Posted on 02/19/2003 1:35:36 PM PST by eshu
In December, President Bush named Thomas Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, chairman of an independent commission examining the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But FORTUNE has learned that Kean appears to have a bizarre link to the very terror network he's investigating--al Qaeda.
Here's how the dots connect: Kean is a director of petroleum giant Amerada Hess, which in 1998 formed a joint venture--known as Delta Hess--with Delta Oil, a Saudi Arabian company, to develop oil fields in Azerbaijan. One of Delta's backers is Khalid bin Mahfouz, a shadowy Saudi patriarch married to one of Osama bin Laden's sisters. Mahfouz, who is suspected of funding charities linked to al Qaeda, is even named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by families of Sept. 11 victims. True, Hess is hardly the only company to cross paths with Mahfouz: He has shown up in dealings with, among others, ultra-secretive investment firm Carlyle Group and BCCI, the lender toppled by fraud in 1992.
Kean, who was unavailable for comment, may not have been aware of the Mahfouz connection. But Hess spokesman Carl Tursi did reveal another interesting coincidence: Three weeks before Kean's appointment, Hess severed its ties with Delta.
Yes, I agree that business ties to Saudi terrorism supporters are no reason why someone shouldn't head the 9/11 commision - I just posted this to illustrate the moral bankruptcy of the left.
The Leon Hess family owns the NY Jets - Mark Gastineau used to play for the Jets - Gastineau's ex-wife Lisa used to date the Sylvester Stallone, son of the owner of the pyschic dogs.
Friggin' eerie.
I'm back, and I should be working, but I keep freeping.
Must stop now. Must do work.
It can wait. You only live once you know. Do what you want. Relaaaaax. What's the worst thing that can happen?
Let's just say, there are some really, really kewl toys coming your way before next Christmas.
I can just imagine.
Day One - load boat with beer and booze. Start drinking. Too drunk to sail, pass out.
Day Two - wake up hung over. Drink to alleviate pain. Too drunk to sail, pass out.
Day three. Out of beer. Get lost coming back from liquor store, by the time you get back to the boat, it's too late to sail, start drinking, pass out.
Day Four - finally set sail, start drinking, run aground, pass out.
Day Five - get boat pulled from sandbar, head back to dock for minor repairs, get more beer, start drinking, too late to set sail, pass out.
Day six - set sail, realize you have run out of limes, head to nearest port, get more booze as well as limes, start drinking, too late to leave, pass out.
Day seven - set sail, finally spend a night out in the open water.
Day eight - running low on beer, head back to port, get beer, drink, pass out.
Day nine - decide to blow off sailing for one day, get more beer.
We drank and we drank, but when it came time to sail we were up and at 'em. If you were hungover, you had to throw up over the side and get back in the game.
We had a fifty-foot Beneteau. Got it going as fast as 10 knots on the open ocean, hungover and all. We had new beach bars to discover and pillage everyday. It was a mission.
Sounds like a great trip.
It certainly was.
Did you get sunburned pretty good?
Not too bad. I’m a total fairy regarding the sun, and put on sunblock even at night. (pasty white Irish boy)
Any need to dip into the bail money?
Fortunately no. As far as we could tell, there isn’t a single cop in the BVI and to our knowledge, nothing was illegal. We tested this theory repeatedly. 8-)
But, most people are over 9/11 and not particularly suspicious of the Saudis anymore, so I guess your attitude is pretty understandable too.
Using your idiotic logic, there is no difference between Joe Consumer buying a plastic widget and Joe CEO forming a joint venture with Chinese Widget Co., Inc to build widget factories in Hong Kong.
And guess what? If one of the board members of Chinese Widget Co. was suspected of stealing American military secrets, and then Bush named his American business partner as the chairman of the "Stop China from stealing American military secrets" commision, I would think that was pretty lame too.
My “attitude” is that you’re an asshole. Most reasonable people agree.
You interrupted this thread to announce that you'd been drinking, vomiting and sailing for a couple of weeks, right?
Why don't you sleep it off and return when you have something intelligent to say?
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