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The most important part of the Harken Oil deal and Goerge W. Bush is that he sold his stock shortly after the Emir of Bahrain announced that Harken has been awarded a contract to develop an off shore oil field in that country. The oil industry was miffed that Harken got the contract since it had never drilled a single off shore well. It appeared to be little more than a thinly disguised means for the Bahrainis to give a boost to the value of Harken stock for the benefit of Bush, whose father was then the President.

The original Wall Street Journal article discussing this strongly implied that the transaction was tainted, a thinly disguised bribe although that exact word was not used. The WSJ article I am refering was written not too long after the sale, during the first Bush Presidency.

Please do not ask me for a copy of this article since I did not clip it at the time.

Since "W" became a candidate for the Presidency, this aspect of the sale has been deeply buried, including by the WSJ itself.

Please do not ask me for a copy of this article since I did not clip it at the time.

I most certainly would like to see that article before I believe anything like that! The SEC investigated this case.I'll take their word before any WSJ article, thank you very much!

The most important part of the Harken Oil deal and Goerge W. Bush is that he sold his stock shortly after the Emir of Bahrain announced that Harken has been awarded a contract to develop an off shore oil field in that country.
On June 22, 1990, Bush sold 212,140 shares of Harken at $4 a share, for a total sale of $848,560.

Don't you think maybe he needed the money to invest in the Rangers and that's why he sold when he did?

After working on his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989.

Bush used the proceeds of the Harken sale to pay off a loan he took to buy his interest in the Texas Rangers baseball team.