Here's one for you rrman...
worldnetdaily.com
Coincidences and
capitalist terrorists
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
U.S. and British intelligence
agencies are reportedly
investigating links between
alleged terrorist mastermind
Osama bin Laden and various
stock trades in the United
States and Europe around the
time of the devastating attacks
on the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon, which sent
foreign markets into tailspins
over worries about the U.S.
economy.
At least that's the story as
reported in the Sankei Shimbun
newspaper in Japan – a report
conspicuously absent from most
U.S. news budgets. (The story
was linked at WorldNetDaily
last weekend.)
Among other things, under a
practice known as
short-selling, a person with
prior information can score
large profits when a stock
sinks in value on certain news
– such as corporate problems
or, in this case, the broader
news of an attack that has
crippled the United States.
Did bin Laden tip off his
billionaire family or other
rich allies in his terrorist
cause? Did bin Laden, who is
worth about $300 million, use
his foreknowledge of the attack
to profit personally?
The U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission declined to
"confirm or deny" any such
investigations by U.S.
financial authorities, but a
spokesman added that the agency
has received a variety of
investor e-mail "suggesting
that the SEC check records" on
stock transactions around the
time of the attacks to
establish any possible linkage
to profiteering by persons
related to the terrorists.
We keep hearing that Osama bin
Laden is a black sheep in the
family – practically disowned.
Yet, at least once before, his
family profited handsomely
because of Osama bin Laden's
terrorist actions. The bin
Laden family was hired to
rebuild a U.S. Air Force base
in Saudi Arabia after the
Khobar Towers were destroyed in
1996. Osama bin Laden was the
chief suspect in that bombing.
Can things get any stranger?
Well, try this on for size: A
report in the Houston Chronicle
June 4, 1992, said federal
officials were investigating
the activities of a Houston
businessman accused of
illegally representing Saudi
interests in the U.S. The U.S.
businessman was James R. Bath.
Among the Saudi interests were
those of Saudi Sheik Salem M.
bin Laden.
Who is Bath? A past investor in
companies controlled by (are
you sitting down?) … George W.
Bush.
Back in 1992, the Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network –
known as FinCEN – and the FBI
were reviewing accusations that
entrepreneur Bath guided money
to Houston from Saudi investors
who wanted to influence U.S.
policy under the Reagan and
Bush administrations – that's
the first Bush administration,
of course.
The federal review reportedly
stemmed in part from court
documents obtained through
litigation by Bill White, a
former real estate business
associate of Bath. White
contends the documents indicate
that the Saudis were using Bath
and their huge financial
resources to influence U.S.
policy. Such representation by
Bath would require that he be
registered as a foreign agent
with the U.S. Department of
Justice. In general, people
required by law to be
registered are those who
represent a foreign entity
seeking to influence
governmental action or policy.
An Annapolis graduate and
former Navy fighter pilot,
White, 46, claimed that Bath
and the judicial system, under
the veil of national security,
have blackballed him
professionally and financially
because he has refused to keep
quiet about what he regards as
a conspiracy to secretly funnel
Saudi dollars to the United
States.
In sworn depositions, according
to the Chronicle story, Bath
said he represented four
prominent Saudis as a trustee
(one of whom was Saudi Sheik
Salem M. bin Laden) and that he
would use his name on their
investments. In return, he
said, he would receive a 5
percent interest in their
deals. Tax documents and
personal financial records show
that Bath personally had a 5
percent interest in Arbusto '79
Ltd., and Arbusto '80 Ltd.,
limited partnerships controlled
by George W. Bush, who now
finds himself directing a war
against terrorism and the No. 1
enemy of Osama bin Laden, of
the same Saudi family.
Arbusto actually means "bush"
in Spanish. Bath invested
$50,000 in the limited
partnerships, according to the
documents. There is no
available evidence to show
whether the money came from
Saudi interests.
But the financial links between
the bin Laden family and Bush
family get even more curious.
According to a 1976 trust
agreement, drawn shortly after
George Bush senior was
appointed director of the
Central Intelligence Agency,
Saudi Sheik bin Laden appointed
Bath as his business
representative in Houston. Bin
Laden, along with his brothers,
owns Bin Laden Brothers
Construction, one of the
largest construction companies
in the Middle East. According
to White, Bath told him that he
had assisted the CIA in a
liaison role with Saudi Arabia
since 1976.
Do these "coincidences" bother
you as much as they bother me?
What does all this mean? I
don't know. But I thought the
information should be laid out
on the table. |
