Posted on 09/16/2001 1:33:46 AM PDT by Uncle Bill
Saddam's Fingerprints on N.Y. Bombings
The Wall Street Journal
By Laurie Mylroie
June 28, 1993
Military retaliation from Baghdad was the main administration concern following Saturday's strike on Iraq. Yet U.S. officials should start thinking seriously about the question of retaliation through terror. It is quite possible, for example, that there was a connection between Saddam and recent attempts to blow up Manhattan. It is quite possible that New York's terror is Saddam's revenge.
Speculation about the responsibility for last week's bombing plot and the earlier World Trade Center bombing has focused on Iran, Sudan, and the fundamentalist Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. Much energy has been spent linking the terror to Islamic fundamentalism. Yet Saddam, a secular tyrant, is also suspect.
Information already in the public domain allows us to make this case. Start with the fact that the most important person in the Trade Center bombing is an Iraqi, Ramzi Ahmad Yusuf. Known in New York as Rashid, Mr. Yusuf has 11 aliases. The U.S. press has reported that he left Iraq in early 1992, transiting Jordan to Pakistan. He entered New York in early September on Pakistan Airways. Mr. Yusuf, traveling on his Iraqi passport, passed through immigration by requesting asylum. The FBI claims the plot began in August, while Mr. Yusuf was abroad.
Ordering Chemicals
Mr. Yusuf soon became the roomate of Mohammed Salameh, the naive Palestinian who repeatedly returned to the van rental agency for his deposit. Passionate, but not bright, Mr. Salameh would appear a ready dupe to an intelligence operative. In trial documents, an Iraqi-American, Musaab Yassin, has stated that he had known Mr. Salameh two years. Mr. Yassin moved into Mr. Salameh's apartment in September 1992, and Mr. Salameh moved out. Mr. Yassin's younger brother, Abboud, lived with him. An Arab who knows Musaab Yassin, like Mr. Yusuf, came to the U.S. in the fall of 1992, seeking medical treatment.
In late November, Mr. Yusuf allegedly ordered chemicals for the bomb and Mr. Salameh rented a locker to store them. The plot was underway. In early February, Mr. Salameh notified his landlord that he and Mr. Yusuf would leave at month's end. On Feb. 26 the World Trade Center was bombed. Messrs. Salameh and Yusuf vacated their apartment two days later.
Mr. Salameh was arrested March 4. Musaab Yassin returned home that day to find the FBI searching his apartment, while Abboud had been taken for questioning. Abboud Yassin told the FBI that he taught Mr. Salameh to drive the van that carried the bomb, that he accompanied Mr. Salameh to an apartment later identified as the bomb's testing ground; and Abboud Yassin's information helped lead the FBI to the locker where the chemicals had been stored. The U.S. press reports that Abboud Yassin then returned to Iraq, as did Mr. Yusuf. The New York Times reported that Arabs who knew Mr. Salameh and the second Palestinian arrested, Nidal Ayyad, said that the two had "close ties with two Iraqis, one of whom they say was named Rashid, but both of whom have since disappeared."
This information, although sketchy, indicates Iraqi activity. If Mr. Yusuf, the key figure, had worked for Iran, Tehran would not have let him return to Iraq. Given the totalitarian nature of the Iraqi regime, even Abboud Yassin's return to Iraq is significant. An innocent man would, arguably, have chosen to stay in the U.S.- he would have a better chance of a fair hearing in a U.S. court than before an Iraqi intelligence officer. If Abboud Yassin was involved in the bombing- but was not acting under Baghdad's instruction- then it was even more imprudent for him to return to Iraq. Mr. Yusuf and Abboud Yassin could have gone to Afghanistan, where they would not have exposed themselves to the potentially fatal suspicions of Baghdad's intelligence agencies.
That two men involved came from Iraq and returned there is reason enough to consider an Iraqi role in the World Trade Center bombing. What other possible evidence is there? It has been reported that the bombing suspects received money from abroad: up to $100,000 from Germany, Iran, and "another Middle Eastern Country." That country is probably Jordan, shielded by U.S. authorities who continue protecting Amman for the sake of the "peace process." Without knowing how much money came from each country, though, it is hard to exclude Iraq. Last but not least, it is worth noting that the February bombing occurred on the second anniversary of Kuwait's liberation.
What about last week's arrests? The FBI arrested five Sudanese and three others as it broke up a second bombing plot. The conspirators' first target was the United Nations' headquarters. Other targets were added, including FBI headquarters in New York. Additionally, four assassinations were planned, including that of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.N. secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Like the Trade Center bombing, much of this operation was amateurish. The conspiracy instigator, Siddiq Ibrahim Ali, had a plan to get a car into the FBI building, but it was amateurish (he proposed shooting the guards). Professional terrorists divide their organizations into small cells, each devoted to specific tasks. These planners used a large group in which every participant was known to the others, so that the entire plot could quickly unravel once one member was caught. Yet, like the World Trade Center bombing, this was audacious. Had it suceeded, thousands could have died.
It's important to note that both the Trade Center bombing and the later plot represent something new- at least in the West. Saddam however commits that kind of carnage on a daily basis.
Two of the nations thought to be behind the second plot are not ideal suspects. Khartoum is suspected, because Sudanese played a big role in the plot. With Iran, Sudanese has been involved in a violent campaign to overthrow secular governments in North Africa, including Mr. Boutros-Ghali's own government in Cairo. But Khartoum has not sponsored terrorism against U.S. targets. That it should suddenly support potentially the most devastating anti-American attack ever makes little sense. A separate question though is whether Sudanese diplomats could be bought. This is possible, since Khartoum is broke, and months behind in paying its diplomats.
Iranian sponsorship of the plot is also unlikely. Iran has no big quarrel with the U.N.- it benefits from the U.N.'s disarmament of Iraq. The U.N. is not the obvious target for Muslim extremists. Their quarrel is with the U.S. They could have easily chosen an American target. Explaining why fundamentalists would bomb the U.N. is possible, but the explanation is strained- that they see the U.N. as a U.S. surrogate; that their violence is caused by anger at many issues involving the U.N., including Bosnia, Somalia and the Palestinians. The Trade Center suspects issued a set of demands that the U.S. stop aiding Israel and stop interfering in the internal affairs of Middle Eastern countries.
Saddam by contrast has every reason to attack the U.N. Saddam also hates Egypt's Mubarak and wants him dead, no less than he wanted George Bush dead. Baghdad Radio threatened Mr. Bush personally during the Gulf War and Mubarak as well, "Does he (Mubarak) think that the crime he committed against the people of Iraq will go unpunished?...Prepare yourself for it and shiver at the thought."
More To Come
Attention has focused on the Iranian-Sudanese relationship. But Baghdad could as easily recruit Sudanese as Tehran.
For Saddam, Iraqi sponsorship would be vengeance with a twist. Baghdad wants Washington to blame Iran for the terror striking America's shores. If it doesn't and fundamentalists are caught, that too is fine, because it promotes a hysteria about Islamic fundamentalism and Iran which, Saddam calculates, would eventually benefit Iraq. If Saddam is behind the attacks, more will surely follow.
The focus of the New York investigations should shift to the question of state sponsorship. If considerable evidence points to Saddam, then President Clinton must fulfill his Saturday pledge: "We will combat terrorism. We will deter aggression. We will protect our people."
[End of Transcript]
NOTE: The FBI and the Mad Bombers
Saddam Hussein's Iraq & Osama Bin Laden linked to USS Cole bomb attack
London Report: Bin Laden May Hit NYSE - OCTOBER 5, 1999
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CHINA REALLY?
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Taliban-China deal puzzles diplomatsChina aligns with Taleban! immediately after BOMBING!
In China, Anti-U.S. Sentiment Unfettered
China's Ties with 'Rogue States' Under Spotlight
Sympathy expressed, but Bush chided over Middle East (China)
Mainland to feel the heat over 'rogue' arms deals (China)
China Steps Up Security at US Embassy; Ordinary Citizens Say We Brought Attack On Ourselves
Oh No! Barbara Boxer heads terrorism subcommittee!
Bill Clinton To Visit Taiwan This Week -- Will Meet President Chen, Attend Globalization Conference
China Strengthens Ties With Taleban by Signing Economic Deal - September 13, 2001
"In a sign of Beijing's increasingly close ties with the Taleban regime in Afghanistan, China has signed a memorandum of understanding for economic and technical cooperation with Kabul, press reports from Afghanistan and Pakistan said.
The agreement was reported Tuesday, the same day terrorists hijacked four planes in the United States and drove them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A Chinese delegation signed the deal in Kabul with the Taleban's minister of mining, Mullah Mohammed Ishaq, the news reports said.
China's agreement with the Taleban is the most substantial part of a series of contacts that Beijing has had with Afghanistan over the last two years. Of all non-Muslim countries, Beijing now has the best relationship with the isolated regime in Kabul in the world, a senior Western diplomat said."
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China and Russia reacted angrily to the U.S.-British attack on Iraq
Exactly who does Bill Clinton Work for?
U.S. Tried to Halt Several Searches
"The Clinton administration has intervened repeatedly since last fall to delay or prevent intrusive weapons inspections in Iraq by United Nations teams, according to American and diplomatic accounts.
The interventions included at least six occasions, beginning in November 1997, in which Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright or other top administration officials sought -- with success in each case but one -- to persuade chief U.N. inspector Richard Butler to rescind orders for surprise searches for weapons of mass destruction or to remove a controversial inspector from Iraq. In March, according to sources, the United States and the United Kingdom put an end to the U.N. Special Commission's most successful new inspection technique by withdrawing one critical form of intelligence support -- including information, equipment and personnel -- they had provided to the U.N. inspectors until then."
Saddam's Best Friend - How the C.I.A. made it a lot easier for the Iraqi leader to rearm
Whatever Happened to Iraqgate? Was it swept under the rug because of the CIA - - or Hillary?
From the American Spectator James Ring Adams 10/92 "Mike McAlary, the New York Post's specialist on organized crime, scored a genuine scoop last February: "Clinton and BCCI candidate's money man linked to scandal bank," the headline ran. It involved large-scale Arab influence on American politicians of both parties."
Gore and Clinton and Some of Their Associates Linked to Terrorist Groups?
Hillary Clinton has a long record of association with Islamic militants
Report: Anti-Israel group gives Hillary Clinton campaign $50,000
Clinton campaign returns donation to defender of Hamas
Chinese trade coup staggers US spy chiefs
Chinese Warlord Visits Washington, D.C.
'Chinese Agent' Funneled Buddhist Temple Money to Gore Since 1993
Dynamite Affidavit Exposes Vast Clinton Administration Cover-Up
Clinton asked about ties to Riady, can't recall $1 million offer
RIADY INVITES CLINTON TO JOIN LIPPO BOARD
Clinton Considering $2 Million Offer From Chinese Firm
Why Clinton Came - On May 7, 1998, President William Jefferson Clinton addressed the Arab American Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. It was the first time an U.S. President had addressed an Arab American conference
"the Clinton White House has been extremely supportive of Arab American involvement. While Arab American involvement at the 1993 White House signing ceremony and Vice President Gore's Builders for Peace are well known as are the frequent Arab American White House and State Department meetings.
..In 1996, Arab American involvement in the national electoral arena took a step forward when the Clinton-Gore Presidential Campaign formally launched, at a Washington press conference, the Arab Americans for Clinton-Gore committee. In 1997 this committee was transformed into the Arab American Democratic Leadership Council (AADLC), a recognized part of the Democratic Party.
..I recall an event in the middle of Israel's 1996 bombing campaign in Lebanon that made it clear to me how far we had developed. As always happens in the middle of a crisis situation the White House Office of Public Liaison called my office to see how the community was reacting to the bombing and what could be done to assist us. The National Security Council also called and organized a few meetings for our leadership with the White House and State Department officials."
In Gamble, Clinton Supports Russian Germ Warfare Scientists May 26, 2000
Fund-Raising Event at Masri Mansion Closed to Press
By ELI LAKE
FORWARD STAFF
WASHINGTON -- The Democratic Senate candidate from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is raising tens of thousands of dollars at secret private fund-raisers from cronies of Yasser Arafat, even as she publicly courts Jewish voters.
Mrs. Clinton sat for an interview for this week's issue of the organ of the UJA-Federation of New York, and she's scheduled to march through the Big Apple in the Israel Day Parade on June 4. But the Forward has learned that on May 12, Mrs. Clinton attended a private fund-raising reception at the Washington mansion of Hani Masri, a close associate of Mr. Arafat. The event, which sources say raised more than $50,000, was closed to the press, which wouldn't have known about the event anyway, since it wasn't listed on Mrs. Clinton's public schedule.
A week later, on May 19 -- the same day that Mayor Giuliani dramatically announced his withdrawal from the Senate race -- Mrs. Clinton quietly slipped into Virginia to attend another fund-raising event. This time, sources say, she brought in more than $70,000 at the home of Rafat "Ray" Mahmood, a Pakistani-American real-estate developer who was in Islamabad during President Clinton's visit to Pakistan earlier this year. Again, the fund-raiser was closed to the press and not listed on Mrs. Clinton's public schedule.
The news of the events is raising concerns among some Middle East analysts, Jewish leaders and advocates of campaign-finance reform. No one is denying the right of Arab Americans or Muslim Americans to become involved in reform. No one is denying the right of Arab Americans or Muslim Americans to become involved in the American political process, and no one is alleging any impropriety. Questions are being raised, however, about what the events say about Mrs. Clinton's political judgment and about the stance she would take on Middle East issues if elected to the Senate. Other candidates supported by Mr. Mahmood or Mr. Masri, either directly or through political action committees, include some of Israel's most vocal critics in Congress, those such as Rep. Jim Moran, Rep. David Bonior and Rep. Tom Campbell.
"This is part of the problem with Hillary Clinton. She just doesn't get it. She doesn't understand why many of us have this major problem with her positions. What can I tell you? These are exactly the kinds of things she needs to explain, and they are almost unexplainable," said Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat from Brooklyn. Mrs. Clinton, under the guidance of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, has been wooing Mr. Hikind in recent weeks, even paying a shiva call in Brooklyn after the death of Mr. Hikind's father. Mr. Hikind said he would raise the issue of the secret fund-raisers with Mrs. Clinton the next time they spoke.
The president of the Middle East Media Research Institute, Yigal Carmon, said of Mr. Masri, "I am not sure this is the best ally a candidate for the U.S. Senate should choose," especially for someone running in New York, with its substantial number of Jewish voters. Memri has done extensive research on the Masri family's control of the Palestinian Development Investment Co. and its ties to Mr. Arafat. Padico owns a majority stake in the stock market in the Palestinian Authority and in the poultry, mortgage, real-estate and plastic-bottle industries there.
The fact that Mr. Masri's company, Capital Investment Management Corp., is awaiting the delivery of a $60 million loan backed by American taxpayers through the Overseas Private Investment Corp. also has some government watchdog groups concerned about appearances. The loan, for investments in the West Bank, Gaza and Jordan, was approved in 1997 in a process that involved no public advertisement or request for proposals. "Unfortunately, this is par for the course," said the spokesman for Common Cause, a campaign-finance watchdog group, Jeffrey Cronin. "The problem with our current campaign-finance system is that this creates the appearance that you have to donate or raise large sums of money to get access and influence with elected officials."
Mr. Mahmood said he supports Democrats and has no views on foreign policy other than that he supports peace. He said he had been in Pakistan on a family vacation that coincided with Mr. Clinton's visit.
Mr. Masri told the Forward that "both Bill and Hillary have done a great job. The president has done a great job in his foreign efforts." He added that the president and Mrs. Clinton's leadership give Israelis and Palestinian Arabs "hope to come to a peaceful settlement."
"For that reason, I'm supporting the first lady," Mr. Masri said.
Mr. Masri said he was asked by Mrs. Clinton's campaign to host the fund-raiser and that he complied. The event drew a few more than 60 persons, said Mr. Masri's wife, Cheryl. Among them was the legendary fund-raiser for Mr. Clinton, Terry McAuliffe, a source said.
Mr. Masri said he wished he never signed for the OPIC loan, calling it a hassle. "OPIC looks at every little detail in terms of how much they are going to make....It's tough to raise money in the Palestinian territory," he said. He said there is no connection between his fund-raising activities and the OPIC loan.
Not all Jewish observers saw a problem with Mrs. Clinton's fund-raiser at the Masri home. "Enough with Hillary-Israel bashing and Arab-American bashing, Hillary Clinton is great on Israel," said a Democratic operative and public-affairs strategist, Steven Rabinowitz.
ASIAN MONEY BOUGHT CLINTON FAVORS
Red Chinese agents penetrated Clinton’s White House
Reno calls Taiwan an intelligence threat
FBI agents claim DOJ fixed probe: Reno, aides worked 'hand and glove' with WH to protect Clinton
FBI COVER-UP OF CHINESE INFILTRATION OF WHITE HOUSE
INSIGHT ALERT! What Congress Knew and Didn’t Pursue
"To carry out that purpose, our fundamental aim in foreign policy must be to ensure our own survival and to protect those others who share our values. Under no circumstances should we have any illusions about the intentions of those who are enemies of freedom. Our Communist adversaries have little regard for human rights because they have little interest in human freedom. The ruling elites of those countries wish only one thing: to preserve their privileges and to eliminate the nagging reminder that others have done and are doing better under freedom."
OSAMA bin Laden - Financial Activities
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.
Bin Laden's Cash Flow To Terrorists Protected - U.S. Officials Doubt Pipeline Can Be Cut
"Shutting down the cash pipeline from Osama bin Laden's business interests to his terror network could prove as difficult for the United States as interdicting men and materiel along the elusive Ho Chi Minh trail during the Viet-nam War.
...''They're not going to see a penny's worth of bin Laden's assets,'' Steve Emerson, director of Investigative Group, a Washington-based firm that specializes in anti-terrorism, said in an interview.
''Bin Laden doesn't hold his assets in this country or in his name - his assets are co-mingled with other people's,'' Mr. Emerson said.
''He has them in endowments and religious-charitable groups. They're certainly not going to seize his money in Sudan, and the Arab banks that hold some of it are not going to reveal the source to the U.S.''
THE FAILURE OF U.S. INTELLIGENCE AND THE ROAD AHEAD FOR AMERICA
Waco Butcher to Head Interpol
NOTE: EU's anti-terrorism chief skeptical of Bin Laden role
BUSH TO NAME MUELLER AS FBI HEAD
FBI RAIDS DALLAS AREA ARAB INTERNET OFFICE
TERRORIST ACT AGAINST U.S. ‘IN 2 WEEKS' - June 24, 2001
FEDS RELEASED 3 PLOTTERS IN JUNE
FEDS LET TERROR SPY WRIGGLE FREE
FBI Operative Ali Mohammed Writes Bin Laden Terrorist Manual
Hijack suspect was wanted man (U.S. denied Israel's request for extradition)
CIA Reportedly Warned FBI About One Suspect (6 Stories of Prior Knowledge By FBI & Government)
FBI Looks at bin Laden's Strong Ties to Boston
Advanced Warning to US About Three Afghan Associates of Bin Laden Held in Cayman Islands
Lawmakers seek shake-up at CIA
Oh No! Barbara Boxer heads terrorism subcommittee!
FBI FOREKNOWLEDGE: Laden Suspect (Moussauoi) in OKC Bombings and WTC Attacks Identified & Jailed
No sex and bad food are recipe for CIA failure
The CIA, Bin Laden and His American Business Partners
JUSTICE DEPT. ADMITS FALSE TESTIMONY
"The Justice Department on Tuesday admitted that it used false testimony in the Houston trial of an ex-CIA agent in an effort to conceal the CIA's role in a plan to send weapons to Libya despite an arms embargo.
Defense attorney David Adler said the Justice Department's belated admission implicates seven attorneys in the plot to lie, withhold evidence or participate in the cover up. Three of them became federal judges, one was appointed an independent counsel and the three others now hold high positions in the department."
Officials aware in 1998 of training
A VISA FOR CASTRO'S TERRORISM CHIEF IN WASHINGTON
Gore and Clinton and Some of Their Associates Linked to Terrorist Groups
Chronic Underfunding of US HUMINT Plays Role in Intelligence Failures
Expert testifies Islamic terrorists flocking to U.S.
ARAFAT GAVE 12G IN GEMS TO CLINTONS
ALERT NY JEWS! HILLARY CLINTON COVERS UP $$$ & SUPPORT from PRO-ARAB TERRORIST GROUPS
Clinton's Clemency for Terrorists Is Unpardonable
WHEN AMERICA CLOSES ITS EYES TO TERROR
"And, in one bizarre - and audacious - twist, his(Clinton) aides pushed for American taxpayers to pick up the tab for court judgments against Tehran for its role in terrorist attacks against Americans."
U.S. stock indexes may plunge as much as 10 percent when trading opens Monday
Korean Air 747 - Jumbo jet blown out of sky? - Details of crash in England kept secret from public
"Intelligence sources confirmed to WorldNetDaily that a terrorist bomb is the most likely cause of the crash, and Osama bin Laden's forces are the key suspects"
ANANOVA
February 2001, 2001
The Prince of Wales has dined at a Saudi Arabian banquet attended by the brother of the world's most wanted terrorist.
Bakar Bin Laden is the younger brother of Osama Bin Laden, head of an Islamic extremist group blamed for devastating attacks against the United States.
But there is no suggestion that Bakar Bin Laden has been in any way involved in any of his brother's activities.
Charles, on a three-day visit to the kingdom, was a guest of honour at a lavish ceremonial banquet held on Friday night at the Al-Faisaliah Centre in the capital Riyadh.
He sat alongside the host, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the deputy ruler of Saudi Arabia, which Charles is visiting to open an exhibition of his paintings.
Several tables away was Bakar Bin Laden, who owns a construction empire in Saudi Arabia and is a prominent businessman.
The US accuses Osama Bin Laden of ordering the bombing of its embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998 - attacks which killed 224 people.
Charles had previously been introduced to Bakar Bin Laden, when the exhibition of his paintings first opened in London in June last year. A source who was at the event, in Whitehall, said: "Prince Charles and Prince Khalid were standing there greeting guests when Bin Laden's turn came.
"Prince Khalid said to him: 'This is Mr Bin Laden' and Charles's eyebrows shot up. He said: 'Not THE Bin Laden?'
"Prince Khalid said, 'No, no it is his brother', and Prince Charles turned to him and shook his hand.
"Then in a bit of mischief, Prince Charles asked Bin Laden: 'What is your brother up to these days?'
"I have no idea what his answer was," the source said.
Bin Laden targeted G.I.s in Gulf
BIN LADEN NOW SAID TO BE BUILDING ADDITIONAL BASES AND COMMAND CENTER
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Cuban President Fidel Castro is accompanied by Hajj Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, as he leads more than 1.2 million Cubans in the largest anti-U.S. protest in four decades of hostilities, July 26, 2001. The march was billed by the ruling Communist Party as a protest against all U.S. "aggressions and crimes' since Castro's 1959 revolution. Khomeini is in Cuba as part of an Iranian delegation visiting on Castro's invite.
Osama bin Laden - We Will Free Our Brothers
From Here To Eternity
Electronic Telegraph Issue 799
August 2, 1997
A leading associate of a sworn enemy of the West is now in custody in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he is providing information about his former boss's Islamic fundamentalist activities. Details have been passed to MI6 and to the CIA at Langley, Virginia. United States intelligence sources yesterday named the informant as Abu Fadel, the terrorist alias for Sidi Tayyib. He handled the distribution of Osama bin Laden's vast wealth as the "godfather" of anti-American terror groups. Just how he ended up in Riyadh is uncertain. US officials, who have found the Saudis difficult to deal with in the matter of terrorism, will not say if he was captured or was working as a double agent for the desert kingdom. All they will disclose is that he has been in Saudi hands since the middle of May. There is also a report that a second aide to bin Laden, said to go by the name of Jallud, is helping the Saudis after being arrested. Exiled from Saudi Arabia, bin Laden, 44, who has an inherited fortune estimated at £154 million, is zealously committed to striking at American interests. He is a towering figure in Islamic circles, where he gained heroic status in the Eighties, fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. Reporters who have interviewed him say he is a tall and elegant figure in a gold-trimmed white robe and red-and-white keffiyeh. He lives with his three wives at Hadda in Afghanistan, beyond the reach of the West and under the protection of the Taliban, who captured Kabul almost a year ago. He is especially feared because of his ability to fund many diverse operations. Britain has a special interest in him because he has been linked to the transfer of funds two years ago to a London-based Algerian group suspected of seven bombings in France. He has also been connected to the London-based Saudi opposition group, the Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights. Egypt wants to question him for allegedly funding a plot to assassinate President Mubarak in December 1995. Cairo believes that in association with the blind sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, he was behind some of the murders of Western tourists in Egypt. America believes that bin Laden was the patron of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the 28 year-old Pakistani on trial in Manhattan for allegedly masterminding the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing for which the sheikh is serving a prison term. A State Department report labels him as "one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today". It is thought to be no coincidence that two alleged suicide bombers, Abu Mezer, 23, and Lafi Khalil, 22, carrying Jordanian passports, were captured two days ago making pipe bombs in a flat in Brooklyn, New York. They were apparently plotting to blow up a subway train. American sources say the information being given in Riyadh by Tayyib relates to the distribution of money to Arab communities in Brooklyn, Jersey City in New Jersey, and Detroit. Tayyib has apparently given details of bin Laden's bank accounts in Pakistan and Afghanistan from which money has been sent to London and Detroit for passing on to individuals. His information is thought to have been the reason a federal grand jury has been secretly convened in New York to examine the financing of terrorism in America. The CIA believes that bin Laden had advance knowledge of two Saudi bombings that killed 24 US servicemen. He is thought to have provided the money, with Iran supplying the muscle through Hizbollah.
Report: Bin Laden Getting Financial Support Money Allegedly Funneled Through Front Accounts Oct. 29, 1999
AP
Osama bin Laden
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Osama bin Laden continues to receive help from businessmen in Saudi Arabia who are transferring tens of millions of dollars to bank accounts linked to the accused terrorist, U.S. intelligence officials told USA Today.
The money was deposited into accounts of Islamic charities, including Islamic Relief and Blessed Relief, that serve as fronts for bin Laden, the newspaper reported today.
A Saudi government audit obtained by U.S. intelligence shows that five top Saudi Arabian businessmen ordered the National Commercial Bank, the kingdom's largest, to transfer personal funds and $3 million from a Saudi pension fund to New York and London banks.
Bin Laden, whose family runs the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia, has called for the overthrow of the Saudi government. USA Today quoted the further unidentified U.S. intelligence officials as saying the payments are "protection money" aimed at staving off attacks on the businessmen's properties.
Indicted for embassy bombings
The money transfers were discovered in August after the Saudi royal family ordered an audit of the National Commercial Bank and its founder and former chairman, Khalid bin Mahfouz, the U.S. officials said.
Mahfouz is now under house arrest in the Saudi city of Taif. His successor, Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi, also heads the Capitol Trust Bank in New York and London, which is being investigated by U.S. and British officials for allegedly transferring money to bin Laden, USA Today said.
The newspaper said Amoudi's Washington attorney, Vernon Jordan, who also is a confidant of President Clinton, could not be reached for comment.
Bin Laden has been indicted by a U.S. grand jury on charges of ordering the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. Bin Laden, believed to be living in Afghanistan, has denied the charges.
Just a portion of his holdings-
************** This is what is confronting our nation
Regards,
Stmoritz.
Saudi Money Aiding Terrorist bin Laden
USA TODAY
By Jack Kelley
10/28/99- Updated 11:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON - More than a year after the U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa, prominent businessmen in Saudi Arabia continue to transfer tens of millions of dollars to bank accounts linked to indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden, senior U.S. intelligence officials told USA TODAY.
The money transfers, which began more than five years ago, have been used to finance several terrorist acts by bin Laden, including the attempted assassination in 1995 of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia, the officials said.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected to raise the issue with Prince Sultan, the Saudi defense minister, during his visit to Washington next week. Saudi Arabia, the main U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, has pledged to fight terrorism.
According to a Saudi government audit acquired by U.S. intelligence, five of Saudi Arabia's top businessmen ordered the National Commercial Bank (NCB), the kingdom's largest, to transfer personal funds, along with $3 million diverted from a Saudi pension fund, to New York and London banks.
The money was deposited into the accounts of Islamic charities, including Islamic Relief and Blessed Relief, that serve as fronts for bin Laden.
The businessmen, who are worth more than $5 billion, are paying bin Laden "protection money" to stave off attacks on their businesses in Saudi Arabia, intelligence officials said. Bin Laden, whose family runs the largest Saudi construction firm, has called for the overthrow of the Saudi government.
The money transfers were discovered in April after the royal family ordered an audit of NCB and its founder and former chairman, Khalid bin Mahfouz, U.S. officials say. Mahfouz is now under "house arrest" at a military hospital in the Saudi city of Taif, intelligence officials said.
His successor, Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi, also heads the Capital Trust Bank in New York and London, which U.S. and British officials are investigating for allegedly transferring money to bin Laden. Amoudi's Washington lawyer, Vernon Jordan, could not be reached for comment.
Mahfouz's son, Abdul Rahman Mahfouz, is on the board of Blessed Relief in Sudan. Suspects in the Mubarak attack are linked to the charity.
Bin Laden faces U.S. criminal charges for allegedly masterminding the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. Bin Laden, who is in Afghanistan, denies the charges.
Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan declined to comment on the reports.
[End of Transcript]
Bin Laden Funneled Money Through UAE Bank
Bin Laden Getting Financial Support - Links
Osama Bin Laden’s International Terror Network
CIA PROBE: MILLIONS OF SHARES SOLD ON EVE OF DISASTER; DID BIN LADEN PULL OFF THE SICKEST SHARE DEAL EVER?
DAILY MAIL - [VIA DRUDGE REPORT]
September 18, 2001
The CIA has asked the City regulators in London to investigate suspicious sales of millions of shares before last Tuesday's attacks in America in the belief that the paper trail will lead to the terrorists.
Osama Bin Laden could have pulled off a sick financial coup shortly before the attacks that devastated America.
Britain's City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, has launched an inquiry into unusual share price movements in London before last week's atrocities.
Other investigations have been launched in the U.S., Germany, Japan and Italy. The authorities fear that the Saudi-born multi-millionaire's followers might have used a technique known as 'short selling' shares in commodities such as insurance companies, airlines and tourism which they knew would plunge after the attack.
Short selling involves borrowing shares from a broker, then selling them.
You use the money raised to buy the shares when the price has gone down, give them to the broker and pocket the difference.
So if you sold a million shares at GBP 8 each, and they then went down to GBP 5, you could make a quick GBP 3million less the broker's fees and commission.
'It would be a particularly ghoulish kind of insider dealing,' said one source.
'But if we find anyone profiteering out of the tragedy it could be a good lead for the investigation into exactly who is responsible.'
The authorities are also looking for any unusual buying activity in sectors likely to go up, such as building or arms manufacturers.
Germany's security watchdog has launched an inquiry into 'suspect' share price movements in the run-up to the atrocities.
It is expected to home in on Munich Re, the world's biggest reinsurer, which lost 13 per cent of its value in the week before the attacks.
Fellow reinsurer Swiss Re and the French insurance giant Axa also suffered price falls before the outrage.
In cases of widespread short selling, the brokers start to follow the trend to cover themselves and this can force the market down.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said: 'We are going to track down every terrorist and confiscate their money wherever it is in the world.
'And I think we'll have the co-operation of every financial institution in every civilised society.
'We're going to shut these people down.'
A similar investigation is under way in Japan, where it is believed to be focusing on dealings in futures contracts.
In the futures market, investors bet on the future price of shares or commodities and can make enormous gains if their gambles prove correct.
Bin Laden comes from a wealthy Saudi business family and is believed to have financial tentacles reaching across the globe.
He is reported to have used a Milan brokerage to invest in European stock markets.
The Swiss authorities are also looking closely at his links with their country's notoriously secretive banking system.
FROM OKCSUBMARINER: Almost a year ago I uncovered info on the Vernon Jordan and Clinton and Saudi banks connection for money laundering for Bin Laden. I reported my finding to the FreeRepublic in an article which is reprinted in part below.
I also sent all my investigative work (docs, articles,etc) to former KFORTV reporter Jayna Davis who provided my information to the appropriate government authorities. I am glad that BlueDog is posting another article which supports the article I quoted almost a year ago. It is a very important reminder.
I have been trying to tell my Congressmen and Senators and COngressional COmmittees about this for several years but they like the FBI have ignored me.
Note the connections to the OKC bombing and the terror network responsible for the WTC attacks on 9/11/01 in the US and OKC mentioned in my article posted on FreeRepublic(please read again):
Gore and Clinton and Some of Their Associates Linked to Terrorist Groups?
Crime/Corruption Breaking News Opinion Keywords: GORE, TERRORISM
Source: OKCSubmariner
Published: October 19, 2000 Author: Patrick B. Briley
Posted on 10/19/2000 13:13:04 PDT by OKCSubmariner
excerpt:
Jack Kelly reported in an October 29, 1999, article of U.S.A. Today, entitled “Saudi Money Aiding Bin Laden,” that Capitol Trust Bank of New York and London was being investigated by U.S. and British officials for allegedly transferring millions of dollars to terrorist Bin Laden from five top Saudi Arabian businessmen. It is very disturbing that the banker who heads up Capitol Trust Bank, Mohammed Alamoudi, has legally been represented in Washington D.C., by Vernon Jordan, a close confidante of Clinton with ties to Gore.
Furthermore, note that Alamoudi is the same last name of the individual Timmerman reported had ties to Ed Gabriel, Arab terrorists and Al Gore and those who had arranged questionable if not illegal contributions to the Gore/Clinton campaign in 1996. It is not known whether or not Mohammed and Abdulrahuran Alamoudi are related or unrelated or know each other.
Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher accused the US State Department and its Assistant Secretary, Karl Inderfurth, of withholding key documents from Congress that Rohrabacher claimed would show that the Clinton and Gore administration had supported the Taliban militia in Afghanistan. This story was reported by the UPI and author Joe Warminsky on October 20, 1999.
The Taliban has widely been acknowledged as hiding and protecting the terrorist Bin Laden.Steve Emerson, a noted terrorism expert and producer of “Jihad In American” for PBS, wrote an editorial for the Wall Street Journal on March 13, 1996 entitled “Friends of Hamas In the White House.” Emerson said “the contacts between the White House and Islamic radicals began on November 9, 1995, when President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore met with Abdulrahman Alamoudi, executive director of the American Muslim Council (AMC), as part of a meeting with 23 Muslim and Arab leaders.”
Emerson quoted Seif Ashmarvy, the American Muslim publisher of the Voice of Peace in New Jersey. Ashmarvy said “the American Muslim Council is a radical group that supports radical Islamic terrorist movements.” Ashmarvy also said he felt “totally betrayed by the Clinton administration.”
Emerson reported that Abdulrahman Alamoudi in an April 1995 press conference denounced the counter terrorism legislation in Congress and angrily dismissed suggestions that Hamas was a terrorist group.
The AMC responded to Emerson’s article in April 1996 in a press release “Reading Between the Lines, AMC’s Rebuttal to Steve Emerson’s Charges.” In rebuttal, AMC asserted that Hamas should not be condemned for extreme actions by those in the military front of Hamas. AMC President Dr. Mohammed Cheema is also quoted in the AMC rebuttal as saying “Israel must talk to Hamas” since Cheema believed Palestinians were following Hamas.
Janice Roberts, staff director for a Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism told me there has been a well established Hamas terrorist cell in OKC for more than ten years. Governor Frank Keating’s brother, Martin Keating, told me on KTOK radio that Hamas had a well established terrorist cell in OKC. Martin Keating’s book, “the Final Jihad”, contains a story line of a Middle Eastern attack on a Federal building in Oklahoma and his book was written before the OKC bombing.
excerpt:
There is even more information pertaining to Lenzner’s possible role in the OKC bombing case. Lenzner was part owner of a Tulsa, Oklahoma company once called Hawkins Oil. Hawkins employed a Pakistani (M. Cheema) who was a member of the Islamic Society of Tulsa and who has worked with militant Arab students on the campus of Tulsa University.
The Hawkins Oil employee made one or business trips to Pakistan and the region near Afghanistan where the terrorist Bin Laden resides. An Arab informant has told an OKC police officer that the Pakistani employee of Hawkins Oil was placed together with the employer of the Iraqi, Al Husseini, who sued KFORTV. According to the OKC police officer, the FBI intervened directly with the informant to shut down the investigation of the Hawkins Oil employee’s connections by the OKC police officer.
Also, recall that Dr, Mohammed Cheema, a Pakistani, is president of the AMC connected to Edward Gabriel and Gore by Timmerman and Emerson. It is not known whether or not the Hawkins Oil employee and Dr. Mohammed Cheema are related or know each other.
Also, an Indian newspaper, NewsToday, reported in June 2000, that Mohammed Arshad Cheema of Pakistan had helped Pakistani and Mujahideen (connected to Bin Laden) terrorists hijack an Indian plane, flight IC-814.
It is not known whether or not the Hawkins Oil employee (M. Cheema), Dr. Mohammed Cheema, and Mohammed Arshad Cheema are relatives or know each other. However, all three are Pakistanis. And it was reported on Freerepublic.com by Free Vulcan on October 11, 2000 that Clinton has had longstanding connections with Pakistani terrorists, drug and gun runners, and hit men associated with BCCI.
Also recall earlier in this article the story about FBI agent and CIA operative Floyd Zimms deliberately giving out false information about the getaway car of two Pakistani suspects detained at the Dallas airport on April 19,1995, an action that caused their premature release. p> Was there a connection between any of the Pakistanis, Terry Lenzner, Vernon Jordan, Clinton, Gore or Bin Laden with the OKC bombing case and with campaign contributions from Arab groups associated with Arab terrorists??
..............................
Three Pakistanis were arrested and then released in OKC and Dallas on the day of the OKC bombing. One of them Asad Siddiqy was a suspect in the first World Trade Center bombing. Janet lied when she told the public that these men were arrested. She never expalined why they were released when they were seen in their blue Cavalier by witness Debbie Burdick with McVeigh, his Mercury Marque and a brown pickup truck just moments before the Murrah building ws bombing.
Also, Vincent Cannistraro, the former ME CIA operations chief, told the FBI that Saudi intelligience had informed him on the day of the OKC bombing that Sadam Hussein had hired seven Pakistanis to help McVeigh do the OKC bombing. Jayna Davis has over twenty afafadavits describing seven ME men who helped McVeigh construct the truck bomb in OKC on April 18, 1995, the day before the bombing.
The American Spectator
by Kenneth R. Timmerman
November, 1997
Clinton-Gore hubris knows no bounds. In the thick of the campaign finance hearings on Capitol Hill, the White House has nominated a controversial DNC fundraiser, Edward M. Gabriel, to become United States Ambassador to Morocco, a key country to the Middle East peace process.
Gabriel's name was formally submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 8, before the FBI had completed its background investigation into Gabriel's finances, business connections, or personal life. Perhaps the White House was hoping Jesse Helms and his staff would be contrite for blocking ex-Massachusetts governor William Weld from becoming ambassador to Mexico, or that Gabriel's tobacco-lobbyist wife, Kathleen "Buffy" Linehan (who works for Phillip Morris), would suffice to woo tobacco-stater Helms.
As it turned out, the moment was ill-timed, and the candidate ill-starred. A scant ten days later, as we reported on The American Spectator's web site on September 18, the White House was forced to turn over Gabriel's file to the Justice Department for further investigation of allegations tying him to murky Arab campaign donations to the DNC and the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign.
A few hours before Lebanese financier Roger Tamraz was to testify before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, committee staffers received a mysterious call from someone claiming to be Tamraz who alleged that Tamraz had been solicited by Gabriel to donate $50,000 to the DNC through the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based non-profit group. Gabriel called the allegation "science fiction," and in his public testimony later that day, Tamraz said he had not made the phone call and didn't know Gabriel. Nevertheless Jesse Helms announced he was postponing Gabriel's confirmation hearing "indefinitely."
Two things are certain about this curious case: Ed Gabriel has powerful enemies, and he made them by hitching his wagon to two highly controversial Arab-American lobbyists in Washington: James Zogby and Abdulrahman Alamoudi. In the "bad old days" when the State Department and Congress still considered the PLO a terrorist organization, both men were staunch backers of Yasir Arafat. More recently, Zogby has called on Arab states to reinvigorate the secondary boycott against Israel, which aims to deter U.S. companies by threatening to ban them from contracts in the Arab world if they do business with Israel.
Meanwhile, Alamoudi, who heads the American Muslim Council that was invited to the White House by Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Muslim Eid holidays, has been raising funds for "charitable" organizations whose branches in Gaza and the West Bank were closed down in late September by none other than Arafat. The PLO chairman accused them of supporting the military wing of Hamas, the radical Islamic group that has claimed responsibility for recent suicide bombings in Israel. Zogby, Gabriel, and Alamoudi sat together on the steering committee of Arab Americans for Clinton/Gore '96 and frequently appear at functions organized by Zogby's Arab American Institute.
Given these connections, one could easily suspect the pro-Israeli lobby of seeking to sabotage Gabriel's nomination. Not only has Gabriel supported radical Arab causes, but if confirmed would serve in a moderate Arab country whose ruler, King Hassan II, has long been an "honest broker" between Israel and its Arab neighbors and protected Morocco's Jewish community.
TAS was itself tipped off to Gabriel by an anonymous source who called several days before Gabriel's nomination became public knowledge. Claiming to be a former DNC employee, the caller made detailed allegations about Gabriel's activities as a fundraiser for Clinton-Gore and ties to former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary and Vice President Al Gore, his biggest backer at the White House. None of the pro-Israeli organizations and lobbyists we contacted was aware of Gabriel's pending nomination, nor did any have him on their radar screen.
In subsequent conversations, the anonymous "former DNC employee" alleged that Gabriel served as a conduit for campaign contributions to the DNC from Arab businessmen in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Syria. The source claimed the funds were solicited by Gabriel, and occasionally by Zogby, and were deposited into accounts controlled by Zogby's Arab American Institute, which then paid out the moneys to Arab Americans who could legally contribute to the campaign. "These are people who have no resources, who are not on the board of any organization," the source said about these nominal donors. "They sent in checks of $1,000, $5,000, occasionally $10,000, but never more. We're talking about several hundred thousand dollars in soft and hard money."
According to FEC records, Gabriel, Zogby, and board members of such groups as the Arab American Institute contributed more than $180,000 to Democratic campaigns during the 1995-1996 cycle. (Other AAI members contributed to Arab-American Republican candidates.) But if our source is correct, this is just the money that appears on the surface.
In telephone interviews Zogby admitted to having solicited money for his institute from Arab businessmen, but denied serving as a conduit for donations to the DNC. "Our PAC does not support Democratic causes. It supports Arab-American candidates, both Democrats and Republicans," he said. In a letter to the September 20 Washington Times, he called allegations that he was funneling foreign Arab money into the Clinton-Gore campaign "anti-Arab bigotry." "There are Arab businessmen who have contributed to the institute -- that's true," he told TAS. "But there was no money-for-favors. That's an unfair allegation, because it's just not true. I go to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Lebanon, the West Bank regularly. And there are people over there who have contributed. But I haven't gone there specifically to solicit contributions."
But Zogby clearly seems to be hiding something. Three times we went to his offices to request a copy of his institute's tax forms -- as a nonprofit group it is required by law to make them available on its premises -- and each time Zogby refused to show them to us. Zogby claims his institute operates on a $700,000 annual budget, but the "former DNC employee" who called us said AAI distributed between $1 and $2 million in 1996. Without the tax forms, which Zogby has illegally withheld, there is no way to determine who is telling the truth. At least three congressional committees are now investigating Gabriel and Zogby and the possibility of an "Arabgate" at the DNC.
It turns out that Gabriel and Zogby's most determined enemies are not American Jews, but Lebanese-Americans bitterly opposed to Syria's illegal occupation of Lebanon and the U.S.'s acceptance of this state of affairs. Last July the State Department, following a major lobbying effort on behalf of the Syrian-controlled Lebanese government of billionaire Rafic Hariri, lifted its ban on travel to Lebanon. Gabriel and Zogby played central roles in this effort. The lifting means U.S. business is now free to invest in projects controlled by Hariri and his Saudi and Syrian partners.
Gabriel used his position as a founder and executive committee member of a Hariri-supported nonprofit, the pro-Syrian American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL), to lobby Congress and the administration to have the travel ban lifted. In this activity he was aided by Zogby, who serves with Gabriel on the ATFL board, just as Gabriel served on the governing board of Zogby's Arab American Institute.
As George Cody, executive director of the ATFL and one of Gabriel's biggest supporters, told TAS: "Ed Gabriel has been very instrumental on the travel ban. He has raised this at every opportunity, including during meetings with Vice President Gore and with President Clinton." Cody went even further: "Gabriel is being supported in this nomination [as ambassador to Morocco] by Gore. He has an excellent relationship with the VP and with the president." Though Cody personally recalled paying three visits to the White House with Zogby and Gabriel, other sources tell TAS that Gabriel logged in to visit the vice president at the White House no fewer than seventeen times. Neither the vice president's office nor the White House Counsel's office would respond to questions about Gabriel, his ties to Gore, his fundraising activities, or his business and lobbying activities, despite repeated requests. Nor would they authorize Gabriel to comment before his nomination hearing.
Gabriel's ATFL has received two grants from the Clinton administration: $100,000 from the Agency for International Development in 1993 to host a conference on Lebanon, and another $25,000 in 1995 to conduct a symposium on Lebanon's capital markets -- a topic of great interest to Hariri, who has single-handedly floated several hundred million dollars in Lebanese government bonds on the international market to support his construction projects.
What may finally do in Gabriel's nomination, however, could have little to do with Lebanon. For one thing, there are his ties to Al Gore. Zogby and Cody both acknowledge that Gore was the driving force behind Gabriel's nomination, and that Gabriel was a regular White House visitor as both DNC fundraiser and board member of Arab-American organizations. Said one White House source, "Zogby came in here and pounded on the table in front of the vice president, and said you've got to appoint this guy." When we asked Zogby whether he'd lobbied Gore on Gabriel's behalf, Zogby called Gabriel "as qualified as anybody else I've seen." Although Gabriel is Lebanese American, he does not speak Arabic, or any other foreign language, and has no foreign affairs experience.
Also under scrutiny are Gabriel's links to former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary, who's already the subject of a Justice Department preliminary probe that could lead to the appointment of an independent counsel. Gabriel, a long-time friend of O'Leary's, invited her to be guest of honor at a $100,000 DNC fundraiser that he held at his Washington home in the summer of 1996. On the résumé distributed by the White House, Gabriel is listed as an "energy consultant." But the background bio that's being circulated by the ATFL in support of his nomination states he worked as an "adviser to Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary."
The most explosive of Ed Gabriel's many explosive contacts may be with the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. In late 1993 or early 1994, TAS has learned, a Gabriel associate named Tracy Chamoun, along with Lebanese businessman Charles Chidiac, approached Iraq's U.N. ambassador Nizar Hamdoon with an indelicate proposition. According to one of the participants, as well as other sources with knowledge of the meeting, the pair told Hamdoon they were so plugged into the Clinton administration they could "guarantee" a lifting of the U.N. oil embargo on Iraq. Chamoun's lobbying partner in this effort, the sources said, was to be Edward M. Gabriel himself. The asking price for this very special service: $5 million! The Iraqi ambassador reportedly laughed off Chamoun's presumptuousness and dismissed the offer out of hand. Conveniently for Gabriel, Chamoun's husband told us she was out of the country and could not be reached for several weeks -- perhaps not until after Gabriel's confirmation hearing? That is, if Jesse Helms ever puts it on the calendar.
Kenneth R. Timmerman is the publisher of Iran Brief and a frequent contributor to The American Spectator.
Friends of Hamas in the White House
Reading Betwwen The Lines: AMC's Rebuttal To Steve Emerson's Charges
Terry Lenzner's CIA Connection
NOTE: Micro$oft under attack by IGI
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