USA" on the other hand wasn't incorporated until 1993. There is, moreover, a third MEGA Oil involved in the food processing business. None of these Georgia companies could be definitively traced to Best. "To make up for MEGA Oil's lack of experience in the industry, Best contracted a company which specialized in rehabilitating and servicing existing oil wells. Ponder Industries, registered in Delaware but conducting business in Alice, Texas, entered into partnership with MEGA Oil in Azerbaijan feeling like they had trumped an entire industry. Later, an Securities and Exchange Commission panel expressed astonishment that Ponder had done even less due diligence on MEGA than they would have with any Texas partner - almost as little as Aderholt and Secord. Gary Best, insiders say, led Ponder to believe that his connections with the Azeri government would take care of any problems. As a result, Ponder agreed to fund and staff the oil wells in Azerbaijan by themselves, as well as providing unspecified "operating costs" to MEGA. All MEGA had to do was bring them the contract with SOCAR, the Azeri state oil company. Best promptly faxed it over. It was written in Russian, and no one in Ponder's office could read it. Incredibly, they took Best's word that the fax was exactly what he said it was: a joint venture agreement between MEGA Oil and SOCAR to service the abandoned oil wells. "Ponder began flying their equipment and staff into Azerbaijan in late 1991 and January of 1992. The latter was the date when the conflict in Karabakh, which had hitherto been fought by guerrillas and militias, exploded into a full-scale war as Azeri soldiers pounded the Karabakh Armenians' "capital," Stepanakert, with thousands of rounds of artillery fire. It was intended to soften the Armenians' position, with thousands of fresh troops following the path of fire. "The hopes of the Azeris for a quick and decisive thrust into Karabakh were bolstered when their American friends offered to help train-and-equip their beleaguered armed forces, and even bring in some of their old special forces friends to lend a hand in drilling and structural reorganization. MEGA Oil, a company in Azerbaijan which was created in order to fund a farcical search for POWs in Vietnam, was now hiring mercenaries. http://www.diacritica.com/sobaka/2003/shah2.html ----------------------- Deterring Democracy excerpt, ... the CIA shifted its attention to the terrorist war against Nicaragua and the Afghan resistance against Soviet occupation. The complicity of the Reagan-Bush administrations in the drug rackets in Central America as part of their contra support operations is by now well known. Pakistan is reported to have become one of the major international centers of the heroin trade when Afghan manufacturers and dealers found their operations restricted after the Soviet invasion in 1979,' and moved the enterprise across the borders (South). "The U.S. government has for several years received, but declined to investigate, reports of heroin trafficking by some Afghan guerrillas and Pakistani military officers with whom it cooperates," the Washington Post reported well after the drug war was charging full steam head. U.S. officials have received first-hand accounts of extensive heroin smuggling by the leading Afghan recipients of U.S. aid and the Pakistani military establishment, who gave detailed information to the press in Pakistan and Washington. Nevertheless, according to U.S. officials, the United States has failed to investigate or take action against some [read any'] of those suspected.' U.S. favorite Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the terrorist leader of the fundamentalist Hizbe-Islami party, is reported to be deeply implicated in drug trafficking. Other reports indicate that the Aghan rebels are being debilitated by increasingly fierce local battles for the lucrative heroin trade.'" http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/dd/dd-c04-s04.html#FN22 --------------------------- "How to Unseat the War Criminals and Reverse the Tide of War?" Expose the Links between Al Qaeda and the Bush Administration by Michel Chossudovsky www.globalresearch.ca 15 March 2003 Colin Powell's Role: From Iran-Contra to September 11 "Both Colin Powell and his Deputy Richard Armitage, who casually accuse Baghdad and other foreign governments of "harboring" Al Qaeda, played a irect role, at different points in their careers, in supporting terrorist organizations. "Although Colin Powell was not directly involved in the arms' transfer negotiations, which had been entrusted to Oliver North, he was among at least five men within the Pentagon who knew arms were being transferred to the CIA.' (The Record, 29 December 1986). Lieutenant General Powell was directly instrumental in giving the green light' to lower-level Irangate officials in blatant violation of Congressional procedures. According to the New York Times, Colin Powell took the decision (at the level of military procurement), to allow the delivery of weapons to Iran: "Hurriedly, one of the men closest to Secretary of Defense Weinberger, Maj. Gen. Colin Powell, bypassed the written "focal point system" procedures and ordered the Defense Logistics Agency [responsible for procurement] to turn over the first of 2,008 TOW missiles to the C.I.A., which acted as cutout for delivery to Iran" (New York Times, 16 February 1987) ... Richard Armitage "CIA Director William Casey with the collaboration of Richard Armitage in the Pentagon ran the Mujahideen covert war against the Soviet Union' (quoted in Domestic Terrorism: The Big Lie The "War") "Contragate was also an off-the-shelf drug-financed operation run by Casey." (Ibid ). Financing the Islamic Brigades "The Iran Contra procedure was similar to that used in Afghanistan, where secret aid was channeled to the militant Islamic brigade (US News and World Report, 15 December 1986). In fact part of the proceeds of the weapons sales to Iran had been channeled to finance the Mujahideen. "The Washington Post reported that profits from the Iran arms sales were deposited in one CIA-managed account into which the U.S. and Saudi Arabia had placed $250 million apiece. That money was disbursed not only to the contras in Central America but to the rebels fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan." (U.S. News & World Report, 15 December 1986) http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO303D.html PART 19 (A): ROOTS -- AN IRAN-CONTRA/AL QAEDA READER The Origins of the bin Laden Family; Salem bin Laden and Iran/Contra-October Surprise http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/family.html FRONTLINE TRANSCRIPT - WGBH Excerpted from a report dealing with prominent Saudi families of Yemeni origin. Although FRONTLINE cannot vouch for the accuracy of this report, it does come from French intelligence sources. Today one of the biggest construction groups in the kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] and the Middle East, the "bin Laden empire" traces its origins to Sheik Mohammed bin Laden, a native of the Chafeite (Sunni) Hadramout who emigrated [from South Yemen] to Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the century. The beginnings of his activity are shrouded in mystery. It is said that, having satisfied King Abdul Aziz with construction work on the royal palace, Mohammed bin Laden was awarded a much more prestigious contract: the renovation of Mecca. Whatever the actual circumstances, it is a fact that the Saudi royal family gave the bin Laden family--and group-- exclusive rights to all construction of a religious nature, whether in Mecca, Medina or--until 1967--the Holy Places in Jerusalem. This enabled the bin Ladens to establish an industrial and financial empire which now extends far beyond religious construction projects. The relationship between the bin Ladens and the Saudi royal family is quite exceptional in that it not simply one of business ties: it is also a relationship of trust, of friendship and of shared secrets. This is particularly the case with regard to the group's present-day leaders and the Soudairi clan. Thanks to the renovation of Mecca, Sheik Mohammed bin Laden did not become merely Kin Abdul Aziz' official contractor, but his friend and confidant as well. This friendship has been handed down to their children. The bin Laden sons went to the same schools as the numerous offspring of King Abdul Aziz and they all followed the same path. One of the connections which still explains many of the personal ties existing throughout the Middle East is the Victoria College in Alexandria, where the bin Laden boys attended classes along with schoolmates such as King Hussein of Jordan, Zaid Al Rifai, the Kashoggi brothers (whose father was one of the king's physicians), Kamal Adham (who ran the Saudi [security] services under King Faisal), present-day contractors Mohammed Al Attas, Fahd Shobokshi and Ghassan Sakr and actor Omar Sharif. The relationship of trust between the royal family and the bin Laden group has never been repudiated, although it is known to have undergone some serious crises. The most important was doubtless the 1979 Mecca affair. Because the bin Laden company had the exclusive contract for repairs in the Holy Places, its trucks entered and left Mecca at all ours without being inspected. And the rebels used "bin Laden" trucks to get weapons into the city. One of the bin Laden sons, Mahrous, was actually arrested on account of his ties with the Islamists, but was later freed. He is currently manager of the group's Medina branch. The reason is as follows: after studies in England, where he had kept company with Fadli (son of the ex-sultan of the Abdin region in South Yemen, now leader of a Yemeni fundamentalist group and arrested in Aden last January), Mahrous struck up friendships with a group of Syrian Moslem Brothers in exile in Saudi Arabia. Subsequent Saudi intelligence investigations showed that these Moslem Brothers had taken advantage of Mahrous to use bin Laden trucks without his knowledge. There was a touch of irony to the episode: when the insurrection broke out, the Saudi security services had to go for help to the bin Ladens, the sole parties in possession of maps of Mecca enabling the Saudi (and Western) police to find their way through the city's underground passageways. In any case, the episode also demonstrated the strength of the ties between the royal family and the bin Laden Group. Had it been some other group, there is no doubt that Mahrous--whether accomplice or patsy--would have been thrown into prison and the group barred from further economic activity in the kingdom, the sentence serving as a warning to others. This was not the case. Likewise, the Saudi authorities' decision to issue an arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden on 16 May 1993 does not threaten to affect the relationship between the bin Ladens and the royal family. Osama, one of Mohammed's youngest son, has been known for years for his fundamentalist activities. ...The arrest warrant was issued both because of his support for fundamentalist groups involved in terrorist operations in Algeria and Egypt and his ties with upstart religious circles that tried to establish an independent human rights organization in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of May. Contrary to appearances, both the Osama and the Mahrous incidents testify to the bin Laden's influence within the kingdom. The ties of friendship binding bin Laden family members to King Fahd and his brothers make them prime confidantes and advisors. They play an obvious advisory role in Saudi-Yemeni relations. Still, they hold very few economic or financial interests in their ancestral homeland and certainly do not flaunt their family origins. King Fahd's two closest friends were: Prince Mohammed Ben Abdullah (son of Abdul Aziz' youngest brother), who died in the early '80s and whose brother, Khaled Ben Abdullah (an associate of Suleiman Olayan), still has free access to the king; and Salem bin Laden, who died in 1988. Like his father in 1968, Salem died in a 1988 air crash...in Texas. He was flying a BAC 1-11 which had been bought in July 1977 by Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd. The plane's flight plans had long been at the center of a number of investigations. According to one of the plane's American pilots, it had been used in October 1980 during secret Paris meetings between US and Iranian emissaries. Nothing was ever proven, but Salem bin Laden's accidental death revived some speculation that he might have been "eliminated" as an embarrassing witness. In fact, an inquiry was held to determine the exact circumstances of the accident. The conclusions were never divulged. FRONTLINE Editors' Note: The above paragraph is inaccurate. Salem bin Laden was piloting a light aircraft, not a BAC 1-11, when he crashed. As for "secret Paris meetings between US and Iranian emissaries" in October 1980, such meetings have never been confirmed. In spite of Salem's death, the bin Ladens are still part of the small group of friends surrounding the king which includes, in particular, Prince Khaled Turki Al Soudairi (married to one of Fahd's sisters), Prince Faisal Ben Turki Al Abdullah (married to another sister and father of Prince Abdullah Ben Faisal, head of the Royal Jubail Commission) and the family of Moona (Fahd's wife), the Ibrahims. As trusted servants of the royal family, the bin Ladens have also often acted as chaperones to the king's sons, helping them get their start in business. This was the case with both Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd and Prince Daud Ben Nayef, two of the most active second-generation princes and both at the head of financial empires during the '80s. Both princes were often encountered along with one or another of the bin Laden sons at the head of international companies. Appointed governor of the Eastern Province in the mid-'80s, Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd resigned from the chairmanships of his companies, putting Prince Saud in his place. The latter, named vice-governor of the Eastern Province last June, has also since withdrawn from a number of business activities. There was also a political aspect to Salem bin Laden's financial activities. Like Ali Ben Moussalem, Salem bin Laden layed a role in the US operations in the Middle East and Central America during the '80s. On his death in 1968, Sheik Mohammed left behind not only an industrial and financial estate but also a progeny made up of no less than 54 sons and daughters, the fruit of a number of marriages. The lastborn came into the world in 1967 and is presently a student in Boston. In an initial phase, the group was headed by Mohammed Bahareth, brother of Mohammed's first wife and uncle of his oldest children. As of 1972, Sheik Salem bin Laden, the eldest son, took over as his father's successor, with the assistance of several brothers. Upon Sheik Salem's death, the leadership of the group passed to his eldest son, Bakr, along with thirteen other brothers who make up the board of the bin Laden group. The most important of these are Hassan,Yeslam and Yehia. Most of these brothers have different mothers and different nationalities as well. Each has his own set of affinities, thus contributing to the group's international scope. Bakr and Yehia are seen as representatives of the "Syrian group"; Yeslam, of the "Lebanese group". There is also a "Jordanian group." Abdul Aziz, one of the youngest brothers, represents the "Egyptian group" and is also manager of the bin Laden group's Egyptian branch, which employs over 40,000 people. Osama bin Laden is, incidentally, the only brother with a Saudi mother. Given the size of the family and the financial empire, the bin Ladens have obviously not managed to escape internal conflict. One of the most significant clashes involved Ali bin Laden, Salem's youngest son and Bakkr's older brother. Ali currently lives between Beirut, Damascus and Paris. Some have said that the break took place over religious reasons. In fact, our information tells us that Ali bin Laden felt smothered under the weight of the bin Laden empire and chose freedom. This distancing has been accompanied by financial disputes, as the other brothers are in no mood to share the group's dividends with Ali and turn a deaf ear to his repeated demands for remittances. This said, relations between Ali and his brothers had thawed during recent years. His son Mohammed, now completing his studies in Paris, is set to take on important duties within the group at the appropriate moment. It should be noted that he is currently in discussions with French weapons manufacturers and is strengthening his ties with the Saudi Defense Ministry. In turn, Mahrous bin Laden is still a member of the group's board of directors. His mistakes during the '70s are still a sticking point, however, and he is primarily involved in the organization's Medina branch without engaging in activity at the central level...a way of getting himself forgotten. Yeslam bin Laden chose the same path as his brother Ali, but without a family break. Very early on, and in consultation with Bakr and Hassan, he decided to move to Europe, where he heads up a portion of the group's international activities. He divides his time between Geneva and Paris. This choice also stems from his marriage with a woman of princely (but Iranian) family, Mirdoht-Sheybani. He is one of the most "Westernized" of the bin Laden brothers, and we are told that his household language is French. It was only in 1972, four years after the death of Sheik Mohammed, that the [bin Laden] organization was given a group structure in order meet the needs of its expanding activities. Named Binladen Brothers for Contracting and Industry, the group is headquartered in Jiddahh. With 1991 sales of SR 125 billion, the group is ranked 32 in Saudi Arabia. After winning its spurs in the rebuilding of Mecca, the group extended its activities to the broad area of construction and infrastructural works, the Mecca-Medina highway, tens of thousands of housing units, etc., It also entered into agriculture, irrigation and representation of foreign groups (Audi, Porsche and the Dutch Heras Hekwerk group, which it represents for fencing and steel distribution). At the beginning of the `80s, it associated with Hunting Surveys Ltd (UK) for prefab construction and with the Dutch Pander Projects group for distribution of luxury products. The group is extremely discreet with regard to its financial activities, contracts and projects. On the one hand, the group is a family business and does not have to account to anyone; on the other, its ties with the royal family increase its aura of mystery. Its main contracts are not decided at the industrial or economic level, are not run through the Saudi bureaucracy, but instead emanate directly from discussions held with the seraglio of power. A discrete link thus exists between the bin Laden group, the royal family and the Chamberlain, Ali Ben Mousalem, a link about no one wishes to speak. There have been many instances of companies which have seen their contracts withdrawn after having made their association with the bin Laden group the object of publicity judged inappropriate by the group. This concern for avoiding any and all publicity is also emphasized by the fact that, in contrast to the majority of Saudi companies, the bin Laden group rarely if ever buys advertising space in industry publications. Rarely, then, does one know in advance just what the next bin Laden project will be: generally, the information is there when it is all over. A number of significant projects have been noted in Saudi Arabia itself during recent years:
Several other major projects in Saudi Arabia have been noted recently:
The bin Laden group is represented in most Saudi cities (Riyadh, Damman) and in a number of capital cities in the region: Beirut, Cairo, Amman, Dubai.
The bin Laden family has been present in international finance for many years. With regard to France, this was the case with the Banque Al Saoudi, whose vicissitudes in recent years are common knowledge. Shored up by Banque de France in 1989 to avoid bankruptcy, it was partially taken over by Banque Indosuez, becoming Banque Francaise pour l'Orient, which has just merged with Rafik Hariri's Mediterranee group. It is interesting to note that the bank's honorary chairman was none other than Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd, and its board of directors included Sheik Salem bin Laden, Sheik Bogshan and Khalid Ben Mahfouz. Banque Al Saoudi and Indosuez' special connections in the Middle East were instrumental in financing a portion of the weapons contracts of the `70s and `80s. Banque Al Saoudi was 75%-owned by the Paris-based Saudi Arab Finance Corporation, which also controlled a number of other companies: 75% of Saudi Finance Corporation (Saudifin), headquartered in Geneva and in turn controlling the Saudi Arab Finance Corporation and the Arab Finance Corporation International, both in Luxembourg. Generally speaking, the same set of shareholders was involved: Salem bin Laden, Khalid Ben Mahfouz, Salam Ahmed Bogshan, Saad Khalil Al Bahjat, Taha Baksh, etc. In London, the bin Laden group also controls the Abdoulla brothers' Evered Holdings. Since 1980, the bulk of the bin Laden group's international activities are routed through the Geneva offices of Saudi Investment Company (SICO), which was established on 19 May 1980 and whose capital was increased to SF100 million on 30 April 1991. Located at 13 rue Ceard, the company is chaired by Yeslam bin Laden. Board members are Beatrice Dufour, Baudoin Dunant and Tilouine el Hanafi. Beatrice Lafour is Yeslam bin Laden's sister-in-law. She is of Iranian origin and is married to a Swiss financier. Baudoin Dunant, one of French-speaking Switzerland's leading lawyers, is on the boards of over twenty companies in Geneva, Fribourg, Morges, Nyons, etc. He received international publicity in 1983, when he represented Swiss banker Francois Genoud. Genoud, an admirer of Hitler and heir to the rights to Geobbels' writings, had helped finance the FLN during the Algerian Ward and was on trial for participation in international terrorism. This unseemly publicity did nothing to shake the confidence of Yeslam bin Laden, doubtless an indication that the lawyer is top-notch in his profession (he is also counsel to the financial group of William Kazan , who is currently liquidating a major portion of his banking investments). During the `80s, the board of directors also included members of the Swiss Wyss family, a branch of which controls the Holderbank Company, which has just signed a $100 million contract with Qatar National Cement. Also on the board were members of the Shakarshi family, whose name is linked to a money-laundering scandal and drug trafficking in Zurich. A Shakarshi family member was also a director of the SICO London branch. As a result of these scandals and bent on avoiding any publicity, the bin Ladens decided that it was necessary to break publicly with the Shakarshis. In actual fact, the Shakarshis were never overly troubled and it appears that the Zurich company was just another CIA front used to finance the Afghan resistance. The tie between Yeslam bin Laden and the Shakarshi family would thus seem quite consistent with both family and royal policy. Our information tells us that Yeslam bin Laden continues to maintain relations as usual with the Shakarshi group. One might also note that the chairman of board of the Zurich Shakarshi company was Dr. Hans Kopp. Kopp is an important lawyer (his wife was then Justice Minister, since resigned) known for his international activities, articularly with the American [intelligence?] services (since the `60s), and is close to the Swiss defense industry (Oerlikon- Buhrle/Contraves). The Geneva-based SICO is the parent house for the Group's international financial activities and investments, with branches in London and Curacao. The Curacao branch, established in 1984, manages the bin Laden group's partnership with the American Daniels Realty Corporation (Duspic), part of the Fluor Corporation conglomerate. It is partly through the bin Ladens' influence that the Fluor group was one of the major recipients of reconstruction contracts in Kuwait. Despite a few recent attempts (particularly with the Swiss Contraves group), the bin Laden family has never been directly involved in weapons contracts and has never been bent on adding this activity to its portfolio. At most, it might be said that the activities of Salem bin Laden in the context of Irangate and Contragate, or of Yeslam bin Laden within his association with the Shakarshi family, have placed the family at the center of these negotiations, but solely as a guarantor or as a representative of the interests of the royal family. The real contracts have been signed directly by members of the royal family: Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd or Prince Saud Ben Nayef. The bin Laden family (and Yeslam bin Laden in particular) have thus had long-standing and close ties to the London/Geneva-based Albilad company, created in the `70s by Mohammed Ben Fahd and taken over by Saud Ben Nayef in 1984. Albilad was the main instrument for negotiation of the Anglo-Saudi Al Yamama agreement. Saudi interests were represented by businessman Wafik Said, while the British side was represented by Jonathan Aitken, currently a minister in the Major government. It might be noted that a major player in these negotiations was none other than Mark Thatcher, son of the former Prime Minister and very close to Wafik Said. Nonetheless, while the bin Laden group does not deal directly in armaments, it is an obvious presence in the big military- related construction contracts. We have mentioned a few of these above. At present, its most important contract is for the Riyadh Airport, through the intermediary of the Al Salam Aircraft company, in the framework of the compensation contracts stipulated by the Peace Shield agreement. new content copyright © 2001 pbs online and wgbh/frontline Part 19 (B): ROOTS -- AN IRAN-CONTRA/AL QAEDA READER Edited by Alex Constantine ---------------- Dick Cheney, Vice President: Cheney said today that he would advise President Bush not to turn over to Congress the August intelligence briefing that warned that terrorists were interested in hijacking airplanes, and he insisted that the investigation into Sept. 11 should be handled by the Congressional intelligence committees, not an independent commission. In appearances on several television news programs, Mr. Cheney said "it would be a mistake" to give broad Congressional access to the Aug. 6 memorandum to the president, which ignited a political uproar over whether the nation could have anticipated the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (Alison Mitchell , "Cheney Moves to Block 9-11 Probe") http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.21A.Cheney.Block.911.p.htm ----------------- Thomas Kean, 911 Commission Chairman: Not mentioned on Kean's official Commission biography was his role as director of Amerada Hess Corporation, which in 1998 formed joint venture Delta-Hess, with Delta Oil, in part owned by Khalid bin Mahfouz. Mahfouz inherited a controlling interest in the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, the country's largest bank, and was a director with 20% interest in BCCI, the now defunct financial conglomerate involved in money laundering, bribery, support of terrorism, arms trafficking and other crimes. Mahfouz paid $225 million to escape prosecution for his role in the BCCI scandal. Mahfouz also inherited the assets of the Saudi bin Laden group when Salem bin Laden died in a 1988 plane crash. These included an interest in Arbusto Energy, a Houston, Texas oil company founded by George W. Bush. Bin Mahfouz's interests were managed in part by James R. Bath, a close friend of Bush, who served in the Texas ANG with him. Bath's name was inexplicably redacted in Bush's Air National Guard military medical reports. (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/K/Khalid-bin-Mahfuz.htm). ------------------ Osama bin Laden: The emergence of William Casey and his 'off-the-shelf' (meaning unaccountable and invisible) covert operations as Director of the CIA led from the arming of the fundamentalist Islamic mujehaddin to the intricacies of Contragate. This covert funding included profits from the sale of opium and illicit drugs, and half was funneled through BCCI at the behest of the Saudi Arabian government, working closely with the American CIA that used a proxy to cover its involvement, Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence agency, or ISI. These funds went to a drug dealer named Hekmyatar and to his protégé, Osama bin Laden. CIA funding is reported to have stopped when the USSR withdrew, and the Taliban came to power. However, the US continued to fund the Taliban as well, giving them $43 million in 2001 to stop growing opium. ISI funding to Mohammed Atta, allegedly linked to bin Laden continued as late as August, 2001 http://www.williambowles.info/911/911_critique.html --------------- Lee Hamilton, 911 Commission Vice Chairman: Lee H. Hamilton brings to the
commission the "damage control" procedures
followed during the Iran Contra investigation, which broadly served to
uphold the practices of US foreign policy. http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2003/12/96732.php Chairman of the House select committee investigating the Iran-contra affair, was shown ample evidence against Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, but he did not probe their wrongdoing (See Khashoggi, Part XVIII) http://www.oldamericancentury.org/911_intel_commission.htm ---------------- 911 Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste: According to Dan Hopsicker, author of "Barry and the Boys: The CIA, the Mob and America's Secret History", Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste "has made a career of defending political crooks, specializing in cases that involve drugs and politics." Ben-Veniste was the attorney for CIA narco-trafficker Barry Seal. http://www.williambowles.info/911/911_coverup.html Works at the international law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, is a former New York prosecutor and was chief of the Watergate Task Force of the Watergate Special Prosecutor's Office (1973-75). Watergate was another massive scandal that was never fully investigated or revealed. He was also chief counsel of the Senate Whitewater Committee, and served as attorney for CIA-linked and drug smuggler and pilot Barry Seal. (The Washington Monthly – 06/09/97) http://www.williambowles.info/911/911_critique.html ---------------- Colin Powell, Secretary of State: Both Colin Powell and his Deputy Richard Armitage, who casually accuse Baghdad and other foreign governments of "harboring" Al Qaeda, played a direct role, at different points in their careers, in supporting terrorist organizations. Both men were implicated --operating behind the scenes-- in the Irangate Contra scandal during the Reagan Administration, which involved the illegal sale of weapons to Iran to finance the Nicaraguan Contra paramilitary army. (Michel Chossudovsky, "Colin Powell's Role: From Iran-Contra to September 11") http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO303D.html [Colonel Oliver] North set up a team including [Richard] Secord; Noel Koch [Armitage's deputy] , then assistant secretary at the Pentagon responsible for special operations; George Cave, a former CIA station chief in Tehran, and Colin Powell, military assistant to U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger... (The Guardian, December 10, 1986) Colin Powell [was] was among "at least five men within the Pentagon who knew arms were being transferred to the CIA." (The Record, 29 December 1986). Lieutenant General Powell was directly instrumental in giving the "green light" to lower-level Irangate officials in blatant violation of Congressional procedures. According to the New York Times, Colin Powell took the decision (at the level of military procurement), to allow the delivery of weapons to Iran: Hurriedly, one of the men closest to Secretary of Defense Weinberger, Maj. Gen. Colin Powell, bypassed the written "focal point system" procedures and ordered the Defense Logistics Agency [responsible for procurement] to turn over the first of 2,008 TOW missiles to the C.I.A., which acted as cutout for delivery to Iran" (New York Times, 6 February 1987) http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO303D.html -------------------- Powell, Poindexter, Reich, Negroponte, Armitage, Abrams, Secord, Tripp, etc.: The Contragate team that was only partially exposed by the Congressional investigations continued to operate in the deeper politics that combine drugs, oil and war. Linda Tripp, whose taping of Monica Lewinsky was eportedly inspired by Lucianne Goldberg, was in Army intelligence, held a GS-16 federal job rating, and transferred into the White House from her job with President Bush, Sr. He had of course presided over the White House operations with Ronald Reagan at the time of the Contragate operations, and was involved in them. Linda Tripp at the time was a personal secretary to Richard Secord of the Army's secret Delta Force team, and a partner in Oliver North's company that assisted in illegally passing funds through to the Nicaraguan rebels against yet another socialist government. Another covert operation run by William Casey at the CIA. It is in this deeper context that others responsible for the Iran-Contra secret and illegal shipments of missiles, guns and drugs came back into the new Bush White House in the months prior to 9/11. They include Powell, Poindexter, Reich, Negroponte, Armitage, Abrams, among others. (See Drugs, Oil and War, Peter Dale Scott) http://www.williambowles.info/911/911_critique.html ---------------- Henry Kissinger, Bush's First Choice for Chairman of the 911 Commission: At one point Kissinger & Associates members were considering a merger with the infamous Bank for Credit & Commerce International (BCCI), which was deeply involved in the covert funding of both the Afghan resistance and Contragate (Congressional Report, December 1992, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Kerry-Brown). http://www.williambowles.info/911/911_critique.html ------------------ John Poindexter & Syntek: Poindexter was recruited by Syntek Technologies, a firm in bed with DARPA. His hand was back in the hi-tech cookie jar. As a company vice-president, Poindexter helped develop Genoa -- an "intelligence mining, information harvesting" system designed to explore (clandestinely) large computer databases. Listen in on America's electronic conversations, that is. Poindexter is, once again, one of the most powerful men in America. His job description is "crisis manager". http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/NoMoreMrSguy.html Part 19 (C): ROOTS -- AN IRAN-CONTRA/AL QAEDA READER edited by Alex Constantine "US alleges Pan Am 103 bombed by Gaddafi in retaliation. Bankrupt Pan Am said Bush White House's Iran-Contra CIA drug dealers did it to murder Pentagon cops " -------------- Ahmed Chalabi, Janos Kadar of Iraq: Chalabi, a non-practicing Shia and reportedly a close friend of the late Shah of Iran, the former Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan and Col. Oliver North of the Reagan Administration, whose name came to prominence in the 1980s during the exposure of the Iran-Contra scandal, is the head of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), which is a member of the anti- addam Hussein coalition clubbed together and funded by the CIA and the MI-6 and used by the Pentagon as its cat's paw in an attempt to cover its invasion with the fig leaf of Iraqi support. In August,1989, Chalabi fell foul of the late King Hussein of Jordan, who had him sacked after the bank had incurred huge liabilities and was on the verge of collapse. This, however, did not affect his personal friendship with Prince Hassan, who allegedly helped him to escape from Jordan before the Police, on the orders of King Hussein, could arrest him for investigation into the alleged mismanagement of the affairs of the bank. It was alleged that during his association with the bank he had embezzled nearly US $ 70 million and spirited it away in secret Swiss bank accounts According to sources close to Chalabi, part of the money was also allegedly used to fund Col. Oliver North's travels abroad in connection with the Iran-Contra operation. http://www.saag.org/papers7/paper659.html ----------------- George H.W. Bush: Details of George Bush's five arrests, including stripped of his TxANG flying license for desertion from Nam; Dick Cheney's 2 arrests; Bush Jr's First Lady's DWI homicide; Bush Sr's DWI arrest as Veep with mistress as told by First Lady Nancy Reagan; Bush Girls Gone Wild; Noelle Bush's narcotics arrest Invisible, hijacked, Mob-infested, Republican-infiltrated Knoxville Green Party - this website is censored and banned by the Knoxville Green Part. KGP does NOT allow its members to run for political office. Details of Ralph Nader's Y2K lawsuit to police and his lawsuit against the Bush Sr. White House for murder of journalists and narcoterrorism during Iran-Contra. Knoxville, Tennessee home of the Mafia-connect world-wide cartel for nuclear waste, garbage-trucking, tow-trucking; the only city in world history to nuke another city; where our nuke-bomb factory INTENTIONALLY releases radiation to experiment on damage to local residents (link to 1994 White House report); ranked in 2001 as having the worst air pollution is USA by EPA; and where Mohammed Atta, an alleged terrorist on 911 and Saudi pilot trained by the US Navy flight school, allegedly took additional flying lessons in Knoxville to inquire about local nuke plants http://www.geocities.com/september911surprise/september911surprise.html Untold story of US Special Forces rescuing Gaddafi before USAF bombed his home in alleged assassination attempt, as told by Pentagon Chief of Public Affairs and editor of Al Gore's Carthage, TN Courrier. US alleges Pan Am 103 bombed by Gaddafi in retaliation. Bankrupt Pan Am said Bush White House's Iran-Contra CIA drug dealers did it to murder Pentagon cops... http://www.geocities.com/pentagon_whistleblower/ -------------- Shiekhs Mahfouz, Hammoud & Adham: During the 1980ís, Sheikh Adham and his successor as Saudi Intelligence Director, Abdul Khalil, secretly acted as BCCI nominees in a hostile take-over of Washington D.C.ís largest bank, Financial General Bankshares, that soon became First American Bankshares. First American was, in fact, a [BCCI] front for Mahfouz that was set up in the U.S. with the pivotal assistance of billionaire Jackson Stephens, a lavish financial backer of many political campaigns for both Bush presidents. Another principle shareholder of 25 million dollars in First American was arms merchant, Mohammed Hammoud, a long-time friend and business associate of Bahrain's Ambassador Hostler. And according to the Kerry Committee report, five Iran-contra related wire transfers were made out of North/Secord accounts at First American in the amount of $346,000.00. http://www.whale.to/b/rivers.html Kamel Adham, Saudi Intelligence director, 1963-79: One of Kamel Adham's close contacts, Adnan Khashoggi, is among the richest men in the world, who is a life-long friend of the bin Laden family and was the arms merchant at the center of the whole Iran-Contra scandal. In 1985, Sheikh Mahfouz's Saudi National Commercial Bank loaned Khashoggi 35 million dollars to purchase weapons to illegally sell to Iran, at the behest of Oliver North http://www.whale.to/b/rivers.html ------------ Adnan Khashoggi, w/Links to 911 Terrorists: A major investor in BCCI and a key player in the Iran-Contra affair. [Slate, 12/4/00, Slate, 11/14/01, Slate, 3/12/03] http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&theme=incompetence A long-time friend of George W. Bush, [James R.] Bath was connected to a number of covert financing operations in the Iran-Contra scandal, which also linked to bin Laden friend Adnan Khashoggi. Khashoggi, whose connections to the bin Ladens is more than superficial, got his first business break by acting as middle-man for a large truck purchase by Osama bin Laden's older brother, Salem. [See, Khashoggi XIX Appendix] http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/5/277.html? 1089859823 --------------- Caspar Weinberger, Forbes CEO: Osama bin Laden's attacks on the WTC and Pentagon, with the resulting massive increase in the U.S. defense budget, have just made his family a great big pile of money. More Bush connections appear in relation to the bin Ladens. The WSJ story also notes that, "During the past several years, the [bin Laden] family's close ties to the Saudi royal family prompted executives and staff from closely held New York publisher Forbes, Inc. to make two trips to the family headquarters, according to Forbes Chairman Caspar Weinberger, a former U.S. Secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration. 'We would call on them to get their view of the country and what would be of interest to investors.'" President G.H.W. Bush pardoned Weinberger for his criminal conduct in the Iran-Contra scandal in 1989 http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/5/277.html?1089859823 --------------- Porter Goss, Current CIA Director: Daniel Hopsicker: "In the early 1960s there was a CIA assassination squad called 'Operation 40,' commanded by E. Howard Hunt (of Watergate fame) operating under the supervision of Vice President Nixon. A photo of several members of the group was found in the safe of [CIA cocaine smuggler] Barry Seal after the Justice (sic) Department arranged his murder. In the photo, seated between Seal and Cuban terrorist/Iran-Contra alum Felix Rodriguez, across the table from Watergate burglar Frank Sturgis and Kennedy assassination suspect William Seymour, and together with Iran-Contra member Luis Carriles Posada and 'Blonde Ghost' Ted Shackley, is Porter Goss!" ------------------- James R. Bath, Bush-Saudi Middleman: During his Arbusto period, in 1979, James Bath purchased a Houston mansion for Mahfouz at 4.3 million dollars, with the payment made through none other than James Baker III's law firm, Bakers and Botts. In 1990, during his Harken period, Bath obtained a 1.4 million dollar loan from Mahfouz. Bath was also the sole director for Mahfouz's Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd, which did a brisk business with Saudi Sheikhs and began in the Grand Cayman Islands in 1980 as a company briefly called Cotopax Investments. It should be noted that several unusual business behaviors of Mahfouz's Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd. demonstrated a pattern reminiscent of money laundering. First, within a month of its incorporation, the temporary board at Cotopax named Bush's friend James Bath as company president, changed the company name to Skyways and then resigned en mass, leaving Bath as a sole director. Second, the Cayman Islands are an effective tax-shelter and haven for banking secrets. Third, one of the original subscribers to Cotopax, a company called Cayhaven Corporate Services, Ltd., was also a subscriber to IC, Inc. In reality, IC Inc. was the same entity as ICIC, which is the International Credit and Investment Corporation of Grand Caymans, termed BCCI's "bank-within-a- bank" in the Kerry Committee report. Curiously, Mahfouz's "IC Inc.," the company related to George W. Bush's friend James Bath, was found by investigators to be at the very center of a chart drawn by Oliver North, in North's own White House safe, that showed the private banking network supporting the Iran-Contra operation http://www.whale.to/b/rivers.html -------------- Frank Carlucci, Carlyle Group: The warnings about the Carlyle Group, the nation's 11th largest defense contractor, and the Bushes came long before the World Trade Center attacks. The Carlyle Group is a closely held corporation, exempt, for that reason, from reporting its affairs to the Securities and Exchange Commission. As of October 4, 2001, it has removed its corporate web site from the World Wide Web making further investigation through that channel impossible. Its Directors include Frank Carlucci, former Reagan Secretary of Defense; James Baker, former Bush Secretary of State; and Richard Darman, a former White House aide to Ronald Reagan and Republican Party operative. http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/5/277.html?1089859823 Armitage received Pakistan's highest award available to a civilian by virtue of his assistance to the mujahideen in Afghanistan during the 1980s, in part, by supplying the fighters with shoulder-launched Stinger missles, that have not yet been recovered by the U.S.. Currently, Carlyle's Frank Carlucci and the re-emerged Richard Armitage, are board members of the influential Washington think tank, the Middle East Policy Council. http://www.whale.to/b/rivers.html ------------------- The Sultan of Brunei (and Elliot Abrams, current National Security Council special assistant for democracy, human rights and international operations): Another Iran-Contra conspirator is Elliot Abrams. As the Assistant Secretary of State during the Reagan-Bush administration, Abrams was charged with contempt of Congress by Iran-contra Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh after evading questions about Oliver North's secret mission to extract 10 million dollars from the Sultan of Brunei and about the Contra supply plane shot down. Abrams gave the Sultan of Brunei the number of the bank account owned by InterMaritime Bank president, Bruce Rappaport, a golfing friend of then CIA director, William Casey. General Secord was the subsequent recipient of the $10 million cash, which was used for distribution to the contras. Elliot Abrams, the current National Security Advisor, earlier had pleaded guilty for withholding information from Congress and was pardoned by the former President Bush in 1992. http://www.whale.to/b/rivers.html -------------------- BCCI & The Bush-Bin Laden Cartel BCCI funded Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistanâs fight against the Soviet Union, and helped fund operations in the Iran- contra, guns for drugs affair which also tied in with Central America during the elder Bush's Vice Presidency. 1981-1989 Bush Sr. was US Vice President. In 1986 G.W. Bush, son of then Vice president G.H.W. Bush, merged his Arbusto Energy company with Harken Energy Corp. Saudi Sheik Abdullah Taha Bakhsh then bought into the company, buying 17.6%. The Saudi Sheik was associated with Khalid bin Mahfouz, who inherited Salim Bin Ladin's interest when he died in 1988. From several different angles, the Bush family was tied to the Bin Laden family, passing finances back and forth, making G.W. Bush an indirect financier of Osama Bin Ladin. Mahfouz reportedly attempted in 1999 to transfer $3 million to Osama http://www.rense.com/general30/cart.htm Part 19 (D): ROOTS -- AN IRAN-CONTRA/AL QAEDA READER Edited by Alex Constantine -------------------- John Singlaub, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, William Casey, King Fahd: "Many of those involved in the Reagan Administration's war against Nicaragua shared a common desire to consolidate support for right-wing guerillas.... "Gen. John Singlaub set up committees within the World Anti-Communist League for eight different guerilla groups.... Singlaub also drafted a memo outlining a contra international of sorts with its own arms company, financed by a series of technology transfers among Israel, South Africa and China. Once this flow of technology was in place, they wrote, 'The United States then has at its disposal a large and continuous supply of Soviet technology and weapons to channel to Freedom Fighters worldwide.' ... [The Singlaub memo] was later found in Oliver North's safe. "Even the Saudis got into the act, with a proposal to establish offshore companies to serve a multiplicity of purposes. alestinian-American businessman Sam Bamieh says he was approached by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, and at a separate time, by a member of the embassy's staff, and asked 'to set up a company, an offshore company, whereby we will supply goods and services to different anti-communist movements in different parts of the world. ...' "Bamieh said that the offshore company would buy the oil from Saudi Arabia - which nominally adheres to the UN oil embargo against the apartheid regime - and resell it to South Africa at a markup of 75 cents to one dollar a barrel. He said while he was discussing this with Bandar in Cannes in February 1984, Bandar sought to reassure him it was in line with U.S. policy by telling him that CIA Director Casey and King Fahd were at that very oment discussing the same topic in a yacht in the Mediterranean [Adnan Khashoggi's?]. (This was later confirmed.) Bamieh said he refused the request, even though Bandar told him such a company could make $50 to $100 million in annual profits." Jane Hunter, "Tricontranental," Report on the Americas, September-October 1988, p. 15. --------------------- Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, and Khashoggi: Bush "spent most of his time in the early and mid-1980s hobnobbing with ex-Cuban intelligence officers, Nicaraguan Contras, and others plugged into the lucrative orbit of Miami-area front groups for the CIA. But he, too, had some Middle East connections. Two of his business associates, Guillermo Hernandez-Cartaya and Camilo Padreda, both indicted for financial dealings, were longtime associates of Middle Eastern arms dealer, BCCI investor and Iran-Contra figure Adnan Khashoggi. "Prosecutors dropped the case against the two, and a federal judge ordered Padreda's name expunged from the record. But a few years later Padreda, a former Miami-Dade County GOP treasurer, was convicted of fraud over a federally insured housing development that Jeb Bush had helped to facilitate. Jeb Bush also socialized with Adbur Sakhia, the Miami BCCI branch chief and later its top U.S. official." http://www.lagunajournal.com/global.htm ------------------- Mohammed Zia al-huk, Pakistani Prime Minister: "Dictator of Pakistan, and knew all about Iran/Contra, the training, funding, and arming of narco-terrorists like Osama bin Laden. In August 1988, the same day George Bush got the Republican nomination, his plane crashed into the ground with all engines running. The Pakistanis kept the bodies around (in violation of Islamic custom) ..." http://bushbodycount.com/voices/thelist.php?catid=24&blogid=4 "Ejaz Ul-Haq, Zia's eldest son, has launched a barrage of allegations about a cover-up. Generally, his target has been the Bhutto government, but at a news conference earlier this week he blamed the United States ..." - "50,000 Pakistanis Mark Anniversary of Ruler Zia's Death," Orange County Register, August 18, 1989. "Sabotage or another criminal act caused a plane crash that killed President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq.... About 30 people aboard the plane were killed, including U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel; Brig. Gen. Herbert Wasson, a U.S. defense adviser, and five top Pakistani generals ... Among the scenarios, [Pakistan Air Force Commander Abbas] Mirza suggested were that the flight crew was drugged ..." - Kathy Gannon, "Sabotage caused crash of Zia plane, report says," Associated Press, October 17, 1989. ------------------------------ Slade Gorton, 911 Commissioner: "Former Senator Slade Gorton served on the notorious Senate Intelligence Committee for over a decade. Throughout his career, over scores of hearings', the hawkish Gorton consistently ran interference for Iran-Contra-smeared Republicans, such as Robert Gates..." http://www.williambowles.info/911/911_coverup.html ------------- Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense: "911, CIA Drug Traffic, Iran-contra, ISI, Daniel Pearl?" - Online Journal "... Then there is Baron Rumsfeld over at DoD, who seemed to dart around like a bee pollinating CBW (chemical and biological weapons) to Saddam under the Reagan administration, being part of Iran-Contra, planning and practicing the invasion of Afghanistan in early 2001 well in advance of 9-11, attacking on October 7, 2001, to get rid of those silly Taliban folks, and immediately after 9-11 wanted to start planning to go kick Saddam really good." http://www.criticalhistory.com/index.php?itemid=467 ------------------ Charles M. McKee and Matthew Gannon "Charles M. McKee, ostensibly a military attaché for the DIA in Beirut, Matthew Gannon, CIA Deputy Station Chief in Beirut, and three others were on board Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. They were part of a counterterrorist team in Beirut investigating the possible rescue of 9 American hostages in Lebanon. The McKee team uncovered evidence that a rogue CIA unit called COREA, based in Wiesbaden, was doing business with a man called Monzer Al-Kassar, a Syrian arms dealer and drug trafficker. "Al-Kassar was part of the covert network run by U.S. Lieut. Colonel Oliver North. Outraged that the COREA unit in Wiesbaden was doing business with a Syrian who had close terrorist connections and might endanger their chances of rescuing the hostages, the McKee team decided to fly back to Virginia unannounced and expose the COREA unit's secret deal with al-Kassar. They never got there. For three years, I've had a feeling that if Chuck hadn't been on that plane, it wouldn't have been bombed,' said Beulah McKee, 75, Charles McKee's mother, to Time Magazine. Four months after her son was killed for his efforts to expose the CIA, Mrs. McKee received a sympathy letter from George H. W. Bush. Mrs. McKee has never been satisfied with the government's version of events." http://bushbodycount.com/voices/thelist.php?catid=24&blogid=4 ----------------------- Senator Henry John Heinz III "He chaired the three-man presidential review board that probed the Iran-contra affair. He died in a plane crash in April 1991..." http://bushbodycount.com/voices/thelist.php?catid=24&blogid=4 -------------------- Israel, Jonas Savimbi, Unita, Saudis: "Israel, which in 1982 began training a 5,000-man Zairian unit in Shaba province that was to be stationed along the border with Angola, is well-positioned to take over advising Unita should the U.S. public eer force Congress to halt aid, as it did in 1975 and more recently with the contras. As one of the major right-wing guerilla armies still in the field, Unita is almost certain to attract the covert action funds Saudi Arabia continues to wish to bestow upon Washington. In addition to wateer Saudi funds he may be receiving, Jonas Savimbi gets $75 million in South African aid. And though the Enterprise' has been put out of business, the fronts run by retired military and intelligence officers that competed to sell arms to the contras are still open for business to supply Unita." - Jane Hunter, "Honduras All Over Again," Report on the Americas, September-October 1988, p. 24. ------------------------ Michael Ledeen, advisor to Carl Rove: "September 01, 2004 - Ledeen has been branded an 'ultra neo-conservative' and is seen by his critics as the most sinister and radical of them all. He is a scholar at the neo-conservative think tank The American Enterprise Institute, which also counts the former chair of Pentagon Defence Policy Board Richard Perle among its members. "He also writes regularly for American Spectator magazine. A former Rome Correspondent for the New Republic newspaper, Ledeen first rose to political prominence as a member of the National Security Council during Ronald Reagan's reign. "But it was in 1985, that he became a well-known figure in the US when his Israeli intelligence contacts were used to help broker the illegal Iran/contra rebel affair - a move was aimed at destablising the left-wing government in Nicaragua. "However, he does say that he didn't approve of the final deal in that affair. Prof Ledeen is also a student of Machiavelli and has written a book about the Renaissance philosopher whose name has become synonymous with strong and brutal governments. He is also the author of The War Against the Terror Masters, which claims that America must topple the regimes of the terror masters such as Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia to eliminate the threat of terrorism. "Prof. Ledeen is also believed to have the ear of the White House's current Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and has regular conversations with him. His view on the war on terror is clear, he said: "Iraq is just one battle in a larger war, bringing down the regime in Iran is the central act, because Iran is the world's most dangerous terrorist country." http://dual-loyalties.blogspot.com/2004/09/bbc-michael-ledeen-advisor-to-carl.html
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