can someone please give me a summary on the BCCI scandal?

[QuestionAll...]

I've picked up pieces here and there but don't have an overview on it.
I could google but I'd have to plow through so much info...

when did this happen, over what time period, who were the big (familiar) players, etc.
a BCCI for Dummies is what I'm asking for.

thanks in advance.

[Gregorian]

1. Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_International


I could use it too. I was asleep when it all happened.

[mod mom]

56. Thanks. Funny how so many scandals include BFEE + cronies-isn't it?:

James Reynolds Bath was a former director of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and part owner of Arbusto Energy with George W. Bush, with whom Bath served as a member of the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Like Bush, Bath was suspended from flying status in 1972 for failing to accomplish his annual medical examination.

Bath got his start in real estate in 1973 by forming a partnership with Lloyd Bentsen's son, Lan, in Bath Bentsen Interests.

It has been reported that, in 1976, George H. W. Bush recruited Bath into the CIA, a claim that Bath denied in 1991 in an article published in Time magazine.

In 1976 Bath purchased the Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden, a Saudi sheik (and Osama bin Laden's older half-brother.) That year, Bath became the bin Laden family's representative in North America<1>. In 1990, a Saudi banker named Khalid bin Mahfouz procured a loan of $1.4 million for Bath, allowing him to buy a stake in the airport. When Salem bin Laden died in 1988, his interest in the airfield passed to Mahfouz.



-snip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Bath

[Gregorian]

60. It's hilarious.

I see it as a spider's web. It's utterly engulfing the planet.

It's funny because I was just replying to a post where someone was reminding me that perhaps Bin Laden didn't really have anything to do with 9/11. Not only does it tie in with the other Bin Laden names, but there is no evidence to prove that it was he who masterminded the attacks. He was on the CIA payroll for god's sake.

Sometimes I get a very pessimistic feeling about the world when I see people with so much power who are evil. I'm seeing Barbara Bush's face as I type this. :)

Money amplifies who we are. My father is not poor by any means. But he pays his workers better than they expect. And he treats them as friends. They love him. But when people with money use it for evil, seriously bad things happen. It's all about greed.

The Bush's could use some humility. I doubt they ever learned self control.

[nashville_brook]

2. How John Kerry busted the terrorists' favorite bank

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html

By David Sirota and Jonathan Baskin

Two decades ago, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was a highly respected financial titan. In 1987, when its subsidiary helped finance a deal involving Texas oilman George W. Bush, the bank appeared to be a reputable institution, with attractive branch offices, a traveler's check business, and a solid reputation for financing international trade. It had high-powered allies in Washington and boasted relationships with respected figures around the world.

All that changed in early 1988, when John Kerry, then a young senator from Massachusetts, decided to probe the finances of Latin American drug cartels. Over the next three years, Kerry fought against intense opposition from vested interests at home and abroad, from senior members of his own party; and from the Reagan and Bush administrations, none of whom were eager to see him succeed.

By the end, Kerry had helped dismantle a massive criminal enterprise and exposed the infrastructure of BCCI and its affiliated institutions, a web that law enforcement officials today acknowledge would become a model for international terrorist financing. As Kerry's investigation revealed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, BCCI was interested in more than just enriching its clients--it had a fundamentally anti-Western mission. Among the stated goals of its Pakistani founder were to "fight the evil influence of the West," and finance Muslim terrorist organizations. In retrospect, Kerry's investigation had uncovered an institution at the fulcrum of America's first great post-Cold War security challenge.

More than a decade later, Kerry is his party's nominee for president, and terrorist financing is anything but a back-burner issue. The Bush campaign has settled on a new strategy for attacking Kerry: Portray him as a do-nothing senator who's weak on fighting terrorism. "After 19 years in the Senate, he's had thousands of votes, but few signature achievements," President Bush charged recently at a campaign rally in Pittsburgh; spin that's been echoed by Bush's surrogates, conservative pundits, and mainstream reporters alike, and by a steady barrage of campaign ads suggesting that the one thing Kerry did do in Congress was prove he knew nothing about terrorism. Ridiculing the senator for not mentioning al Qaeda in his 1997 book on terrorism, one ad asks: "How can John Kerry win a war if he doesn't know the enemy?"

[blm]

6. What GOPs leave out is that Kerry wrote that book in 96, published in 97 and al Qaeda

was just formalizing as a group at the time. That is how the GOP message machine distorts the truth and most of corpmedia followed the distorted storyline from Rove.

And many in the left media were too young or unengaged at the time to correct the RW lies when they were given the airtime to do so and the older Dems didn't want to even mention BCCI, CIA drugrunning or IranContra out loud - as Clinton had helped Poppy Bush cover those crimes of office during his term.

[nashville_brook]

9. kinda explains their current coziness

[QuestionAll...]

15. money is thicker than blood or water. nt

[nashville_brook]

37. blood stains. water evaporates. money accrues interest.

[BridgeTheGap]

8. Was Bonesman Kerry running interference?

Is it just a coincidence that Kerry did this investigation?
Knowing what S&B is into, he was in a perfect position to "screen" evidence and run interference on this investigation.

[blm]

12. Actually, he took Bush to court to get MORE documents released to public. He UNCOVERED

what happened then and that is the LAST thing that BushInc wanted. When the US attorney refused to prosecute, Kerry took the case to New York State to keep the case alive. No one in cahoots would have done that.

Nor would they leave these serious questions for the future investigations (that Clinton chose to not do when he took office)

Clinton was not a Bonesman and did more covering up for Bush than any Dem. What group you were in during college does not explain how you will act with the power that you have.

Here's the questions Kerry said needed answers in late 1992, from a post earlier this year.



The press in this country has done an amazingly poor job of educating the citizens.



Here is Kerry's list - FROM 1992 - of things which warrant further investigation:

There have been a number of matters which the Subcommittee has received some information on, but has not been able to investigate adequately, due such factors as lack of resources, lack of time, documents being withheld by foreign governments, and limited evidentiary sources or witnesses. Some of the main areas which deserve further investigation include:

1. The extent of BCCI's involvement in Pakistan's nuclear program. As set forth in the chapter on BCCI in foreign countries, there is good reason to conclude that BCCI did finance Pakistan's nuclear program through the BCCI Foundation in Pakistan, as well as through BCCI-Canada in the Parvez case. However, details on BCCI's involvement remain unavailable. Further investigation is needed to understand the extent to which BCCI and Pakistan were able to evade U.S. and international nuclear non-proliferation regimes to acquire nuclear technologies.

2. BCCI's manipulation of commodities and securities markets in Europe and Canada. The Subcommittee has received information that remains not fully substantiated that BCCI defrauded investors, as well as some major U.S. and European financial firms, through manipulating commodities and securities markets, especially in Canada, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This alleged fraud requires further investigation in those countries.

3. BCCI's activities in India, including its relationship with the business empire of the Hinduja family. The Subcommittee has not had access to BCCI records regarding India. The substantial lending by BCCI to the Indian industrialist family, the Hindujas, reported in press accounts, deserves further scrutiny, as do the press reports concerning alleged kick-backs and bribes to Indian officials.

4. BCCI's relationships with convicted Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, Syrian drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar, and other major arms dealers. Sarkenalian was a principal seller of arms to Iraq. Monzer Al- Kassar has been implicated in terrorist bombings in connection with terrorist organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Other arms dealers, including some who provided machine guns and trained Medellin cartel death squads, also used BCCI. Tracing their assets through the bank would likely lead to important information concerning international terrorist and arms trafficker networks.

5. The use of BCCI by central figures in arms sales to Iran during the 1980's. The late Cyrus Hashemi, a key figure in allegations concerning an alleged deal involving the return of U.S. hostages from Iran in 1980, banked at BCCI London. His records have been withheld from disclosure to the Subcommittee by a British judge. Their release might aid in reaching judgments concerning Hashemi's activities in 1980, with the CIA under President Carter and allegedly with William Casey.

6. BCCI's activities with the Central Bank of Syria and with the Foreign Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in London. BCCI was used by both the Syrian and Soviet governments in the period in which each was involved in supporting activities hostile to the United States. Obtaining the records of those financial transactions would be critical to understanding what the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, Chernenko, and Andropov was doing in the West; and might document the nature and extent of Syria's support for international terrorism.

7. BCCI's involvement with foreign intelligence agencies. A British source has told the Bank of England and British
investigators that BCCI was used by numerous foreign intelligence agencies in the United Kingdom. The British intelligence service, the MI-5, has sealed documents from BCCI's records in the UK which could shed light on this allegation.

8. The financial dealings of BCCI directors with Charles Keating and several Keating affiliates and front-companies, including
the possibility that BCCI related entities may have laundered funds for Keating to move them outside the United States. The Subcommittee found numerous connections among Keating and BCCI-related persons and entities, such as BCCI director Alfred Hartman; CenTrust chief David Paul and CenTrust itself; Capcom front-man Lawrence Romrell; BCCI shipping affiliate, the Gokal group and the Gokal family; and possibly Ghaith Pharaon. The ties between BCCI and Keating's financial empire require further investigation.

9. BCCI's financing of commodities and other business dealings of international criminal financier Marc Rich. Marc Rich
remains the most important figure in the international commodities markets, and remains a fugitive from the United States following his indictment on securities fraud. BCCI lending to Rich in the 1980's amounted to tens of millions of dollars. Moreover, Rich's commodities firms were used by BCCI in connection with BCCI's involving in U.S. guarantee programs through the Department of Agriculture. The nature and extent of Rich's relationship with BCCI requires further investigation.

10. The nature, extent and meaning of the ownership of shares of other U.S. financial institutions by Middle Eastern political
figures. Political figures and members of the ruling family of various Middle Eastern countries have very substantial investments in the United States, in some cases, owning substantial shares of major U.S. banks. Given BCCI's routine use of nominees from the Middle East, and the pervasive practice of using nominees within the Middle East, further investigation may be warranted of Middle Eastern ownership of domestic U.S. financial institutions.

11. The nature, extent, and meaning of real estate and financial investments in the United States by major shareholders of BCCI. BCCI's shareholders and front-men have made substantial investments in real estate throughout the United States, owning major office buildings in such key cities as New York and Washington, D.C. Given BCCI's pervasiveness criminality, and the role of these shareholders and front-men in the BCCI affair, a complete review of their holdings in the United States is warranted.

12. BCCI's collusion in Savings & Loan fraud in the U.S. The Subcommittee found ties between BCCI and two failed Savings and Loan institutions, CenTrust, which BCCI came to have a controlling interest in, and Caprock Savings and Loan in Texas, and as noted above, the involvement of BCCI figures with Charles Keating and his business empire. In each case, BCCI's involvement cost the U. S. taxpayers money. A comprehensive review of BCCI's account holders in the U.S. and globally might well reveal additional such cases. In addition, the issue of whether David Paul and CenTrust's political relationships were used by Paul on behalf of BCCI merits further investigation.

13. The sale of BCCI affiliate Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP) in Geneva, to the Cukorova Group of Turkey, which owned an entity involved in the BNL Iraqi arms sales, among others. Given BNL's links to BCCI, and Cukorova Groups' involvement through its subsidiary, Entrade, with BNL in the sales to Iraq, the swift sale of BCP to Cukorova just weeks after BCCI's closure -- prior to due diligence being conducted -- raises questions as to whether a prior relationship existed between BCCI and Cukorova, and Cukorova's intentions in making the purchase. Within the past year, Cukorova also applied to purchase a New York bank. Cukorova's actions pertaining to BCP require further investigation in Switzerland by Swiss authorities, and by the Federal Reserve New York.

14. BCCI's role in China. As noted in the chapter on BCCI's activities in foreign countries, BCCI had extensive activity in China, and the Chinese government allegedly lost $500 million when BCCI closed, mostly from government accounts. While there have been allegations that bribes and pay-offs were involved, these allegations require further investigation and detail to determine what actually happened, and who was involved.

15. The relationship between Capcom and BCCI, between Capcom and the intelligence community, and between Capcom's shareholders and U.S. telecommunications industry figures. The Subcommittee was able to interview people and review documents concerning Capcom that no other investigators had to date interviewed or reviewed. Much more needs to be done to understand what Capcom was doing in the United States, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Oman, and the Middle East, including whether the firm was, as has been alleged but not proven, used by the intelligence community to move funds for intelligence operations; and whether any person involved with Capcom was seeking secretly to acquire interests in the U.S. telecommunications industry.

16. The relationship of important BCCI figures and important intelligence figures to the collapse of the Hong Kong Deposit and Guaranty Bank and Tetra Finance (HK) in 1983. The circumstances surrounding the collpase of these two Hong Kong banks; the Hong Kong banks' practices of using nominees, front-companies, and back-to-back financial transactions; the Hong Banks' directors having included several important BCCI figures, including Ghanim Al Mazrui, and a close associate of then CIA director William Casey; all raise the question of whether there was a relationship between these two institutions and BCCI-Hong Kong, and whether the two Hong Kong institutions were used for domestic or foreign intelligence operations.

17. BCCI's activities in Atlanta and its acquisition of the National Bank of Georgia through First American. Although the Justice Department indictments of Clark Clifford and Robert Altman cover portions of how BCCI acquired National Bank of Georgia, other important allegations regarding the possible involvement of political figures in Georgia in BCCI's activities there remain outside the indictment. These allegations, as well as the underlying facts regarding BCCI's activities in Georgia, require further investigation.

18. The relationship between BCCI and the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. BCCI and the Atlanta Branch of BNL had an extensive relationship in the United States, with the Atlanta Branch of BNL having a substantial number of accounts in BCCI's Miami offices. BNL was, according to federal indictments, a significant financial conduit for weapons to Iraq. BCCI also made loans to Iraq, although of a substantially smaller nature. Given the criminality of both institutions, and their interlocking activities, further investigation of the relationship could produce further understanding of Saddam Hussein's international network for acquiring weapons, and how Iraq evaded governmental restrictions on such weapons acquisitions.

19. The alleged relationship between the late CIA director William Casey and BCCI. As set forth in the chapter on intelligence, numerous trails lead from BCCI to Casey, and from Casey to BCCI, and the investigation has been unable to follow any of them to the end to determine whether there was indeed a relationship, and if there was, its nature and extent. If any such relationship existed, it could have a significant impact on the findings and conclusions concerning the CIA and BCCI's role in U.S. foreign policy and intelligence operations during the Casey era. The investigation's work detailing the ties of BCCI to the intelligence community generally also remains far from complete, and much about these ties remains obscure and in need of further investigation.

20. Money laundering by other major international banks. Numerous BCCI officials told the Subcommittee that BCCI's money laundering was no different from activities they observed at other international banks, and provided the names of a number of prominent U.S. and European banks which they alleged engaged in money laundering. There is no question that BCCI's laundering of drug money, while pervading the institution, constituted a small component of the total money laundering taking place in international banking. Further investigation to determine which international banks are soliciting and handling drug money should be undertaken.

[nashville_brook]

20. Kerry was out in front of this -- i've wondered if his boney past didn't "inform"

his passion on the subject. i think he knew what these people were about, which made his investigation more focused. reading the material -- it's not fuzzy. he wasn't obfuscating.

[BridgeTheGap]

26. These actions certainly earned Kerry

alot of credibility. I don't think he was "involved" with BCCI. Given the nature of "The Order," (Hegel's dialtectic)there are certain motions you have to go through to gain credibility if you want to be a leader of the other wing. Was there a danger that certain revelations could endanger S&B members? None were ever prosecuted over any of this.
The question is: how far would Kerry have to go to build credibility to establish himself as a leader and potential presidential candidate, while still serving other "interests?"

Remember when Tim Russert asked both Bush and Kerry (at different times) about their membership in S&B and it's possible influence of Federal policy? They both replied that they couldn't answer that question because their involvement with S&B was "secret."
How audacious can you get? Wouldn't it have been simpler just to lie: "No influence whatsoever."

[Warpy]

30. Kerry did an end run around Poppy and and scared,

corrupt Congressmen who were afraid he was getting a little too close to home when he took his material and delivered it to several state Attorneys General. They're the ones who did the follow through since too many connections between BCCI and the CIA were being uncovered.

That's what a lot of people don't understand about that investigation, that rich and powerful men tried to shut it down and Kerry refused to allow it.

His role in the whole BCCI scandal did more to slow down the formation of Al Qaeda than ten GOP administrations could possibly do.

That's why I voted for him, BTW.

[BridgeTheGap]

39. I voted for him too

Because he was Dem nominee and he ISN'T GWB!
Kerry still recruits for S&B, though.

[Warpy]

42. Jeez, who cares?

Remember, he's got a history of turning on the worst of his class.

He stood up to them against the Vietnam War which was making them richer.

He stood up to them on BCCI, funding terrorists while making them richer.

He stood up to them on Iran Contra, got Reagan in power and made them richer.

I don't give a shit about his rich boys' frat. Remember, they pledge according to wealth and potential leadership. Both things can be used for good as well as the way Stupid has used them.

[nashville_brook]

45. i think it's interesting exactly for those reasons...

"rich boys' frats" are important to pay attention to because at root, they are people of power who have an "irrational" connection.

Kerry is an odd bird in this group, for sure. all the more noble for having these connections and not letting them get in the way of the truth.

i wonder why he didn't use the BCCI information to more advantage during the election. i'm not one of the people who think he ran a lousy campaign. his campaign was run conservatively. but, it would have been nice to have some of these connections aired vis a vis Bush's fitness for office during a time of war in the middle east.

[BridgeTheGap]

61. Yeah why didn't Kerry use that

instead of what they did in the Iowa primary. Calling voters to inform them that Howard Dean's wife was Jewish. What was that all about? Winning a primary, I guess.

[blm]

67. Kerry's camp NEVER made calls against Dean's wife - Kerry's 1/4 Jewish himself

and his family in France was forced out of their home on France during WW2. You really are spreading disinformation at a rapid rate here. Were you expecting that people on DU would buy the crap you are promoting?

I think we are smart enough to trust REAL reporters like Gary Webb and Robert Parry over smearers. If this country had MORE lawmakers like Kerry these past 20 years, we wouldn't be suffering BushInc at all the last 6 years.

[BridgeTheGap]

75. Someone did make the calls in Iowa

Many in the Dean campaign believed that calls were generated from the Kerry campaign.

[BridgeTheGap]

78. I'm not smearing - I may be speculating

I've worked hard enough with the Democratic Party to have earned the right speculate. I also pay attention to history.

"The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society, and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.” President John F. Kennedy

[blm]

63. Because all the Dem spokespeople/DNC were Clinton's team. NONE of them

would be backing Kerry up on any of this as an issue, because it would beg the question Why did Clinton cover up all of this and not open the books when he had the opportunity?

The documents Kerry needed to show everything he said was true were only accessible through the OVAL OFFICE. To try and make it without the documents in hand, would mean having Clinton siding publically with Bushes, and denying what you are saying is true.

[nashville_brook]

66. wow -- that's a whole lotta insight!

thankyou.

it makes me wonder about what deal-making there might have been running up to '92.

Clinton's autobio famously pounds the issue of the Republicans "going personal" to attack his administration early on. apparently there was a stalemate -- Clinton and Bush both having dirty hands from the Iran-Contra affair. That must've made Clinton a "safe" Dem president to the larger power structure (military, intelligence, etc) -- but still not "safe enough" for the Rethugs not to play dirty pool with his presidency.

on the one hand, Clinton's hands were tied such that he wouldn't reveal PAST rethug crimes. On the other hand, they STILL sought to disable him. he was STILL a threat.

it's never made much sense to me, the degree to which Clinton offended/threatened the Repugs. His policies were Republican-lite. he didn't threaten criminal investigations. he didn't advocate for The People, much, except to say "a rising tides lifts all boats."

maybe the fact that he knew where a lot of the "bodies are buried" in Iran-Contra was enough to put him in the crosshairs.

[groovedaddy]

77. Since when does the G.O.P. need such sinister motives

to trash a Democrat?
There is plenty of out'n'out hatred to go around on both sides of the aisle.

[BridgeTheGap]

57. The rich tend toward the right wing/conservative spectrum

If you follow the Dialectic (Hegel), you know the pendelum will eventually swing back the other way. When it does, you want someone of your ilk (S&B?) in striking position for power.
The goal: absolute State power. They don't care if it's from the left or right.
Was all this just "deep cover" work?

[mod mom]

58. and why I worked on his campaign, so hard!

[blm]

32. The 'secret' is basically a joke. However there were some Bonesmen who were part of cliques

that others were not. The serious students who cared about issues of war and peace and justice and governance made up the smaller group. Then there were those who used their connections just to be part of the business and social elite who gave the entire S&B a blackeye.

Read those questions Kerry said needed answering and more investigation - do those sound like the questiions a coverup figure would leave open to the public? Notice that in Clinton's book he never even mentions one word about BCCI. Now THAT is a coverup posture.

[BridgeTheGap]

40. Some Joke

Kerry & Bush were asked about their membership in this secret organization and it's possible influence over Federal policy and both respond that they can't say because it's secret!
What is that? Why didn't they say "None what so ever?" Were we being baited?
Tinfoil hats? Hell yes, we need them NOW!

[blm]

47. There are THOUSANDS of nonBoners who help BushInc coverup - there is NO ONE

who has investigated and exposed MORE government corruption than John Kerry has.

You would have to convince yourself that Kerry was working FOR BushInc because they WANTED ALL their dirty deeds and global fascist agenda exposed.

Don't you realize that YOU and I wouldn't know even HALF what we know about BushInc today if it hadn't been for Kerry?

And do you really think the S&B took one look at Kerry and Bush in college and said: Let's make sure THAT guy (Bush) becomes president and let's make sure the other guy (Kerry) is the one who we will constantly dog and mock as a traitor and a conspiracy theorist for the next 40 years. I am sure they will both cooperate with that and live their lives accordingly.

Think about it - because THAT is what would have had to happen to make what YOU claim is true.

[BridgeTheGap]

49. Think about this...

Bonesmen aren't the only players in this country, but a cursory read of their membership's history shows an extreme interest in the exercise of power.
I don't think there is a "BushInc." They are part of something larger, just as Prescott Bush's dealing with the Nazi's was at someone else's bidding.
No, they didn't necessarily plan it all out when they were college students. But I firmly believe that they committed themselves to something far "grander" than a simple fraternity.
AGAIN - Look at the response Kerry (& Bush) gave when asked about the possible influence of S&B over Federal policy. A simple "NO" would have sufficed, would it not? By their answers, they are feeding the conspiracy theories.
Read Antony Sutton's book.

[blm]

50. You don't base your conclusion on any REAL HISTORY of Kerry's record and that is

what you fail to respond to in any specific way.

You cannot reconcile that no lawmaker in modern history has accumulated Kerry's record of uncovering serious crimes of office and has exposed more of BushInc than any other lawmaker.

No way on earth did Bushes want IranContra, BCCI and CIA drugrunning exposed - it set back their fascist agenda for a generation because it INFORMED PEOPLE LIKE US who stay attuned to their maneuverings and work to spread the information to others.

BET just aired a documentary called American Gangster that deals with the CIA drugrunning story - there are 3 heros of the story who worked to get the information to the PUBLIC and seek justice - Gary Webb, Maxine Waters and John Kerry.

Webb knew the story inside and out, way more than you ever could and Kerry earned his trust. Robert Parry would say the same about IranContra or BCCI - no loyal Bonesman would go the lengths Kerry did, risking the wrath and scorn of the entire DC powerstructure to be labeled a conspiracy theory nut by almost all there at the time including many of the Democrats in power at the time.

[BridgeTheGap]

52. His record?

The historical record does show that Kerry was asked on Meet The Press about his membership in Skull & Bones. His response to the question: do the American people have any reason to believe that S&B in any way influences Federal Policy - "I can't tell you - it's secret"
Please, BLM, THIS IS PART OF THE HISTORICAL RECORD. Why did he say this? What do they have to hide. If they have nothing to hide, then Kerry should have said "None What So EVER!" HE DIDN'T!

Yes, Kerry was willing to subject the activities of some to intense scrutiny (anyone ever prosecuted?) - but Gary Webb was investigating this (as well as others) - so it appears that the cat was already coming out of the bag. I'm not drawing a conclusion on what his motives were in digging into this. I am asking the question: Was he trying to do damage by exposing (again, who was prosecuted?) this activity -or- was he on a damage control assignment?

[blm]

53. Read the open questions he said were left on BCCI - does THAT sound like a coverup or

a warning that these matters needed MORE INVESTIGATION not less or that they were finished? The list of unanswered questions is in a post above.

If he was doing as YOU imply, he would have let the proceedings CONCLUDE. He didn't - and when the US attorney declined to prosecute federally, he kept the BCCI case open by turning over his evidence to a STATE Attorney in NY who WOULD keep the case alive for prosecution and investigative purposes.

A cover up guy would NEVER have done that. He would have said, all done, oh well.

And you STILL can't name ONE OTHER LAWMAKER who has investigated and exposed more govt. corruption than Kerry has, so what does your suspect nature say about THEIR loyalties?

[BridgeTheGap]

54. Consider the Dialectic

Kerry's apparent actions as a reformer set it up perfectly for him to be a presidential candidate.
And you still haven't posed any reasonable, credible explanation of Kerry's remarks on Meet The Press.
Things are not always what they seem. Consider that S&B members (or other oligarchs) may have been burnt by others in BCCI. S&B doesn't control all criminal activity but they've obviously climbed in bed with alot of criminal types. Besides, they are very good at covering their asses.
Again - who was ever prosecuted over findings from Kerry's investigation?

[blm]

62. They were indicted - why do you think Poppy was pardoning people before he left

office?

You still haven't gleaned that these investigations wouldn't have happened AT ALL but Kerry pushed them even as other Dems were trying to block them from happening. BushInc would have had it home free but for Kerry.

I think you haven't read the serious issues surrounding these stories. NO ONE who was part of the investigation would make a claim like yours, even as many have tried to submit theories to claim otherwise.

Why on earth would the Boners work AGAINST Kerry for over 30 years, labeling him a nutcase, and trying to destroy every aspect of his character if they wanted him as president or a presidential candidate?

You really can't be serious - and I think you are unschooled on the actual investigations you are trying to use to make your case based on a fockin' MTP response about S&B - the same response no S&B er is going to give, just as a matter of a standard answer.

NO ONE could possibly believe that those questions left unanswered were part of a coverup - if that was the intent, there would have been NO QUESTIONS LEFT UNANSWERED in the public domain.

And you still haven't even DARED name one lawmaker who has a record of exposing more govt. corruption than Kerry has, so how could that possibly be that there are ANY lawmakers worth trusting if Kerry tops the list of those who've risked their necks the most to expose the corruption?

[BridgeTheGap]

64. For the sake of appearances

"Why on earth would the Boners work AGAINST Kerry for over 30 years, labeling him a nutcase, and trying to destroy every aspect of his character if they wanted him as president or a presidential candidate?"
He is their left wing guy. How much legitimacy would he have if they didn't go after him?
The real threats end up with a bullet in the head (JFK, RFK, MLKjr.).

I believe daddy bush pardoned people involved in Iran-Contra (yes, BCCI there too).
I did follow these hearings when they were taking place.
Look at all the drug cases that were thrown out of court because of "national security."

What are the odds that 2 members of skull&bones be the nominees for both major parties for the U.S. presidency? Talk about streching credulity. Those a very long odds indeed. But I guess in your view, it was pure chance?

[blm]

65. For the sake of appearances they smeared Kerry for over 30 years? They WANTED their deeds

exposed?

You are just not serious. You don't know these issues, because no one who knows them would even try and claim it was part of a setup and that Bushes WANTED Kerry to expose them to the public and DOG them relentlessly even as other Democrats tried to stop him.

Why would Bushes want Kerry to do this for 6 years when you already had Dems in places of power who were already covering it all up for you?

Absurd.

[LittleClarkie]

71. If you believe that about Kerry, you've never taken a very good look at him

There's an article out there somewhere, India Times, talking about how Kerry was still advocating on behalf of those who lost their money when BCCI closed. He was interceding on their behalf in 2004. Don't know how much good it did. But he's still got a hand in it.

What stretches credulity for me is that you're willing to attach all manner of weirdness to an organization merely because you don't know much about it. It being a somewhat secretive organization means that the vacuum of knowledge gets filled with speculation. But really, you got nuthin'

[BridgeTheGap]

76. You can call it speculation

Have you read Antony Sutton's book?
I also have a friend whose father was an S&B member. Yeah, it's all speculation. I'm not smearing Kerry. He smears himself when he gets on National t.v. as says he can't talk about S&B & possible influence over Federal policy because it's "secret." If his motives are pure, then let him renounce S&B.

“The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society, and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.” President John F. Kennedy

[LittleClarkie]

72. Kerry eats babies!

Lightly grilled, with cream sauce, and washes it down with a latte.

IT'S TRUE! I HEARD IT ON COAST TO COAST!!!

[QuestionAll...]

41. nothing in Clinton's book about BCCI?

My initial reaction is very unpleasant surprise, but as I have not read his book...

are there other scandals that he talks about or reveals new info about in his book?

but, dang, not one word about what seems like the biggest robbery and misdeeding, ever... strange indeed.

[blm]

46. Read what he said about IranContra at this link:

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

[mod mom]

69. So has Clinton learned his (and their as in HRC) lesson?

from the suggested article:

"In retrospect, Clinton’s tolerance of Reagan-Bush cover-ups was a lose-lose-lose – the public was denied information it needed to understand dangerous complexities in the Middle East, George W. Bush built his presidential ambitions on the nation’s fuzzy memories of his dad, and Republicans got to enact a conservative agenda."

If so, why has he tag teamed with poppy?

if not, were deals made w the neocons? (ie DLC's PPI had ties w PNAC)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. tinfoil hat much?

[LittleClarkie]

70. S & B = B & S

FYI.

I don't believe that crap for a second.

[groovedaddy]

3. here's some info

There a several good books done on BCCI
http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Bank-Wild-Secret-Heart/dp/0679413847

From Library Journal
The latest chronicle of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) is "about the biggest bank fraud in the history of the world," write the authors, reporters for Time magazine. They have tracked the story much as Woodward and Bernstein sniffed out Watergate. While there is some overlap between this and two previous BCCI books (James Adams's A Full Service Bank , LJ 3/1/92, and Mark Potts's Dirty Money , LJ 5/1/92), this one gives a far-ranging overview of BCCI's origins, how it became a financial powerhouse, and how it fell apart. Some of the new revelations indicate a major cover-up involving the U.S. government; there is a great deal of cloak-and-dagger activity involving late-night meetings and anonymous high-level government sources (one named Condor, who is reminiscent of Deep Throat during Watergate). Given the scope of this scandal and the ongoing investigations, more books on BCCI are sure to be written, but this is probably the best now available for general readers on the subject. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/92.
- Richard Drezen, Merrill Lynch Lib., New York
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
An unconventional but thorough audit of the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International, by a pair of Time correspondents whose coverage of the stateless institution's scandalous collapse earned them a slew of journalism awards. Beaty and Gwynne (Selling Money, 1986) offer a four-part rundown on BCCI, the financial establishment of choice for arms dealers, drug traffickers, intelligence operatives, terrorists, Third World strongmen, and other scofflaws. The authors first recount how confidential sources tipped them on the biggest story of their professional lives. They then provide a concise, third- person briefing on the Arab-owned, Pakistani-run bank's origins and off-the-books operating procedures. Chartered in backwater venues like the Cayman Islands to evade oversight by regulatory authorities, BCCI (founded in 1972) resorted to money laundering, Ponzi schemes, secret ledgers, tax evasion, and allied misdeeds in catering to its criminal clientele. An accounting commissioned by the Bank of England finally exposed the extent of BCCI's deficits and offenses, impelling the bank's closing. Resuming the narrative as it unfolded from their points of view, the authors cover how they learned that BCCI was something larger and more sinister than a transnational depository institution. In conclusion, they address the failure of governments everywhere to clamp down on BCCI despite abundant evidence of its corruption. Throughout, Beaty and Gwynne make clear that the bank's capacity to suborn or use pillars of the political community played a crucial role in its success. The ranks of those tarnished include the prominent likes of Lord Callaghan, Jimmy Carter, Clark Clifford, and Bert Lance, while the much shorter list of good guys features Jack Blum (a former Senate investigator) and Gotham's D.A., Robert Morgenthau. The ringside format takes some getting used to, but it ultimately affords as vividly clear an explanation of the BCCI conspiracy as we're apt to get anytime soon. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

[nashville_brook]

4. BCCI bullet points

http://www.alternet.org/election04/20268/

The Case That Kerry Cracked

By Lucy Komisar, AlterNet. Posted October 22, 2004.


(snip)

The bank had carved out a niche: it was the banker to the bad guys. One U.S. indictment would say that money laundering was BCCI's "corporate strategy." BCCI survived for two decades because it floated on the waves of the offshore system, with key booking operations in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands, where bank regulators couldn’t go. Its Grand Cayman "bank-within-a-bank" was just a post office box. The bank also had friends in high places in the U.S. and, of course, the wink and nod of the CIA and the Reagan-Bush administration, which depended on its services. Over the years, BCCI was involved with:

* Drug cartels. As early as 1985, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the IRS found that BCCI was involved in laundering heroin money, with numerous branches in Colombia to handle accounts for the drug cartels. It ran accounts for the traffickers’ protector, Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, as well as for the drug kingpins of Asia’s Golden Crescent, including Burmese heroin warlord Khun Sa, and for drug trafficking Afghanis and Pakistanis.

* Illegal arms traders. For the Afghanis, the rule was “drugs out, American and British arms in.” Clients also included Middle East terrorist Abu Nidal, who used bank financing to get weapons; the sellers of nuclear technology to Pakistan; and Syrian drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar. The bank served international organized crime involved in extortion, bribery, kidnapping and murder, and ran accounts for Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Haiti's Jean-Claude Duvalier, Liberian strongman Samuel Doe and other thieving heads of state who needed to hide their stolen cash.

* The Iran/Contra scandal. BCCI had a role in the infamous scandal of the Reagan years. The CIA told Noriega to use the bank for the payoffs he got for helping National Security Council (NSC) staffer Oliver North set up shell companies and secret bank accounts in Panama to illegally move funds to the Contras in Nicaragua and arms to Iran in 1985-86. North had arranged to illegally sell 1,250 U.S. Tow missiles to Iran in exchange for a promise that Teheran would press militants in Lebanon to release American hostages. Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi middleman and fixer, used a BCCI account to move $20 million for the illegal arms and money plot. BCCI prepared phony documents for the arms sale, and checks signed by North were drawn on the Paris branch of BCCI, which “had no records” of the account when U.S. law enforcement later sought them. The profits were sent to Nicaragua’s right wing Contra rebels, violating a congressional ban on such aid.

* Saddam Hussein. During the Reagan-Bush support of Iraq as an adversary to Iran, BCCI funneled millions of dollars to Baghdad's banker in the U.S., the Atlanta branch of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, (an Italian bank), so that from 1985 to 1989 it could make $4 billion in secret loans to Iraq — money for arms. BNL was a client of Kissinger Associates, and Henry Kissinger was on the bank’s international advisory board along with Brent Scowcroft, who would become Bush Sr.’s National Security Advisor.

[nashville_brook]

5. Recovered History: BCCI, BNL, GW Bush and Iraq

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0302/S00119.htm

CHRIS FLOYD, COUNTERSPIN

- The opening of a long-delayed civil suit in a . . . involves our old friends, BCCI, the international bank that served as the front for a global crime ring involving top officials and Establishment worthies in dozens of "civilized" nations. BCCI ran guns to Saddam and other heavies, funded Pakistan's illegal nuclear weapons program, laundered drug profits, peddled prostitutes, doled out bribes, served as a conduit for covert CIA operations--and, through its connections to the bin Laden family, gave George W. Bush a sweetheart loan of $25 million to bail out one of his many business failures.

One of the respectable organizations tainted by the ring was the Bank of England, which was the financial regulator for BCCI when the front finally collapsed in 1991--leaving its legitimate creditors some $11 billion in the hole. Not surprisingly, some of these victims filed suit against ye olde B of E, claiming that its oversight of BCCI left something to be desired. But successive British governments--including the plagiaristic poodle-led pack currently in power--have fought for years to quash the lawsuit, the Observer reports.

That's because the trial could open a can of particularly grubby worms concerning the UK government's extensive canoodling with BCCI. A host of worthies are expected to be grilled in the dock, including John Major, former UK prime minister and current business partner of George Bush I in yet another secretive international front that profits from war, weapons, violence, repression and the greasing of highly-placed palms: the Carlyle Group. . .

The Italian bank BNL was one of BCCI's main tentacles. BNL's Atlanta branch was the primary funnel used by the first Bush Administration to send millions of secret dollars to Saddam for arms purchases, including deadly chemicals and other WMD materials supplied by the Chilean arms dealer Cardoen and various politically-connected operators in the United States like, weapons merchant Matrix Churchill. (As always with the Busha Nostra, geopolitics--in this case, helping Saddam wage aggressive war against Iran--and crony profits go hand in hand. Once the war was over and Iran was left a shattered hulk, with millions dead and displaced, the useful idiot Saddam was expendable, swiftly morphing from good buddy into budding Hitler.)


more at link

[QuestionAll...]

10. thanks all... what a nest of vipers!

and so many familiar names -
I just can't see how we can fix all this corruption. It's very depressing to say the least.

[blm]

13. Why do you think BushInc fought so hard to gain control of broadcast media?

The last thing they wanted was Kerry in office opening the books he tried to get opened years before.

Gary Webb gave up hope those books would be opened and he would be vindicated on his CIA drugrunning report when Bush stole office yet again - he committed suicide in Dec 2004.

[nashville_brook]

19. committed suicide...

just like danny caselaro.

[QuestionAll...]

22. gary webb - dark alliance. suicide by two shots to the head?

I'm fairly certain I read that... how odd, eh?

[blm]

23. one way or another - it wouldn't have happened if votes that had been cast

for Kerry weren't diverted to Bush.

Webb NEEDED Kerry to get into the oval office to open the books that would have vindicated him and indicted many of his peers in the corpmedia - and THAT is why you see the flurry of antiKerry press at the drop of a hat - or a pronoun.

[nashville_brook]

25. cockburn -- Why They Hated Gary Webb

http://www.counterpunch.com/cockburn12182004.html

So why did the top-tier press savage Webb, and parrot the CIA's denials. It comes back to this matter of Uncle Sam's true face. Another New York Times reporter, Keith Schneider was asked by In These Times back in 1987 why he had devoted a three-part series in the New York Times to attacks on the Contra hearings chaired by Senator John Kerry. Schneider said such a story could "shatter the Republic. I think it is so damaging, the implications are so extraordinary, that for us to run the story, it had better be based on the most solid evidence we could amass." Kerry did uncover mountains of evidence. So did Webb. But neither of them got the only thing that would have satisfied Schneider, Pincus and all the other critics: a signed confession of CIA complicity by the DCI himself. Short of that, I'm afraid we're left with "innuendo", "conspiracy mongering" and "old stories". We're also left with the memory of some great work by a very fine journalist who deserved a lot better than he got from the profession he loved.

[nashville_brook]

28. Bush biographers have a high suicide rate

Four Bush biographers, Mark Lombardi, J.H. Hatfield, Danny Casalaro, and now Gary Webb—all “suicide” victims. What are the odds all of these people actually committing suicide?

… Examining the male U.S. suicide rate for recent years, we can extrapolate a conservative estimate of 17 male suicides per 100,000 people, or 0.017%. The odds of 4 specific, male biographers committing suicide would be the 4th power of 17/100000, or 8.3521 4.913 x 10^-17… roughly 1 chance 10,000,000,000,000,000.

About as good a definition of impossible as you can get. A person would stand a better chance of playing the Canadian lottery 6/49 exactly twice in one’s lifetime and winning ther grand jackpot BOTH TIMES! (That is, picking 6 numbers out of 49 possible numbers and matching all 6 numbers out of 6 random draws, on 2 separate occasions, and having only purchased two Canadian lottery tickets ever.) This calculation should be regarded as a conservative estimate: the actual odds against such a “coincidence” would be much greater. For example, if any of the biographers were female, the odds would be even greater.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Nimmo
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/NIM412B.html

[QuestionAll...]

34. bookmarked and thanks!

will have to look into Lombardi and Casalaro, Webb and Hatfield I know a bit about.
thanks again.

[nashville_brook]

36. back when this was happening i was an aspiring journalist

D Caselaro was a hero. it's a fascinating story. try to find the Spy Mag articles if you can. There's a new Spy Mag book out that might contain the series.

[nashville_brook]

7. Iran-Contra, Noriega, Iraqgate, and BCCI

http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/octopus.html

The CenTrust Connection: the S & Ls, the Mob, and BCCI

The S & L failures of '89 were a massive blow to the banking system. Over 200 small savings and loan banks went under - just under half of those in existence - and had their assets seized by the federal 'dummy' company, the Resolution Trust Corp. Largely, this was a problem created by deregulation legislation passed by the congressional banking committees - the legislation allowed the S & Ls to make investments that were extremely risky and fiscally unsound. In fact, the failure can also be seen as the result of several years of deregulation of many industries under the Reagan administration - deregulation that was "bought" by the very industries which were supposed to be policed. But where were the regulators who were supposed to be the 'watchdogs' of the industry? Almost across the board they were 'bought off' by S & L moguls like Charles Keating, paid to look the other way while the S & Ls invested in fraudulent real estate schemes and sham projects which collapsed after a few years. But to maintain a veneer of solubility for their creditors, many S & Ls actually turned to "junk bond" king Michael Milliken, managing to "puff up" their investment profiles with airy money. There may have been even more crooked things going on, as some recent articles suggest that some of the S & L swindle may have gotten into the hands of the CIA and used to fund the Contras- most funds coming from the failed Palmer National Bank and Vision Savings Bank in Houston.

Even more daring reports, such as a recent book by investigative reporter Peter Brewton, suggest the Mafia may have been involved with some of the bank fraud - as they most certainly were with the Vatican Bank scandal in Italy. Author Dan Moldea notes extensive connections between the Hollywood motion picture company MCA, the defense/nuclear contractor General Electric, the corrupt Teamsters' Union, and the Mob. Strangely, former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan had connections to all of the above. The fact that there are close Republican ties to the Teamsters, despite the party's overt anti-labor stance, is very curious; but it must be examined in the light of the Teamsters' "patriotic" support of "guns and butter" and other right-wing stances, and their links to the Mafia. (It is widely suspected that Richard Nixon may have pardoned Jimmy Hoffa after making a deal with the Teamsters to give money to his 1972 presidential campaign - yet another unwritten chapter in the Watergate saga, along with the revelations that he may have tried to frame the Democrats for the assassination attempt on George Wallace.) Anthony Summers believes that J. Edgar Hoover was blackmailed by the Mob for his homosexuality, and that is why the former FBI director continued to deny the pervasiveness of "organized crime." One of Brewton's most amazing revelations is that Bush may have actively attempted to conceal the Texas oil - organized crime - S & L - CIA links during the 1988 campaign: but so did Lloyd Bentsen, who told Dukakis it would be "a losing issue for our ticket!"

The cost for fixing the S & L mess - for returning the depositors in the banks all their savings - will be quite high. Another cost involved in the process will be the liquidation of nearly valueless assets owned by the S & Ls - such as acres and acres of undeveloped land out in the Southwest. The properties of the failed S & Ls are being sold by RTC for businessmen for a steal; and taxpayers are being asked to pick up a large part of the tab. Some estimate that the S & L cleanup may cost each and every taxpayer as much as $1000. Each and every taxpayer, of the 200 million who pay taxes! There are economists who feel the beginning wave of the S & L collapse may have contributed to the massive stock market crash of 1987, and that its impact led to other bank failures and a real estate 'bust' contributing to the 1990 recession. Crooked S & L operators received, on the average, 2.4 years in prison for ripping off America with their white-collar crimes. But a robber who steals $200 from a convenience store gets, on average, 7.8 years. One need not be a math wizard to see something glaringly wrong with that. Why have the federal prosecutors under the Bush administration been so slow to prosecute, and so lenient with their sentences? Could it be connected to the extensive amounts of money that Bush himself got from the S & Ls during his 1988 campaign?

Was there also a link between the failed Savings & Loans and BCCI? It turns out, yes, and the (now defunct) Miami CenTrust bank chairman David Paul is the key. According to a NBC special on the S & L scandal, Dexter Lehtinen, the temporary appointee to the position of federal prosecutor for south Florida, claims he was obstructed by the government from serving subpoenas on many of the big figures connected to Paul. Lehtinen was never confirmed officially for the position after serving in it for several years - some say this was because of things in his background that might lead to a confirmation fight, but others feel it was because he was digging too deeply into CenTrust's failures. Lehtinen now claims that Paul may have bribed many local and federal officials to cover up for money laundering and secret Carribean accounts to sequester 'narcodollars.' Investigators found that Paul lived a lavish lifestyle, buying gold fixtures and priceless art treasures for his office in the CenTrust building. When CenTrust was starting to face insolvency, Paul found a cash influx from an unsuspected source - BCCI financier Farouk, who tried to use CenTrust to launder money from the Banco Nazionale Lavore (BNL) in Italy. The S & L scandal is, it seems, yet another arm within the Octopus.

(snip)

One link between Bush, Saddam, and Iran-Contra was the corrupt Middle Eastern bank, the Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI). BCCI, it turns out, laundered drug money, financed CIA and Mossad covert operations, and helped Bush, Saddam, and others split over $250 billion in extortion from the sale of Persian Gulf oil. (BCCI also might have had links to the corrupt drug-money-laundering-and-CIA scandals involving Australia's Nugan Hand Bank.) Attorney General Richard Thornburgh squashed an investigation into First American Bankshares, secretly controlled by BCCI, in October 1990; and William von Raab, former U.S. customs official, was fired by Treasury Secretary James Brady for delving too deeply into BCCI. This may have a lot to do with the links between Prescott Bush, First American director Stephens, Bahrain, and Iraq. Bush's family were oilmen, and if there is anything he stood for, it was Big Oil and its interests in the Middle East. (It might be pointed out, incidentally, that it was Norman Schwarzkopf's father who helped boot out Mossadegh in Iran when he threatened to nationalize holdings of British Petroleum.) The mess was in place, and President Bush had a lot of cleaning up to do.

[thingfisher]

73. This whole topic gets to the heart of darkness

doesn't it? All the tie ins between the Bush crime family, BCCI, Iran Contra, CIA drug dealing, and on and on and on. It is when you spend time researching these things that the mind begins to boggle at the intricacy of it all. Danny Casolaro called it the Octopus.
Conspiracy? Plenty of circumstancial evidence that seems to point to something vast and conspiratorial but never enough smoking guns to convince the naive and skeptical that the coincidences and circumstantial evidence is damning enough. One thing is the Bush family is always in the thick of it.

[Lars39]

11. K&R

Basic info everyone needs to know. :kick:

[nam78_two]

14. K&R

I want more and more people to ask this question.

I would recommend Robert Parry's site Consortium News.

[Jcrowley]

16. K & R n/t

[blm]

17. Warning to you - once you get into what happened then and put the dots together,

you will REALLY understand what it is to 'question everything' that you think you know about the Bushes, the Bin Ladens and Bill Clinton and how you look back on the 80s,90s, and today's problems in the world.

[nashville_brook]

18. Spy Magazine spent a lot of time on this back in the day -- it was "our" moment

the early gen-x'ers. i remember watching the iran-contra hearings on the tv in my poly sci dept w/the profs. those who were paying attention knew the story would never be told "out loud," but if you listened carefully, the whispers were clear: statemanship is dead.

[QuestionAll...]

21. I have shed this 'good cop bad cop' (repub&dem) not so

long ago. To me it's like a wrestling match - the gullible crowd gets all excited cheering for their favourite. They all pay the same inflated price for the ticket and after the show, the two wrestlers go to a pub and count their take and buddy up with each other and plan the next theatre.

[nashville_brook]

24. The REAL Dirt On Bush/Harken Scandal -- Jr's BCCI Connection

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/07/136245.php

(long, but well worth the read -- brook)

GEORGE JR.'S BCCI CONNECTION

"This is an incredible deal, unbelievable for this small company," energy analyst Charles Strain told Forbes magazine, describing the oil production sharing agreement the Harken Energy Corporation signed in January 1990 with Bahrain. Under the terms of the deal, Harken was given the exclusive right to explore for gas and oil off the shores of the Gulf island nation. If gas or oil were found in waters near two of the world's largest gas and oil fields, Harken would have exclusive marketing and transportation rights for the energy resources. Truly an "incredible deal" for a company that had never drilled an offshore well.


(snip)

Junior's value to Harken soon became apparent when the company needed an infusion of cash in the spring of 1987. Junior and other Harken officials met with Jackson Stephens, head of Stephens, Inc., a large investment bank in Little Rock, Arkansas ...who made arrangements with Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) to provide $25 million to Harken in return for a stock interest in Harken. As part of the Stephens-brokered deal, Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh, a Saudi real estate tycoon and financier, joined Harken's board as a major investor. *5 Stephens, UBS, and Bakhsh each have ties to the scandal-ridden Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

It was Stephens who suggested in the late 1970s that BCCI purchase what became First American Bankshares in Washington, D.C. BCCI later acquired First American's predecessor, Financial General Bankshares. At the time of the Harken investment, UBS was a joint-venture partner with BCCI in a bank in Geneva, Switzerland. Bakhsh has been an investment partner in Saudi Arabia with Gaith Pharoan, identified by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board as a "front man" for BCCI's secret acquisitions of U.S. banks.

(snip)

Harken lacked sufficient financing to explore off the coast of Bahrain so it brought in Bass Enterprises Production Company of Fort Worth, Texas, as a partner. The Bass family contributed more than $200,000 to the Republican Party in the late 1980s and early 1990s. *9 On June 22, 1990, George Jr. sold two-thirds of his Harken stock for $848,560-a cool 200 percent profit. The move was well timed. One week after Junior sold his stock, Harken announced a $23.2 million loss in quarterly earnings and Harken stock dropped sharply, losing 60 percent of its value over the next six months. On August 2, 1990, Iraqi troops moved into Kuwait and 541,000 U.S. forces were deployed to the Gulf.

(snip)

George "Jr." also violated Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations which require "insider" stock deals to be reported promptly, in Bush's case by July 10, 1990. He didn't file the stock sale with the SEC until the first week of March 1991. Meanwhile, a cloak-and-dagger aura surrounds Junior's business dealings. James Bath, a Texas entrepreneur who invested $50,000 in Arbusto Energy, may be a business cutout for the CIA. Bath also acted as an investment "adviser" to Saudi Arabian oil sheikhs, linked to the outlaw BCCI, which also has ties to the CIA.

[Karenina]

27. Whatever happened to that Bath boy?

:shrug:

[nashville_brook]

33. from our very own Demopedia -- the BATH BIO

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/James_Bath

Biography

James Reynolds Bath was a former director of BCCI, and part owner of Arbusto Energy. James was a friend of George W. Bush and was suspended in the Texas Airguard together with Bush for AWOL.

Bath moved to Houston in 1965 to join the Texas Air National Guard where he meets George W. Bush and the two become friends <1> (http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2001-09-19/mecklin.html). In 1968, he was hired by Atlantic Aviation. In 1972 he goes missing from the National Guard and was suspended on September 29, 1972 together with his buddy George W. Bush for failing to undergo a physical <2> (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/27/james_bath/index1.html).

During this period Bath gets introduced to George H.W. Bush and becomes the duck hunting partner for James Baker and friends with John Connally <3> (http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/04/27/james_bath/index1.html?pn=3) who had previously switched to the Republican Party after Richard Nixon surprisingly invited Bush, Connolly and Hunt to help him at the White House.

In 1973 Bath got his start in real estate in by forming a partnership with Lloyd Bentsen's son, Lan, in Bath Bentsen Interests <4> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Bath). Lan Bentsen was also a member of the Champagne unit <5> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_unit#147th_Fighter_Group).

In 1974 Bath helped to finance George W. Bush campaign.

In 1976 Bath purchased the Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden, a Saudi sheik. Bath was the representative of Salem bin Laden <6> (). When bin Laden died in 1988, his interest in the airfield passed to Khalid bin Mahfouz.

In 1977 Bath bought into two of Bush's companies, Arbusto 79 Ltd and Arbusto 80 Ltd, affiliates of the Arbusto Energy oil exploration company founded by George W. Bush.

In 1978, Bath became a Director of the Main Bank, based in Houston, Texas. His fellow investors were John Connally, Saudi financier Ghaith R. Pharaon and Khalid bin Mahfouz.

In 1980, Bath was named company president of Cotopax Investments, registered in the Cayman Islands. The name was changed to Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd. The company board then resigned en masse, leaving Bath as a sole director. The company acted as a supplier of large passenger and air cargo jets. At one point, it leased a $10 million Gulfstream II jet to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., which was controlled by Sheikh Zayed, the late first president of the United Arab Emirates <4>.

Bath founded Southwest Airport Services to manage the Houston Gulf Airport, and to provide military fueling services at Ellington Field. He also served as president of the Skyway Aircraft Leasing company. <4>

In 1990, a Saudi banker named Khalid bin Mahfouz procured a loan of $1.4 million for Bath, allowing him to buy a stake in the airport.

In 1992 Bath was later investigated by the FBI for funneling Saudi money through Houston business relationships to influence the foreign policies of Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush <7> (http://atlanta.indymedia.org/newswire/display/2311/index.php). --

[Karenina]

38. But like... where is he

like NOW??? Anybody seen that Bath feller in recent times?

[nashville_brook]

43. Salon article -- he's in Houston (as of 2004)

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/04/27/james_bath/index.html

Craig Unger interviewed him for this Salon piece and he's also covered in his book, "House of Bush, House of Saud."



you know -- he might be keeping a low profile since 911. seems like everywhere i look, Bath's public life ended around 911.

[nashville_brook]

35. 8 days after 911, SF WEEKLY shows BATH connects BUSH to bin Laden family

http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2001-09-19/mecklin.html


The Tangled Path to a Response
As we prepare to retaliate for last week's atrocities,
let's take time to be sure of our targets
By John Mecklin
Article Published Sep 19, 2001

(snip)

Among his varied business activities, Mr. Bath represented, as a sort of business agent, at least four prominent and wealthy Saudi Arabian citizens in their U.S. investments. According to public records, those citizens included Salem (sometimes spelled Salim) bin Laden, the favored son of the founder of a great Saudi construction empire, and one of dozens of half-brothers of a then-obscure man named Osama bin Laden.

Bath's associations did not exclusively involve Saudi petrodollars. Among other things, he also counted as a friend and minor business partner another man who, except for his family connections, was not well known to the wider public: George W. Bush.

[Octafish]

74. 8 weeks BEFORE 9-11, Jim Hatfield connects bin Ladens to Bush n BFEE

The late Jim Hatfield also wrote about how ridiculous the thought of Osama attacking the Genoa G-8 summit with hijacked airplanes:

Why would Osama bin Laden want to kill Dubya, his former business partner?

By James Hatfield

Editor's note: In light of last week's horrific events and the Bush administration's reaction to them, we are reprising the following from the last column Jim Hatfield wrote for Online Journal prior to his tragic death on July 18:

July 3, 2001—There may be fireworks in Genoa, Italy, this month, too.

A plot by Saudi master terrorist, Osama bin Laden, to assassinate Dubya during the July 20 economic summit of world leaders, was uncovered after dozens of suspected Islamic militants linked to bin Laden's international terror network were arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, and Milan, Italy, in April.

German intelligence services have stated that bin Laden is covertly financing neo-Nazi skinhead groups throughout Europe to launch another terrorist attack at a high-profile American target—his first since the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen last October.

According to counter-terrorism experts quoted in Germany's largest newspaper, the attack on Dubya might be a James Bond-like aerial strike in the form of remote-controlled airplanes packed with plastic explosives.

Why would Osama bi Laden want to kill, Dubya, his former business partner?

I knew that bombshell would whip your heads around. So here's the straight scoop, folks.

In June 1977, Dubya formed his own drilling company, Arbusto Energy ("arbusto" means "bush" in Spanish), in Midland, Texas. Like his father before him, Dubya founded his oil business with the financial backing of investors, including James R. Bath, a Houston businessman whom Dubya apparently first met when they were in the same Texas Air National Guard unit. (Interestingly, both Dubya and Bath were both suspended from flying in August and September 1972, respectively, for "failure to accomplish annual medical examination.")

CONTINUED...

http://onlinejournal.org/Special_Reports/Hatfield-R-091901/hatfield-r-091901.html

Great interview with Hatfield on DemocracyNow.org:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/08/11/1447218&mode=thread&tid=25

[nashville_brook]

31. Bush, bin Laden, BCCI and the 9/11 Commission -- more from counterpunch

http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd01312003.html

by CHRIS FLOYD

What was BCCI?
Only "one of the largest criminal enterprises in history," according to the U.S. Senate. What did BCCI do? "It engaged in pandemic bribery of officials in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas," says journalist Christopher Bryon, who first exposed the operation. "It laundered money on a global scale, intimidated witnesses and law officers, engaged in extortion and blackmail. It supplied the financing for illegal arms trafficking and global terrorism. It financed and facilitated income tax evasion, smuggling and prostitution." Sort of an early version of the Bush Regime, then.

BCCI's bipartisan corruption first permeated the Carter Administration, then came to full flower in the Reagan-Bush years. The CIA uncovered the bank's criminal activities in 1981--no great feat, considering how many of its own foreign "associates" were involved, including the head of Saudi intelligence, Kamal Adham, brother-in-law of King Faisal. But instead of stopping the drug-runners and terrorists, the agency decided to join them, using BCCI's secret channels to finance "black ops" all over the world.

When a few prosecutors finally began targeting BCCI's operations in the late Eighties, President George Herbert Walker Bush boldly moved in with a federal probe directed by Justice Department investigator Robert Mueller. The U.S. Senate later found that the probe had been unaccountably "botched"--witnesses went missing, CIA records got "lost," all sorts of bad luck. Lower-ranking prosecutors told of heavy pressure from on high to "lay off." Most of the big BCCI players went unpunished or, like Mahfouz, got off with wrist-slap fines and sanctions. Mueller, of course, wound up as head of the FBI, appointed to the post in July 2001--by George W. Bush.

(snip)

Somehow we doubt that worthy Kean will poke very hard at the nexus of intersections between his own business partner, Mahfouz, and the bin Ladens, the Bushes, the Saudi royals, Saddam, the CIA and BCCI. We've only scratched the surface here, but even this cursory glance makes the current world crisis look less like some grand geopolitical "clash of civilizations" and more like a nasty falling out among thieves, with rival mafias--who sometimes collude, sometimes collide--now duking it out for turf, cloaking their murderous criminality with pious rhetoric about freedom, security, jihad and God.

[nashville_brook]

44. BANK-rolling evil-doers (as in BBCI) is a BUSH-family tradition.... this from FOX News

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,100474,00.html


Documents: Bush's Grandfather Directed Bank Tied to Man Who Funded Hitler

WASHINGTON — President Bush's grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power, government documents show.

Prescott Bush was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corp., a New York investment bank owned by a bank controlled by the Thyssen family, according to recently declassified National Archives documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Fritz Thyssen was an early financial supporter of Hitler, whose Nazi party Thyssen believed was preferable to communism (i think this is key to understanding the Bush family motivation -- ANYTHING is better than treating WORKERS as people -- brook). The documents do not show any evidence Bush directly aided that effort. His position with Union Banking never was a political issue for Bush, who was elected to the Senate from Connecticut in 1952.

Reports of Bush's involvement with the seized bank have been circulating on the Internet for years and have been reported by some mainstream media. The newly declassified documents provide additional details about the Union Banking-Thyssen connection.

[BridgeTheGap]

55. Prescott Bush was the "bag man"

for a much broader operation - a number of bonesmen involved in this.
They always play both sides of the fence. They only believe in the primacy & absolute power of the State. They don't particularly care if that is achieved from the left or the right, as long as it happens.
Read Antony Sutton's book!

[soothsayer]

48. Ask Danny Casolaro (poor Danny)

[DemReadingDU]

51. Bookmarked!

Lots of good research here, thanks!

[mod mom]

59. It's time for all this information to be delivered to the public and for justice

to prevail-who needs fiction with this bullshit!

[happydreams]

68. Bank of Crooks and Criminals International>child sex slave industry

I am convinced that BCCI is behind the international child sex slave industry. I will never forget what its head Abedi said, something like: "We can get a girl or a boy for our clients."

Then you have all of these Repukes involved in that very same industry. I'll bet Limbaugh is involved to.


....But he emphasised repeatedly that he did not argue that Bank officials were corrupt - although if any official had wanted to be bribed - BCCI's founder, the late Agha Hasan Abedi was, as he put it, "your man".

Mr Abedi could get you girls, boys, seats at the opera, or money in suitcases if you wanted, Mr Pollock said.

He said that Mr Abedi was regarded as the Mad Monk Rasputin whose management philosophy "was a mixture of the mysticism and the psychopathic".....



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3393179.stm