Come on man, all you need to do is prove ONE of these sourced facts as false... You can do it! Surely? These are actual lines from the movie... These are the facts that you say you don't want to "waste time" actually having to address...
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?The Carlyle group is a multinational conglomerate that invests in heavily government-regulated industries like telecommunications, healthcare and, particularly, defense.?
* ?The Carlyle Group is one of the world?s largest private equity firms, with more than $18.3 billion under management. With 23 funds across five investment disciplines (management-led buyouts, real estate, leveraged finance, venture capital and turnaround), Carlyle combines global vision with local insight, relying on a top-flight team of nearly 300 investment professionals operating out of offices in 14 countries to uncover superior opportunities in North America, Europe, and Asia. Carlyle focuses on sectors in which it has demonstrated expertise: aerospace & defense, automotive & transportation, consumer, energy & power, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, and telecommunications & media.? Carlyle Group web site,
http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/eng/company/index.html
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: The Bin Laden and Bush families were both connected to the Carlyle Group, as were many of the Bush family?s friends and associates.
* In the early 1990s, George W. Bush served on the board of directors for CaterAir, an airline catering company. CaterAir was owned by the Carlyle Group. Kenneth N. Gilpin, ?Little-Known Carlyle Scores Big,? The New York Times, March 26, 1991. ?George W. Bush left the company in 1994, a year after his father?s presidency ended.? Ross Ramsey, et al., ?Campaign ?94 Fisher?s Staff Slips Up On Spanish,? The Houston Chronicle, September 17, 1994.
* In the mid-1990s, George H.W. Bush joined up with the Carlyle Group. ?Under the leadership of ex-officials like Baker and former Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, Carlyle developed a specialty in buying defense companies and doubling or quadrupling their value. The ex-president not only became an investor in Carlyle, but a member of the company's Asia Advisory Board and a rainmaker who drummed up investors. Twelve rich Saudi families, including the Bin Ladens, were among them. In 2002, the Washington Post reported, ?Saudis close to Prince Sultan, the Saudi defense minister ... were encouraged to put money into Carlyle as a favor to the elder Bush.? Bush retired from the company last October, and Baker, who lobbied U.S. allies last month to forgive Iraq's debt, remains a Carlyle senior counselor. Kevin Phillips, ?The Barreling Bushes; Four Generations of the Dynasty Have Chased Profits Through Cozy Ties with Mideast Leaders, Spinning Webs of Conflicts of Interest,? Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2004.
* The bin Laden family first invested in Carlyle in 1994. Representing Carlyle?s Asia Board, George H.W. Bush visited the bin laden family's headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Kurt Eichenwald, ?Bin Laden Family Liquidates Holdings With Carlyle Group,? The New York Times, October 26, 2001.
* James Baker was a Carlyle Senior Counselor beginning in 1993. Carlyle Group web site,
http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/eng/team/
l5-team391.html.
* Bush's OMB chief, Richard Darman, was with Carlyle by 1994. Bob Cook, Mergers & Acquisitions Report, December 12, 1994.
* George W. Bush was with Caterair -- owned by Carlyle -- until 1994, after Fred Malek, a senior advisor to Carlyle, who also served as the director of the 1988 Republican Convention, suggested to Carlyle that the President?s eldest son would ?be a positive addition to Caterair?s board.? Kenneth N. Gilpin, ?Little-Known Carlyle Scores Big,? New York Times, March 26, 1991.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?Carlyle Group was holding its annual investor conference on the morning of September 11th in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C. At that meeting were all of the Carlyle regulars, James Baker, likely John Major, definitely George H. W. Bush, though he left the morning of September 11th. Shafiq bin Ladin, who is Osama bin Laden?s half-brother, and was in town to look after his family?s investments in the Carlyle Group. All of them, together in one room, watching as the uh the planes hit the towers.?
* On the morning of September 11, 2001, ?in the plush setting of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, DC, the Carlyle Group was holding its annual international investor conference. Frank Carlucci, James Baker III, David Rubenstein, William Conway, and Dan D?Aniellow were together, along with a host of former world leaders, former defense experts, wealthy Arabs from the Middle East, and major international investors as they terror played out on television. There with them, looking after the investments of his family was Shafiq bin Laden, Osama bin Laden?s estranged half-brother. George Bush Sr. was also at the conference, but Carlyle?s spokesperson says the former president left before the terror attacks, and was on an airplane over the Midwest when flights across the country were grounded on the morning of September 11. In any circumstance, a confluence of such politically complex and globally connected people would have been curious, even newsworthy. But in the context of the terrorist attacks being waged against the United States by a group of Saudi nationals led by Osama bin Laden, the group assembled at the Ritz-Carlton that day was a disconcerting and freakish coincidence.? Dan Briody, The Iron Triangle, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003, p. 139-140. See also, Melanie Warner, ?What do George Bush, Arthur Levitt, Jim Baker, Dick Darman, and John Major Have in Common? (They All Work for the Carlyle Group),? Fortune, March 18, 2002,
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?With all the weapons companies it owned, The Carlyle Group was in essence, the 11th largest defense contractor in the United States.?
* ?By virtue of its holdings in companies like U.S. Marine Repair and United Defense Industries, Carlyle is the equivalent of the eleventh-largest defense contractor in the nation. It has $16.2 billion under management and claims an average annual return of 35%.? Phyllis Berman, ?Lucky Twice,? Forbes, December 8, 2003.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?It owned United Defense, makers of the Bradley armored fighting vehicle. September 11th guaranteed that United Defense was going to have a very good year. Just 6 weeks after 9-11 Carlyle filed to take United Defense public and in December made a one day profit of $237 million dollars.?
* ?On a single day last month, Carlyle earned $237 million selling shares in United Defense Industries, the Army's fifth-largest contractor. The stock offering was well timed: Carlyle officials say they decided to take the company public only after the Sept. 11 attacks. ? On Sept. 26, [2001], the Army signed a $665-million modified contract with United Defense through April 2003 to complete the Crusader's development phase. In October, the company listed the Crusader, and the attacks themselves, as selling points for its stock offering. Mark Fineman, ?Arms Buildup is a Boon to Firm Run by Big Guns,? Los Angeles Times, January 10, 2002.
* "Still, in its annual report for 2001, United announced that it had been awarded a three-year, $697 million contract to complete full upgrading of 389 Bradley units and had added a $ 655 million contract modification to complete the Crusader's 'definition and risk-reduction phase contract,' which would be worth $ 1.7 billion through 2003. Together, the Crusader and Bradley programs contributed 41 percent of United sales in 2001, the report said. With Crusader and the Bradley upgrade in hand, a decision was made to sell United stock to the public in late 2001." Walter Pincus, ?Crusader a Boon to Carlyle Group Even if Pentagon Scraps Project,? Washington Post, May 14, 2002.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?With so much attention focused on the bin Laden family being important Carlyle investors, the bin Ladens eventually had to withdraw.?
* "Following the attacks on September 11, the bin Laden family?s investments in the Carlyle Group became an embarrassment to the Carlyle Group and the family was forced to liquidate their assets with the firm." Kurt Eichenwald, ?Bin Laden Family Liquidates Holdings with Carlyle Group,? The New York Times, October 26, 2001.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?Bush?s dad stayed on as Senior Advisor to Carlyle?s Asia Board for another 2 years.?
* ?Former President Bush was at one time the Senior Advisor to the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board but retired from that position in October 2003. He holds no other positions at Carlyle.?
http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/eng/news/
l4-presskit681.html#8
* ?The former president is no longer a company adviser, but he still has investments there, Mr. Ullman (vice president for corporate communications) said.? Dallas Morning News, "Michael Moore keeps heat on at premiere", May 18, 2004
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: George H. W. Bush receives daily CIA briefings.
* "One of the people who corresponded with [former ambassador Joseph] Wilson is George H. W. Bush, the only president to have been head of the C.I.A.-- he still receives regular briefings from Langley." Vicky Ward, ?Double Exposure,? Vanity Fair, January 2004.
* Former President Bush has made efforts to keep abreast of foreign affairs, partly by exercising his right to be briefed by CIA personnel about developments around the globe. Ha'aretz, ?George Bush Sr. Vouches for Son's Support of Israel to the Saudis?, July 16, 2001.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?They are benefiting from the confusion that arises when George H. W. Bush visits Saudi Arabia, on behalf of Carlyle, and meets with the royal family and meets with the bin Laden family. Is he representing the United States of America, or is he representing an investment firm in the United States of America or is he representing both??
* Few firms could have rivaled the Carlyle Group for its array of high-powered friends. The Washington-based venture capital house had been likened to a retirement home for Gulf War veterans, and the likes of George Bush Sr, James Baker, and John Major ?can take credit for its rapid rise.? The Observer noted in a profile, ?It used to be fashionable to deride Carlyle as a second-rate influence-peddler and dismiss its stable of retired politicians as superannuated ?access capitalists.?? ? Carlyle had sponsored visits by Bush Sr. to South Korea and China, and his clout with the Saudi government ? perhaps Carlyle?s most important customer ? is also likely to be valued. Conal Walsh, ?The Carlyle Controversy: With Friends in High Places: Former World Leaders Give Carlyle Group Unrivalled Prowess in Lobbying for Business,? The Observer, September 15, 2002.
* ??It should be a deep cause for concern that a closely held company like Carlyle can simultaneously have directors and advisers that are doing business and making money and also advising the president of the United States,? says Peter Eisner, managing director of the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit-making Washington think-tank. ?The problem comes when private business and public policy blend together. What hat is former president Bush wearing when he tells Crown Prince Abdullah not to worry about US policy in the Middle East? What hat does he use when he deals with South Korea, and causes policy changes there? Or when James Baker helps argue the presidential election in the younger Bush's favour? It's a kitchen-cabinet situation, and the informality involved is precisely a mark of Carlyle's success.?" Oliver Burkeman Julian Borger, ?The Winners: The Ex-Presidents' Club,? The Guardian, October 31, 2001.
* ?The Saudi family of Osama bin Laden is severing its financial ties with the Carlyle Group, a private investment firm known for its connections to influential Washington political figures? In recent years, Frank C. Carlucci, the chairman of Carlyle and a former secretary of defense, has visited the family's headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as have former President George Bush and James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state. Mr. Bush works as an adviser to Carlyle, and Mr. Baker is a partner in the firm.? Kurt Eichenwald, ?Bin Laden Family Liquidates Holdings With Carlyle Group,? New York Times, October 26, 2001.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?Another group of people invest in you, your friends, and their related businesses $1.4 billion over a number of years.?
* ?In all, at least $1.46 billion had made its way from the Saudis to the House of Bush and its allied companies and institutions.? Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, p. 200, (Scribner: New York, 2004). For a complete breakdown of the investments, see Unger?s Appendix C, pp. 295-298.
* This number includes investments made and contracts awarded at the time that Bush?s friends were involved in the Carlyle Group:
James Baker was a Carlyle Senior Counselor beginning in 1993. Carlyle Group web site,
http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/eng/team/
l5-team391.html.
Bush's OMB chief, Richard Darman, was with Carlyle by 1994. Bob Cook, Mergers & Acquisitions Report, December 12, 1994.
George W. Bush was with Caterair -- owned by Carlyle -- until 1994, after Fred Malek, a senior advisor to Carlyle, who also served as the director of the 1988 Republican Convention, suggested to Carlyle that the President?s eldest son would ?be a positive addition to Caterair?s board.? Kenneth N. Gilpin, ?Little-Known CarlyleScores Big,? New York Times, March 26, 1991
Bush Sr. was first involved in Carlyle by the mid-1990s and no later than 1997.Kevin Phillips, ?The Barreling Bushes; Four Generations of the Dynasty Have Chased Profits Through Cozy Ties with Mideast Leaders, Spinning Webs of Conflicts of Interest,? Los Angeles Times, January 11 , 2004; Dan Briody, The Iron Triangle, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003.
* Additional back up for these numbers is as follows:
Saudi investments in the Carlyle Group worth $80,000,000. Craig Unger, ?Saving the Saudis,? Vanity Fair, October 2003. The number was reported to Unger by the head of Carlyle, David Rubenstein, in an interview.
In 1994, Carlyle owned military contractor BDM was ?awarded a contract to provide technical assistance and logistics support to the Royal Saudi Air Force.? Worth: $46,200,000. PR Newswire, ?BDM Federal Awarded $46 Million Contract To Support Royal Saudi Air Force,? October 27, 1994.
During the 1990s, the Vinnell Corporation (a BDM subsidiary) held contracts to train the Saudi Arabian National Guard, worth $819,000,000. Robert Burns, ?US Advises Saudi Military On Range Of Threats?Including Terrorism,? Associated Press, November 13, 1995.
In 1995, BDM collected a contract to ?augment Royal Saudi Air Force staff in developing, implementing, and maintaining logistics and engineering plans and programs.? Worth: $32,500,000. Defense Daily, ?Defense Contracts,? June 23, 1995, as cited by Craig Unger.
In 1996, BDM was awarded a contract ?to provide construction of 110 housing units at the MK-1 Compound, Khamis Mushayt, Saudi Arabia, for Technical Support Program personnel assisting the Royal Saudi Air Force?. This effort supports foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia.? Worth: $44,397,800. Department of Defense News Release, ?BDM Federal, Incorporated,? April 1, 1996.
During the late 1990s, Vinnell was awarded a contract ?for the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) Modernization Program. The three-year contract, awarded competitively, calls on Vinnell to continue to support SANG training operations and related activities.? Worth: $163,300,000 . PR Newswire, ?Vinnell Selected for Award of $163.3 Million Contract for Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program,? May 3, 1995. Kashim Al-An, ?Saudi Guard Gets Quiet Help from US Firm with Connections,? Associated Press, March 22, 1997.
In 1997, BDM was awarded a contract ?to provide for 400 contractor personnel to support the Royal Saudi Air Force in developing, implementing, and maintaining logistics, supply, computer, reconnaissance, intelligence and engineering plans and programs.? Worth: $18,728,682 (note: this is a ?face value increase to a firm fixed price contract). Defense Daily, ?Defense Contracts,? February 4, 1997.
Note: Carlyle purchased BDM and its subsidiary Vinnell in 1992 and sold it to TRW in Dec, 1997.
In November 2001, Dick Cheney?s former company Halliburton was awarded ?a contract to provide services for the Saudi Arabian Oil Company?s (Saudi Aramco) Qatif Field development project in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia.? Worth: $140 million. Halliburton press release, ?Halliburton Awarded $140 Million Contract by Saudi Aramco,? November 14, 2001.
The same month, a consortium of three companies led by Halliburton subsidiary KBR won a ?contract for engineering, procurement, and construction of an ethylene plant for Jubail United Petrochemcial Company, a wholly owned company of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation.? Worth: $40 million. MaggieMulvihill, et al., ?Bush Advisers Cashed in on Saudi Gravy Train,? Boston Herald, December 11, 2001 ; Halliburton press release, ?Halliburton KBR, Chiyoda, and Mitsubishi Win SaudiArabian Ethylene Project,? November 19, 2001. (Note: The $40 million figure cited for this contractin all likelihood is much too low. Three separate energy industry journals place the value of the contract at $350 million. While there are two other companies involved, all reports point out that Halliburton KBR led the consortium and thus, if the contract were $350 million, it is likely that their cut would be?as lead contractor?significantly more than $40 million. See, Petroleum Economist, ?News in Brief,? January 14, 2002; Chemical Week, ?KBR, Chiyoda, Mitsubishi Win Jubail Ethylene Contract,? December 5, 2001; Middle East Economic Digest, ?Projects Update: Petrochemicals,? March 7, 2000.
Soon after Harken bought out George W. Bush?s company Spectrum 7 in 1986 and placed Bush on their board of directors, a Saudi sheik swooped in to save the troubled Harken. Abdullah Taha Bakhsh purchased a 17% stake in the company. Worth: $25,000,000. Thomas Petzinger Jr., et al., ?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; Entrée at the White House,? Wall Street Journal, December 6, 1991.
In 1989 Saudi Arabias King Fahd donated money to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. At the time, Ms. Bush was the First Lady of the United States. The King?s contribution represented almost half the amount the organization was able to raise that year. Worth: $1,000,000. Thomas Ferraro, ?Saudi King also Contributed to Barbara Bush?s Foundation,? United Press International, March 13, 1990.
Following George H. W. Bush?s departure from office, Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar, donated money to the Bush Sr. Presidential Library fund. Worth: At least $1,000,000. Dave Montgomery, ?Hail to a Former Chief,? Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 7, 1997.
Both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush attended the elite Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts. In the summer of 2002 the Academy announced it had established a scholarship in Bush Sr.?s name. Saudi Prince Alwaleed binTalal bin Adul Aziz Alsaud -- the same Prince who bailed out EuroDisney in the mid-Nineties -- was among the donors to the scholarship. Worth $500,000. Phillips Academy-Andover press release, ?A Statement from Phillips Academy-Andover Regarding the Bush Scholars Program,? December 31, 2002.
Among the many presents George W. Bush has received from foreign leaders and dignitaries during his term as President, perhaps none is grander than the one Prince Bandar bestowed upon him. Bandar gave the current president a ?C.M. Russell oil canvas painting of a native American buffalo hunt?.? Worth: $1,000,000. Siobhan McDonough, ?Gifts to President are Gratefully Received, Quickly Carted into Storage,? Associated Press, July 14, 2003.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Amnesty International condemns Saudi Arabia as a human rights violator.
* ?Saudi Arabia systematically violates international human rights standards even after agreeing to be bound by them. For example, in September 1997 Saudi Arabia acceded to the Convention against Torture. Yet, torture is widespread in Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system. (Saudi Arabia acceded to the Convention against Torture and the Convention against Discrimination on Sept 23, 1997).? Amnesty International, "Saudi Arabia: Open for Business," February 8, 2000.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engMDE230822000?
OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES% 5CSAUDI+ARABIA
* ?Sharon Burke, Amnesty International USA's advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said her organization confirmed with the Saudi Ministry of the Interior that three men were beheaded for sodomy.? Washington Blade, January 4, 2002,
http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/saudi_arabia/
saudinews15.htm
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?Bush tried to stop Congress from setting up its own 9/11 investigation.? When he couldn?t stop Congress, he then tried to stop an independent 9/11 commission from being formed.?
* The original effort by the White House was to limit the scope of the 9/11 investigation to only two congressional committees. ?President Bush asked House and Senate leaders yesterday to allow only two congressional committees to investigate the government's response to the events of Sept. 11, officials said.? Mike Allen, ?Bush Seeks To Restrict Hill Probes Of Sept. 11; Intelligence Panels' Secrecy Is Favored,? Washington Post, January 30, 2002.
* ?I, of course, want the Congress to take a look at what took place prior to Sept. 11. But since it deals with such sensitive information, in my judgment, it?s best for the ongoing war against terror that the investigation be done in the intelligence committees,? President Bush said. David Rosenbaum, ?Bush Bucks Tradition on Investigation,? The New York Times, May 26, 2002.
* ?Angry lawmakers [McCain, Pelosi, Lieberman] accused White House Friday of secretly trying to derail creation of an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks while professing to support the idea.? Helen Dewar, ?Lawmakers Accuse Bush of 9/11 Deceit,? Los Angeles Times, October 13, 2002.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: The White House censored 28 pages of the Congressional 9/11 report.
* ?Top U.S. officials believe the Saudi Arabian government not only thwarted their efforts to prevent the rise of al-Qaida and stop terrorist attacks, but also may have given the Saudi-born Sept. 11 hijackers financial and logistical support, according to a congressional report released Thursday. Those suspicions prompted several lawmakers to demand that the Bush administration aggressively investigate Saudi Arabia 's actions before and after Sept. 11, 2001 -- in part by making public large sections of the report that pertain to Riyadh but remain classified. The passages, including an entire 28-page section, discuss in detail whether one of America's most reluctant allies in the war on terrorism was somehow implicated in the attacks, according to U.S. officials familiar with the full report.? Josh Meyer, ?Saudi Ties to Sept. 11 Hinted at in Report,? Houston Chronicle, July 25, 2003.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: More than 500 relatives of 9/11 victims filed suit Saudi Royals and others. The lawyers the Saudi Defense Minister hired to fight these 9/11 families was the law firm of Bush family confidant James A. Baker.
* ?James Baker, whom Bush recently sent abroad seeking help to reduce Iraq's debt, is still a senior counselor for the Carlyle Group, and Baker's Houston-based law firm, Baker Botts, is representing the Saudi defense minister in Motley?s [plaintiff?s council in class-action suit in connection with September 11th attacks] case.? New York Times, ?A Nation Unto Itself,? March 14, 2004
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Saudi?s have $860 billion dollars invested in America.
* ?Over the next twenty-five years, roughly eighty-five thousand ?high-net-worth? Saudis invested a staggering $860 billion in American companies ? an average of more than $10 million a person and a sum that is roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product of Spain.? Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, (Scribner: New York, 2004).
* ?Allan Gerson, an attorney who represents about 3,600 family members of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks ? said he is not suing the Saudi government, but he is pursuing ?Saudi interests? in the United States he estimated totaled about $860 billion.? ? $113 Million in Terrorism Funds Frozen,? CNN, November 20, 2002.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: In terms of investments on Wall Street, $860 billion is ?roughly six or seven percent of America.?
* ?With a total market capitalization exceeding $12 trillion, the NYSE Composite represents approximately 82 percent of the total U.S. market cap.? New York Stock Exchange News Release, ?NYSE to Reintroduce Composite Index,? January 2, 2003. ($860 billion is about 7 percent of $12 trillion.)
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Citigroup, AOL TimeWarner have big Saudi investors.
* ?His name is Alwaleed bin Talal. His grandfather was Saudi Arabia's founding monarch. With huge stakes in companies ranging from Citigroup Inc. to the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain, he is one of the richest men on the planet....Last year, Forbes magazine ranked Alwaleed the fifth-richest man in the world, with a net worth of nearly $18 billion. His Kingdom Holding Co. spans four continents. Over the years, he has acquired major stakes in companies such as Apple Computer Inc., AOL Time Warner Inc., News Corp. and Saks Inc., parent of retailer Saks Fifth Avenue .? Richard Verrier, ?Disney's Animated Investor; An Ostentatious Saudi Billionaire Prince Who Helped Bail Out the Company's Paris Resort in the Mid-'90s is Being Courted to Do So Again,? Los Angeles Times, January 26, 2004.
* ?Carlyle?s first major transaction with the Saudis took place in 1991 when Fred Malek steered Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a flamboyant 35-year-old Saudi multibillionaire, to the firm for a deal that would enable him to become the largest individual shareholder in Citicorp.? Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, (Scribner: New York, 2004).
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?I read where the Saudis have a trillion dollars in our banks, their money.?
* ?Others have said the investment is even more, as much as a trillion dollars on deposit in U.S. banks ? an agreement worked out in the early 1980s by the Reagan administration, in yet another effort to get the Saudis to off-set the US budget deficit. The Saudis hold another trillion dollars or so in the US stock market.? Robert Baer, Sleeping with the Devil, p. 60, (Crown Publishers: New York, 2003).
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?Bandar is one of the best protected ambassadors in the world with a six-man security detail provided by the State Department.?
* ?The dean of the diplomatic corps by virtue of his long assignment in Washington, Bandar is the only ambassador who has his own State Department security detail -- granted to him because of ?threats? and his status as a prince, according to a State Department spokesman.? Robert G. Kaiser, et al., "Saudi Leader's Anger Revealed Shaky Ties," Washington Post, February 10, 2002.
* ?Prince Bandar is often considered the most politically savvy of all the foreign ambassadors living in Washington. That may or may not be true -- but he certainly is the best-protected. According to a Diplomatic Security official, Prince Bandar has a security detail that includes full-time participation of six highly trained and skilled DS officers. (DS officers are federal government employees charged with securing American diplomatic missions.)? Joel Mowbray, Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens American Security, (Regnery, 2003).
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?Bandar is so close to the Bushes they considered him a member of the family. They even have a nickname for him, Bandar Bush.?
* ?When President [George H.W.] Bush arrived in Riyadh, he took Bandar aside and embraced him. ?You are good people,? the president said. Bandar claims that Bush had tears in his eyes. Visiting the Bush summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, the Saudi ambassador was affectionately dubbed ?Bandar Bush.? Bandar returned the favor, inviting Bush to go pheasant hunting at his English estate. (Since leaving the White House, Bush has also profited by acting as a kind of glorified door-opener for the Carlyle Group, an investment company that handles considerable Saudi wealth.)? Evan Thomas, et al., ?The Saudi Game,? Newsweek, November 19, 2001 .
* ?The Saudi ambassador attended the unveiling of former President George H.W. Bush's official portrait when he returned to the White House in 1995. He was among the guests at a surprise 75th birthday party in 2000 for former first lady Barbara Bush, and the former president has vacationed at Bandar's home in Aspen, Colo. Bandar has been a guest at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. Just last year he presented the first family with a C.M. Russell painting, a gift worth $1 million that will be stored in the National Archives, along with other presents from well-wishers destined for a [George W.] Bush presidential library.? Mike Glover, ?Kerry Criticizes Bush on Saudi Meeting?, Associated Press, April 23, 2004.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?Two nights after September 11th, George Bush invited Bandar Bush over to the White House for a private dinner and a talk.?
* Two days after the attacks, the President asked Bandar to come to the White House. Bush embraced him and escorted him to the Truman balcony. Bandar had a drink and the two men smoked cigars. Elsa Walsh, ?The Prince,? The New Yorker, March 24, 2003.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Bandar?s government blocked American investigators from talking to the relatives of the 15 hijackers.
* ?The report strongly criticized top Saudi officials for their ?lack of cooperation? before and after the Sept. 11 attacks, even when it became known that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.?One top U.S. official told the joint inquiry staff that the Saudis since 1996 would not cooperate on matters relating to Osama bin Laden. Robert Baer, a former CIA officer, said the Saudis blocked FBI agents from talking to relatives of the 15 hijackers and following other leads in the kingdom.? Frank Davies, et al., ?Bush rejects call to give more 9/11 data,? Philadelphia Inquirer, July 30, 2003.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Saudi Arabia was reluctant to freeze the hijackers assets.
* Riyadh has not yet fully joined the international effort to block bank accounts thought to be financing terrorist operations, U.S. officials say. But the Bush administration, fearful of offending the Saudis, has not yet raised a public complaint. Elaine Sciolino, et al., ?U.S. is Reluctant to Upset Flawed, Fragile Saudi Ties,? New York Times, October 25, 2001.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?In 1997, while George W. Bush was governor of Texas, a delegation of Taliban leaders from Afghanistan flew to Houston to meet with Unocal executives to discuss the building of a pipeline through Afghanistan.?
* ?A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas.? ?Taleban in Texas for Talks on Gas Pipeline,? BBC News, December 4, 1997 (Sugarland is 22 miles outside Houston.)
* ?The Taliban ministers and their advisers stayed in a five-star hotel and were chauffeured in a company minibus. Their only requests were to visit Houston's zoo, the NASA space centre and Omaha's Super Target discount store to buy stockings, toothpaste, combs and soap. The Taliban, which controls two-thirds of Afghanistan and is still fighting for the last third, was also given an insight into how the other half lives. The men, who are accustomed to life without heating, electricity or running water, were amazed by the luxurious homes of Texan oil barons. Invited to dinner at the palatial home of Martin Miller, a vice-president of Unocal, they marvelled at his swimming pool, views of the golf course and six bathrooms. After a meal of specially prepared halal meat, rice and Coca-Cola, the hardline fundamentalists - who have banned women from working and girls from going to school - asked Mr. Miller about his Christmas tree.? Caroline Lees, ?Oil Barons Court Taliban in Texas,? The Telegraph (London), December 14, 1997.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?And who got a Caspian Sea drilling contract the same day Unocal signed the pipeline deal? A company headed by a man named Dick Cheney, Halliburton.?
* On October 27, 1997, both Unocal and Halliburton issued press releases about their energy work in Turkmenistan. ?Halliburton Energy Services has been providing a variety of services in Turkmenistan for the past five years.? Press Release, ?Halliburton Alliance Awarded Integrated Service Contract Offshore Caspian Sea In Turkmenistan,? October 27, 1997.
http://www.halliburton.com/news/archive/
1997/hesnws_102797.jsp; ?ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Oct. 27, 1997 - Six international companies and the Government of Turkmenistan formed Central Asia Gas Pipeline, Ltd. (CentGas) in formal signing ceremonies here Saturday.? Press Release, ?Consortium Formed to Build Central Asia Gas Pipeline,? October 27, 1997.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Enron stood to benefit from the pipeline.
* Dr. Zaher Wahab of Afghanistan, a professor in the US speaking at International Human Rights Day event, ?explained that Delta, Unocal as well as Russian, Pakistani and Japanese oil and gas companies have signed agreements with the Turkmenistan government, immediately north of Afghanistan, which has the fourth largest gas reserve in the world. Agreements also have been signed with the Taliban, allowing these oil and gas giants to pump Turkmenistan gas and oil through western Afghanistan to Pakistan, from which it then will be shipped all over the world. The energy consortium Enron plans to be one of the builders of the pipeline.? Elaine Kelly, ?Northwest Groups Discuss Afghan, Iranian and Turkish Rights Violations,? Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 31, 1997.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Kenneth Lay of Enron was Bush?s number one campaign contributor.
* Mr. Lay, also a friend to former President George Bush, was the top campaign contributor to Mr. Bush?s 2000 presidential election.? Jerry Seper, ?Colossal Collapse: Enron Bankruptcy Scandal Carves a Wide Swath,? The Washington Times, January 13, 2002; ?Although Enron is George W. Bush?s No. 1 career donor, the president also is heavily indebted to the professional firms that aided and abetted the greatest bankruptcy and shareholder meltdown in U.S. history.? Texans for Public Justice, ?Bush Is Indebted To Enron?s Professional Abettors, Too,? January 17, 2002
http://www.tpj.org/
page_view.jsp?pageid=255
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: ?Then in 2001, just five and a half months before 9/11, the Bush administration welcomed a special Taliban envoy to tour the United States to help improve the image of the Taliban government.?
* ?A Taliban envoy appealed to the Bush administration Monday to overlook his group's support of extremist Osama bin Laden and the destruction of priceless centuries-old Buddhist sculptures and lift sanctions on Afghanistan to help alleviate a humanitarian crisis threatening the lives of a million people. Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi delivered a letter from the Taliban for President Bush that called for better U.S.-Afghan relations and negotiations to solve the dispute over the Saudi-born Bin Laden. Robin Wright, ?Taliban Asks US to Lift its Economic Sanctions,? Los Angeles Times, March 20, 2001.
* ?The Town Hall forum was Hashemi's final meeting in a weeklong visit to California, where he spoke at several universities, including USC, UCLA and UC Berkeley. Later Thursday, he left for New York for another stop on his public relations tour before going to Washington, where he is scheduled to deliver a letter from his party to the Bush administration.? Teresa Watanabe, ?Overture By Taliban Hits Resistance," Los Angeles Times, March 16, 2001.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: The Taliban were harboring the man who bombed the USS Cole and our African embassies.
* ?Osama bin Laden has claimed credit for the attack on U.S. soldiers in Somalia in October 1993, which killed 18; for the attack on the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, which killed 224 and injured nearly 5,000; and were linked to the attack on the U.S.S. Cole on 12 October 2000, in which 17 crew members were killed and 40 others injured. They have sought to acquire nuclear and chemical materials for use as terrorist weapons.? ?Britain's Bill of Particulars? New York Times, October 5, 2001.
* ?Osama bin Laden, in recent years, has been America's most wanted terrorism suspect, with a $5 million reward on his head for his alleged role in the August 1998 truck bombings of two American embassies in East Africa that killed more than 200 people, as well as a string of other terrorist attacks? Most recently, the F.B.I. has named Mr. bin Laden as a prime suspect in the suicide bombing of the American destroyer Cole, which was attacked in Aden harbor, 350 miles by road southwest of here, on Oct. 12, with the loss of 17 sailors' lives." John F. Burns, ?Where bin Laden Has Roots, His Mystique Grows,? New York Times, December 31, 2000.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Hamid Karzai was a former Unocal advisor.
* ?Cool and worldly, Karzai is a former employee of US oil company Unocal -- one of two main oil companies that was bidding for the lucrative contract to build an oil pipeline from Uzbekistan through Afghanistan to seaports in Pakistan -- and the son of a former Afghan parliament speaker.? Ilene R. Prusher, Scott Baldauf, and Edward Girardet, ?Afghan power brokers,? Christian Science Monitor, June 10, 2002.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0610/
p01s03e-wosc.html.
* Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a former Unocal adviser, signed a treaty with Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf and the Turkmen dictator Saparmurat Niyazov to authorize construction of a $3.2 billion gas pipeline through the Heart-Kandahar corridor in Afghanistan.? Lutz Kleveman, ?Oil and the New ?Great Game," The Nation, February 16, 2004.
* TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH: ?He was a consultant for the American oil company Unocal, while they studied the construction of a pipeline in Afghanistan." Chipaux Francoise, ?Hamid Karzaï, Une Large Connaissance Du Monde Occidental,? Le Monde, December 6, 2001.en minutes