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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Adnan Khashoggi Linked to 911 Terrorists

Part XIX

(D): AN IRAN-CONTRA/AL QAEDA READER, cont'd

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. Palestinian-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 moment 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 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 water 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 Defense 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


_______________________



Sunday, May 22, 2005

Adnan Khashoggi's Links to 911 Terrorists

XIX APPENDIX

APPENDIX: The Origins of the bin Laden Family;
Salem bin Laden and Iran/Contra-October Surprise

FRONTLINE TRANSCRIPT - WGBH
About the bin Laden family
Origins of the bin Laden Family

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 hours 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 played 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 80's, 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 noone 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:

* A $296 million contract with other companies such as Ditco (Ben Zagr), Saud Ben Birdgis, Al Mouraiban, Kara, etc., for the construction of a ring freeway around Riyadh.

* A SR1.3 billion contract for construction of housing units for the security forces in Jiddahh.

* A SR1.3 billion contract for similar units for the National Guard at Mecca.

* A SR1.1 billion contract for construction of the Kharaj Military City near Riyadh.

* A SR1.1 billion contract for the Mecca Royal Divan.

* A SR4 billion contract for expansion of the Mecca Holy Places.

Several other major projects in Saudi Arabia have been noted recently:

* Construction and improvements at the Riyadh Airport for the Al Salem Aircraft Company, including construction of nine hangars, as part of one of the five offset programs in the US-Saudi Peace Shield agreement. Scheduled for completion in 1995, these operations are to transform Riyadh's King Khaled International Airport into one of the world's largest, ranking with Singapore, Frankfurt, etc.

* A $10 million contract for construction of a molded plastics factory at Jubail, in partnership with the Swiss group Buss AG, in the framework of the Jubail regional expansion plan and in cooperation with Prince Abdullah Ben Faisal and Saudi Formaldehyde Chemical Co. (SFCCL), founded in November 1990 at the initiative of the Jubail-Yanbu Royal Commission and businessman Mazen Al Lahiq.

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.

* With over 40,000 employees, the bin Laden group in Egypt, managed by Abdul Aziz bin Laden, is that country's largest foreign private group. Sheik Salem had good relations with one of the largest local contractors, Osman Ahmed Osman, going back for many years. Together with the Saudi Shobokshi group, the bin Laden group is currently negotiating a $400 million contract for construction of a paper plant.

* The bin Laden group, represented by Yehia bin Laden, is also holding negotiations with the Lebanese authorities for a $50 million share in the project to rebuild central Beirut, within the framework of the Solidere project and in conjunction with the Al Baraka group and the Ben Mahfouz group. In 1981, the bin Laden group also set up a local company, Sarco SAL, directed by the Sarkissian brothers, but which has not shown any activity.

* The bin Laden group's domestic and regional activities are complemented by international operations. The group set up a representative firm in London, Binexport, in November 1990, but its international business is handled by the SICO offices in Geneva.

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, particularly 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.

copyright © 2001 pbs online and wgbh/frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/family.html

___________________________

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Adnan Khashoggi Linked to 911 Terrorists

Part XIX:

ROOTS - AN IRAN-CONTRA/AL QUAEDA READER


"the presence of Secord in Best's Azerbaijani oil venture ought to have raised blood red flags around the world..."

by Alex Constantine

"Aid for Terrorists"
CounterSpy, vol. 6, no. 2
Feb 1982

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,
Noam Chomsky
South End Press, 1991

... 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 ahead. 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 direct 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

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Friday, May 06, 2005

Adnan Khashoggi Linked to 911 Terrorists


Part XVIII


NORTH'S ENTERPRISE STAGES A COMEBACK; THE MARKLE FOUNDATION


By Alex Constantine


"What is frightening and depressing is that a pseudoscientific propaganda word like terrorism' has come to have such a hypnotic effect on public debate ... a word featured constantly in the anti-partisan communiqués of the Third Reich ... Should we not be wary of a term with which rulers fool themselves and by which history is abolished and language debased? Don't we fool and console ourselves enough as it is?" - Christopher Hitchens, Harper's, September 1986

This account has been visited and revisited by alumni of the illustrious Oliver North's Iran-supply network. The mingling of Enterprise operatives with Middle Eastern radicals - discussed abstractly in the Iran-contra hearings - was completely acceptable to the Congressional quislings charged with oversight. Of the 26 committee members, 17 had voted in favor of funding the contras. The majority of "Select" Congressmen entrusted with deconstructing the secret sale of arms to Iran marched in step with the accused.

Chairman Lee Hamilton admonished North: "This secret policy of selling arms to Iran damaged US credibility." But he had to admit, "there are parts of your testimony that I agree with. I agree with you that our government needs the capability to carry out covert actions. During my six years on the Intelligence Committee, over 90 percent of the covert actions that were recommended to us by the president were supported and approved."

In 1988, Berkeley researcher Peter Dale Scott saw an "explicit agreement on the need to continue covert operations, many of which (especially those in ANGOLA and AFGHANISTAN) had support arrangements entangled with North's Iran-contra Enterprise."

These "support arrangements" continued through 911 to the present day.

Dr. Scott noticed that Hamilton's panel "mostly averted its eyes from the broader extent of the North-Secord-Hamilton consensus" and that fraternal consensus smiled on North, Secord, Armitage, Khashoggi, bin Laden, Zawahiri and their narcotics-tainted, genocidal paramilitary interventions around the globe.1

The oily CEO of The Enterprise was George H.W. Bush (with North was chief operating officer), who brought terrorism home in 1976. Bush was implicated first by journalists, then federal investigators, in a terrorist attack in the nation's capital - the fatal car-bombing of Chilean activist Orlando Letelier and co-worker Ronni Moffitt in 1976. The case was reopened and the CIA planned on letting go of a report that would have brought the name Bush to the surface ... but insisted on releasing it only after the 2000 election. And as the Washington Post reported on October 24, release of the report would certainly face imposing "obstacles" should Son of Bush defeat Son of Gore.

Full exposure of Iran-contra was hindered by a cover-up culture in Congress. George H.W. Bush was snared in the investigative net, so he enlisted the aid of a trusted ally in the House, Rep. Dick Cheney of Wyoming. Cheney was the ranking Republican in the Iran-contra probe. Robert Parry reports that Cheney "smartly exploited his relationship with Rep. Lee Hamilton," who "gave Bush a pass." The narrow, penlight focus of the investigation was the work of Cheney and Hamilton, who steered it away from "sensitive areas, such as contra-drug trafficking and the public diplomacy operation." (Iran-contra's Otto Juan Reich was tarred by the Orwellian "public diplomacy" scandal under Reagan. A Cuban exile with a sordid history of romancing repressive Latin American regimes, he followed Armitage to the State Department, was appointed to the office of Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in January 2002, under Powell.)

"Despite surrendering to Cheney's demands time and again, Hamilton failed, in the end, to get a single House Republican to sign the final report. Only three moderate Republicans on the Senate side - Warren Rudman, William Cohen and Paul Trible - agreed to sign the report, after extracting more concessions." Cheney and a few fellow Republicans filed "a minority report with the Committee that denied any significant wrongdoing had occurred."2

As a result, more significant wrongdoing was inevitable. Political assassinations. Secret wars. ChoicePoint.

CP Directors Kenneth Langone and John J. Hamre are trustee and CEO/president respectively of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the District of Columbia, where the late Dr. Ray Cline, another Iran-contra veteran, made a substantial contribution to the international game plan that led to 911 and the ensuing clash of civilizations.

But before turning to Dr. Cline and his own significant evil, we should pause to reflect for a moment on John Hamre, a bundle of revelations in a portly package. Hamre is the aforementioned ChoicePoint connection to ITT (Khashoggi XIII) - the communications and Chilean coup-plot people – where he has been a director since 00. This was the same year he became chairman of CSIS - agent in place.

Before joining CSIS, Hamre was U.S. deputy secretary of defense, 1997-2000 ... under William Cohen, one of the Senate Republicans who signed Lee Hamilton's martinized Iran-contra report - and under-secretary of defense/comptroller from 1993 to 1997. Before joining the DoD, Dr. Hamre was on the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee, 1984-1993, with responsibilities for oversight of weapons R&D and assorted defense budget issues. From 1978 to 1984, he was deputy assistant director for national security and international affairs at the Congressional Budget Office. Dr. Hamre is a director of MITRE Corp. and Integrated Nano-Technologies LPC. He's a Rockefeller Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and received a Ph.D. in 1978 from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.3

Dr. Hamre is also board chairman of the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation. The list of Markle grant recipients and partners includes CNN, The Children's Television Workshop, Infonautics, Crossover Technologies, M.I.T., The RAND Corporation, Carnegie-Mellon University and The Brookings Institute.

Some members of the "philanthropic" Markle foundation under Dr. Hamre:

Philip Zelikow: executive director of the 911 Commission.

Judith A. Miller: The New York Times reporter whose articles on Saddam Hussein's WMD program proved to be fictional.

Stewart A. Baker: Chief counsel, NSA.

William P. Crowell: CEO of Cylink, Inc. in Santa Clara, California. Crowell came to Cylink from the NSA, where he had a series of senior positions, including deputy director of operations and deputy director.

Eric Benhamou: vice chairman, Israel21c, a non-profit organization that seeks, according to its website, to "promote the 21st century Israel that exists beyond the conflict."

Paul Schott Stevens: Under President Reagan, special assistant for national security affairs, executive secretary and legal adviser of the NSC.

Robert M. Bryant: former assistant director of the FBI, CEO of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. In November 1999, after 31 years of service, he retired as deputy director of the FBI, where he presided over the Bureau's strategic plan, and served as the agency's chief operations officer. While at the FBI, he directed a number of high-profile investigations, including the Aldrich Ames spy case, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Montana Freeman standoff.

John O. Marsh: Former Secretary of the Army and Virginia Congressman. A member of the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction. Recently, the Panel released its second annual report entitled "Toward a National Strategy for Combating Terrorism."

Morton Halperin: Director of the Washington office of the Open Society Institute. Halperin is a director of policy planning staff at the Department of State. He was special assistant to President Clinton and a senior director at the NSC, 1994-1996. Other positions include director of the Center for National Security Studies, and director of the ACLU's Washington D.C. office.

Margaret Hamburg, MD: VP of biological programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

Wesley Clark: War profiteer and former "liberal" presidential candidate.

Gilman Louie: President and CEO of In-Q-Tel, a CIA front, delivers new technologies to the intelligence community.

Michael Okerlund Leavitt; Republican governor of Utah, first elected in 1992. Leavitt resigned his office in November 2003, and was sworn in as the administrator of the EPA under Bush the next day. He was confirmed to this office on October 28, 2003. Leavitt also serves on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Ashton Carter: Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs, International Security Program.

The Markle Foundation, according to its website, was established in 1927 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge...and the general good of mankind..."

NOTES

1) Peter Dale Scott, "Northwards without North: Bush, Counterterrorism, and the Continuation of Secret Power," International Center for Development Policy, author's draft, March 12, 1988.

2) Robert Parry, "History will be on the ballot Nov. 7," Consortium, November 5, 2000. http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/110500c.html

3)"John J. Hamre," Forbes.com.
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromMktGuideIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedMktGuideId=159003

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