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by James Hatfield
July 3, 2001
Editor's note: In light of
last week's horrific events and the Bush administration's reaction to
them, we are reprising the following from the last column Jim Hatfield
wrote for Online Journal prior to his tragic death on July 18:
July 3, 2001—There may be
fireworks in Genoa, Italy, this month, too.
A plot by Saudi master
terrorist, Osama bin Laden, to assassinate Dubya during the July 20
economic summit of world leaders, was uncovered after dozens of
suspected Islamic militants linked to bin Laden's international terror
network were arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, and Milan, Italy, in April.
German intelligence services
have stated that bin Laden is covertly financing neo-Nazi skinhead
groups throughout Europe to launch another terrorist attack at a
high-profile American target—his first since the bombing of the USS Cole
in Yemen last October.
According to
counter-terrorism experts quoted in Germany's largest newspaper, the
attack on Dubya might be a James Bond-like aerial strike in the form of
remote-controlled airplanes packed with plastic explosives.
Why would Osama bin Laden want
to kill, Dubya, his former business partner?
I knew that bombshell would
whip your heads around. So here's the straight scoop, folks.
In June 1977, Dubya formed his
own drilling company, Arbusto Energy ("arbusto" means "bush" in
Spanish), in Midland, Texas. Like his father before him, Dubya founded
his oil business with the financial backing of investors, including
James R. Bath, a Houston businessman whom Dubya apparently first met
when they were in the same Texas Air National Guard unit.
(Interestingly, both Dubya and Bath were both suspended from flying in
August and September 1972, respectively, for "failure to accomplish
annual medical examination.")
Tax documents and other
financial records show that Bath, an aircraft broker with controversial
ties to Saudi Arabia sheiks, had invested $50,000 in Arbusto, granting
him a 5 percent interest in two limited partnerships controlled by Dubya.
Time magazine described Bath in
1991 as "a deal broker whose alleged associations run from the CIA to a
major shareholder and director of the Bank of Credit & Commerce." BCCI,
as it was more commonly known, closed its doors in July 1991 amid
charges of multibillion-dollar fraud and global news reports that the
financial institution had been heavily involved in drug money
laundering, arms brokering, covert intelligence work, bribery of
government officials and—here's the kicker—aid to terrorists.
Bath was never directly
implicated in the BCCI scandal, but according to The Outlaw Bank, an
award-winning 1993 book by Time correspondents, Jonathan Beaty and S.C.
Gwynne, Bath originally "made his fortune by investing money for [Sheikh
Kalid bin] Mahfouz and another BCCI-connected Saudi, Sheikh bin Laden,"
reportedly the brother of none other than Osama bin Laden, the man
accused by the U.S. government of masterminding the August 1998
terrorist bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which
killed more than 250 people.
According to court documents,
Bath swore that in 1977 he represented four prominent and wealthy Saudi
Arabians as a trustee and used his name on their investments in the
United States. In return, he received a 5 percent interest in their
deals. Time reporters Beaty and Gwynne suggest in their book that the
$50,000 Bath invested in Dubya's Arbusto Energy drilling company may
have belonged to Bath's Saudi clients since the Houston businessman "had
no substantial money of his own at the time."
The FBI and the Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network later investigated Bath after allegations
were made by one of his American business partners that the Saudis were
using Bath and their giant piggy bank to influence U.S. policy. (Dubya's
father had been appointed by President Ford to head the CIA from
1976–77.)
So, folks, the Middle
Eastern oil money used to underwrite the first business venture of our
future president of the United States, may have been derived at least in
part from the family fortune of Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden, who is
now being accused of masterminding his assassination.
From the
what-it's-worth-department: I think Dubya's handlers have fed
disinformation through the CIA and other backdoor channels to German and
Italian intelligence agencies about a possible hit on Dubya by the
fugitive terrorist to gain public sympathy and concern for a U.S.
president who has taken a nose-dive in the opinion polls.
The latest New York Times/CBS
News poll showed Dubya's approval rating fell to 53 percent from 57
percent a few weeks ago, its lowest since he took office. Only 50
percent of those polled approved of his handling of the economy, while
47 percent approved of his foreign policy performances. Some 44 percent
felt Dubya was not respected by foreign leaders, a mere 39 percent
agreed with his policies on the environment, and a whopping 61 percent
of Americans believed the new prez was not addressing the issues they
care most about.
Obviously, the pollsters didn't
call Dubya's sugar daddies—the oil and gas companies. Because he damn
sure is taking care of their interests.
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