Poppy & James Baker called off Osama Investigation

[dmcqklaatu@netscape.net]

www.counterpunch.org has a good summary of the Bush crime family's past  connections with the Bin Laden financial empire.  You do have to be a subscriber for access to it, but Counterpunch is well worth a subscription.



"Jim Baldauf" <jfbaldauf@prodigy.net> wrote:

>Politex, www.bushwatch.com, 11/8/01,
>The Sidney (Australia) Morning Herald story that even Matt Drudge has reported was a summary of a recent report on BBC TV:
>
>"United States special agents were told to back off the bin Laden family and the Saudi royals soon after George Bush became president, although that has all changed since September 11, a BBC television program has claimed."
>
>The summary goes on to note that the FBI had been investigating Bin Laden family activities in the U.S. prior to Sept. 11. One relative of Osama had a relationship with a suspected terrorist organization that had been investigated " but for some reason [FBI] agents were pulled off the trail," according to the BBC report. Speaking of similar previous U.S. behavior, a former head of the U.S. visa bureau in Saidi Arabia says on camera, " I complained there. I complained here in Washington ... and I was ignored. What I was doing was giving visas to terrorists, recruited by the CIA and Osama bin Laden to come back to the United States for training to be used in the war in Afghanistan against the then Soviets."
>
>The Sidney summary concludes, " The [BBC] program said it had been told by a highly placed source in a US intelligence agency there had always been "constraints" on investigating Saudis, but under [present] President George Bush it had become much worse. After the elections, the intelligence agencies were told to "back off" from investigating the bin Laden family and the Saudi royals. The policy was reversed after September 11, it reported."
>
>The implied questions from the story are pretty clear: If the details of the report are true, why did the U.S. back off from investigating possible terrorist groups prior to Sept. 11, and why did the "constraints" on "investigating Saudis" grow "much worse" under Bush? As you may know, Bush Watch has two special reports on related questions, Bush And Bin Laden Money and Bush And The Arab-American. Another Bush Watch special report that seems relevant is Bush And Central Asian Oil.
>
>Surprisingly, the Sidney summary of the BBC TV report doesn't mention the name of the reporter, Greg Palast, who is best known for his BBC documentary on vote manipulation in Forida during the Gore-Bush election, which you can see from his web site. In a Guardian story yesterday, "FBI AND US SPY AGENTS SAY BUSH SPIKED BIN LADEN PROBES BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER," also posted on his web site, Palast writes that the BBC report on the Bin Laden family will soon be posted on his web site. His Guardian story adds a number of details to the BBC report.
>
>From viewing the TV report yesterday when it was still posted on the BBC site, I recall three points. After Sept. 11 the Bin Landen family severed its financial connections with Carlyle, thus cutting its financial connection to both the Bush family and James Baker through Carlyle (see Bush and Bin Laden Money), on Sept. 12 members of the Bin Laden family living in the U.S. were flown back to Saudi Arabia through U.S. government arrangements, and an official on the BBC show attempted to debunk Palast's report by claiming that the CIA, not the FBI would have been investigating the Bin Laden family proior to Sept. 11, so the FBI documents alluded to on the show must be bogus. He did not explain why the CIA, and not the FBI, would be investigating possible domestic terrorism.
>
>I don't think we've heard the last of this story, Jeff. --Politex, www.bushwatch.com, 11/8/01
>
>(c)copyright 2001, may be reprinted with attribution and link to bush watch
>
>


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