AMERICA BETRAYED: BUSH, BIN LADEN & 9-11

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PART 1 OF 2

Chapter 13: BIN LADEN THE BUSINESSMAN

"This is Not Terrorism. This is Strictly Business!'

"This is not jihad. This is strictly business"

-- Osama bin Laden

On September 1, 2001, Osama bin Laden had become America's Enemy Number 1. The Bush administration repeatedly denounced him as a "terrorist" and a "coward" and blamed him, and al-Qaeda, for this terrorist attack which killed nearly 3,000 Americans. Yet, curiously, although Bush, Cheney, and others in the Bush administration announced their intention to destroy the Taliban and bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, they also made it clear they had absolutely no interest in capturing or bringing Osama bin Laden to trial.

The notion of a "trial" for Osama was an anathema to the Bush team, and soon, the Republican leadership, and even some Democrats picked up the theme. Osama was not to be taken alive. There would be no trial and no public disclosures. The Bush administration and thus the United States government would be better off if Osama was never brought to trial (1,2).

"I want his head on a platter."

-- Vice-President Dick Cheney.

"If he's alive, I'd like him to stick his head up and let us get a good look at him. And then I'd take it off."

-- Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott.

"Kill him. Shoot him. I mean it...I don't want to capture him. I'd shoot him."

-- Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.

"The best thing is for bin Laden to go down with the cause. He would save us all a lot of trouble."

-- Republican Senator Chuck Hagel.

They wanted him dead, not alive. He should never be given the opportunity to testify in court or tell why he did what he did, to the American public (1).

Given this attitude, we should not be entirely surprised that when the Taliban offered to turn bin Laden over to a third country, the Bush administration blanched.

Oh yes, most certainly, the Bush team spouted rhetoric, duly reported by the corporate controlled media, that the U.S. was demanding the Taliban immediately hand over Osama. However, these blustering demands were for American consumption only. This same Bush team refused to enter into discussions with the Taliban on this issue because, "we do not negotiate with terrorists."

However, according to Hamid Mir, Osama's official biographer, the Taliban leadership were absolutely "convinced that the Americans were not interested in Osama Bin Laden."

It wasn't just Osama, whom the Bush administration feared putting on trial -- as they did not want him to be publically questioned -- but anyone and everyone even remotely associated with al-Qaeda or bin Laden. Because of "National Security," there would be no public trials, and no access even to an attorney for those subsequently captured. In violation of international law and the Geneva convention, men, including even American citizens associated with al-Qaeda, were "enemy combatants" and would only be questioned, tried, judged, and then executed by a secret military tribunal (3).

The public would be kept ignorant.

And why was that?

Because the Bush administration was afraid.

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WAS AFRAID

Immediately following 9/11, George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice, made it vehemently clear that they opposed any public or congressional inquiry into the so called "intelligence failures" which led to this horrible tragedy. Bush, Cheney, and Rice, all mouthed the same self-serving absurdities: an investigation would interfere with the war on terrorism.

"I'm concerned about distractions. I don't want to tie up our team when we're trying to fight this war on terror. So I don't want our people to be distracted."

-- George W. Bush

Dick Cheney, also attacked the patriotism of anyone who favored an inquiry (4). He was particularly upset that anyone would think the Bush administration or the FBI or CIA, might have had advanced knowledge of the attack, calling the idea "incendiary" (4,5). And, because, of course, there was no advanced knowledge, and as only the unpatriotic enemies of America were asking for an investigation, there was thus no need for any inquiry into the events that led up to 9/11 (5).

Bush and Cheney therefore repeatedly sought to derail any Congressional inquiry into the events and intelligence failures which led up to the 9/11 tragedy. Both men made repeated phone calls to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and argued that there should not be any investigation into the events of Sept. 11.

Daschle appearing on the NBC program "Meet the Press," said that he received a call from Cheney on Jan. 24 and that on January 28 Bush told him during a breakfast meeting at the White House, that there should not be any inquiry or investigation into the so called intelligence failures which led to the 9/11 tragedy.

Both Cheney and Bush denied Daschle's charges. They did not wish to kill any Congressional inquiry, they claimed, but only wanted an inquiry that would be narrow in focus and conducted in secret. They also did not want FBI director Mueller, or CIA director, Tenet, to testify. Mueller even sought to get a court order that would prevent him or his agents, from appearing before Congress (6). Mueller's excuse was that if they testified, it might disclose information that would effect Moussaoui's trial. The federal district judge in the case, refused Mueller's absurd request.

Mueller, an accused cover-up artist (7), also repeatedly made false statements to the press and the public, claiming there was no advanced knowledge and that the FBI had done all its power to follow up any lead, no matter how insignificant.

Mueller continued to brazenly lie, even after he received a detailed letter from FBI agent, Rowely a 21-year FBI veteran (8). In that letter, Rowley accused Mueller and the FBI of engaging in a coverup and of "deliberately thwarting" FBI agents who were seeking to investigate the so called "20th hijacker" Moussaoui (see chapter 10). When Congress learned of the memo, Mueller initially refused to release it -- and the Bush administration backed him up 100%.

Indeed, it is precisely because of Mueller's history of covering up Bush family and Bush administration wrong doing, that he had been appointed to head the FBI. For example, Mueller had previously been installed in the Justice Department during the second term of the Reagan-Bush administration, in order to help cover up their involvement in the illegal selling of weapons to the terrorist regime of Iran.

Likewise, when G.H.W. Bush was elected President, Robert Mueller was called upon again to cover up Bush family and friend complicity in the BCCI scandal. As was the case with Iran-Contra, Mueller was accused by many critics, including democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, then Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, The American Free Press, and the Federation of American Scientists of having shredded documents that would have implicated Bush and other senior Bush officials in illegal BCCI transactions.

In a detailed report by the Federation of American Scientists, it was concluded that" Under Assistant Attorney General Mueller ... the [Justice] Department sought to impede the investigations of others through a variety of mechanisms, ranging from not making witnesses available, to not returning telephone calls, to claiming that every aspect of the case was under investigation in a period when little, if anything, was being done" (46).

Similar to statements he would make following the 9/11 terrorist attack on America, Mueller responded to his critics by stating in testimony before the Senate, that "At no time, to my knowledge, has anyone from the CIA, or any agency, attempted to obstruct or interfere with the Department of Justice's investigation and prosecution of BCCI."

Mr. Tenet of the CIA, also behaved uncooperatively -- which is not surprising given how deeply the CIA is implicated in 9-11. Tenet also sent an angry letter to the joint House and Senate Intelligence Committee, accusing members of the staff as being motivated by "bias, preconceived notions and apparent animus."

Several Republicans on the joint Committee, also sought to sabotage any inquiry, arguing that any investigation might effect the war on terrorism. Former CIA agent, Porter J. Goss, the Florida Republican who heads the House Intelligence Committee, was instrumental in the attempt to block any investigation (5).

Finally, a compromise was reached between the Bush administration and the Senate and House. Ms. Eleanor Hill would be appointed to be the lead investigator and almost all hearings would be conducted in secret to prevent the American public from learning the facts. A sigh of relief went up from all those afraid of the truth.

A longtime Washington insider, Ms. Hill had previously been appointed by President Bill Clinton to become inspector general (IG) of the Department of Defense where she was responsible for investigating "fraud, waste and abuse in the programs and operations of the department." However, when the Clinton administration was caught transferring defense-technology to the People's Republic of China -- presumably in return for illegal campaign contributions from the Chinese military, Ms. Hill, it has been alleged, participated in a coverup. Peter Leitner, a senior strategic trade adviser to the Dept. of Defense, reported to Insight magazine, that instead of investigating, Ms. Hill delivered "a politicized response intended to protect President Clinton and Secretary of Defense William Cohen." Ms. Hill's "report ... significantly misrepresented and failed to report the facts and evidence we provided them."

Likewise, the U.S. Air Force complained about Ms. Hill, and also implied a coverup: "Based on word usage, semantics and omission of significant and relevant documentation [Ms. Hill] substantially misrepresented the documented facts submitted by the Air Force."

The Bush administration relented. Ms. Hill could be counted on to protect the status qua. A joint House-Senate intelligence committee began holding, for the most part, secret hearings.

Nevertheless, Bush, Cheney, Ms. Rice, Mueller, Tenet, and other individuals of "interest" were still frightened and continued to do all in their power to limit public disclosure and to prevent the committee from gaining access to pertinent information and necessary documents.

Likewise, the Bush administration remained adamantly opposed to the creation of an independent Commission to investigate the events leading up to 9/11.

However, during the Summer of 2002, following demands of many of the families of 9/11 victims, and disclosures that leaked out of the joint House and Senate investigating committee regarding numerous inexplicable "intelligence lapses," the Bush administration signaled a willingness to consider a 9/11 Commission. Of course, there was also a catch. Everyone on the Commission would have to have worked closely, in the past, with the CIA and FBI. Also, the Bush administration would pick the chairman and help determine the direction of any investigation.

"The manner in which the commission is created is vital to its outcome," said the White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer.

Nevertheless, Bush, Cheney, Rice, and their co-conspirators, continued working secretly and behind the scenes to kill and undermine an independent commission. In the days before the midterm 2002 elections, the White House finally killed any agreements that might have led to the formation of a 9/11 Commission (5).

As detailed by the New York Times (5) in October former CIA agent, Porter J. Goss, the Florida Republican involved in the final negotiations for the creation of a Commission, "received a call from Vice President Dick Cheney." "I am not going to get into who called me," Gross said, "but it was very clear there had not been leadership sign-off, and it was very clear there was still angst at the White House."

"Angst?" According to the American Heritage Dictionary, angst is anxiety, and anxiety is a state of uneasiness and distress, apprehension, worry, including "intense fear or dread."

The Commission was dead. There would be no investigation. The White House had killed it because Bush and Cheney were afraid.

"'I just don't get it,' said Kristen Breitweiser of September 11th Advocates, whose husband, Ronald, died at the World Trade Center. 'It is very disheartening that this has gone on for over a year and we still have not had a comprehensive investigation. If there is a car accident, you do an investigation '" (5).

Let us ask a simple question: Who benefits by killing an investigation into the events leading up to 9/11?

Answer: Those who are guilty. Those who have something to hide.

Question: Who were at the forefront of killing the Commission?

George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, et al.

Of course, Bush, Cheney, Rice, and their co-conspirators, wish us to believe that they killed the Commission, and have demanded extraordinary secrecy, in order to protect, "national security."

The evidence indicates, however, that what they were most concerned about hiding, was their own complicity.

Finally, after the November elections, when Republicans gained control over both the Senate and the House, and in response to continued demands from 9/11 families, the Bush administration agreed to a Commission. The Commission would be comprised of five democrats and five republicans, and all 10 would be closely associated with the CIA or FBI. However, it would require six votes to subpoena records and the Bush administration still would not have to turn over sensitive records deemed vital to "national security."

And, of equal importance: Secrecy.

SECRECY & WHAT WE KNOW

Secrecy, of course, is a hallmark of the Bush administration and fascist governments. Two generations of Bush, and now two Bush administrations have repeatedly resorted to secrecy especially when there is a suspicion that their actions are in violation of the law.

Thus we see. that in another oil and energy related matter involving massive fraud and injury to the American people, the Enron scandal, that Dick Cheney and the Bush administration, have refused to turn over to congress, or to the General Accounting Office, records sought to determine if there had been fraud or wrong doing when Cheney held secret meetings with Enron executives (8) -- the bankrupt power company which defrauded California consumers during the summer of 2001.

The General Accounting Office (GAC) is the auditing arm of congress and required these records, regarding Enron, to do its job. Because the Bush administration refused to cooperate, the GAC was forced to file suit in Federal Court, for the records of Cheney's energy meetings. As summed up by the GAC, it has a "legislative right to investigate how public money is spent."

Bush and Cheney claim instead that it is their right to keep this information from the public (8).

Those who demand secrecy, by definition, have something to hide.

We can guess at why Cheney and Bush wish to hide their involvement in the Enron scandal -- given that so many former Enron executives work for the Bush administration. We need not guess as to their motives when it involves Osama bin Laden and the events leading up to 9/11.

What the Bush team has been unable to hide, is that George H.W. Bush, his son, George W. Bush, as well as Dick Cheney, and members of the Reagan-Bush and first Bush administration, have been in business with the bin Laden family (9). And not just the bin Ladens but Bush and associates have been in business with individuals directly implicated or accused of funneling tens of millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network ( 10), including Prince Bandar -- a man who provided millions of dollars to Nicaraguan terrorists during the Iran-Contra fiasco, and whose "wife" and government provided at least $200,000.00 to a Saudi man who financially assisted two of the 9/11 hijackers.

What they cannot hide, is that the CIA, during the Reagan- Bush administrations, funneled money and arms and provided military and terrorist training to Afghan "Freedom fighters," i.e., the mujahideen, the Taliban, and the foreign fighters who would become al-Qaeda (11).

What is also beyond dispute is that the administration of George W. Bush, provided and pledged over $100,000 million dollars to an illegitimate, "outlaw regime" that had been denounced by the world. The Bush team provided these funds, even though the Taliban were known to be harboring bin Laden, al-Qaeda, terrorist training camps, and hundreds of terrorists who had pledged to kill Americans (12).

And, as detailed in previous chapters, what we also know is that:

1) The CIA had recruited spies within the Taliban leadership.

2) the CIA had listening devices installed in al-Qaeda safe houses and regularly eavesdropped on al-Qaeda conversations.

3) The CIA followed, monitored, and photographed several of the 9/11 hijackers in Malaysia in January of 2000.

4) The CIA had tracked, monitored, and then questioned a 9/11 hijacker after he left an al-Qaeda terrorist training camp in February of 2001.

5) The CIA monitored phone conversations between members of al-Qaeda as they spoke of the plot and gave the day on which the attack would occur.

6) The CIA monitored phone conversations between Osama bin Laden and his mother.

7) The CIA monitored phone conversations between Osama and his brothers.

8) The Bush family and members of the previous Bush administration, were not only in business with the bin Ladens, but Frank Carlucci and James Baker were holding a meeting with at least one bin Laden brother on the morning of 9/11.

9). The Bush and bin Laden family, the Saudi royal family, Prince Bandar, as well as Frank Carlucci, James Baker, et al., as part of the Carlyle Group, would earn hundreds of millions of dollars because of the 9/11 attack.

10). In the days before and after 9/11, high ranking administration officials in the State Department, CIA, and FBI met with a Pakistani ISI general, who was subsequently accused of being responsible for wiring $100,000 to 9/11 hijacker, Mohammed Atta.

11). Five of the hijackers may have been trained, during 1996, at U.S. military installations.

12) Four of the hijackers were identified, as a hijacking threat, on August I, and an FAA report was issued to the FBI.

13). The FBI and Bush administration did everything in their power to prevent lower level FBI agents from investigating and uncovering the 9/11 plot; and then ordered the FAA to stand down in the weeks before 9-11 despite receiving an avalanche of warnings.

14). The 9/11 attack provided the Bush administration with a rationale for attacking the Taliban and conquering Afghanistan so that a long sought after oil-pipe line could be constructed.

15). The subsequent "war on terror" would be used to justify an attack on Iraq in order to seize Iraqi oil-reserves.

16).The "war on terror" including the war against Afghanistan and Iraq, would generate billions of dollars in revenue for companies controlled by the Carlyle group the membership of which includes George H.W. Bush, Prince Bandar, and the bin Ladens.

17). The 9/11 attack provided Bush with a rationale for attacking civil liberties, and consolidating and increasing his power in defiance of the U.S. constitution.

18). Osama bin Laden had been working with the CIA since 1978 or 1979.

19). Osama bin Laden and his organization had been employed by British Intelligence to kill Libyan leader Gaddafi, in 1996.

20). On July 15,2001, Osama bin Laden met with a CIA agent, and provided details about the forthcoming 9/11 attack.

BIN LADEN BUSINESSMAN

The CIA has known for over a decade that Osama bin Laden often conducted business and banking at the Islamic Bank in Dubai', United Arab Emirates. The CIA also knew that these banking accounts were used to funnel Saudi money to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in order to fund terrorist attacks (13).

As first reported by the highly respected French newspaper, Le Figaro (14) and then confirmed by UPI (15) and Radio France International (16), the CIA held clandestine meetings with Osama bin Laden, in July, 2001, while he was undergoing treatment, in Dubai', for liver and renal dysfunction.

The CIA had known for years that because Osama bin Laden suffered from renal insufficiencies and kidney and liver failure. It was also well known that he frequently traveled from Afghanistan, to Pakistan, and then to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he maintained a number of bank accounts, and where he would receive treatment and dialysis at the American Hospital (17). This was so well known that in March, 2000, the Hong Kong based, weekly magazine Asia Week published a detailed report on Osama bin Laden's life threatening physical problems, including a "renal infection which is propagated with the liver and requires specialized care." His business activities in Dubai were also mentioned in this same article.

Asia Week (17) and other sources (14,15,16), report that although bin Laden regularly had shipments of dialysis-related equipment and supplies sent to Kandahar, he also made several trips to the American Hospital in Dubai for treatment, including in July 2001, when he was met, at the hospital, by a CIA agent.

According to Le Figaro (14), United Press International (15), and Radio France International (16), the CIA not only knew he sought and received treatment in Dubai, the CIA held clandestine meetings with him while he underwent treatment.

As detailed by United Press International and Le Figaro: A CIA agent met with Osama bin Laden in July, while the Saudi underwent treatment for kidney problems at the American hospital in Dubal. Bin Laden reportedly checked into the American Hospital on July 4, received dialysis and related treatment, and checked out on July 14. During his 10 day stay, bin Laden met with family members and a stream of local dignitaries, including a well known local CIA agent. After the meeting, on July 15, the CIA agent was called back to the CIA's McLean, Virginia headquarters.

According to Le Figaro (14), the meeting between bin Laden and the agent from the CIA, was not all that unusual, and that similar meetings had been taking place since 1979.

Le Figaro, claiming that its source included a hospital administrator, unnamed French intelligence officials, and United Arab Emirates security agents, went on to report that the CIA agent and bin Laden discussed the upcoming attacks on the U.S., and a planned attack on the U.S. embassy in Paris. Bin Laden even provided the CIA agent and other security officials with the name and identity of the man who would carry out the Paris plot.

As reported by United Press International (15): On July 15, the day after Osama checked out of the American hospital, "United Arab Emirates security agents arrested the alleged mastermind of a plot to blow up the American Embassy in Paris. The suspect, a French- Algerian named Djamel Beghal, confessed to receiving his orders from bin Laden, according to French news media citing his written confession.

Le Figaro (14), United Press International (15), and Radio France International ( 16) also reported that based on the information Osama bin Laden provided, that "an emergency meeting in Paris" was arranged, in August, "between high level French and American intelligence officials" allegedly about the forthcoming 9/11 hijackings. To the surprise of all concerned, the Americans seemed disinterested in whatever information was provided. When United Press International sought out a high ranking "American diplomat in Paris" he "refused to comment" other than to say: "We can't talk about meetings like that, which may or may not have happened."

The CIA, which normally never responds to press inquiries, other than to say no comment, in this case, vehemently dismissed these reports as "total absurdity."

How credible is Le Figaro? Credible (or dangerous) enough that the Bush-bin Laden-connected Carlyle Group, has subsequently purchased a controlling interest in the paper.

Radio France International (16), citing French Intelligence sources, provided additional details of what took place during the meetings between Osama bin Laden and the CIA agent, even giving the agent's name, Larry Mitchell. Radio France also provided the exact date in which the meeting between Mitchel and bin Laden took place, "July 12," two days before Osama checked out of the hospital.

Several days later, Attorney General, John Ashcroft, broke with precedent and announced he would no longer fly on commercial jets.

According to Radio France International, Larry Mitchell's business card reads: "consular agent" and he is reported to be "a connoisseur of the Arab world and specialist of the (Arab) peninsula." It is alleged that he is attached to the U.S. embassy, and is a well known figure in Dubai's expatriate community.

Was Osama bin Laden a double agent?

Or was he just a politically connected, highly skilled, crooked businessman out to make a buck for himself, his family, and their associates?

Indeed, his family, and his Saudi and Pakistani backers, will make hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars because of the 9/ 11 attack, the "war on terrorism" and the subsequent construction of an oil pipeline across Afghanistan.

"This is not jihad. This is strictly business"

-- Osama bin Laden (18).

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On the morning of 9/11/2001, a horrifying crime was committed against the American people.

Why did this happen?

The mass murder of 3000 Americans was not the product of a momentary, spontaneous whim. It was not a crime of passion or an irrational act, but highly organized, well planned, well thought out, and coordinated with military precision.

To solve this crime, we need to know not only why it happened, but who benefits.

That bin Laden is a "terrorist" is irrelevant in solving these mysteries as that term, in-itself, explains nothing.

What we know is that Bin Laden is a wealthy business man. He is in business to make money. Like his family, like George Bush, Dick Cheney, Ms. Rice, and their cronies, his eyes were trained like two beacons in the night, on the oil-rich underbelly of the former Soviet Union. According to UNOCAL, the total oil reserves may be almost 200 billion barrels -- 40 trillion dollars in oil!

The Saudi Royal family, the CIA, and the Bush family and their associates in the oil business, have been drooling over these riches for decades.

However, to get at these riches, Afghanistan would have to be conquered, and the oil-swollen underbelly of the Soviet Union, ripped away.

The plot to dismember the Soviet Union and grab those oil reserves, was first hatched by the CIA and then implemented in 1979, during the Iran-hostage crisis and the waning days of the Carter administration (19). On July 3, 1979, President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul (19). This aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention so as to drag the Soviet Union into a destabilizing war.

It was also in 1979 (or earlier), that Osama bin Laden, who was representing his family company in Istanbul, began working with the CIA to recruit "Arab-Muslim volunteers for Afghan's resistance against the Red Army" (14). In 1979, Osama bin Laden, the business man, also helped launch the holy war which would topple the Soviet backed regime, and hopefully strip the oil rich regions of central Asia, from the grasp of the Soviet Union.

As detailed by Peter Schweizer (19), "arms were being purchased on the international market with Saudi money and the CIA was flying them from Dhahran to Islamabad. However, that this was done through the Wahhabi clan was top secret."

Islamabad, Pakistan, is the main route from the sea to Afghanistan, and Pakistan's rulers and the Pakistan military and Intelligence services were eager to playa role. The Pakistanis cooperated not just because of the secret aid coming in from the Saudis and CIA, but the riches that would be theirs once a pipeline was built, linking the oil-rich Caspian basin with Pakistan-a pipeline that would cross Afghanistan once these states were freed of Soviet control.

William Casey, Director of the CIA during the Reagan-Bush administration (20) has admitted that Saudi Arabia's King Faud, and other prominent Saudi families belonging to the Wahhabi clan, matched the CIA and the American government dollar for dollar in stirring up revolution not only in the incredibly oil rich Soviet states of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan, but Afghanistan; and in this regard, the Saudis and the CIA, worked directly with Pakistan's Islamic government (21).

Why Pakistan and Afghanistan and not Iran?

Because the Muslim majority of Afghanistan, and the Muslim ruling class in Pakistan, were Sunni Muslims and thus closely associated with Sunni-Wahhabism. An oil pipeline, built across Afghanistan and Pakistan, would thus enable these states to become like oil-rich Saudi Arabia, as well as ruled by Muslims subscribing to the Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam. By contrast, the Sunni- Wahhabis not only detested Iran, with its Shiit population, but hoped to someday conquer and convert its people to the Sunni branch of the Islamic faith (22).

Moreover, according to John J. Maresca, vice president of Unocal: "A route through Afghanistan [was] the best option with the fewest technical obstacles that would bring Central Asian oil closest to Asian markets and thus would be the cheapest in terms of transporting the oil. The territory across which the pipeline would extend is controlled by the Taliban."

In the summer of 2001, President George Bush announced: "The Taliban government are a source of stability in Central Asia."

Unfortunately, for Bush and bin Laden, despite the incredible influx of cash from the CIA, the U.S. government (over $100 million pledged in 2001 alone), and despite the incredible sums provided by the Saudis (21), the Taliban were unable to conquer the Northern Alliance which controlled the northern half of the country and the land routes to the underbelly of the former Soviet Union. And, the Taliban, despite threats from the Bush administration, would not agree to allowing the establishment of U.S. bases, or the stationing of U.S. troops on the "Holy Land" of Afghanistan, which the Taliban fancied to be a "pure Islamic state."

*******

In 1996, at the beginning of President Clinton's second and final term, Osama bin Laden, reestablished himself Afghanistan, and became a major source of funds to the cash-strapped Taliban. Osama also preached about the need to create a pure Islamic state, and he publicly castigated the United States for basing its troops in the holy lands of Arabia. In 1996 and again in 1998 he publicly declared war on the U.S. and urged his Muslim brothers to "kill Americans."

And yet, despite his bluster, he said not a peep of protest, when in the months after his arrival, the Taliban left home for Houston, Texas, where they were then dined and lavishly entertained by executives of the oil company, UNOCAL. Curiously, Osama did not object to the idea that a western oil-company might set up shop in the pure Islamic state of Afghanistan.

Likewise, although he had taken credit for previous terrorist attacks on the U.S., and was still calling for the death of Americans, he was surprisingly silent about the $43 million dollars the U.S. granted to the Taliban in March. He also did not publicly object to the meetings being held between the Taliban government and Bush administration, the purpose of which was to hammer out a deal for the construction of an oil pipeline across Afghanistan.

Why should he object? Because he was a terrorist? Because he hated Americans? Because he hated our freedom?

Despite the hateful religious rhetoric spouted by this man, Osama bin Laden was a business man, and he was in business to make money.

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PART 2 OF 2

OSAMA THE BUSINESS MAN

Osama bin Laden settled in the Sudan, in 1992. He was there to do business. According to court documents and trial testimony (18) and as reported by several independent newspapers (23), bin Laden set up a corporate headquarters, north of Khartoum. It was much like any other corporation. There were offices, secretaries, workers, accountants, and management. Like any other business, there were rules, contracts, salaries, company newsletters, and even fringe benefits which included treatment at a private medical clinic.

Osama, "the chairman" occupied the largest office, where he presided over dozens of companies. Osama ruled over a wide ranging business empire (18). His fingers were into everything: farming, investment banking, import-export, construction, land acquisition and development (23). He also dabbled in diamonds, timber, and even owned an ostrich farm. Bin Laden also owned a tannery and ran the mar al Mubaraka and the Blessed Fruits farming businesses, growing wheat, fruit, sesame, white corn, peanuts, and sunflowers.

Some of his holding were also in the oil-rich state of Tajikistan.

The bin Ladens made their fortune in construction, and Osama continued that tradition in the Sudan. He built roads and bridges all over the country. His el-Hijrah Construction and Development firm built a 750-mile highway linking the Port of Sudan to Khartouman where he also built an airport (23).

Osama also owned banks and an investment company which speculated on global stock markets: Taba Investment Company Ltd. He is also said to have invested $50 million dollars in the "el-Shamal Islamic Bank" in Khartoum. Bin Laden is also linked to numerous western banks, and maintained bank accounts at Barclay's Bank in London, Girocredit in Vienna, and the bank in Dubai where he did a lot of business. The Paris-based newspaper Al Watan Al Arabi has also reported that bin Laden operates through holding companies in Luxembourg and Amsterdam.

As is the case with any company, there was also grumbling and complaints. Some of the men in Osama's employee, complained that others with lower titles and less responsibility were making more money. In response to the constant grumbling, Osama tried to smooth ruffled feathers by explaining that those of his employees with foreign citizenship, including men from U.S. and Israel, were paid more to compensate them for living abroad and far from home (18).

*******

Osama bin Laden was a business man and he had been in business with the CIA since at least 1978 or 1979.

Osama bin Laden was not only working with the CIA and related intelligence agencies, but was assigned a major role in recruiting, equipping and providing funding to train Afghan freedom fighters. Osama bin Laden was used as a recruiter, spymaster, and paymaster, buying "friends" and establishing relationships with a wide variety of Muslim groups throughout the world. In 1988, the year George H.W. Bush was elected president, Osama used his international connections to establish al-Qaeda (the base).

In 1996, while still living in the Sudan, Osama bin Laden was given yet another mission by U.S. and British intelligence agencies. He was to arrange the assassination of Libya's president, Colonel Gadaffi (24). According to David Shayler, a renegade British MI5 agent, and two French intelligence experts, and as confirmed by the British newspaper, The Observor, British intelligence paid large sums of money to bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization, to kill Gadaffi.

However, according to the Observor, they and Shayler were prevented, by British law, from disclosing all the details, as "Home Secretary David Blunkett and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw signed Public Interest Immunity certificates to protect national security."

Lets be clear: The Brits would not have tried to keep this secret if it were not true.

*******

Osama, however, not only failed to kill Gadaffi, but it has been suggested that he was also a failure at business -- that he had lost anywhere from $50 million to $150 million, and that by 1996, he was nearly broke.

*******

In 1996, as election season began in eamest in the United States, and after the Gadaffi assassination plot failed, Osama bin Laden received emissaries from the Saudi royal family (25). He was to leave Sudan. He had a new mission. He was to travel to Afghanistan and ingratiate himself with the Taliban.

The official story is that the United States and the Saudi royal family asked the government of Sudan to expel Osama bin Laden. What has not been explained, however, is why expel him and not arrest him?

According to Prince Bandar: "We sent people to him from his family, and we tried to reason with him" (25).

Because they were unable to "reason with him," the Saudis and the U.S. had him expelled to Afghanistan.

However, we must ask: Why expel him? If the reason was because of terrorism, what was to stop Osama from establishing training camps and guesthouses for Islamic militants in another country, such as Afghanistan?

Or was that the goal?

Conventional wisdom proclaims that he left the Sudan because the Saudis issued an arrest warrant for him.

Prince Bandar says that is not true (25). He further admits that the Saudis had no interest in arresting him, even though the government of Sudan apparently offered him up.

The CIA and the government of Britain also had no interest in arresting bin Laden. It was important only that he leave the Sudan. In fact, Britain acted to quash an international arrest warrant for bin Laden that had been requested by Libya.

Arrest Osama? Certainly not. Osama had been working for the CIA, British Intelligence, the Pakistani Intelligence, and the Saudi royal family for years. Osama was a valued asset. According to Bandar, even after the events of 9f11, if Osama were to return to Saudi Arabia, "He's welcome," he would be "welcome if he comes" (25).

Thus we should not be surprised that permission was granted for Osama to fly out of the Sudan, and to freely soar over Saudi airspace, after which he arrived in Afghanistan and began buying influence.

Osama bin Laden had been sent to Afghanistan to perform a mission, and he was sent at the request of Saudi Arabia and the good 'ol USA.

*******

Money equals power, and bin Laden loved the power of money and what it could buy, including the trust of the Taliban leadership.

As detailed by Mohammed Khaksar, former Taliban deputy interior minister, and director of security, and as reported by the Washington Post (26), the Associated Press (27) and the BBC News (28)"Osama bin Laden had Taliban leaders in his pocket, frequently buying them off with huge cash payments. Bin Laden freely distributed bundles of notes to officials to buy freedom of movement for his al-Qaeda network."

It was not uncommon for bin Laden to hand out $50,000 and even $100,000 at a time. "He had the money in his pocket," Mr. Khaksar told the Washington Post (26). "Any time he wanted, he would just pull it out and give it to them."

Milt Bearden, former CIA's station chief in Pakistan, in a January 24, 2000, interview with the New Yorker, also reports that "bin Laden was bringing $20-$25 million a month from other Saudis and Gulf Arabs. And that is a lot of money. It's an extra $200-$300 million a year. And this is what bin Laden did."

And it was not just cash, but fleets of luxury automobiles, trucks and jeeps.

"Al-Qaeda was very important for the Taliban because they had so much money. They gave a lot of money. And the Taliban trusted them," Khaksar told the Washington Post.

Money brings power. Osama bin Laden loved the power of money, the power of untold riches. "There wasn't anybody who had power over Osama. He did whatever he wanted," Khaksar's complained.

Not everyone trusted him, though.

Khaksar was suspicious of Osama 's motives. He feared Osama was planning to do something which would bring ruin to the Taliban and Afghanistan. He claims he told the Taliban leadership that Osama wasn't needed, and argued against allowing Osama and his Arab fighters to set up training camps: "From the beginning, I was against Arabs and other foreigners coming to Afghanistan. I felt our country would be destroyed. And now you see what's happened," Mr. Khaksar said.

Likewise, Mohammed Omar was suspicious of his motives.

In May 1998, after a Pakistan journalist interviewed bin Laden, Mullah Omar became enraged and issued a statement that bin Laden was not in Afghanistan "to conduct political or military activities."

Mohammed Khaksar, former Taliban deputy interior minister, told the Associated Press (27), that he feared Osama and Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency were trying to hijack the Islamic movement. He believed that the goals of bin laden and Pakistan had little to do with the spread of Islam, but that they had another agenda altogether. "Their promises were all lies. From the beginning, I was against [Osama] coming to Afghanistan. I felt our country would be destroyed."

Mohammed Khaksar told the Associated Press (27), that he feared the Islamic movement had been hijacked by bin laden and Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency. Khaksar believed that the goals of bin laden and Pakistan had little to do with the spread of Islam, as they claimed. Increasingly, Khaksar came to believe that Osama, and a clique of Afghan clerics who were graduates from Pakistani religious schools controlled by Pakistani intelligence, were trying to manipulate Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban and Afghanistan, for their own purposes. They were "telling him he could be the leader of all the Muslims, bring all Muslims together," but that their promises were all lies.

Osama was extremely important to the Taliban. And yet, although he claimed to hate America, although he claimed he wanted to help the Taliban establish a pure Islamic state, he did not utter a whimper of protest when the Taliban began negotiating with the Bush administration and Western oil consortiums, to build an oil pipeline across the "pure Islamic state of Afghanistan."

The silence, the lack of opposition, reveals the lie.

Osama's family, with whom he maintained close contact, were in business with the Bush family and with Dick Cheney's former oil company, Haliburton. Like Bush and associates, the bin Ladens, as well as the Saudis and the Pakistanis, had their greedy eyes on the 40 trillion dollars in riches which lay within grasping distance, to the north of Afghanistan. The bin Laden family stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars in construction fees alone.

The Taliban, however, would not agree to the Bush demands. American bases and American troops would never be allowed in Afghanistan to guard the pipeline. The Taliban realized that once the American military arrived, they would lose control of their country. Even when the Bush administration made the Taliban an offer they could not refuse, a carpet of riches or a carpet of bombs, the Taliban refused (29).

The Bush-Cheney-Rice-bin laden oil consortium would lose billions, even trillions of dollars.

The Taliban would have to be destroyed.

******

To understand the tragedy of 9/11 we need to know not only why it happened, but who benefits,

The primary beneficiaries included the oil-consortium headed by UNOCAL, the Carlyle Group, and George W. Bush.

Yet another question: if bin Laden truly wished to drive America from the Middle East, if he truly sought to create and maintain a "pure Islamic state" free of American influence, why would he launch an attack so horrendous that the consequences would be exactly the opposite of what he claimed he most desired?

If bin Laden wanted to drive the "American Crusaders" from the Middle East and the Holy Lands, why would he engage in an act designed to draw tens of thousands of American Crusaders to a country he claimed he wished to purify?

Are we to believe that bin Laden did not realize the Americans would invade Afghanistan and destroy the Taliban?

Are we to believe that bin Laden did not realize the Americans would build military bases in Afghanistan and the surrounding Islamic countries?

Are we to believe that bin Laden did not realize the Americans would establish a permanent military presence?

Are we to believe that bin Laden did not realize the Americans were looking for an excuse to occupy and exploit the riches from that oil-rich region?

Certainly it could be argued, that based on past experience with the Clinton administration, Osama may have believed that retaliation would be minimal.

For example, in 1998 when al-Qaeda organized the successful attacks on the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, maiming thousands and killing some 224, the response of the Clinton administration was limited, ineffective, and embarrassing. Clinton authorized the launching of Tomahawk cruise missiles which struck a number of empty tents in the deserts of Afghanistan. He also took out a milk formula factory in Sudan.

The terrorists laughed.

Late in 1999, when a plot by al-Qaeda to strike during the U.S. millennium celebrations was discovered, the Clinton administration did nothing.

Likewise, when al-Qaeda attacked the USS Cole as it was entering the harbor in Yemen, killing seventeen U.S. sailors, the Clinton administration did nothing.

Did bin Laden think that a Bush administration, commanded by the same men who had launched and won the Gulf War, the same Bush men who had sent the U.S. military to occupy Saudi Arabia in 1991, would also do nothing? Did he think that if he knocked down the World Trade Center and killed 3,000 Americans that Bush and team would not retaliate?

Although Osama is an evil man, he is not stupid.

Why did the attack occur on September 11, 2001, during the first year of the Bush administration, and not on, say September 10 of the previous year, when a lame duck president was in power?

As to the date, 9/11, that may have been picked for symbolic reasons. Americans dial "911" when calling for help, when under attack, in emergencies. "911" would thus be much more memorable, than say, August 26.

9/11/2001 may have also been picked because it fell on a Tuesday. Tuesday is an optimal day for a hijacking. Typically, most people traveling cross-country do not chose Tuesdays to take their flights. Often these jets are less than half full. A commercial jet with just a few passengers would be easier to hijack with just a few men armed with knives and a fake bomb. Thus perhaps the hijackings took place on 9/11 because September 11, 2001 fell on a Tuesday.

On the other hand, why not attack on a Tuesday in September of 2000? Why not attack during the Presidency of a man whose response to terrorism was at best tepid and inconsequential?

Why pick the first year of the Bush presidency? Although Osama is an evil man, he is not stupid. Certainly he and his organization would have realized, based on the actions of the first Bush administration, that he, al-Qaeda. and his beloved Taliban would be severely punished if not destroyed, and that the "pure Islamic" state of Afghanistan would be invaded and occupied by the hated "American Crusaders."

Osama was not stupid. That a Bush administration would act differently from a Clinton administration was perfectly clear.

During the week of September 1-7, 2001, 230,000 British troops began steaming toward the Persian Gulf, in an exercise called, "Operation Swift Sword." This exercise had been planned for over a year and was well publicized. Also, at the same time, two U.S. carrier battle groups were steaming toward the Gulf of Arabia and the Pakistan, which abuts Afghanistan. This coming exercise was also well known in advance.

Logic would demand that you would not pick a date which coincided with a time of year in which British and U.S. forces were amassing nearby.

Logic would demand that you would not pick a time of year which provides optimal conditions for U.S. forces to attack Afghanistan, i.e. in the relatively cool winter months.

Logic would demand that a terrorist attack of this magnitude should take place during the presidency of a man who does nothing.

Although craven and cowardly, the 9/11 attack was meticulously planned and ingeniously carried out with military precision. Likewise, we can surmise that the decision to attack during the first year of the Bush administration, during a period in which the U.S. was demanding access to Afghanistan in order to build a pipeline, during a time when U.S. and British forces were massing nearby, and during the coming winter season which would make life so much easier for U.S. and British ground troops, that all this was also well thought out and based on meticulous planning.

That a Bush administration would act differently from a Clinton administration was perfectly clear. That the Bush administration had been threatening to destroy the Taliban if they did not accept the Bush team terms for an oil pipeline, would have been well known to Mr. bin Laden.

Although a murderer and a terrorist, Osama was not stupid. Osama not only knew the Bush administration would launch a massive retaliatory attack, he not only knew that the Western "crusader forces" would invade and occupy Afghanistan, he planned on it.

In the days prior to the 9/11 attack, bin Laden had already made detailed plans for his escape. He would be assisted by Pakistan's Intelligence Service, which, according to bin Laden's driver, delivered "four passports" and travel documents, directly to bin Laden in the days immediately following 9/11 (30). And when the U.S. military arrived in force, bin Laden made his escape, right under their noses, and right before their eyes.

And once he escaped, the Bush administration declared that Osama bin Laden, was no longer a major concern:

"Bin Laden himself isn't that big a threat."

-- Dick Cheney, 1/27/2002

"I truly am not that concerned about him"

-- George W Bush 3/13/2002

"The goal has never been to get bin Laden"

-- General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 4/6/2002.

Yes, the "goal" was "never to get bin Laden." The goal was to conquer Afghanistan, and then Iraq. The goal was to fight a costly "war on terrorism." The goal was oil, 40 trillion dollars worth of oil.

*******

Despite media accounts which depict Osama bin Laden as the leader of al-Qaeda, this is just not so. Osama was a spymaster, a paymaster, a businessman, an expert at propaganda, and part of al- Qaeda's inner circle. But he was not a leader (25).

As he admitted in a December 23, 1998, interview with Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai: "My job is to inspire, to organize people. My job is to provoke people. I'm not doing it myself, but I'm preaching so that others will do it.'"

As summed up by Prince Bandar (25), "He uses the right sentences that he thinks could touch the sentiments of the public." But Osama bin Laden "wouldn't impress me as somebody who would be a leader for anything. He couldn't lead eight ducks across the street."

Likewise, according to Osama bin Laden's hand-picked biographer, Hamid Mir, Osama was not a leader, and he was certainly not the leader of al-Qaeda. The real leader was Egyptian radical Ayman al-Zawahiri, often mis-identified as bin Laden's top lieutenant.

No, Osama was not a leader. He had not been sent to Afghanistan to lead. He had been kicked out of the Sudan at the behest of the US/ CIA and Saudi Arabia because he had a mission to perform.

Mission accomplished, Osama bin Laden then made arrangements to leave Afghanistan, and he would do so with the help of not only Pakistan's ISI, but the U.S. military and CIA.

THE GRAND CHARADE

Osama bin Laden had been planning for all eventualities since 1996 when he arrived in Afghanistan, from the Sudan, bearing money and arms. Now, mission accomplished, he would leave the Afghan people, and his Taliban and al-Qaeda allies, to their fate.

Well before 9/11 or the routing of the Taliban and al-Qaeda by U.S. and British forces and their Northern Alliance allies, Osama bin laden had already begun making his final preparations for his escape from Afghanistan (31). He had even had paid Afghan villagers to begin work on a dirt road which would lead from what he knew in advance would be his last public hiding place, a road leading to Pakistan. However, it was important that his exit not be construed as a cowardly act, or as something planned in advance, but as a fight to the finish! A fight in which he would emerge unscathed, only to escape -- courtesy of the good 'ol USA.

The grand finale would take place near the Pakistan border, a mountain top known as Tora Bora. The CIA knew all about Tora Bora. And, as amazed Afghan villagers pointed out, it should have been obvious to the U.S. military that Osama would use his Tora Bora hideaway as a last stop before making his exit into Pakistan.

Tora Bora was not just a mountain. There were deep caves that had been carefully prepared as sophisticated office and defensive complexes. They had initially been built with CIA assistance and then expanded and reinforced by Osama bin Laden.

In November, and accompanied by his most elite al-Qaeda fighters, Osama bin Laden began making final preparations for what the London News Telegraph (31) referred to as "a grand charade" and "a deliberate ploy" conducted with the helpful assistance of the U.S. military, "to cover bin Laden's quiet escape."

In American newspapers the charade would not be mentioned. Instead, the American people would be told of the heroic battle of Tora Bora. Little or no mention would be made of the "blunders that let bin Laden slip away" (31).

As gathered from eye-witness accounts and reports published in various European and Middle Eastern newspapers, in early November, at a gathering near Jalalabad, bin Laden, guarded by 15 of his elite Arab and Yemeni commandos, addressed a crowd of his Pakistani and Afghan al-Qaeda fighters. He told them "the Americans have a plan to invade Afghanistan, but we will teach them a lesson -- the same one we taught the Russians." He then delivered a diatribe on "holy war" explaining that "unity and belief in Allah would lead to victory over the Americans"(31).

But he knew he was lying. In just a few more days he would abandon them. It was all part of a well prepared charade.

Abu, one of his elite commandos, recalled him saying: "hold your positions firm and be ready for martyrdom." And then Osama made it clear that he was leaving: "I'll be visiting you again, very soon." As he departed, his loyal followers stood up and threw flowers, shouting: "Zindabad Osama! Long Live Osama!"

And then, although he was now the world's most wanted man, although he was supposedly being hunted by the CIA, the U.S. military, and Pakistani troops, bin Laden made his way, right under their noses, right before their eyes, to the Tora Bora enclave, and then to freedom.

The London News Telegraph (31) reports that in preparing his final exit strategy, Osama proceeded to make contact with local tribal leaders and gave each a "white envelope full of Pakistani rupees, the thickness of which was proportional to the number of extended families that each leader oversaw in the Gor Giori Valley." Osama needed the help of these tribal leaders. The Gor Giori Valley led directly to the Pakistani border. "The cash was a down-payment to local leaders against the day bin Laden and his followers needed to leave Tora Bora. Work had already started on a dirt road leading from the cave network towards Pakistan."

The presence of bin Laden in Tora Bora was not a secret. The Northern Alliance, the U.S. military, and the American public were soon made aware that bin Laden, and perhaps as many as 1,500 of the best Arab and Chechen al-Qaeda fighters were holed up in the mountain stronghold.

On November 15, and goaded on by the media, the U.S. began a heavy bombardment of Tora Bora. However, it was not al-Qaeda who the U.S. military attacked, but "shepherds, said Malik Osman Khan, a one-eyed tribal chief whose 16-year-old son Wahid Ullah was one of more than 100 Afghan civilians killed in the intense US bombing" (31).

In fact, and as related by Northern Alliance fighters, and some of the reporters who were observing, the U.S. campaign to bomb Tora Bora seemed designed to prevent Alliance fighters from reaching bin Laden and his men. The bombing of Tora Bora left obvious escape routes unscathed and instead worked against the ability of the Northern Alliance to surround or advance up the mountain. Indeed, the U.S. military bombed only one side of the mountain, the side on which the Northern Alliance were trying to advance. The other side of the mountain, the obvious escape route which led to the Gor Giori Valley and the dirt road to Pakistan, went unscathed.

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, a Skull and Bones alumni, Vietnam veteran, and Democratic presidential aspirant, had this to say: "The strategy of Tora Bora failed to target al-Qaeda in an appropriate way to do the job,. Troops were literally held out of certain kinds of actions that might have made a difference."

As summed up by the London News Telegraph (31), "the battle for Tora Bora looked more like a grand charade, a deliberate ploy to cover bin Laden's quiet escape."

While the U.S. military continued to bomb Tora Bora, not only bin Laden, but his top lieutenants slipped away. The Pakistani border, and freedom, was just a short distance away.

"The eastern Afghanistan intelligence chief for the country's new government, Pir Baksh Bardiwal, was astounded that the Pentagon planners of the battle for Tora Bora had failed to even consider the most obvious exit routes. He said: 'The border with Pakistan was the key, but no one paid any attention to it. And there were plenty of landing areas for helicopters had the Americans acted decisively. Al-Qaeda escaped right out from under their feet."

"Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run."

-- George W. Bush 3/13/2002.

And yet, we should be wary: Although on the run, bin Laden, the businessman, will someday return at the behest of and to serve the same interests of those who benefited the most from the 9/11 attack. Indeed, this is precisely why the Bush administration engaged in this grand charade and let Osama bin Laden escape.

THE GOAL WAS OIL

On January 8, 2002, the commander of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks, told the Associated Press that his men had failed to find bin Laden. And, because they could not find bin Laden, that the search for him would end.

And why is that?

"Bin Laden himself isn't that big a threat."

-- Dick Cheney, 1/27/2002

"I truly am not that concerned about him"

-- George W. Bush 3/13/2002

"The goal has never been to get bin Laden."

-- General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 4/6/2002.

Then what was the goal?

Oil, stupid. Forty trillion dollars worth of oil! The goal was always about oil.

Consider: 15 of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi citizens. The wife of Prince Bandar and the Saudi government gave over $200,000 to a San Diego man who in turn provided financial support to two of the 9/11 hijackers. Other Saudis, including Saudi-sponsored charities, also contributed funds to al-Qaeda. However, following 9/11, Saudi Arabia wasn't blamed. Instead, Afghanistan was attacked and the Taliban, who had nothing to do with 9/11 were deposed. Likewise, Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, and yet, although it is the Saudis who provided hundreds of thousands of dollars and supplied 15 of the hijackers, it it Iraq which the Bush administration wishes to go after.

Osama bin laden, the tragedy of 9/11, was never about terrorism. It was about oil. It was about money. It was about the Bush presidency. It was about a political power grab. It was about enriching the Bush family and the Carlyle group with a war on terrorism. It was about building an oil pipeline across Afghanistan. It was about attacking Iraq. It was about achieving U.S. military dominance over the oil rich Gulf states and central Asia.

The goal had nothing to do with terrorism.

The goal was grabbing 40 trillion dollars worth of oil.

And it only cost 3000 American lives.

Iraq would be next.

_______________

Notes:

1). CBS News, "Do We Want Him Dead, Or Alive? 11/16/2001.

2). Fox News, "Wanted dead or alive: Usama bin Laden," 6/24/2002.

3). Representative John Conyers of Michigan, House Judiciary Committee: "The very purpose of the (Bush) directive appears to be to skirt the usual constitutional and criminal justice rules that are the hallmark of our democratic form of government."

4). CBS News, "Cheney Warns Democrats," 5/17/2002; Bill Press, "Don't ask what went wrong, it's unpatriotic!" CNN, 5/21/2002

5). York Times, 11/2/2002.

6). The New York Times, "Aggressive 9-11 probe angers FBI, CIA officials," 9/29/2002.

7). Federation of American Scientists, "BCCI AND LAW ENFORCEMENT: The Justice Department;" Al Martin, "The Conspirators. Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider;" American Free Press, "New FBI Head Is Old Bush Cover-Up Man," 8/20/2001. See also: Alan Friedman, "The Neil Bush Bailout," Vanity Fair, October, 1990; Jonathan Beaty & S.C. Gwynne, ''The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI," Random House, 1993.

8). New York Times, 1/31/2002, 2/6/2002, 2/28/2002, 9/28/2002.

9). Marjorie Cohn, "Cheney's Black Gold: Oil Interests May Drive US Foreign Policy," Chicago Tribune, 8/10/2000; D. Golden et al., "Bin Laden Family Could Profit From a Jump In Defense Spending Due to Ties to U.S. Bank," Wall Street Journal, 9/27/2001; 4). BBC News, 6/11/2001; Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2001.

10).Wall Street Journal, "Vetting the Frontrunners: From Oil to Baseball to the Governor's Mansion," 9/28/1999; Jonathan Beaty & S.C. Gwynne, ''The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI," Random House, 1993; James H. Hatfield, "Fortunate Son," St. Martins Press.

11). Peter Schweizer, "Victory -- The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union," 1994.

12). Washington Post, 5/25/2001.

13). On 9/27/2001, after most of this money had been withdrawn, the central Bank of the Arab Emirates, acting at the behest of the U.S., ordered the freezing of bin Laden's accounts at Dubai Islamic Bank.

14). Le Figaro, 10/31/2001.

15). United Press International, 11/01/2001.

16). Radio France International, 11/1/2001.

17). Asia Week, March, 2000.

18). United States v. Usama bin Laden et al., S (7) 98 Cr. 1023 (LBS), Sworn testimony of Essam Al-Ridi at the Southern District Court of New York, February 14,2001; see also Court testimony ...Federal District Court in Manhattan ... vs Wadih El-Hage, et al.

19). Le Nouvel Observateur, 11/15-21/1998; Bill Blum, "Killing Hope".

20). Peter Schweizer, "Victory -- The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union."

21). Ahmed Rashid, "Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia," Yale University Press, 2000; see also: Alexander's Oil and Gas Connections.

22) Hamid Algar, "Wahhabism: A Critical Essay," Islamic Publications International, 2002; Ahmed Rashid, Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia," Yale Univ Press, 2002.

23). John Mintz, "Bin Laden's Finances Are Moving Target," Washington Post, 8/28/1998; UPI, 2/14/2001; Devlin Barrett, New York Post, 2/15/2001; Sean O'Neil, "On the trail of bin Laden's money," Telegraph, 91 25/2001; Associated Press, 10/1/2001.

24). The Observer, 11/10/2002.

25). PBS Frontline, Prince Bandar interview, 9/2001.

26).Washington Post, 11/30/2001.

27).Associated Press, 6/10/2002.

28). BBC News, 12/1/2001.

29). Charles Brisard & Guillaume Dasquie "Forbidden Truth: U.S.- Taliban Secret Oil Diplomacy and the Failed Hunt for Bin Laden," Avalon Books, 2002.

30). Fox News, 8/28/2002.

31). Philip Smucker, "Blunders that let bin Laden slip away," London News Telegraph, 2/23/2002.

[admin]

Chapter 14: A TAIL OF TWO "HEROES"

Drunk, Drugged & Getting Out of Harm's Way.

I ran for my life because "I was trying to get out of harm's way."

-- George W. Bush.

At 8:45 am, Eastern Standard Time, American Airlines Right II, a Boeing 767 en route from Boston's Logan Airport to Los Angeles International with 92 people onboard, slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Over a thousand men and women were incinerated, crushed, or fell a thousand feet and died.

George W. Bush, the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief, was in Florida. He was taking advantage of a photo op, a publicity stunt, at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, and cameras were trained on his face. At 9 A.M., soon after the jet crashed into the World Trade Center, Bush received a phone call and was provided details. For a brief moment, his face tightened. Then, inexplicably, he smirked, and went on with the publicity stunt.

Dick Cheney, the Vice President, was at the White House, sitting in front of a television, watching the nightmare unfold. There were no cameras trained on his sinister, bully boy's face.

At 9:03 am, United Airlines Right 175, a Boeing 767 enroute from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people onboard, barreled into the south tower of the World Trade Center. Another thousand lives were instantly consumed.

The cameras are still trained on the face of George W. Bush. At 9:07 AM, he received the news of yet another plane crash. There is no sign of shock. There is no expression of surprise. Not a hint of sadness crosses his face. His face tightens, and then, there is the smirk. He looks as if he is suppressing an urge to laugh. And then: He does nothing. He just sits there, smirking. Twenty three minutes later, at 9:30, Bush makes a statement, describing the attacks on the World Trade Center as an "apparent terrorist attack" and asks for a moment of silence.

And what does the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States, the "Leader of the Free World" do next?

He continues with his visit at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida.

Next on the agenda? Money -- a meeting with supporters to raise campaign contributions.

And what of the Vice President? On the morning of 9/11, he is still watching TV.

Later, in a television interview, the normally dour-face of Dick Cheney, is all smiles. He is exuberant. Animated. Excited. His happy face seems incongruent with the tragedy that he is discussing. He tells us that when the second jet struck, "Immediately that triggered in my mind, the thought of terrorism." He tells us that he called President Bush (1).

What else did Cheney do the morning of 9/11, in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy? Like Bush, he did nothing. He continued watching TV.

But then, a surprise, the unexpected.

White House aids entered the room where Cheney was still enjoying the spectacle on TV. They told him that a Boeing 757, an American Airlines commercial jet had been hijacked by terrorists. They feared that it might be headed directly toward Washington, the nation's capital.

Cheney was surprised. Shocked. Frightened.

And what did Cheney do?

Did he warn White House staff they might be in danger?

No.

Did he issue orders warning congressional staff that they might be in danger?

No.

Did he issue orders warning the Pentagon?

The answer is no.

Did he warn anyone that their lives might be in danger?

No. No. And, no!

Dick Cheney thought only of himself. Dick Cheney's first thought was the he was being targeted, that he had been double crossed. Dick Cheney was scared to death.

Then he ran, and he hid (1).

He was literally air borne. He ran so fast that his "feet touched the floor periodically ..." as he ran "very rapidly down the hallway" (1).

Dick Cheney, the classic bully boy, turned rabbit and ran for his life. His behavior was that of the classic bully who is all mouth but then backs down and panics, and then runs away when faced with danger.

While three hundred brave men and women were racing up those Twin Tower stairs to save the lives of those who could not save themselves, Dick Cheney abandoned his post, and he ran for his life. While brave men and women were heroically risking their lives to save the lives of those who could not save themselves, Dick Cheney sought only to save his own skin. When told that the jet had entered the "danger zone" he made a mad dash for safety. He ran for the White House basement. And there, like a scared rabbit, he hid (1).

It was only after he reached the safety of the White House basement, that he reached for a phone.

Was he about to warn the people of the nation's capital that a hijacked plane was headed their way.

No.

Did he warn congress?

No.

Did he warn the Pentagon.

No.

Dick Cheney, as he cowered in the White House basement, was speed dialing George Bush.

"It looks like we've been targeted," he cried. "Delay your return. We don't know what's going on here, but it looks like we've been targeted" (1).

What did he mean by: "We don't know what's going on here"? Didn't they just make an announcement that terrorists had hijacked and crashed two commercial jets?

Hadn't Cheney been enjoying the spectacle all morning?

Hadn't he just been sitting there, watching TV, doing nothing?

Now, at all once, he doesn't know what's going on?

WE DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE'VE BEEN DOUBLE CROSSED

Let us review the facts. The Bush team had been receiving detailed warnings since July that commercial jets were to be hijacked by terrorists. John Ashcroft took the warnings so seriously that he got weak kneed and refused to ever fly again on a commercial jet.

On the morning of 9/11, two jets crash into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. After the second jet strikes, Bush is told to announce that the attacks are due to terrorists.

Bush then continues with his photo op, and Cheney settles in to watch some more TV.

So far, everything has gone according to plan.

But, according to Dick Cheney, when told of a third jet, he was surprised.

He wasn't surprised or alarmed about the first jet.

Ditto for the second jet.

But as to a third jet? Maybe even a fourth jet?

Wait a minute -- we don't know what's going on here -- nobody told us about a third jet. Nobody told us that we would be targeted, that Washington would be a target.

They've known for months about the impending attack. They received an avalanche of warnings in the days and weeks before 9/ 11. They just announced that the two jets which struck the Twin Towers, was the work of terrorists. But then, when told of a third jet, Cheney suddenly doesn't know what's going on?

"We don't know what's going on here, but it looks like we've been targeted."

Translation: We don't know what's going on here, but it looks like we've been double crossed.

Translation: We were told that the Twin Towers would be attacked. Nobody told us that Washington would be attacked.

Cheney: "We don't know what's going on here, but it looks like we've been targeted."

Cheney: We've been double crossed! Run for your life!

And what did Bush do? He ran: "I was trying to get out of harm's way," Bush said (2).

"Harm's way?" You were in Florida, you chuckle head.

In New York, firemen and police didn't lose their nerve. Rudolf Giuilliani, the mayor of New York didn't lose his nerve. Rudolf Giuilliani immediately sped off for ground zero.

At the Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld didn't lose his nerve. As flames engulfed portions of the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld was in the thick of things. He was right there assisting victims of the attack.

If Dick Cheney and George Bush had been at the Pentagon, they would have knocked each other down in their panic to escape and "get out of harm's way" because: "we've been targeted!"

And so, while fire fighters and police were risking their lives, while brave men and women were climbing those burning, smoke-filled stairwells to save the lives of those who could not save themselves, Cheney and Bush thought only of saving their own skin. These two "Leaders of the Free World," these two war mongers who have never, ever, been in harm's way, the Commander-in-Chief, and his second in command, turned tail and ran.

I RAN FOR MY LIFE BECAUSE I WAS TRYING TO GET OUT OF HARM'S WAY.

Bush had been told of both crashes, that early 9/11 morning. And he did nothing. He sat there, in that classroom, and smirked.

Everything so far, had gone according to plan.

But then the unexpected.

"It looks like we've been targeted!" Cheney cried.

*********

At 9:55 am, Bush and his entourage sped off to the Sarasota- Bradenton airport, and from there it was to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. In order to make him feel more protected, the still shaking president of the free world was immediately surrounded by Air Force personnel with M-16s at the ready.

Bush still didn't fee safe. He was still scared. He was frightened half to death.

Only an underground command bunker that could withstand a direct hit by an atomic bomb would suffice. He was whisked away to Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base and ground zero of the U.S. Strategic Command. Bush would hide out in an atomic bomb-proof bunker until assured that his life was no longer at risk.

At 9:43 am, as Bush was heading full throttle for safety, and as Cheney hid in the White House basement, American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, with 58 passengers and six crew members on board, slammed into the Pentagon.

Ten minutes later, the White House was evacuated.

A few minutes later, high level officials in the Bush administration began taking the anti-anthrax medication, Cipro (3). The American public didn't know it yet, but they were soon to be subject to additional terrors, that, like 9/11, high level officials in the Bush administration already knew about.

As to Mr. Bush, as the day wore on, he was still hiding.

BUSH: DRUNK, STONED, AND AWOL

This was not the first time that George W. Bush shirked his duty and deserted his post. In 1972, during the height of the Vietnam war, Bush deserted his Houston Air National Guard unit. He was AWOL (Absent Without Leave) for a period of between 11 to 18 months. As reported in the well researched book, "Fortunate Son" (4) and as detailed in the Boston Globe (5): "In his final 18 months of military service in 1972 and 1973, Bush was all but unaccounted for: For a full year, there is no record that he showed up for the periodic drills required of part-time guardsmen. William Turnipseed, the retired general who commanded the unit, said that Bush never appeared for duty. His two superior officers at Ellington Air Force Base could not perform his annual evaluation covering the year from May 1, 1972 to April 30, 1973 because, they wrote, '''Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report.'''

Desertion is a crime. But Bush had an "excuse." In 1972 he had been arrested for cocaine possession. George W. had a very serious drug problem. His "dad," however, came to the rescue and made arrangements with a Dallas judge to have his son's conviction for possession of cocaine expunged from the records in return for performing community service. The judge agreed to this arrangement and ordered George W. to perform community service and to work for an inner-city, antipoverty outreach program for teenagers.

George W. was also a drunk. In an interview published in the Greenwich Village Gazette (6), President G. H. W. Bush's Chief of Staff Michael C. Dannenhauer admitted that George W. had been "out of control since college. There was cocaine use, lots of women, but the drinking was the worst." He also admitted that George W. had suffered quite a few "lost weekends in Mexico." Dannenhauer also confirmed that George W. also had a serious cocaine problem. George's past drug use was inadvertently confirmed by George W. himself, when he blurted out at a press conference that he hadn't taken drugs "since 1974."

Should we be surprised that a rich man with a low IQ (7), and a history of alcoholism, drug addiction, and desertion, who has never in his life been held accountable for his actions, would also run away on the morning of 9/11?

LAUGHING BOY: THE COMPASSION CONSERVATIVE

It has been said that a picture says a thousand words. Pictures are revealing. Pictures can also be worth a lot of cash.

After Bush emerged from his hidey hole, after he had been told that he was safe, the boy wonder paid a visit to ground zero. And then the inexplicable: he laughed. He was all chuckles. While standing atop the rubble, atop the grave of nearly 3,000 souls. Bush yucked it up, laughing, smiling, cracking jokes.

Among the numerous schemes hatched by the White House and Republican party, to capitalize on the 9/11 disaster, was the solicitation of campaign contributions in return for a signed photo of George W. Bush, as he flew to safety aboard Air Force One on the morning of 9/11. George, we are told, was speaking by phone to Dick Cheney -- or just as likely, his "dad."

A picture says a thousand words.

The Bush family, George and Barbara Bush were also unable to contain themselves in public, laughing it up at a 911 ceremony. It's an inside joke and the joke on is you -- the American People.

The picture of George Bush, the morning of that terrible tragedy, is the picture of a man of conflicting emotions, as if he is being simultaneously congratulated and admonished -- perhaps by his father, for running away.

There is no sign of sadness on the face of George Bush. There is no sign of compassion or concern for those who died. As he later admitted to reporters, he thought only of his own safety, and that of his own family (2). And now, his safety assured, he is smirking.

Is it possible that Bush would gloat over the death of others? Is it possible that George Bush would derive pleasure from causing death?

The answer is yes.

While Bush served as Governor of Texas, he oversaw a penal system that became, under his administration, a veritable assembly-line death machine. Bush took a perverse delight in killing people. He enjoyed executing the retarded, the abused, those with severe learning disorders, and men with histories of alcoholism and drug abuse -- men just like George Bush. Bush joked about killing people. He mocked them. Laughed at them. Killing his fellow man, killing old women, gave George Bush a perverse pleasure. In Texas he killed over 150 of them -- and it made him feel good!

In November of 2001, just weeks following the 9/11 tragedy, as he presided over the annual pardoning of the White House turkey, George W. Bush made yet another a joke about killing people: "It's nice to finally get a chance to issue a pardon. Unfortunately, I was unable to give any out in Texas. You know how it is, you pardon one and then everyone has a sob story about how they were abused as kids, or were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or they're retarded or dyslexic, stuff like that. My philosophy was not to discriminate. We killed everyone of them when I was governor."

Texas death row inmate, Karla Faye Tucker, a grandmother and "born again Christian" hoped that George W. Bush, a man who claims his "favorite philosopher is Jesus Christ" might act mercifully and save her from death. When asked by Talk magazine what she might like to say to Governor Bush?" she replied, "Please don't kill me."

George Bush thought this was funny. He mocked her. He laughed at her, just like he mocked and laughed at all the others who were killed by the state of Texas when he was governor. Bush thought her request was so hilarious, that he went on the popular Larry King talk show and publicly ridiculed her by laughing and whimpering in mock imitation of her voice: "Please! Don't kill me!"

That many of those Bush ordered killed were completely innocent, is probably beyond dispute. Dozens of people sentenced to death in recent years have subsequently been found to be innocent, based, for example, on DNA evidence. Dozens of innocent men have been released from death row and prison, after prosecutorial and police misconduct and evidence tampering were made public.

Between 1900 and 1992, there have been 416 documented cases of innocent persons who have been convicted and given a death sentence. In 23 of these cases, the person was executed (8). According to Amnesty International, "since 1973, over 100 people have been released from death rows throughout the country after evidence of their wrongful convictions emerged."

While Bush was laughing about killing people, Illinois Governor George Ryan -- a pro-death penalty Republican and Bush's campaign chairman in Illinois -- called a moratorium on executions. Ryan issued this order in January 2000 after 13 condemned men were exonerated by DNA evidence. In Illinois and other states including Texas, there was growing evidence that innocent people were being sent to death row.

Calvin Burdine, spent 16 years on death row in Texas before a federal judge threw out his conviction. Randall Dale Adams and Clarence Brandley, two former Texas prisoners came within days of being executed before they were exonerated and freed.

Dozens of other Texas inmates were not so lucky.

Texas, under George Bush, was a veritable death machine that gloried in denying legal rights and competent legal counsel to the accused. In Texas, under Bush, only the wealthy could receive a "fair trial." One federal judge, after hearing cases in which court -appointed attorneys slept in court or abused cocaine, called the Texas system a "farce" and a "travesty."

In 1998, while George Bush was still governor of Texas, Amnesty International reported that "at every step in the death penalty process in Texas, a litany of grossly inadequate legal procedures fail to meet recognized minimum international standards for the protection of human rights."

When asked about the Texas death machine and Karla Faye Tucker's plea for clemency, on the David Letterman TV show, Bush again laughed it up: "People like that make me sick."

Pleas for mercy, make George W. Bush sick.

People about to be put to death, make George W. Bush laugh.

George Bush was still laughing it up, on the morning of 9/11.

WE WON

At 10 am, that nightmarish September 11 morning, a jet soared above the clouds, a thousand miles from the raging fires that burned in New York city. Inside that jet stood a smirking man. And in that moment of triumph, his picture was taken -- which would later be sold and distributed to his supporters. The picture was of George Bush as he spoke by phone to Dick Cheney. And what were they talking about? "We were concerned about threats to the President."

A picture says a thousand words.

There is no sign of sadness on the smirking face of George W. Bush. There is no sign of compassion or concern for those innocent women and men who burned to death or who fell a thousand feet and died. There is not a hint of sympathy for the thousands of grieving families, for the wives, sons, mothers, fathers, husbands daughters, or friends of those who died. As he later admitted, he thought only of his own safety and that of his family. And now, safe at last, although there is fear in his face, he is smirking. -- what a hero!

A picture says a thousand words.

He seems to be saying: ''I'm safe! We won."

_______________

Notes:

1). Dick Cheney, interview, NBC's "Meet the Press," 11/16/2001.

2). Edwin Chen, "Bush Fled 'Harm's Way' After 911 Attacks," Los Angeles Times, 5/22/2002.

3). Associated Press, 10/23/2001: "Some White House personnel were given Cipro six weeks ago. White House officials won't discuss who might be receiving the anthrax-treating antibiotic now. On the night of the September 11 attacks, the White House Medical Office dispensed Cipro to staff accompanying Vice President Dick Cheney as he was secreted off to the safety of Camp David, and told them it was a 'precaution,' according to one person directly involved." See also: Judicial Watch, 6/8/2002; Associated Press, 6/8/2002.

4). James H. Hatfield, "Fortunate Son." St. Martin's Press. New York.

5). Boston Globe, 5/3/2000; See also, The New Republic, 10/16/ 2000, 11/13/2000.

6). The Greenwich Village Gazette, 9/13/1999.

7). Bush scored at the 25% rank on an Air Force IQ test. A ranking of 25% means that on this dumbed down test, 75% of military recruits score higher than George W. Bush. This score places him in the "Low Average Range" of intellectual functioning, which means that Mr. Bush, has an IQ that is probably between 85 and 90.

8). Michael L. Radelet, et al., "In Spite of Innocence: Erroneous Convictions in Capital Cases." Northeastern University Press, 1994.