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So Who's
Protecting the Saudis?
By Allan P. Duncan opednews.com
July 17, 2003
"The main obstacles to investigate Islamic terrorism were US oil
corporate interests and the role played by Saudi Arabia in it. All the
answers, everything needed to dismantle Osama bin Laden's organization,
can be found in Saudi Arabia."- John P. O'Neill, Former FBI
Counterterrorism expert who died at the World Trade Center on 9-11.
So how is it that Saudi Arabia gets a pass while we bomb the hell out of
Afghanistan and Iraq? I think we can surmise from John P. O'Neill's quote
above that US oil corporate interests are more important to the Bush
administration than the true administration of justice.
Since we now know that references to Saudi Arabia's role in 9-11 have been
deleted from the upcoming 9-11 Congressional Joint Inquiry report, I'd
like to shed some light on a little known group of Americans who have been
toiling hard behind the scenes to protect the Saudis.
The people I'm talking about are loyal Bush supporters who work for
powerful law and public relations firms that have been retained by the
Saudis to protect their interests.
In Sleeping With the Devil, How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi
Crude, by Former CIA Counterterrorism Operative Robert Baer which
was published just this past Tuesday, Baer exposes the firm of Loeffler,
Jonas and Tuggey as actively representing Saudi interests.
Turns out that Tom Loeffler, a former Republican Congressman from Texas,
was the fund raising chief for W's first run for Governor and was finance
co-chair of his presidential campaign. Baer maintains that Loeffler might
be as close to the Bush White House, including Dick Cheney, as anyone in
Washington. The Loeffler firm was approached by the Saudis in late 2002
and signed a $720,000 a year retainer to represent their interests.
In a Boston Herald article dated December 11, 2001 by Maggie Mulvihill,
Jonathan Wells and Jack Meyers, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer
& Feld and the public relations firm of Burson-Marsteller were
exposed.
In the article titled The White House Connection: Saudi
Agents' Close Bush Friends, the authors write,
"A powerful Washington, D.C., law firm with unusually close ties
to the White House has earned hefty fees representing controversial Saudi
billionaires as well as a Texas-based Islamic charity fingered last week
as a terrorist front.
The influential law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld has
represented three wealthy Saudi businessmen - Khalid bin Mahfouz, Mohammed
Hussein Al-Amoudi and Salah Idris - who have been scrutinized by U.S.
authorities for possible involvement in financing Osama bin Laden and his
terrorist network.
Partners at Akin, Gump include one of President Bush's closest Texas
friends, James C. Langdon, and George R. Salem, a Bush fund-raiser who
chaired his 2000 campaign's outreach to Arab-Americans.
Another longtime partner is Barnett A. ``Sandy'' Kress, the former Dallas
School Board president who Bush appointed in January to work for the White
House as an ``unpaid consultant'' on education reform.
Akin, Gump, which maintains an affiliate office in the Saudi capital of
Riyadh, is also a registered foreign agent for the kingdom. It was paid
$77,328 in lobbying fees by the Saudis during the first six months of
2000, public records show.
In addition to the royal family, the firm's Saudi clients have included
bin Mahfouz, who hired Akin, Gump when he was indicted in the BCCI banking
scandal in the early 1990s. In 1999, the Saudi's placed bin Mahfouz under
house arrest after reportedly discovering that the bank he controlled,
National Commercial Bank in Saudi Aabia, funneled millions to charities
believed to be serving as bin Laden fronts.
Akin, Gump is not the only politically wired Washington business cashing
in on the Saudi connection.
Burson-Marsteller, a major D.C. public relations firm, registered with the
U.S. government as a foreign agent for the Saudi embassy within weeks of
the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
One of Burson-Marsteller's first public relations efforts for the Saudis
was to run a large advertisement in the New York Times reading: ``We Stand
with You, America.''
The Washington chairman for Burson-Marsteller, which also maintains an
office in Saudi Arabia, is Craig Veith, who ran communications for the
Republican Party in the 1996 elections.
Other GOP heavyweights who have held top positions at the PR giant include
Sheila Tate, the campaign press secretary for the elder George Bush;
Leslie Goodman, deputy director of communications for the 1992 Bush-Quayle
campaign; Craig L. Fuller, chairman of the 1992 Republican National
Convention and elder Bush's vice presidential chief-of-staff."
On April 6, 2003, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball revealed in Newsweek
that the firm of Baker and Botts was representing Prince Sultan bin Abdul
Aziz in the suit to bankrupt terrorism brought by Ron Motley on behalf of
9-11 Families.
In the article titled A Legal Counterattack, Isikoff and
Hosenball state,
"Baker & Botts, Sultan's law firm, for example, still boasts
former secretary of State James Baker as one of its senior partners. Its
recent alumni include Robert Jordan, the former personal lawyer for
President Bush who is now U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia."
We all remember James Baker as the Secretary of State during Bush senior's
presidency. Baker is also Chief Counselor for the Carlyle Group while
George H.W. Bush was an advisor for Carlyle. The Carlyle Group had
business relationships with the Bin Laden family and Bush Sr. met with
them on two occasions. The Carlyle Group also arranged for W. to sit of
the board of one of its subsidiaries, Caterair, when he was between jobs.
So it appears that many Bush allies are working hard to protect the Saudis
even though we know that they were involved in financing Al Qaeda. What's
wrong with this picture?
So whose side is Bush and his friends really on, the side of the Saudis
who financed 9-11 or the side that lost nearly 3,000 innocent souls at the
hands of the thugs who were financed by the Saudis?
Bush needs to pick a side!
Sources for the Boston Globe and Newsweek articles:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/americas_new_war/akin1112001.htm
The White House connection: Saudi `agents' close Bush friends
by Maggie Mulvihill, Jonathan Wells and Jack Meyers
http://www.msnbc.com/news/901320.asp?cp1=1
A Legal Counterattack
Michael Isikoff & Mark Hosenball
Allan
Duncan is a Social Worker who lives in New Hope, PA. This
article is copyright by Allan Duncan ADuncan282@aol.com
originally published by opednews.com
Permission is granted to forward this or to place it on a website as long
as the article is included intact, including this statement. |
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