Harken Energy Had a Web Of Mideast Connections;In the Background: BCCI

Harken Energy Had a Web Of Mideast Connections;In the Background: BCCI
This article was prepared by Wall Street Journal staff reporters Thomas Petzinger Jr., Peter Truell And Jill Abramson

12/06/1991
The Wall Street Journal
PAGE A1
(Copyright (c) 1991, Dow Jones & Co., Inc.)

Two years ago, Talat Othman didn't have the president's ear. But since August 1990, the Palestinian-born Chicago investor has attended three White House meetings with President Bush to discuss Middle East policy.

Mr. Othman's political access coincides with the remarkable ascendance of a little Texas oil company on whose board he serves alongside George W. Bush, the president's oldest son. That company, Harken Energy Corp. -- though it had never drilled a single well overseas or in water -- recently won the rights to drill potentially lucrative offshore wildcat wells in a contract bestowed by the government of Bahrain.

When the Harken deal was announced in January 1990, it attracted only perfunctory notice. More recently, a number of publications have written about the case, raising questions about whether Bahrain might have chosen Harken in part because a presidential son sat on its board.

Now, George W. Bush is emerging as a principal adviser to his father. He was a lead player in the campaign to oust White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, and was cited by his father yesterday as among those who will play "key roles in the reelection effort." Thus, the issues surrounding the Harken deal take on fresh importance.

The White House says there is nothing questionable in this story of petroleum, politics and the presidential son. "There is no conflict of interest, or even the appearance of conflict, in these business arrangements," says spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. The matters had been reviewed and disclosed, he said, adding, "They are legitimate business undertakings."

Indeed, an investigation by this paper has not revealed evidence of wrongdoing or influence-peddling by George W. Bush or anyone else connected to Harken. Yet what does emerge is a complex pattern of personal and financial relationships behind Harken's sudden good fortune in the Middle East, raising the question of whether Bahrainis or others in the Middle East may have hoped to ingratiate themselves with the White House. Even more intriguing, there are numerous links among Harken, Bahrain and individuals close to the discredited Bank of Credit & Commerce International, a banking empire that used Mideast oil money to seek ties to political leaders in several countries.

The mosaic of BCCI connections surrounding Harken Energy may prove nothing more than how ubiquitous the rogue bank's ties were. But the number of BCCI-connected people who had dealings with Harken -- all since George W. Bush came on board -- likewise raises the question of whether they mask an effort to cozy up to a presidential son.

-- Sheik Khalifah bin-Salman al-Khalifah, the prime minister of Bahrain and a brother of the country's ruling emir, is identified on an October 1990 shareholder list as one of the 45 investors who own parent company BCCI Holdings (Luxembourg) S.A. The emir played a role in approving the Harken transaction.

-- Sheik Abdullah Bakhsh, a major Harken shareholder represented by Mr. Othman on the company's board, has been a co-investor in Saudi Arabia with alleged BCCI front man Ghaith Pharaon, and used Khalid bin-Mahfouz, until recently a principal BCCI shareholder, as his banker.

-- Harken's investment bankers helped BCCI gain its foothold in U.S. banking, and they also arranged for a Swiss bank to help rescue Harken from its debt woes in 1987 -- a Swiss bank that was at the time a joint-venture partner with BCCI.

-- Harken's consultant on the Bahrain deal counts Kamal Adham, a principal owner of BCCI, as a close friend and has had a long acquaintance with BCCI's Mr. Pharaon.

As a candidate and later in the White House, President Bush vowed to avoid even the appearance of any conflicts of interest in his administration. He instructed Secretary of State James Baker to cable all U.S. embassies to warn against the appearance of preferential treatment for Bush family investments overseas. The president has also moved to distance himself from the BCCI scandal, denouncing a former aide who recently went to work as a lawyer for BCCI's Mr. Adham, and who resigned in the ensuing furor.

George W. Bush, a managing partner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, declined to be interviewed. He did provide brief responses to written questions through an intermediary. Asked whether his involvement with the Dallas energy company lent it added credibility in the Arab world, he said to "ask the Bahrainis."

Every individual involved denies any influence peddling. Mr. Othman, George W. Bush and people involved in setting up the White House meetings on the Mideast say the president's son had nothing to do with Mr. Othman's being included among the Arab-Americans invited. "Not by any stretch of the imagination," Mr. Othman says.

And Harken investor Mr. Bakhsh rejects any suggestion that his links, past and present, to Messrs. Pharaon and binMahfouz mean he is in any way associated with BCCI. He says through his New York lawyer that he bought Harken stock (in 1987) because it looked like a good investment in a depressed industry.

Harken officials say they resent any suggestion their company somehow has ties to BCCI. They dismiss the circumstantial links to it as purely random and say they were shocked to learn of them. And, in fact, BCCI has proved adept at insinuating itself into centers of influence without the knowledge of those occupying the seats of power.

Harken says it won the Bahrain drilling deal purely on merit, through painstaking geological research and deft negotiating. It says Mr. Bush played no role in clinching the deal.

As for Bahrain, it says it chose tiny Harken partly because it didn't believe a large company would be so fully committed to the project. Other Harken officials, while denying that the Bush name played any specific role, acknowledge that having him on their board is an asset. "You'd have to be an idiot not to say it's impressive," says Alan Quasha, former Harken chairman and its second-largest shareholder. (The largest, with 24.5%, is a Harvard University investment fund.)

Mr. Bush's affiliation with Harken came at the end of a failed attempt to follow in the footsteps of his father. Like him, George W. launched a career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, and like his father he chose a Spanish name for it: Arbusto Energy Inc. "Arbusto" is Spanish for " bush"; the president's company was Zapata Petroleum Co.

Among George W.'s investors was James R. Bath, a Houston aircraft broker who had a flourishing aviation business with sheiks of the Saudi peninsula. Mr. Bath owned a piece of a Houston bank in which Mr. Pharaon, the BCCI front man, had been a controlling shareholder.

Mr. Bath also invested money in the U.S. for Mr. bin-Mahfouz, the Saudi banker who would go on to become a leading shareholder in BCCI. According to Mr. Bath's personal financial statements, produced in unrelated litigation, Mr. Bath invested $50,000 with George W. Bush, becoming a 5% partner in Arbusto. Mr. Bush says he was aware Mr. Bath was representing Saudi investors but that at the time "had never heard of BCCI."

In the oil-patch depression of the mid1980s, Mr. Bush's company merged with another concern, becoming Spectrum 7 Energy Corp. But its fortunes didn't improve. "We lost a lot of money in the oil business," says Philip Uzielli, a director of Spectrum 7 and friend of Mr. Bush . "We had a lot of dry wells. . . . Things were terrible. It was dreadful."

Finding a buyer wasn't easy. But in September 1986, Harken Energy swapped some of its own shares for the shares of Spectrum 7. Mr. Bush's cut was worth roughly $600,000. "Getting Harken stock at that point turned out to be very good," Mr. Uzielli recalls. In addition to becoming a Harken stockholder, Mr. Bush became a director and a consultant at $120,000 a year, later reduced to $50,000. (In mid-1990, Mr. Bush sold two-thirds of his Harken holdings at a significant profit; his remaining stake could still be worth millions if Harken hits a gusher in Bahrain.)

What looked like a dull investment soon looked brighter. The company needed a cash infusion, and Mr. Bush, whose consulting contract listed "equity placements" among his duties, was there when Harken officials got together with Little Rock's Stephens Inc., one of the largest U.S. investment banks outside of Wall Street.

He needed no introduction to Jackson Stephens, having known him since the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign. Mr. Stephens's wife, Mary Anne, would soon become Arkansas co-chairman of the Bush for President campaign, while Mr. Stephens would donate $100,000 to Team 100, a GOP group that collected money for the campaign. Stephens Inc. kicked in another $100,000 to the Bush dinner committee last May.

But on that spring day in Little Rock, cash for Harken was the topic. Ultimately, Stephens put a rescue plan in motion: Union Bank of Switzerland, which ordinarily didn't invest in small U.S. firms, would make an exception, giving Harken $25 million in exchange for a stock interest.

At the time, UBS was a joint-venture partner with BCCI in a Geneva-based bank. And although Harken officials, including Messrs. Bush and Quasha, say they were unaware of it, Mr. Stephens was also well acquainted with BCCI. In fact, he suggested to BCCI in the late 1970s that it try to take over what is now Washington, D.C.'s biggest bank company, First American Bankshares Inc., according to court records produced in connection with the takeover attempt. Mr. Stephens was among the defendants in that suit, aimed at preventing a First American takeover by BCCI founder Agha Hasan Abedi, BCCI principal Kamal Adham and Abdullah Darwaish, chief financier for the royal family of Abu Dhabi. Mr. Stephens declined to be interviewed for this article.

The Harken financing Stephens was arranging hit a last-minute snag. To comply with U.S. banking laws, the deal assumed a complex new structure, and UBS decided to unload its shares to a third party at the first chance, according to Mr. Quasha. UBS says it planned to sell the shares all along. In any case, Stephens brought in a new patron: a real-estate magnate from Jedda, Saudi Arabia, who bought most of Union Bank's Harken shares. He was Abdullah Bakhsh.

Mr. Bakhsh for several years was chairman of Saudi Finance Co., a Luxembourg-based holding company for Swiss and French financial enterprises. He sold his interest in 1983. Who bought it isn't clear, but corporation records in Geneva show that by 1989 it had come partly under the control of the Gokal family, Pakistani shipping magnates who were early BCCI shareholders and who, according to BCCI's auditors, have failed to service more than $700 million of borrowings from BCCI.

Mr. Bakhsh has had business dealings with some of the most prominent people in Saudi Arabia, including, according to a friend, former Saudi oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani and current oil minister Hisham Nazer. One of his co-investors in the U.S. says he believes the sheik has also invested with members of the Saudi royal family.

But Mr. Bush, Mr. Quasha and other Harken officials evidently knew little about their new partner. Mr. Quasha did a background check and says he found that Mr. Bakhsh was a very private person of great integrity who had already received regulatory approval for other U.S. investments.

Mr. Bakhsh, though listed as Harken's third largest stockholder with a 17.6% stake, has met with company officials on only a few occasions, and George W. Bush says through his intermediary he has never spoken to him. Instead, Harken officials deal with him through Mr. Othman, who sits on the Harken board.

In the wake of the company's new Persian Gulf backing came a much bigger Gulf breakthrough. It might be called the Dream Deal.

Bahrain, a small emirate with strong ties to Saudi Arabia, hadn't made a significant new oil find since 1932. But high-tech seismic surveys detailed a large geological formation under the sea, between two of the greatest oil and gas fields on the planet. The company picked to drill exploratory wells would have to put up a lot of cash -- $12.7 million just for the first of several wells. But it would get a lucrative share of any oil found. The payoff could total in the billions.

Amoco, vitally interested, started negotiating with the Bahrainis in 1987. (Three other companies also entered into talks, according to Bahrain, which didn't identify them.) As negotiations advanced, Amoco grew hopeful of a contract. Then, in January 1990, it heard startling news: The contract had just been awarded to tiny Harken. "We were disappointed," says Patricia Wright, an Amoco spokesman. "We thought we might get this one."

Why did Harken get it instead? "It was not some sort of fix," says Mr. Quasha, the former Harken chairman.

Harken says George W. Bush didn't play any role in clinching the deal, and even expressed doubts that Harken had the financial resources for it. Mr. Quasha also points out that all the connections in the world won't help Harken find oil in Bahrain, which the Bahrainis know as well as anyone. "I don't see where they gain from dealing with a relative of George Bush's who futzes up."

Bahrain says the Bush connection couldn't have been a factor. "We were not aware when Harken was chosen of any prominent American or Arab who was connected with the company," says Bahrain's oil minister, Yousuf Shirawi.

However, Monte Swetnam, Harken's exploration chief, says, "I'm sure they were aware" of Mr. Bush's involvement with the company. "I talked about our exploration advisory board and our board of directors. George's name comes up twice. It wasn't a secret."

Harken officials, in extensive interviews, maintain that Bahrain wanted a small company that would devote full attention to the project, a point Bahraini Oil Minister Shirawi confirms. To find one, he turned to a longtime friend, Michael Ameen, a Houston oil consultant who had worked in the Mideast for Mobil Corp. and Arabian American Oil Co. (Aramco).

Mr. Ameen represents yet another BCCI notation in the Harken story. As the head of government relations for Aramco, he says he had close-up dealings for years with the Saudi royal family and its advisers, including Mr. Adham, the BCCI principal, who is also a former Saudi intelligence chief. Mr. Ameen was close enough to the Pharaon family that he recalls meeting a young Ghaith on his graduation from college.

Mr. Ameen had been a friend for 25 years of Mr. Bakhsh, the large Harken shareholder. But he says that when faced with having to recommend to Bahrain one small oil company out of the hundreds to choose from, he chose Harken out of pure serendipity. Within 10 minutes of discussing the matter by phone with Bahrain's oil minister, Mr. Ameen says, he got a call from one of Harken's investment bankers at Stephens in Little Rock.

Before long, Mr. Ameen was leading Harken delegations to London and Bahrain, where, according to the company, Harken officials displayed keen knowledge of the region's geology and disarmed the Bahrainis with their open negotiating style.

In the midst of Harken's talks with Bahrain, Mr. Ameen -- simultaneously working as a State Department consultant -- briefed the incoming U.S. ambassador to Bahrain, Charles Hostler. Mr. Ameen ultimately received a fee of about $100,000 from Harken.

Ambassador Hostler, a San Diego real-estate investor who is a $100,000 Republican contributor, says through an embassy official that he never discussed the Harken deal with authorities in Bahrain. Harken officials say they met with him only after their contract was secured. Mr. Hostler does say that he has long known, and from time to time given financial counsel to, Mohammad Hammoud, who was described in recent Senate testimony as a "flexible front for BCCI." Mr. Hammoud is also listed as a significant BCCI shareholder.

Once negotiated, the Harken contract was reviewed and approved by several Bahraini officials, including, lastly, Sheik Isa bin-Sulman al-Khalifah, the ruling emir. His younger brother, Prime Minister Sheik Khalifah bin-Sulman al-Khalifah, appears in BCCI records as a shareholder, along with Mr. Adham, several members of Persian Gulf royalty, and others.

"His highness the emir has no personal opinions" about Harken or anyone else associated with the transaction, says Mr. Shirawi, the oil minister. "There is a possibility he's a shareholder, but we never heard of it," a Bahrain embassy spokesman says. If the prime minister does have BCCI holdings, the spokesman points out, the shareholding isn't large.

The drilling deal went through even though Harken admitted it couldn't begin to finance the exploration on its own. Bahrain agreed to let Harken bring in a partner. It was the hottest ticket in town; two dozen oil companies expressed interest in coming into the deal. Harken chose Bass Enterprises Production Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, a company controlled the politically active billionaire Bass family. Members of the Bass family have contributed more than $200,000 to the GOP in recent years. A Bass company official declines comment.

At the signing ceremony in January 1990, a celebratory delegation from Harken traveled to Bahrain, including Mr. Quasha, Mr. Othman and another Harken executive. The first well broke ground last month and is scheduled for completion by the end of January.

Within six months Mr. Othman saw his political status, as well as his company's position, enhanced. His name was added by the White House to a select list of 15 Arab-Americans chosen to meet with President Bush, Mr. Sununu and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft in the White House two days after Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Mr. Othman and others involved in setting up the White House meeting say his three invitations are explained by his membership in the Arab-American Council on the Middle East, a group of business and political leaders who are close to ousted Chief of Staff Sununu. "Talat was recommended to us by many people in the Arab-American community," says one administration official. Mr. Othman was most recently present at a White House gathering last month of President Bush and Arab-American leaders.

"George W. Bush has nothing to do with it," Mr. Othman says of the White House meetings. "This is an invitation from the White House."

ABDULLAH TAHA BAKHSH -- A Saudi investor who controls about 17% of HArken's stock, he has extensive business interests in Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

GEORGE W. BUSH -- The President's eldest son, he is a director, consultant and shareholder in Harken Energy. Runs the Texas Rangers baseball club and may play a role in father's re-election campaign.

TALAT OTHMAN -- Middle Eastern-born director and shareholder in Harken, he helps manage investments for Sheik Abdullah Bakhsh, a major Harken shareholder, and is a member of the Arab-American Council on the Middle East.

ALAN QUASHA -- A Harvard-educated lawyer and corporate restructuring expert, he controls about 20% of Harken's stock and served as chairman from 1983 until last February.

MONTE SWETNAM -- Harken's exploration chief, he led the team that developed the winning drilling program for Bahrain.

MICHAEL AMEEN -- A Houston oil consultant, he forged close associations with wealthy Arabs while serving as top Mideast official for Mobil Corp. and Aramco. Received a $100,000 fee from Harken.

JACKSON STEPHENS -- Arkansas-based investor whose Stephens Inc. played a critical role in fund raising for Harken. Former Stephens staffers also represented Harken in Bahrain deal, earning a $100,000 fee.

CHARLES HOSTLER -- The U.S. ambassador, he met with Harken officials after they clinched the drilling contract.

YOUSUF SHIRAWI -- Minister of industry and development for the island nation, he has responsibility for Bahrain's oil industry.

KHALIFAH BIN-SULMAN AL-KHALIFAH -- Prime minister of Bahrain and younger brother to the island's ruling emir, he is a BCCI shareholder.

KAMAL ADHAM -- A shareholder in BCCI and former Saudi intelligence chief, he is also listed as a borrower from BCCI.

KHALID BIN-MAHFOUZ -- A bank owner in Saudi Arabia who previously held a significant stake in BCCI.

GHAITH PHARAON -- Alleged BCCI front man in secret dealings in U.S. and elsewhere.

Here's a start ---

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George W. Bush's Dubious Friends

Front Page News Keywords: GEORGE W. BUSH, KHALED BIN MAHFOUZ, USSAMA BIN LADEN, BCCI, ABDULLAH TAHA BAKHSH, JACKSON STEPHENS
Source: Intelligence Newsletter
Published: March 2, 2000 Author: SPOTLIGHT
Posted on 03/09/2000 00:08:43 PST by Wallaby

George W. Bush's Dubious Friends

Intelligence Newsletter

SPOTLIGHT; N. 377

March 2, 2000

Texas governor George W. Bush's campaign to become the Republican candidate in this November's presidential ballot could shortly run into turbulence because of new information about his past. Indeed, among the figures Bush dealt with indirectly when he ran oil companies was Saudi banker Khaled Bin Mahfouz who, Intelligence Newsletter has learned, is currently under house arrest in a hospital in Taef at the behest of the American authorities. The latter are looking into contributions Mahfouz is said to have made to welfare associations close to terrorist Ussama Bin Laden. Considered as the "king's treasurer," Mahfouz was recently forced to sharply reduce his stake in the National Commercial Bank, one of the biggest in the kingdom. Many in Arab financial circles see this as a harbinger of his disgrace. Mahfouz's name was linked to the scandal involving the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), in which he held a 20% interest between 1986-1990. The BCCI was accused in senator John- Kerry's report of money-laundering and of financing terrorist groups and covert spy operations before it was wound up on July 5, 1991, with a $ 12 billion loss to its customers. Mahfouz was also linked to a case involving fake passports in Ireland in 1997 that forced Irish foreign minister Ray Burke to resign.

In 1987 Mahfouz's representative in the U.S., Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, acquired an 11.5% stake in a company in which the Bush was a shareholder, director and adviser, Harken Energy.

In 1987 Mahfouz's representative in the U.S., Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, acquired an 11.5% stake in a company in which the Bush was a shareholder, director and adviser, Harken Energy. Bush played a central role in Harken which had acquired his previous oil business, Spectrum 7 Energy Corporation, in 1986. Spectrum 7, in which Bush was boss and held 13.8%, had previously bought up the first firm Bush founded, Arbusto Energy Inc. in 1984. An American banker named Jacksen Stephens who was to also be deeply involved in the BCCI affair moved in 1987 to invest $ 25 million in Harken. The transaction took place in Geneva with the money was paid through a joint venture set up between the Union des Banques Suisses and the Geneva branch of the BCCI; the financial accord was signed by both Stephens and Bakksh. Other links between Bush and Mahfouz can be found through investments in the Carlyle Group, an American investment firm managed by a board on which former president George Bush himself sat. The younger Bush personally held shares in one of the components of the Carlyle group, the Caterair company, between 1990-94. And Carlyle today ranks as a leading contributor to Bush's electoral campaign. On Carlyle's advisory board figures the name of Sami Baarma, director of the Pakistani financial establishment Prime Commercial Bank that is based in Lahore and owned by Mafouz.
A second figure with an ambiguous part in Bush's financial past is Texas businessman James Bath. Considered as very close to the CIA, he appeared for the first time at Bush's side in 1978 when the latter made his first, unsuccessful run for the governorship. (He wouldn't try again until 1994, when he won). Bath helped to finance his campaign at the time and later bought into two of Bush's companies, Arbusto 79 Ltd and Arbusto 80 Ltd, affiliates of the Arbusto Energy oil exploration company founded by "W" in 1977. Under a mandate signed in 1976, Bath represented the financial interests of the Saudi Arabian sheikh Salem Bin Laden in the United States. Father of Ussama Bin Laden, Salem died in 1988. Thanks to his connections with Saudi business circles Bath obtained a $ 1.4 million loan from Mahfouz in 1990.
These ties reflect many of the strategic issues that prevailed in the 1970s and 80s. The highly influential Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia helped to bankroll Islamic movements fighting the Russians in Afghanistan, with the blessings and participation of Washington (Ussama Bin Laden was given special training in covert operations in that context). But policy at the time also consisted of de-stabilizing the Moslem republics on the southern rim of the USSR by fomenting unrest on their borders.

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

Feds investigate entrepreneur allegedly tied to Saudis JERRY URBAN; Staff The Houston Chronicle; Section A; Pg. 21 June 4, 1992, Thursday, 2 STAR Edition Federal authorities are investigating the activities of a Houston businessman -- a past investor in companies controlled by a son of President Bush -- who has been accused of illegally representing Saudi interests in the United States.	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. In 1990, Bath bought the Express Auto Park garage at Hobby Airport for $ 8.4 million, which included a $ 1.4 million loan provided by Mahfouz, according to transaction documents. Bath received a 5 percent interest in the companies that own and operate Houston Gulf Airport after purchasing it on behalf of Binladen in 1977. After Binladen died in 1988, his interests in the airport were taken over by Mahfouz, according to court documents. Photo: Bill White, a real estate developer, balances a stack of depositions which he plans to turn over to federal authorities. The documents suggest a Houston businessman has been illegally representing the Saudis in the United States; Larry Reese/Chronicle
Bush said that to his knowledge, Bath's investment was from personal funds, and no Saudi money was invested in Arbusto.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network -- known as FinCEN -- and the FBI are reviewing accusations that entrepreneur James R. Bath guided money to Houston from Saudi investors who wanted to influence U.S. policy under the Reagan and Bush administrations, sources close to the investigations say. FinCEN, a division of the U.S. Department of Treasury, investigates money laundering. Special agents and analysts from various law enforcement agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Customs Service, are assigned to work with the FinCEN staff. The federal review stems in part from court documents obtained through litigation by Bill White, a former real estate business associate of Bath. White contends the documents indicate that the Saudis were using Bath and their huge financial resources to influence U.S. policy. Such representation by Bath would require that he be registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice. In general, people required by law to be registered are those who represent a foreign entity seeking to influence governmental action or policy. An Annapolis graduate and former Navy fighter pilot, White, 46, claims that Bath and the judicial system, under the veil of national security, have blackballed him professionally and financially because he has refused to keep quiet about what he regards as a conspiracy to secretly funnel Saudi dollars to the United States. White became entangled in a series of lawsuits and countersuits with Bath, who for some six years has prevailed in the courts. White says the legal action has financially devasted him and Venturcorp Inc., the real estate development company in which he and Bath were partners.

03/09/2000 00:08:43 PST by Wallaby
To: Wallaby

Good try, Wallaby, but the Bush League on this board simply will not "Harken" (pun intended).

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:11:36 PST by slym

To: Wallaby

Jeeez...Ann Richards must be kicking herself for not using this in HER campaign......LOL

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:14:16 PST by seadevil
To: seadevil

Too bad Ma Richards didn't have a subscription to "Spotlight", she's still be govenor.

You gotta hand it to the loonies, they never give up.

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:19:55 PST by Deb

To: slym, Hamiltonian,Boyd,thinden,T'wit,aristeides,Fred Mertz

I ran into an article on Jackson Stephens, BCCI, and the Saudis while seeking more information on Armand Hammer. See

Financial General: The Lance Role and Other Moves As Factions Battle for Control

on the thread of

How Mr Clean got his hands dirty [The Gores, Armand Hammer, and Oxy Petroleum]

. The Saudi/Stephens connection led me back in the direction of Bakhsh, Mahfouz, and, alas, GWB.

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:20:48 PST by Wallaby

To: Wallaby

Intelligence Newsletter?

Maybe just "Newsletter" would have been more correct.

So, the Birchers are pro-Clinton/Gore these days?

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:22:35 PST by Deb

To: Deb

This is not from Spotlight. It is a column named "Spotlight" in Intelligence Newsletter.

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:22:36 PST by Wallaby

To: Deb

Perhaps you didn't find this thread of mine:

How Mr Clean got his hands dirty [The Gores, Armand Hammer, and Oxy Petroleum]

I trust it does not make me a Bircher to believe the KGB files that show Armand Hammer, Gore benefactor, was a Soviet "agent of influence"?

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:26:23 PST by Wallaby

To: Deb

Sorry -- I see now. You have the mistaken belief that the article I posted above is from the John Birch Society. It isn't.

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:28:54 PST by Wallaby
To: slym and Wallaby

slym, I think you're right about the Bush crowd. They don't want to hear anything bad about their guy, because their minds are already made up. (Most of them, anyway)

This really reminds me of '92, when Clinton ran the first time. There were warning signs left and right... But the Democrats ignored them. I knew Clinton was bad news, and I told anyone that would listen... but people voted for him anyway.

Now its the Republican's turn to be duped. I'm seeing the same things. People making excuses for him, ignoring the red flags.... Its deja-vu all over again.

Wallaby, thanks for posting this. I'm bookmarking it.

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:29:14 PST by incindiary

To: Deb

I didn't know you needed a subscription. I thought you bought 'em in the same rack where you find Weekly World News. Wait....that IS the Weekly World News....er, or is it?....I'm so confused! (loosens foil headband)

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:31:13 PST by seadevil

To: Wallaby

I have "Dossier", I've read "Dossier" and I know all about Armand Hammer and Gore Sr. This is no huge revelation, but what is the Intelligence Newsletter?

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:39:19 PST by Deb

To: incindiary, slym, and Wallaby

Bush -- Clinton -- Jackson Stephens -- BCCI -- Mena -- CIA -- Dubya

Amazing that all of these are interwoven and tied together in recent history. This, my friends, is why the election of Dubya just means more of the same.

We must SLAY THIS OCTOPUS! Merely replacing it's left tentacle with its right tentacle does absolutely no good whatsoever.

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:39:56 PST by Arator

To: incindiary

Yeah, you be sure and bookmark this. This is exactly the kind of bullshit you'd go for. Congratulations, you never disappoint.

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:42:45 PST by Deb

To: Arator

Welcome!! It wouldn't be a party of the loonies without the head moron.

Now all you little Forkers keep repeating...THE CIA IS OUR ENEMY...MUST STOP CIA...THE CIA IS OUR ENEMY...MUST STOP CIA...(repeat till you pass out)

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:46:11 PST by Deb

To: Deb

>what is the Intelligence Newsletter?

See

Intelligence Newsletter

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:47:58 PST by Wallaby

To: Arator

Ok...please delineate your plan for "slaying this octopus."

And unless you are prepared to make it illegal for the 90-95% of likely voters - who have pretty much already decided whom they are going to vote for - to vote, "VOTE THIRD PARTY" is not a viable plan.

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:51:14 PST by seadevil

To: Deb

And you keep telling yourself, "Bush is good. Bush can win. Bush is not a globalist. Bush is not a puppet. Everyone else is lying. They're lying, lying, lying!"

Come on, Deb, start your chant.... "Bush is good...Bush can win..."

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:54:54 PST by incindiary

To: Deb

Deb:

Thanks for bashing these morons. If I ever fall out with my dear wife and cats (not likely, I'll tell you), you would instantly become the next most sane person in the world that I would look to as a solid Republican female anchor of the faith.

Please keep up the constructive abuse of these people who lack clue #1-5000+.

Thanks -

SFConservative

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:57:49 PST by SFConservative

To: Wallaby

So the article is from '92. Why do you suppose nothing has ever been made of this? Think real hard. You can do it, come on...why?

And don't forget what the KGB says...THE CIA IS OUR ENEMY...MUST STOP CIA...BUSH BAD...BUSH CIA...CIA IS OUR ENEMY...MUST ELECT AL GORE

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:58:56 PST by Deb

To: Wallaby

I'll save the shrubbery some time here:

Disruptor-

Heretic-

Mudslinger-

Nothing to see here folks... move along-

Posted on 03/09/2000 00:59:54 PST by IllumiNOTi

To: Wallaby

FYI: Osama Bin Laden is a Brit who lived in London for most of his life. He was great-looking, fantastically rich and because of his dad's connections, belonged to lots and lots of private men's clubs. Imagine everyone's shock when he decided to use his money to wage a private war against the US?

Everyone in England has an Osama story, with your stupid "Six Degrees of Separation" theory they're all guilty of whatever you're attempting to smear GW with.

Here's an idea...Why don't you break out of the left-wing goofball useful idiot club you're in and post portions of the "Sword and the Shield" or the Venona Report? Then everyone could see how the KGB has spent the past 50 years trying to discredit and eliminate their greatest enemy, the CIA.

You, Boyd and the KGB have a lot in common that way. Coincidence?

Posted on 03/09/2000 01:14:00 PST by Deb

To: IllumiNOTi

Oh, look...it's Pigboy. Still stalking I see.

This is the perfect group for you too. Come on in, sit down and put up your feet. Of course, they're not as vile as you, but they're every bit as nuts.

Have fun...

Posted on 03/09/2000 01:19:08 PST by Deb

To: seadevil

"VOTE THIRD PARTY" is not a viable plan.

It's the only plan that can work, and it will work, if a critical mass of Americans resolve to resist their programming and make it work!

Ventura's win in MN proves it can happen. Whether it does happen is ultimately up to us. One courageous, up-yours vote against the establishment at a time, and we'll get there. It's our only hope.

All Buchanan will need is a 35% plurality in an electoral vote majority of states. If conservatives would break free from the GOP and dare to challenge the system for real, it could happen. But each of us has to resolve to make it happen.

Posted on 03/09/2000 01:33:09 PST by Arator

To: Deb

This link (to www.intelligenceonline.com) will take you directly to the page where Wallaby probably found the first article he posted. I've occasionally visited the site over the past couple of years and they usually have some interesting articles, though subscription or payment (in Euros) is required to read them in their entirety.

26 Posted on 03/09/2000 01:35:14 PST by Dexter Wang

To: Deb

"Now all you little Forkers keep repeating...THE CIA IS OUR ENEMY...MUST STOP CIA...THE CIA IS OUR ENEMY...MUST STOP CIA...(repeat till you pass out)"

LMAO!

Posted on 03/09/2000 01:46:22 PST by wills

To: Deb

Mr. Edwards has been a Friend of Bill since at least 1969, when he briefly shared an apartment in England with Mr. Clinton and Strobe Talbott, the current deputy secretary of state. He vacationed with the Clintons on the Riviera, according to "Off the Books, " by Robert Hutchison (William Morrow, 1986). Mr. Edwards was instrumental in the Saudi contribution for a Middle East studies center at the University of Arkansas announced just after the presidential election. He was on hand for the president's emotional departure from Little Rock for Washington (see the rendering of an Associated Press photo). On a visit to Little Rock the weekend before the suicide of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster, the president spent a four hour dinner alone with Mr. Edwards.
A Mysterious Investor
Mr. Edwards and his brother Mark now run their own Little Rock investment placement firm, Edwards Brothers. While Mr. Edwards refused repeated requests for interviews for this article, his principal client appears to be a mysterious Jidda investor, Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, who at one time owned nearly 10% of Little Rock's Worthen Bank. Before leaving to form their own firm in 1990, both brothers worked for Stephens Inc., the powerhouse Arkansas investment firm that handled the brokerage when Middle Eastern front men for the Bank of Credit & Commerce International made an early attempt to buy First American Bank in Washington, D.C. While at Stephens, Mr. Edwards also played an important role in securing an offshore drilling contract in Bahrain for Harken Energy Corp., on whose board sat George W. Bush, presidential son and current governor of Texas.

("Who Is David Edwards?" by Micah Morrison, The Wall Street Journal, 1995 March 1)

Posted on 03/09/2000 02:02:25 PST by Wallaby

To: Wallaby

There might be some other people on this forum willing to listen ... But you're wasting your time with Deb. She would never believe anything bad about W. Remember? Just like the Clinton supporters who never, ever believe anything bad about Slick. Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate, all the gates.... All lies. Vince Foster really did commit suicide, the 100 names on the Clinton body count are all coincidences. "Its all a vast right-wing conspiracy!"

You're dealing with the same type of closed-minds here. Except they are Republicans.

Posted on 03/09/2000 02:16:29 PST by incindiary

To: Wallaby

Here is the winning ticket!

30 Posted on 03/09/2000 02:43:19 PST by SubMareener

To: SubMareener

Like I said before, reverse it,and I would vote for it.

Posted on 03/09/2000 03:07:07 PST by founder fan

To: SubMareener

These bumper stickers suit W better:

Posted on 03/09/2000 03:11:48 PST by incindiary

To: Wallaby

Here's a related WSJ article:

Family Ties: How Oil Firm Linked To a Son of Bush Won Bahrain Drilling Pact
---
Harken Energy Had a Web Of Mideast Connections;In the Background: BCCI
---
Entree at the White House

This article was prepared by Wall Street Journal staff reporters Thomas Petzinger Jr., Peter Truell And Jill Abramson

12/06/1991
The Wall Street Journal
PAGE A1
(Copyright (c) 1991, Dow Jones & Co., Inc.)

Among those relationships:

-- Harken's consultant on the Bahrain deal counts Kamal Adham, a principal owner of BCCI, as a close friend and has had a long acquaintance with BCCI's Mr. Pharaon.

Harken says it won the Bahrain drilling deal purely on merit, through painstaking geological research and deft negotiating. It says Mr. Bush played no role in clinching the deal.

In the wake of the company's new Persian Gulf backing came a much bigger Gulf breakthrough. It might be called the Dream Deal.

Why did Harken get it instead? "It was not some sort of fix," says Mr. Quasha, the former Harken chairman.

So, then, why Harken?

"George W. Bush has nothing to do with it," Mr. Othman says of the White House meetings. "This is an invitation from the White House."

--- Who's Who in the Harken Deal

AT HARKEN

ABDULLAH TAHA BAKHSH -- A Saudi investor who controls about 17% of HArken's stock, he has extensive business interests in Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

GEORGE W. BUSH -- The President's eldest son, he is a director, consultant and shareholder in Harken Energy. Runs the Texas Rangers baseball club and may play a role in father's re-election campaign.

ALAN QUASHA -- A Harvard-educated lawyer and corporate restructuring expert, he controls about 20% of Harken's stock and served as chairman from 1983 until last February.

MONTE SWETNAM -- Harken's exploration chief, he led the team that developed the winning drilling program for Bahrain.

DEAL MAKERS

MICHAEL AMEEN -- A Houston oil consultant, he forged close associations with wealthy Arabs while serving as top Mideast official for Mobil Corp. and Aramco. Received a $100,000 fee from Harken.

IN BAHRAIN

CHARLES HOSTLER -- The U.S. ambassador, he met with Harken officials after they clinched the drilling contract.

YOUSUF SHIRAWI -- Minister of industry and development for the island nation, he has responsibility for Bahrain's oil industry.

KHALIFAH BIN-SULMAN AL-KHALIFAH -- Prime minister of Bahrain and younger brother to the island's ruling emir, he is a BCCI shareholder.

SAUDI MONEY MEN

KAMAL ADHAM -- A shareholder in BCCI and former Saudi intelligence chief, he is also listed as a borrower from BCCI.

KHALID BIN-MAHFOUZ -- A bank owner in Saudi Arabia who previously held a significant stake in BCCI.

GHAITH PHARAON -- Alleged BCCI front man in secret dealings in U.S. and elsewhere.

Posted on 03/09/2000 03:25:30 PST by Sandy

To: Deb

"You gotta hand it to the loonies, they never give up. "
" This is exactly the kind of bullshit you'd go for. Congratulations, you never disappoint."
"Welcome!! It wouldn't be a party of the loonies without the head moron"
"Now all you little Forkers keep repeating... ENEMY...MUST STOP CIA...(repeat till you pass out)"
"Why don't you break out of the left-wing goofball useful idiot club you're in and post portions of the "Sword and the Shield"
"You, Boyd and the KGB have a lot in common that way. Coincidence?"
"Oh, look...it's Pigboy. Still stalking I see"
"Of course, they're not as vile as you, but they're every bit as nuts."

And this is just from ONE HOUR and one thread.

Thanks for your enlightning words of wisdom Deb. BTW: you are really Debs husband using her screen name right cause ladies where I come from don't spew this kind of venom...

Posted on 03/09/2000 03:51:30 PST by 34665287

To: Deb

"Oh, look...it's Pigboy. Still stalking I see.

This is the perfect group for you too. Come on in, sit down and put up your feet. Of course, they're not as vile as you, but they're every bit as nuts.

Have fun..."

The acidic vitriol you display towards myself and those that face reality as it is reveals a lot about your true motives and agenda. To even the casual observer reading this it is plain to see that the truth is nowhere to be found in that agenda. As regards vile behavior- you are well versed in that arena so I'll take your word for it.

Posted on 03/09/2000 04:00:33 PST by IllumiNOTi

To: Wallaby

There is a related story on this topic which I posted a week or so ago. An excerpt reads:

"Most reports involving Bush's insider oil stock trades refer only to his highly controversial June 22, 1990, million dollar trade made six weeks before Gulf War hostilities broke out in Kuwait -- a trade which was reported eight months later. However, SEC documents between 1986 and 1993 show that Bush acquired 212,152 shares of Harken stock on Nov. 1, 1986, at the time he merged his Spectrum 7 company with Harken. But the future governor did not report the transaction until April 7, 1987 -- more than five months later.

When Bush filed late on April 7,1987, SEC filings show he had purchased another 80,000 shares on March 10, 1987. But strangely, two weeks later, an April 22 filing noted that the 80,000-share purchase was backdated to Dec. 10, 1986. When questioned by the media, Bush's attorney said it was the same 80,000 shares but he could not explain the discrepancy regarding the purchase dates or why Bush even reported the trade two times.

Another SEC filing, this from June 6, 1989, showed that Bush purchased another 25,000 shares of Harken but again waited more than four months to report the transaction.

The Houston Post, recognizing Bush's late SEC filings, noted that he "took eight months to notify the government of his sale of stock in a company on whose board he served" and "also missed the filing deadline for reporting other insider trades involving Harken Energy."

Documents obtained by the Post showed "additional instances in which Bush ... ran afoul of the SEC rule requiring notification." And George W. described himself as a "small, insignificant" Harken stockholder; but news reports examining SEC documents identified Bush as the third largest non-institutional investor.

Bush in Bahrain

In October 1991, Time Magazine questioned why the tiny country of Bahrain would stake so much of its financial future on Harken Energy, which it labeled an "obscure, money-losing company with no refineries and no experience in offshore oil exploration." But the magazine also noted that oil-insiders speculated that Bahrain's rulers saw the arrangement as a way to gain influence with the Bush administration.

Mysteriously, primary reporters have also ignored what could point to a nexus regarding foreign policy and personal financial interests. Interestingly, the Village Voice in January 1991 reported that in 1990 the Bush administration signed an agreement with Bahrain that chose the small country as the permanent principal allied base in the Middle East, although it was some 200 miles away from the hostilities in Iraq and Kuwait.

The military-base deal came after Harken announced its Jan. 30, 1990, joint oil-drilling venture with Bahrain. So President Bush's key contributors and his son George W. were carrying on personal financial business with Bahrain at the same time decisions were being made regarding the possibility of a war in the Gulf."

You can read the whole thread here

Posted on 03/09/2000 04:12:21 PST by IllumiNOTi

To: incindiary

Part of the problem with conveying this information to the general population is that it's very complicated to follow. The Harken situation (there was a really good post a few weeks ago) is not good, but how to explain it? And, the GWB supporters will stand by their man. (Would a pro choice running mate bother them? I wonder.)

Immigration, WTO, NATO atrocity in Kosovo, globalism, these are understandable to the average voter. How the rich get richer isn't.

Posted on 03/09/2000 04:14:39 PST by grania

To: grania

Hi grania! You are absolutely right. It was the same with Clinton. Some scandals were too complex for people to understand, and they didn't want to take the time to learn about them.

It just bothers me that the Bushies are showing the same "head in the sand" mentality that the Clinton supporters did. I'm disappointed with that, and I've lost respect for the people who will condemn corruption from the Democrats, but ignore corruption from Republicans.

Posted on 03/09/2000 04:24:34 PST by incindiary

To: Arator, Wallaby

"Bush -- Clinton -- Jackson Stephens -- BCCI -- Mena -- CIA -- Dubya. Amazing that all of these are interwoven and tied together in recent history. This, my friends, is why the election of Dubya just means more of the same."

That was my exact thought when I read Jackson Stephens' name. We had a poster a few months ago--I've not seen him since--who said he'd worked for the Pentagon several years ago and was shocked to see that people at the top with strong ideological differences on the campaign trail were close buddies off the trail. The only time they exercised their differences was during the next election cycle. Sadly, we voters are really just useful dupes to them.

Posted on 03/09/2000 04:36:33 PST by Pamela

To: Wallaby

Observe the new arrogance, and extrapolate it's stench past January.

Observe the new Compromisers, and see where Principle over Party stands.

Posted on 03/09/2000 04:36:37 PST by NDCORUP

To: Deb

Deeeeeeeeehb!...these guys are still at it! (A+bert still sleeping , tho)

Posted on 03/09/2000 04:37:12 PST by prognostigaator

To: incindiary

Look. No candidate is perfect.

This information is not great and will be used by the Dems to bash Bush, no doubt.

(Could this possibly be the reason the Clintonoids have used Osama Bin Ladeen as the boogie man in seemingly every anti-American event these past few years....they KNEW who their Repub opponent would be....????? and blew up the aspiring factory and the emtpy camp in Afghanistan after likely blowing up OUR OWN EMBASSIES in the 2 AFrican countries to justify their "response"?????

Guess who CONTROLS the CIA now? It isn't GWBush or GBush Sr. If you guessed Clinton/Gore, you win.

Guess who CONTROLS the FBI now? same answer.

Guess who CONTROLS the Injustice Dept now? same answer.

Guess who has GIVEN our military secrets and our technical secrets in exchange for campaign cash to an avowed enemey who is threatening to nuke us? same answer

Yes there were "warning signs" about Clinton.

Of course there were.

He has a trail of dead bodies, intimidated and bribed "opponents", and a mass of corrupt or criminal associates (including his UNCLE's Dixie mafia buddies, and his modern organized crime members who have made friends with Clinton/Gore)

Bush has friends in the Saudi Arabian community. Okay.

But show me the trail of death, the history of abuse of power by himself, the threats, the intimidations, the crushing destruction GWB has exercised against his foes as well as his history of assaults on women - and I'll listen to you.

Of course, I guess, you'd rather we be nuked by Red China or absorbed by Clinton/Gore Enviroglobalists then be befriended by some Saudi money men????

Posted on 03/09/2000 04:55:10 PST by Freedom'sWorthIt

To: Deb

BTT

43 Posted on 03/09/2000 05:13:01 PST by flanew

To: NDCORUP

well said, ND.

Posted on 03/09/2000 05:27:34 PST by thinden

To: Wallaby

> and, alas, GWB.

Do we need any more reminders that power corrupts? Even so, it is amazing how much corruption you can buy for the piddly $1,800,000,000,000 that Washington, D.C. sucks out of us every year.

Posted on 03/09/2000 06:03:53 PST by T'wit

To: thinden

The "bandwagon" is pulled by a bunch of sheep with blinders on. Just can't afford to feed those big Draft Horses anymore.

Posted on 03/09/2000 06:11:53 PST by NDCORUP

To: Freedom'sWorthIt

Freedom'sWorthIt
"Bush has friends in the Saudi Arabian community. Okay.

Of course, I guess, you'd rather we be nuked by Red China or absorbed by Clinton/Gore Enviroglobalists then be befriended by some Saudi money men????"

This is what this whole thread boils down to: NO BIG DEAL WHEN COMPARED TO OUR OTHER CHOICE - AL 'SCHEMING' GORE!

Posted on 03/09/2000 06:20:25 PST by ChaseR

To: incindiary

"slym, I think you're right about the Bush crowd. They don't want to hear anything bad about their guy, because their minds are already made up. (Most of them, anyway)"

It's not that people don't want to hear this. The fact is we have heard it, over and over, and over, and over. As with most all accusations, they have been proven bogus.. That's why they get a ho hum...

Posted on 03/09/2000 06:28:49 PST by Texas Mom

To: Deb

"but what is the Intelligence Newsletter? "

An oxymoron.

Posted on 03/09/2000 06:30:15 PST by Texas Mom

To: 34665287

you are really Debs husband using her screen name right cause ladies where I come from don't spew this kind of venom...

Wrong!

It was me.

Deb's out getting her nails done (sharper). On her way home She'll be going to Her finishing school (BRIGHTER ). Her last stop will be Deb's Culinary Class where She'll be lecturing on how to prepare and serve liberal assholes, disrupters and prissy nincompoops.

Posted on 03/09/2000 06:32:25 PST by Socks C.

To: Wallaby

GWB was in the oil business...the Arabs were in the oil business...duh...it is what they do/did for a living.

I work with research scientists, does that mean I am a rocket scientist? (You surely are not)

As a young girl, I worked as a housekeeper for a member of the Mafia, does that make me a hitman?

These obscure references are ridiculous.

Posted on 03/09/2000 07:47:05 PST by ravingnutter

To: incindiary

The question is why the candidates don't bring up the issues that are understandable. I thought Dr. Keyes let us down when he made his big push for abortion opposition while no one was supporting abortion on the Republican side. With his verbal and intellectual skills he could've done much better with stating his positions about Kosovo intervention (against), WTO, immigration. I got the feeling he was tilting toward GWB and as a result he didn't bring up issues where GWB doesn't look too good. Maybe they're all just globalists except for the candidates already knocked out of the major party races.

This campaign is beginning to look like a Yale-Harvard football game. It's silly to be enemies for a few hours, but what the heck, they'll all hoist a few after it's all over, they're all really on the same side.

Posted on 03/09/2000 07:51:11 PST by grania

To: Pamela

"my exact thought when I read Jack's name"

jack has made a pretty good livin workin both sides of the street.

Posted on 03/09/2000 09:49:47 PST by thinden

To: Wallaby

The 'not our guy' brigade never shows up on Gore posts.

Never have. Hmmm. [Well, I take that back. There was the one neophyte who wondered why we never looked at Bush][Oy]

I need to get me one of them '-R' bullet-proof coats. Worked for Ollie.

Posted on 03/09/2000 19:56:36 PST by Boyd

To: Boyd

"I need to get me one of them '-R' bullet-proof coats"

Man, DON'T buy one of them that was made in China! It's a devious Trick! Now when I take a drink, I LEAK.

Posted on 03/10/2000 06:37:38 PST by NDCORUP

To: Boyd

(Should've known, it says "Made from KREVLAR")

Posted on 03/10/2000 06:39:09 PST by NDCORUP

To: Wallaby

Thanks Wallaby. I've never seen a FReeper poster take such flak for posting articles written by others. Hang in there dude;^)

Posted on 03/11/2000 10:35:10 PST by Fred Mertz

To: Sandy

Thanks for the WSJ article, Sandy.

Posted on 03/11/2000 14:13:36 PST by Wallaby

To: Texas Mom

Yes, Texas Mom, you are right... Repetition without results merely generates boredom.

To change the topic slightly, the Dems know this as well. That's why their current mantra on the leaked LaBella Report, "That's an old story... let's move on" actually works for them. If the mainstream media doesn't raise a fuss, the sheeple just shrug and sooner or later the issue drops off their radar screens.

Nonetheless, a BUMP for Wallaby and his valuable archives. Maybe someday historians will care. Or will they too be "Ho Hum" about the events of the last 2 decades of the 20th century?

Posted on 03/12/2000 21:27:21 PST by slym

To: incindiary

I like this bumpersticker I've see in the Quarter of late:

DARTH W. BUSH

Someone's having some fun.

Posted on 03/13/2000 15:39:34 PST by Askel5

To: Askel5

lol ;-)

BTTT

Posted on 03/13/2000 20:36:06 PST by incindiary

To: Wallaby

File maintenance ... regards.

Posted on 04/01/2000 23:52:01 PST by Askel5

To: Wallaby......US Sovereignty is the issue

Bttt!!!!!!!!

Posted on 04/14/2000 22:02:51 PDT by eazdzit

To: This Is Why I Won't Vote Bush

BTTT...

Posted on 07/10/2000 20:36:40 PDT by John Huang Is A Chinese Spy

To: Wallaby

I thought this was vintage Micheal Rivero stuff. Nice try DNC boy.

Posted on 07/10/2000 20:39:46 PDT by The South Texan

To: AskeI5

Bttt

Posted on 07/28/2000 17:55:54 PDT by Uncle Bill

To: John Huang Is A Chinese Spy

Bttt

Posted on 07/28/2000 20:24:49 PDT by Uncle Bill

To: Uncle Bill sure does find the good stuff - Bush league, try this

bttt

Posted on 07/28/2000 20:43:13 PDT by arcane

To: Wallaby

I wonder what unsavory characters might own stock in the same companies I do. I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Posted on 07/28/2000 20:47:24 PDT by Dog Gone

To: Dog Gone

Most folks think they know about Clinton and Bush, yet they know not this man. Unfortunate.

What's Up In Jakarta

Posted on 07/29/2000 00:40:11 PDT by Uncle Bill

To: Uncle Bill

From GoGlobalAccess.com {catchy name, yes?},

International Executive Services Corporation (IESC), a not-for-profit company specializing in the cost-effective delivery of industry-specific expertise through a proprietary database of 13,000 senior U.S. industry experts. Founded by David Rockefeller {why, isn't that "Mr. Globalism" himself} in 1964, IESC delivers technical and managerial assistance in the developing world through volunteers. Over 20,000 technical and managerial assistance projects have been completed in over 100 countries. IESC has a network of over 50 offices throughout the developing world and emerging markets.

Prescott Bush Resources, Ltd.
Founded by Prescott Bush (Jr.) [why, isn't that Dubya's uncle & Poppa Bush's brother], they specialize in structuring joint ventures in China. Since 1978, they have completed over 30 deals in China. Mr. Bush has also facilitated meetings and approvals at the highest levels of the Chinese government.
[Fancy that, Ol' Prescott having contacts at the "highest levels" of the Chicom government. Wonder how that ever happened.]

China International Economic Consulting (CIEC) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) [Say isn't that Ol' Wang Jun's Chicom intelligence front, the same Wang Jun which visited Bubba in the White House a few times and was represented by Ken Starr's law firm. Wasn't also Wang Jun's PolyGroup the company which got nailed smuggling in the 2000 AK-47s into the U.S. Interesting crowd Prescott Bush runs with, don't you think...but I digress.]
Since its inception in 1981, CIEC has grown to be a leading consulting firm in China, providing diversified advisory services to international clients in investments, management, engineering, trading, accounting and legal affairs. CIEC has two branches, four subsidiaries, four equity or contractual joint-ventures and 2 specialized firms with extensive hands-on experience in China and abroad. With broad external business relations, systematic information services, CIEC has completed over 3,000 assignments and won high praise from domestic and foreign clients, from multinationals to medium and small sized companies. CIEC is registered with World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UNIDO and UNDP. ###

Posted on 07/29/2000 10:22:27 PDT by metalbird1

To: Deb

Posted on 11/27/2000 19:33:04 PST by Inspector Harry Callahan

To: Deb

err...Did I stumble onto a thread where people posted before taking their evening meds.

Posted on 11/27/2000 19:39:35 PST by seeker41

To: Wallaby

Conspirators, Fanatics, Paranoids. . . Your contributions to the election of President Bush are welcome and have, for the most part, been helpful.

However, it would be advisable for those of you harboring such melodramatic psychodrama to wait until Mr. Bush actually occupies the oval office before carving the poor fellow up with your Bin Laden collaborator tales. When we have more time, we'll be happy to carve you up in return.

Posted on 11/27/2000 19:57:31 PST by Spinoza

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