Posted on 06/28/2002 11:38:28 PM PDT by Uncle Bill
Edited on 04/22/2004 12:34:04 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
BTW the Dec. 2001 FBI arrest of Irv Rubin comes into light by this info.
Temple of Zuul
PETER
Well, there's something you don't see every day.
RAY
I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never, ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay-Puft...
PETER
Nice thinking, Ray.
RAY
We used to roast Stay-Puft marshmallows, by the fire at Camp Waconda!
PETER
Ray has gone bye-bye, Egon. What have you got left?
Our leaders have gone bye-bye...
Al-Arian ``is a representative of the Islamic Jihad, a known terrorist organization, here in the United States doing his thing in support of that organization, trying to radicalize and bring into the organizational fold more and more Muslims,'' Robert Blitzer, the FBI's former chief of domestic terrorism investigations continued.
But that doesn't necessarily mean he's broken U.S. law, Blitzer said.
So we wait until the “terrorist organization” blows up buildings and kills people, then, if the FBI can’t find a right-wing dupe to hang it on, maybe we’ll pursue the “terrorist organization,” – provided, of course, that’s OK with the AMC.
(Thanks for the link, I missed that one.)
Review & Outlook
The Wall Street Journal
June 26, 2001
Partial Transcript:
The BCCI scandal was the most important corruption story of the 20th century. Crooked international bankers cast a world-wide web of influence. They bought and sold politicians around the globe, ripped off depositors for some $10 billion, laundered drug money, worked with assorted spooks and trafficked with terrorists.
In the U.S., they illegally bought a major Washington bank, First American, and installed Democratic Party icon Clark Clifford as its head. George H.W. Bush headed the CIA during BCCI's early days and was President when its wrongdoing first began to surface. Even George W. Bush bumped up against the outer fringes of the BCCI crowd during his tenure with Harken Energy and in his friendship with Texas entrepreneur James Bath.
BCCI holds important lessons for the future. Our dawning century is one of international criminal gangs operating with increasing sophistication in a shadowy world beyond the control of fragmented national authorities. The banking and political systems are particularly vulnerable to this sort of corruption. BCCI is a prototype for this new form of global crime. As FBI Director, Mr. Freeh got a foothold on these problems; his successor will find them a major preoccupation.
Both Mr. Terwilliger and Mr. Mueller were senior Justice Department officials when BCCI got away. Mr. Terwilliger was Deputy Attorney General; and Mr. Mueller ran the Criminal Division at Main Justice from 1990 to 1993. When it came to making decisions about investigations and prosecutions in the BCCI affair they were the men at the switches. Only the Attorney General and the President had higher federal authority. Mr. Terwilliger apparently is off the short list because confirmation would be complicated by his legal work for Mr. Bush in the Florida election dispute.
This means the presumed front-runner is Mr. Mueller, who took personal charge of the BCCI probe. If he is nominated, a number of questions need to be asked. How did BCCI manage to gain entry into the U.S. banking system and acquire First American? Did the U.S. intelligence community grease the skids for BCCI at critical junctures? Was the Justice Department part of the solution to the BCCI mess, or part of the problem?
When Mr. Mueller took over the Criminal Division, critics in Congress and the media were already raising questions about Justice and BCCI. He stepped into this breach, telling the Washington Post in July 1991 that maybe indeed there was an "appearance of, one, foot-dragging; two, perhaps a coverup." He denied the coverup claims, specifically rejecting a Time magazine report that the U.S. government was seeking to obscure its role in the scandal partly because the CIA may have collaborated with the bank's operatives. Perhaps Justice should have been more enthusiastic and aggressive about the case, he told the Post, but "nobody has ever accused me of lacking aggression."
Still, the problems with Justice persisted. And the timing of some of Mr. Mueller's moves raised eyebrows. In September 1991, Justice indicted six BCCI figures and a reputed Colombian drug lord on racketeering charges. The indictment was unveiled just minutes after then-Congressman Charles Schumer issued a report sharply critical of Justice Department handling of the case. As Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin noted in their authoritative book, "False Profits: Inside BCCI," the indictment was merely "warmed-over information from an investigation that had ended nearly two years before."
Mr. Mueller also engaged in a running series of battles with the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau. According to news reports over the years, Justice prosecutors were instructed not to cooperate with Mr. Morgenthau's office, documents were withheld, and attempts were made to block other federal agencies from cooperating. In July 1992, both Mr. Mueller and Mr. Morgenthau simultaneously but separately indicted Mr. Clifford and his top aide Robert Altman in the BCCI scandal, with Mr. Morgenthau finally winning the right to try the men. Mr. Clifford was later dropped from the case due to infirmity and Mr. Altman was eventually acquitted. The curious and distracting fight over jurisdiction stands to be revisited.
Janet Reno named Mr. Mueller interim U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California in 1998; he was confirmed for the position in 1999. He was sent to reform an office marked by trouble, and his success or lack of it should be closely examined. His position as FBI front-runner, we read, was won by showing the ropes to new Attorney General John Ashcroft when he was home alone at Justice without a confirmed staff.
With Mr. Mueller's splendid paper credentials, we initially thought he must be a top-flight professional, whatever his misfortunes with BCCI. When we sought out some former Justice officials and others whose views we trust, we were surprised by negative returns, BCCI aside. While we hesitate to traffic in anonymous slams, let it be said that informed doubt exists about not only his independence, but his managerial competence.
On general principles, our view is that it would be a mistake to appoint as FBI head anyone who had any role in the failed BCCI probe. Too many important questions remain unanswered, and we clearly need another stand-up guy after the Clinton depredations at Justice. On the evidence we can see, Mr. Mueller would be a peculiar choice indeed.
[E]xactly why the Department of Justice handles matters as they do is -- whatever factors they take into account are not particularly known to us in Miami in all circumstances. We in Miami wanted all of those steps taken that we proposed. They were not taken and we are just not able to say why.(87)
Despite the problems with not having the subpoenas enforced, Lehtinen's office continued to pursue the investigation of BCCI for tax fraud. Lehtinen testified that in his meeting with Assistant Attorney General Mueller in early August, Mueller encouraged him to "work aggressively on it as much as possible."(88) By the third week in August, Lehtinen was ready to move forward with an indictment after having been notified by his assistants that "there was no problem with the on-site review by the Justice department's tax division. Then, suddenly, on August 22, Dennis Saylor, chief assistant to Assistant Attorney General Mueller, called Lehtinen and, according to the US Attorney, "indicated to me that I was directed not to return the indictment."(89)
BCCI, BANK OF CROOKS AND CRIMINALS
Articles That Can Be Retrieved
From The Washington Post Archives:
WHY SO SLOW ON BCCI?
The Washington Post
May 29, 1991; Page a18
Section: EDITORIAL
ONE PECULIARITY of the BCCI affair is the slow reaction of the federal authorities and the conspicuously poor cooperation that persists among them. Sometime in the 1980s BCCI -- the Bank of Credit and Commerce International -- illegally acquired an American bank, First American Bankshares, headed by Clark Clifford and Robert Altman, without, they protest, their knowledge. BCCI was also indicted in Florida in 1988 for illegally handling drug dealers' money and pleaded guilty. By the middle....
WHAT THE U.S. KNEW ABOUT BCCI
The Washington Post
September 9, 1991; Page a14
Section: EDITORIAL
WHAT CRIMES BCCI may have committed, and which of its officials may go to jail, is now a secondary issue. The larger and more troubling questions arise from the peculiarly slow and slack handling of this case by a long list of federal agencies, beginning with the Justice and Treasury departments. Justice Department prosecutors have now obtained indictments of six former officers of BCCI -- the Bank of Credit and Commerce International -- in a welcome although belated burst of activity. But....
GREED, INFLUENCE AND BCCI
The Washinton Post
November 1, 1991; Page a24
Section: EDITORIAL
WHEN THE White House learned that Edward Rogers Jr. had been hired by Sheik Kamal Adham, it was an unwelcome reminder of all the dangerous questions raised by the BCCI affair. BCCI -- the Bank of Credit and Commerce International -- is the fraud-riddled bank that was shut down last summer by regulators in the United States, Britain and several other countries. Sheik Kamal was involved in BCCI's illegal takeover of First American Bankshares here a decade ago -- the bank that Clark....
QUESTIONS FOR MR. BARR
The Washington Post
November 12, 1991; Page a20
Section: EDITORIAL
WHEN WILLIAM P. Barr comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee today for confirmation as attorney general, one major subject will be -- or at least ought to be -- BCCI. The Bank of Credit and Commerce International was shut down by regulators here and in several other countries early last summer on grounds that it was engaged in many kinds of crimes. In this country it was deeply involved in laundering money for drug dealers, among other violations. But the Justice Department has been....
BCCI Holdings (Luxembourg), S.A., et al.,Appellees v. Abdul Raouf Hasan Khalil, Appellant
(1) Mr. Khalil agreed to act as a nominee shareholder of First American Bank's parent corporation to disguise BCCI's illegal acquisition of an American bank without required regulatory approval;
(2) Mr. Khalil agreed to serve as a nominee shareholder of BCCI Holdings to disguise the truth about BCCI's artificially and misleadingly inflated capital resources and support; and
(3) Mr. Khalil agreed to allow BCCI to use his name, both individually and on behalf of his corporations, to disguise risky investments and to create the false impression that BCCI was servicing large loans that were actually in default.
Ex-BCCI depositor loses $1B judgment - Abdul Raouf Hasan Khalil
BCCI: The Mystery Lingers - The Wall Street Journal
Feds investigate entrepreneur allegedly tied to Saudis
In sworn depositions, Bath said he represented four prominent Saudis as a trustee 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, President Bush's eldest son. Arbusto 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.
George W. Bush's company, Bush Exploration Co., general partner in the limited partnerships, went through several mergers, eventually evolving into Harken Energy Corp., a suburban Dallas-based company.
Bush, known informally as George Jr., is a shareholder and director of Harken, which has been granted lucrative offshore drilling rights off the coast of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. One of the top shareholders of Harken, a public company, is Saudi businessman Abdullah Taha Bakhsh.
Bush said that to his knowledge, Bath's investment was from personal funds, and no Saudi money was invested in Arbusto.
Bath, 55, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, declined to comment for the record. Spokesmen for FinCEN and the FBI also declined to comment.
According to a 1976 trust agreement, drawn shortly after Bush was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi Sheik Salem M. Binladen appointed Bath as his business representative in Houston. Binladen, along with his brothers, owns Binladen 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. Bath has previously denied having worked for the CIA.
In a sworn deposition, Bath said he was the sole director of Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd., a company that a court document shows is owned by Khaled bin Mahfouz. Bin Mahfouz had been a major shareholder in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a banking empire that has been accused of money laundering and of using Mideast oil money to seek ties to political leaders in several countries. Mahfouz and his family own the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia.
Regarding the attempt of BCCI to takeover Financial General Bankshares, with the help of Jackson Stephens:
"False Profits"
By Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin
[excerpt, p.128]
"Regardless of what [former CIA director] Helms says, no one can deny that virtually every major character in the takeover was connected in one way or another to US Intelligence: Olmstead, who controlled the company for years; Middendorf, who headed the group that acquired it from him; Abedi, who arranged for clients of BCCI to buy the company from Middendorf's group; Irvani, the chairman of of one of the dummy companies set up to carry out the acquisition; Helms, who advised Irvani; Adham [head of Saudi Intelligence], the lead investor in Abedi's group; Clark Clifford, who steered the deal through the regulatory maze and then became chairman of the company; and Symington, who assisted Clifford and then became vice-chairman."
"Who Is Jack Ryan?"
The Wall Street Journal
8/1/94 [excerpt]:
"...John E. "Jack" Ryan, the career regulator left behind at the Resolution Trust Corp. [RTC] when Friend of Bill Roger Altman departed...[ie. he headed the RTC after Altman left]
"Mr. Ryan might also be able to shed some light on the mystery of how the Bank of Credit and Commerce International [BCCI] won approval to buy First American Bank in Washington; he was head of Bank Supervision of the Federal Reserve when the purchased was approved...
HUBBELL'S TIES TO BCCI
Washington Weekly
July 24, 1995
During the Whitewater hearings last week, Webster Hubbell answered two cryptic questions by Senator Lauch Faircloth (R-NC):
SEN. FAIRCLOTH: Did you have any responsiblity for handling BCCI matters at the Justice Department, or do you know if Mr. Foster had done any work for the BCCI--either in private practice or while with the government related to BCCI?
MR. HUBBELL: I recused on the BCCI matter. So I did not have any involvement at the Justice on the BCCI matter.
Alert viewers of the hearings may have wondered, what was Hubbell's ties to BCCI, a criminal enterprise, that would prompt him to recuse himself on this matter?
Among other things, Hubbell defended the Arkansas company Systematics Inc, which was a co-defendant in a law-suit against BCCI in 1978. The lawsuit was brought by First American, the company that was taken over by BCCI and used illegally as a front corporation in the U.S, against BCCI, Stephens Inc., Systematics Inc. and others.
The Stephens empire was the connection in the very complex web between all these various companies, and the briefs in this lawsuit were filed by Webster Hubbell, C.J. Giroir, and signed by Hillary Rodham, all of the Rose Law Firm.
Hillary Clinton and Webb Hubbell Represented Systematics During The BCCI Takeover Of First American
Grabbe Website
By J. Orlin Grabbe
1998
Source
In an April 5, 1995, letter to Michael Geltner (10 E Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003)--an attorney for Agora, Inc.-- Charles O. Morgan asserts;
"6. Webster Hubbell never served as an attorney or in any other capacity for ALLTEL Corporation, or for any of its operations or subsidiaries, other than a single instance in 1983, when Systematics, Inc., engaged Mr. Hubbell to pursue a competitor that was using Systematics, Inc.'s propriety software without authorization; ..."
In his admirable zeal to defend his client Systematics, Mr. Charles O. Morgan apparently forgot to do any research regarding the allegations he was denying. For his denial is mistaken. Web Hubbell (along with Hillary Rodham Clinton) represented Systematics in a 1978 lawsuit.
In 1978 Jackson Stephens tried to take over Financial General Bankshares (FGB) in Washington, D.C. (FGB was later acquired by BCCI, renamed First American, and run by Robert Altman and Clark Clifford. Robert Altman was later acquitted of misleading regulators, and the case against Clifford was dropped due to his age and infirmity.) In the Stephens' takeover attempt, FGB sued--among others--Systematics. Briefs for Systematics were submitted by C.J. Giroir, Web Hubbell, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The essential details may be found in the article "Who is Jack Ryan?" (Wall Street Journal, Monday, August 1, 1994):
"Attorneys for Mr. Clifford and Mr. Altman included independent counsel Robert Fiske and Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, as well as Robert Bennett, president Clinton's attorney in the Paula Corbin Jones case. And, of course, Arkansas investment banking giant Stephens Inc., which says all connections with the BCCI front men ended in 1978, does acknowledge it handled their initial brokerage for the purchase.
"Indeed, in the early takeover maneuvers Financial General Bankshares, First American's predecessor company, brought a 1978 lawsuit naming 'Bert Lance, Bank of Credit & Commerce International, Agha Hasan Abedhi, Eugene J. Metzger, Jackson Stephens, Stephens Inc., Systematics Inc. and John Does numbers 1 through 25.' The suit was ultimately settled, but intriguingly, briefs for Systematics, a Stephens property, were submitted by a trio of lawyers including C.J. Giroir and Webster L. Hubbell and signed by Hillary Rodham."
First American was subsequently used by the CIA to manage and launder money for covert operations. As noted in a U.S. Senate report:
"After the CIA knew that BCCI was as an institution a fundamentally corrupt criminal enterprise, it continued to use both BCCI and First American, BCCI's secretly held U.S. subsidiary, for CIA operations. ...
"Kamal Adham, who was the CIA's principal liason for the entire Middle East from the mid-1960s through 1979, was the lead frontman for BCCI in its takeover of First American, was an important nominee shareholder for BCCI, and remains one of the key players in the entire BCCI affair." (Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown, *The BCCI Affair: a Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate*, GPO, December 1992.)
The Arkansas connection to CIA covert operations and First American may help explain why "independent" counsel Robert Fiske failed to find much evidence of wrong-doing in his investigation into Whitewater.
And perhaps it also helps explain why Charles O. Morgan does such sloppy research, for as we have seen, Web Hubbell represented his client Systematics Inc. five years prior to the "single instance in 1983" that Charles O. Morgan claims. Does Charles O. Morgan have a blind spot where intelligence activities are concerned?
Surely he has thought about the issue, for in his April 5, 1995, letter to Michael Geltner, Morgan sweepingly asserts:
"4. None of ALLTEL's operations or subsidiaries has ever had any connection in any capacity with the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, or any other similar agency in the United States Government; ..."
How can Charles O. Morgan possibly know this about his client, given that he doesn't even know about that Systematics Inc. was a defendent in a lawsuit brought by Financial General Bankshares, or that Systematics was involved in a takeover attempt of FGB/First American even prior to BCCI's? The BCCI affair was hardly a minor political story.
So what does Charles O. Morgan deny about Vincent Foster?
James R. Norman, Senior Editor at Forbes, writes:
"Vince Foster a spy? Actually, it is much worse than that, if the CIA's suspicions are confirmed by the ongoing foreign counterintelligence probe. He would have been an invaluable double agent with potential access to not only high level political information, but also to sensitive code, encryption and data transmission secrets--the stuff by which modern war is won or lost. That is because for many years, according to nine separate current and former U.S. law enforcement or intelligence officials, Foster had been a behind-the-scenes manager of a key support company in one of the biggest, most secretive spy efforts on record: the silent surveillance of banking transactions both here and abroad." (James R. Norman, Fostergate.)
Roger Tamraz, Saudi banker Khaled bin Mahfouz, and BCCI
Marc Rich Recommended for Further Investigation in BCCI Senate Report
Harken Energy Had a Web Of Mideast Connections;In the Background: BCCI
Harken Energy and George W. Bush
Steal Billions, Pay 5 Million Dollar Fine, Be Home In Time For Dinner
Senator Says Osama Bin Laden Had Accounts In BCCI
City 'haven' for terrorist money laundering
"The names of half a dozen former BCCI clients and officials, including Ghaith Pharaon, wanted by the US authorities for fraud, and Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi banker who was closely involved with the bank before it was closed down by the Bank of England in 1991, recur throughout the annexe and are directly linked to Bin Laden through banks, holding companies, foundations and charities, at least one of which, the International Development Foundation, has its headquarters in London."
Pakistan A Terrorist Haven: US State Department
"There are still unresolved questions about the political patronage that has helped shield BCCI principals from a full reckoning, and in particular about how a crooked Pakistani-Arab bank got control of the largest bank in Washington, D.C."
The Wall Street Journal - BCCI: The Mystery Lingers - Editorial - September 29, 1998.
"After the CIA knew that BCCI was as an institution a fundamentally corrupt criminal enterprise, it continued to use both BCCI and First American, BCCI's secretly held U.S. subsidiary, for CIA operations."
J. Orlin Grabbe - Hillary Clinton and Webb Hubbell Represented Systematics During The BCCI Takeover Of First American - 1998.
Assistant Attorney General Mueller told the Subcommittee that while the CIA may have known about BCCI's criminality and illegal ownership of First American dating as far back as 1985, "regrettably, the Justice Department was not on the CIA's dissemination list until 1990 and therefore the Department never received this 1986 report at the time it was disseminated." Mueller is correct that no component of DOJ ever received the 1986 report, but the May 1989 report, which contained many of the same facts, including BCCI's ownership of First American -- in some cases with more detail provided -- was provided to both the DEA and the FBI.
"At no time, to my knowledge, has anyone from the CIA, or any agency, attempted to obstruct or interfere with the Department of Justice's investigation and prosecution of BCCI."
Assistant Attorney General Robert Mueller - S. Hrg. 102-350 Pt. 3, p. 789.
Bottom line:
IMHO, APPC and GIMCorp are CIA fronts. And Cohen is a CIA boy. And since the CIA is an arm of Flagship, Cohen is a Flagship boy.
First, let's talk about the all these "policy" groups, paricularly these Asian-whatever Policy groups. The use of "Asian Policy" groups as fronts for the CIA is historical. The use of "European Policy what-evers" as CIA fronts goes back to post World War II. There have been, and are, dozens and dozens of them. These CIA backed groups hold "seminars" and "get-togethers" bringing "promising young figures from various countries" together with US business interests. They are funded by the CIA, and staffed by CIA connected persons. Students of the Nugan Hand bank failure know that the majority of thses Asian-Pacific "business Groups" are really fronts for the CIA. For information on European CIA front "Policy Groups" etc. see the Bio of John J. McCloy.
And look at the folks involved in APPC: Scowcroft, Carlucci, Douglas Paal, Franklin Lavin: all formerly connected with US Intelligence. And of course, Mr. Stout. Obviously he too is former Intelligence. When he set up International Reporting and Information Systems [IRIS...cute name, huh? These clowns think they are Soooo cute]] it was touted as a 'kind of private CIA"... which clearly shows he had, at the very least, some kind of "in" with the intelligence business, but in all liklihood is just plain old CIA.
Remember reading about the Hong-Kong Trade Development Council, which Beryl Anthony represents? You know Beryl Anthony. He was the brother-in-law of Vincent Foster. The Riady's hold considerable sway in the Hong-Kong business council. And think about James Riady and his involvement with the Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute, [PAPPI] and "Leadership Education for Asian Pacfics, Inc." [LATimes 7.18.93]
I've seen it too many times to not state emphatically, that, IMHO, this APPC, which Cohen is intimately involved in, is a CIA front.
[Aside: And I HAVE to add, I recently took another look at the list of particpants in Clinton's little "business get-together' aka "business conference", in LA in December 1992, right after his election. What a FASCINATING list, especially with 4 years of new knowledge under our belt. The only thing I will point out at this time is that the ONLY foreigner invited was James Riady.]
IRIS is precisely the kind of company that Henry Kissinger set up: Kissinger & Associates. At Kissinger & Associates...who was on the BCCI side of the equation against law-enforcement...we found people like Brent Scowcroft, and Lawrence Eagleberger, and Alan Stoga. We mustn't forget Alan Stoga. He was a right hand man to Robert Abboud, who was caught up in not just BCCI, but also the S&L scandal and the BNL scandal. [Kissinger & Associates also ties into BNL...on the wrong side, as you may have quessed.] Oh, and Abboud and Stoga tie into Soviet agent Armand Hammer. Abboud was once head of Occidental Petroleum. There's more, but this is enough for now. There was also Sergio Correa da Costa at Kissinger & Associates. He was BCCI's front man down in Brazil. [And just as reminder, BCCI connects to Hubbell, Hillary, and Lippo-boy CJ Giroir through their work on a brief for Stephen's owned Systematics in BCCI litigation in the late 1970's.]
Kissinger & Associates client list included American Express, Coca-Cola, Anhueser Busch, Heinz, Hunt Oil, Chase Manhattan Bank, AIG [American International Group, headed by Maurice Greenberg, one-time chairman of the NY Federal reserve Bank, and one-time candidate to head the CIA], and Freeport McMoran..you know, with massive business concerns in Indonesia. Henry spent years providing "introductions" between foreign governments and his clients. Not low level meetings for henry and his crowd...they went straight to the top, and got audiences with the Presidents, and top dogs. Kissinger also provided "intelligence briefings" for his clients. Henry spent a lot of time brokering business between his clients and China, and Indonesia.
Scowcroft in an earlier period...the same period of the BCCI takeover of Financial General Bankshares, was an important shareholder in in the now defunct National Bank of Washington [NBW]. Another major shareholder was Saudi Arabian Wafic Said. Robert Abboud was a board member of Said's holding company and and a board member of NBW. Abboud ties to Bin Mafouz, [who ties to George Bush Jr. and BCCI, and Chicago, and David Edwards, and Arkansas, and Clinton, etc..and remember that George Bush Jr. connects to Harken. Harken connects to Alan Quasha, to his dad, who was a lawyer for Nugan Hand in the Philipines. Harken also connects to Jackson Stephens through David Edwards, to Talat Othman [to Carlucci through the NCEE] to Bakhsh, to Mike Ameen, to Kamal Adham and to George Soros, the man behind the marijauna laws in California and Arizona.] [BCCI also connects in many ways to Jeb Bush, in Miami, but that's another story.]
A large chunk of NBW stock was held by Paul Laxalt, whose firm represented BCCI in Florida when it all came tumbling down. Other NBW directors where Tommy-the- torts-Boggs...you know, Cokie Roberts brother. Boggs Law firm, Patton Boggs and Blow, represented Sheik Zayed and BCCI. This is where Ron Brown came from: Patton Boggs and Blow.
Not to mention tie ins from there to one Gerald Stern of the DOJ, who ably assisted in thwarting BCCI prosecution by the DOJ. Stern was once general counsel to Occidental Petroleum. [And Occidental leads us to soviet Armand Hammer, who served on the board of FGB, along with a number of other folks who had ties to the US Intelligence Community. Hammer faciliatated Jackson Stephens initial BCCI-backed takeover attempt of the bank. It also leads us to intimate relationships between Hammer and BCCI Front man Ghaith Paharon, but enough for now.]
Oh, and quess what? BCCI's #2 man, Naqvi, was represented by Manatt, Phelps. You know Manatt, Phelps, right? Mickey Kantor's law firm. Involved rather deeply in the Lippogate story.
So what does NBW have to do with anything? Well, they are noted for a number of reasons. Their board members had a plentitude of connections to BCCI, and attempts to thwart the investigations into BCCI. Also, Clark Clifford, who was head of BCCI's First American Bankshares, was also a board member of NBW before going to FAB. And so many of these NBW associates ended up in Bush's administration. And so many of these same people keep popping up the darndest fashion. Over, and over, and over, and over. In July of 1992, on a night "that could have been dubbed BCCI night", Ron Brown then chair of the DNC, brought together a whole plethora of BCCI funded luminaries, including Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, and John Kerry. But hey, why not? The money flowed from BCCI to George Bush and company just as freely. All the people involved on the political side, both Republicans and Democrats, had connections to BCCI hired "fixers."
Anybody noticing a pattern here?
Should I even add that Henry Kissinger was the main force behind the CIA funded UNITA, an African orgainization? You do recall UNITA, right? In the summer of 1992, former bar-bouncer and democratic "advance man", and later White House security dog, Craig Livingstone got a job with UNITA in Angola, training soldiers. I've always wondered how Craig 1. heard about this job opening, and 2. what qualifications got him hired.
Why is it always the same players always involved in the scandals? What other commonalities, interests do these people have?
What would you think if I were to tell you that most of these folks all belonged to a specific organization? Would you behgin to wonder about this organization? I'll let YOU do the research. See for yourself.
But back to IRIS and Stout...Obviously a CIA boy, IMHO. IRIS failed and Stout started GIMCorp.
GIMCorp makes connections for US businesses who want to expand into ovrerseas markets, and represents companies in negoiations with foreign governments.
Then we find out that Stout, who "helped bankroll the [Asian Pacific Policy Center [APPC]] when it started in 1993", shares offices with GIMCorp. Why, they even share the same phone service! Please. This is a classic CIA operation. Hundreds of times I have seen this in my research. The DEA shares an office with a "company" in Burma...connecting doors, and/or a shared secretary. Nugan Hand's Offices in DC just happen to be at the same address as Brigadier General Erle Cocke's 'business office'...in fact in the same office, at the same phone number, sharing the same receptionist. General Singlaub had an office connected by a common door to Charles Keating of the S&L debacle. BCCI shared the office and secretary and phone system in a plethora of "companies" that claimed they had no connection whatsoever to BCCI. Call "Coral Reinsurance" in the Carribean, and a receptionist answers "American Insurance Group"...you know, AIG, Mo Greenberg, possible head of CIA, and NY Fed Chairman. But we are told they aren't connected. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Yeah, right.
Yes, IMHO, it is abundantly clear that APPC is a CIA front, and GIMCorp is also a CIA operation. And ain't it just grand that Mr. Cohen is intimately tied to both.
What a world. Now we have CIA boy Cohen leading the Department of Defense. But hey, we have an underscretary of the Navy, who served under now-dead "commit suicide in the chest" Admiral Boorda, and for whom Sam Nunn ran interefence during his confirmation process, by the name of Dalton. A former Rand analyst, he also is a former Jackson Stephens employee.
What the heck. Jamie Gorelick, who is leaving the DOJ, was #2 there, even though she had zero, zip, nada, experience in law enforcement. However, she had a wealth of spook experience, serving under John Deutch, as a counsel for the Pentagon [Deutch became head of the CIA, as you know]. She was also a BCCI lawyer, representing Altman and Clifford in litigation; and she, herself, has twice been considered to head the CIA. I have long referred to her as CIA-girl.
Need I add that two other lawyers for CIA connected BCCI were none other than Robert Bennett, now lawyer for the President, and one Robert Fiske? You remember Fiske, right? He "investigated" the death of Vincent Foster. He's the clown who informed us that the laws of gravity had been suspeneded on the day Foster died. Fiske declared that Foster died where he was found on a 45 degree slope but the blood flowed UP his face.
You have to consider what the CIA really is, how it was created, why it was created, and most importantly, who created it. Yes, parts of the CIA do indeed serve to collect important intelligence that this nation needs. But that job had traditionally been done, very nicely thank-you, by other intelligence branches under the Department of Defense. The CIA was created by Eastern Establishment, monied interests. Created by the Wall Street crowd, and originally MANNED by the Wall Street crowd, the CIA was created to give select INDUSTRY the power of the US Government to gather intelligence that would affect the Wall Street crowd's businesses. They also came to serve as a covert army for the multinational business interests. Have a mine in South America that may be nationalized? You can't send in the Marines. Mom in Topeka is not going to give you her son's life to save your "ore". No, send in the covert army; the CIA, to run a covert war against the foreign leaders who threaten PRIVATE BUSINESS interests.
The CIA serves not the NATIONAL security but the security of the multi-nationals.
So here we sit, with a CIA boy at the helm of the DoD. Great. Now we can use the big guns. Now we CAN send in the Marines. Now we can spin to the American people from the pulpit of the Secretary of Defense why we have to do this and that, send our troops hither and yon, because it's "in the interests of the nation", spin, spin, spin. Or conversely, minimize the dangers of certain country's actions, which might alarm Americans, and create a 'fuss" which might interfere with US business interests in that country. What we will be told will not necessarily be in the best inetrests of the american people, but rather, the view that is in the best interests of the multi-nationals.
So, we have Flagship officially at the helm, now. Marionnnette Bill Clinton as President [while Vernon Jordan pulls the strings...anybody see the "Clinton map" in yesterday's WSJ...were you surprised to see Vernon Jordan's house so prominently displayed? LOL!], Cohen as Secretary of Defense, Rubin at Treasury, Albright at State, Lake at CIA, yadda, yadda, yadda... and their minions serving in "under-secretary" positions throughout the cabinet. Johns Hopkins Institute of Advanced Policy Studies rules. Certain "politically-uncorrect-to-name" organizations rule. Oliligopolies-R-Us. Get ready to walk across the "Bridge to the 21st Century."
[anyone who wants to know more should read "Crimes of patriots" by Kwitny; "False profits" by truell and Gurwin; "The Chairman" by Kai Bird; "Inside Job" by Muolo, Fricker and Pizzo; for starters]
And as for Martin Schram: IMHO he fits the perfect profile of a journalist who is also a CIA asset...or 'friendly". The bugger has been exposed. [Sure...I don't have voice mail at Scripps-Howard, so I have to rely on the kindness of strangers...you know, those CIA dudes who pick up my bills...]
Way to go Martin. You are a pip. One of these days I am going to do a search on Mr. Schram, and see what kind of disinformation he's been writing all these years.
From: Missy Kelly
From: Jim Robinson (jimrob@psnw.com)
03/16/97 13:07:18 PST
GRAY MONEY - http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a1001317.htm
Yesterday I was looking at the federal bankruptcy court filings for bankrupt Pinnacle Towers (Sarasota,FL.) and Patton & Boggs (pg. 29)is listed as a party in the Pinnacle bankruptcy.
Ironic that Pinnacle made an approx. $8.3 million payment personally to a Mark C. Sapperstein (close personal acquaintance & political crony of Maryland Attorney General, Joseph Curran Jr., Democrat)for certain cellular tower assets which were bundled into a $325 million IPO.
And that five federal prosecutors were caught lying in federal court proceedings in South Florida & Maryland to conceal alleged criminal activities involving organized crime.
Also ironic that one of the federal prosecutors (caught lying) was touted by the Republican Party as a possible replacement for Louis Freeh, as the Director of the FBI.
That the legal counsel for Pinnacle's $325 million IPO was Holland & Knight, whose top attorney, Bill McBride is now running for Governor of Florida on the Democratic ticket.
A large chunk of NBW stock was held by Paul Laxalt, whose firm represented BCCI in Florida when it all came tumbling down. Other NBW directors where Tommy-the- torts-Boggs...you know, Cokie Roberts brother. Boggs Law firm, Patton Boggs and Blow, represented Sheik Zayed and BCCI. This is where Ron Brown came from: Patton Boggs and Blow.
Nothing to see here let's just move on !!!!
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