by Gary Dobry
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Part 1
Nabila Khashoggi, socialite and daughter of Iran-Contra arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi, is an aspiring Hollywood actress. One might've seen Nabila on FOX TV. Perhaps in her role as a clerk in episode #281, ‘Tainted Love‘, of Beverly Hills 90210. Nabila's father, Adnan Khashoggi, spent over $100 million to build a yacht that sported fifteen suites, a disco, a helipad and 296 telephones. Adnan named his precious yacht after his precious daughter, Nabila. Adnan is alleged to have defaulted on a personal loan which resulted in the Nabila passing hands in hoi-poloi heirachy from Adnan to the Sultan of Brunei to Donald Trump to Prince Alwaleed.
Nabila Khashoggi's raison d'etre, like her pedigree, transcends playing bit-parts on trendy American pop-culture TV series. In bigger, more glamorous, starring roles, Nabila plays officer and director, per Florida Corporate filings, in two film production companies, Plum Pictures, Inc and In Motion Pictures, Inc.. Nabila’s companies have something in common with one of her father’s, Adnan's, ventures, GenisisIntermedia, GENI. They share the same address.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit on June 4, 2003 against some of the players in the GENI market. The GENI cast is star-studded and features, not only Nabila’s Iran-Contra arms dealer father Adnan Khashoggi, but also penny-stock scofflaw and promoter Rafi Khan, the Toronto branch of Deustche Bank Securities (Alex. Brown), the Vancouver Stock Exchange (VSE) and Thomas Brooks, a broker, who can't seem to account for shares loaned from another aspiring starlet's firm, Native Nations Securities.
There are more ties between some of the Iran-Contra co-conspirators and GENI than just arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. The director of GENI, for example, is Michael Roy Fugler. Fugler appears to have been an integral part of drug smuggler and CIA informer Barry Seal’s organization. Barry Seal allegedly made more than $50 million smuggling drugs into the U.S. from South America between the years of 1977 and 1986 and he became a key witness/informer for the government against the Colombian Cocaine Cartel. It was Barry Seal's C-123K cargo plane crashing in Nicaragua that exposed the Iran-Contra affair to the public and put it into the limelight. Researchers rummaging through Louisiana corporate filings at the Secretary of State’s Office apparently found evidence that Barry Seal’s drug proceeds helped finance a company called Trinity Energy. Apparently, it was Fugler’s job to set-up the front companies for Seal’s drug proceeds.
The SEC is claiming that the clearing firm of MJK was defrauded when millions of dollars in "marks" outstanding on Native Nations Securities’ borrowed GENI shares could not be collected. The SEC alleges it was a "daisy chain" of lent, borrowed and shorted shares that couldn’t be delivered to MJK, the last link in the "daisy chain" scam.
Native Nations Securities, a New Jersey firm, was run by another aspiring starlet, Valerie Red-Horse, and like Nabila who made cameos on popular television series like Beverly Hills 90120, Valerie, herself, appeared in a number of television series including Murder She Wrote, Babylon 5 and Perry Mason, but... Valerie's biggest role, like Nabila's, wasn't one she played on the silver or television screen. It was in her role as office manager for junk-bond king Michael Milken.
Valerie Red Horse has another noteworthy feature role to her credit. She played the manager of the investment banking division, of the West Coast office, of Drexel Burnham Lambert. Drexel Burnham Lambert was alleged by former FBI agent and decorated Vietnam veteran, Richard Taus to be connected to Drexel Company, which changed it’s name to Castle Securities, after the Cayman Island Bank that was it’s parent, Castle Bank.
Agent Taus told congress that the National Security Agency (NSA) and White House were involved in "criminal activities to finance the acquisition of arms and ammunitions". Agent Taus told congress about the dealings of the Iran-Contra co-conspirators.
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Gary Dobry
The U.S. Attorney Eastern District of New York, in May of 2002, indicted hi-profile Egyptian-American on-line "investment advisor" and shortseller, Amr Ibrahim ’Anthony’ Elgindy, charging him with multiple counts including illegal market manipulation and extortion. Elgindy was also attempting to sell $300,000 worth of stock the afternoon of September 10, 2001. AUSA, Ken Breen, suggested to the judge assigned to the case that… "Perhaps Mr. Elgindy had preknowledge of Sept. 11, and rather than report it he attempted to profit from it."
Elgindy was charged with being the leader of a criminal racketeering enterprise that is alleged to have been short-selling and illegally manipulating stock in companies that were under criminal investigation. The information about these companies was provided to Elgindy, allegedly, by FBI agents that were members of his criminal enterprise. Among the other counts against Elgindy, he is accused to of extorting shares from companies that he learned, via the information these FBI agents provided him, were under criminal investigation. One of the companies Elgindy targeted and traded was GenesisIntermedia.
Like most front companies in rigged markets, most of GENI‘s, shares were tightly held. In the case of GENI, by Adnan Khashoggi and Ramy el-Batrawi. Interestingly enough, in a BK case filed under seal in September of 2002, and later unsealed in November of the same year, and moved to Federal Court in Minnesota, some dialogue was transcribed and included in court docs regarding another undisclosed "Anthony" receiving "$1.8 million" to keep the GENI market artificially inflated. MJK went belly-up after the millions in marks on Native Nations’ loaned GENI shares could not be collected. Around the same time, Elgindy, and other members of his criminal enterprise, were indicted.
Richard Taus joined the FBI as a Special Agent. He discovered covert CIA ops which he says included the looting of Savings and Loans and the CIA's involvement in narco-trafficking with the American faction of the Mafia. Taus spoke of a white-collar upper-echelon faction of the American Mafia called the "K-Team". He spoke of government drug routes and suppliers in the Middle East, by way of Turkey, Bulgaria and Lebanon a la the French Connection. He spoke of competition between the American and Sicilian factions of the Mafia and the competition over this established criminal and banking network. Taus claimed that the competition between these two factions of the Mafia was the rationale behind personnel at the Justice Department moving towards eliminating the Sicilian Mafia from the drug biz.
According to Agent Taus, the K-Team was based in Freeport, Long Island and it partially consisted of several operators that were associated with a CIA banking front, Drexel Company. Drexel Company, as noted earlier, changed its name to Castle Securities. Taus described, as is the case with the 9-11 World Trade Center Suicide Bombers, how his investigation into their activities took him to Florida and looking into certain flight and aviation fronts. In this case, Southern Air Transport, which Taus alleges was involved with the CIA in drug-trafficking ops. Taus also says he discovered that Oliver North, the White House and the National Security Council were all involved.
There is another Iran-Contra co-conspirator that can be traced from the GenesisIntermedia story. More accurately, it can be traced to GENI by way of investment advisor Amr 'Anthony' Elgindy via his brother, Khaled.
Recently the White House made this Iran-Contra co-conspirator a new National Security Council official. Elliot Abram’s new official title is Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs. Abram's was former President Ronald Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State. Abram’s is also a Bush-pardoned Iran-Contra war criminal that, via his new role in the NSC, will now be working on Arab-Israeli peace initiatives.
Before Abram's NSC gig, circa 1999 through 2001, Abrams was advising President Bush on human rights issues. He chaired the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and, as fate would have it, sitting on the DC Human Rights Committee chaired by Abrams was our investment advisor Anthony Elgindy's brother, Khaled Elgindy.
Khaled is a DC Arab Activist who served as a policy analyst on Elliot Abrams' Human Rights Committee. Anthony and Khaled's father, Ibrahim Elgindy, was reported by the press to have founded an umbrella group of Muslim organizations in Chicago and led a 1998 protest on behalf of Muhammad Salah, a man the US government calls a designated global terrorist. Salah confessed to Israeli authorities that he was raising money for Hamas' suicide bombings and for training cells in the U.S. to make bombs and explosives.
Steve Emerson, a Terrorism expert, says U.S. officials are concerned about Hamas fund-raising activities in the U.S. and about Hamas continuing to use the U.S. as a base to plan its attacks on Israel. In that respect, the International Coptic Federation , a federation that states they defend coptic human rights in Egypt, against Islamic abuse, has been critical of Khaled Elgindy. They suggest that Khaled employs a "double standard" when attempting to "defend Islamic rights within a foreign context". Khaled, on behalf of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), along with other Muslim org "voices", joined together to petition against the U.S. government's actions against the Holy Land Foundation. A Muslim foundation which President Bush announced freezing the assets of for providing financial and material support to the terrorist organization Hamas.
Another Muslim org whose "voice" was among those voices echoing CAIR and Khaled Elgindy, petitioning on behalf of the Holy Land Foundation, was the American Muslim Council (AMC), as was MPAC, The Muslim Public Affairs Council, a public-policy lobby allied with AMC and CAIR.
The Justice Department accused Sami Al-Arian, a former Florida University professor, of conspiracy to commit murder via suicide attacks in Israel and Palestinian territories and said Al-Arian kept his role as a top leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization a secret. Al-Arian is the co-founder of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). The Holy Land Foundation shares several IAP directors.
Sami Al-Arian is also alleged to have raised funds for Hamas suicide bombers. Al-Arian called upon Muslims to support the jihad effort in Palestine so that terrorist operations could continue and he was indicted, with seven others, for their links to terrorist organizations that have murdered hundreds of innocent civilians. Attorney General Ashcroft announced a 50-count indictment against eight operatives linked to numerous terrorist organizations, including Al-Arian's Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Sami’s daughter, Laila Al-Arian, a Georgetown University grad, was noted along with Amr’s brother, Khaled Elgindy as contributors to the AMC’s Legislative Agenda for the 107th Congress.
It is a curious thing to see George W. Bush inviting a terrorist like Sami Al-Arian to a White House briefing (June, 2001) regardless of the fact that his Secret Service advised him against it. It is also curious why Sami’s son, Abdullah, a member of a delegation of U.S. Muslim community activists, was invited to the White House to discuss George W’s faith-based initiative that provides federal funds to religious organizations involved in charity and community work just days after his father’s visit.
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Dobry
Another curious relationship worth noting is the one between George Salem, a partner in the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, an advisor to the Bush administration, who just happens to be representing the Holy Land Foundation in a civil matter. Salem chaired the Arab-American campaign for Bush's election. He is also a former Labor Department solicitor and he was a major Republican fundraiser. In fact, Salem, according to Federal Election Commission records, gave more than $43,000 to Bush's campaign, both individually and through Arab-American and law firm political action committees. Curiously, Sami Al-Arian, himself, raised $3 million for the Bush campaign via his own "foundations" and the Muslim community. In fact, no sooner had Bush shut down the Holy Land Foundation for its support of Hamas, then the press was reporting that Bush Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham was meeting, and being photographed with Holy Land Foundation lawyer, George Salem. The curious irony here is apparent; Salem, while serving as legal counsel for the Holy Land Foundation, a foundation shut down by Bush for supporting Hamas and terrorism, was also advising Bush’s administration on relations with the Muslim community and raising funds for Bush's campaign.
On September 11, 2001, at 08:48AM, a commercial jet airliner crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. At 09:07AM, another airliner crashed into the south tower. At 09:58AM, the south tower collapsed. At 10:28AM. the north tower collapsed. In Washington DC, at 09:45AM, a third airliner crashed into the Pentagon. On a fourth airliner, passengers fought the hijackers and forced the plane to crash at 10:10AM in a rural area eighty miles southeast of Pittsburgh. "As soon as the event happened, we kicked into action," recalls George Salem.
"We anticipated the inevitable."
- George Salem
Iran-Contra operatives first were exposed via the foreign press, not here at home. As news of the scandal leaked into the U.S. mainstream press, Congress was forced to deal with the matter. FBI Agent Taus claims that he was instructed by his FBI supervisor, Patrick Groves, to "eliminate" informants and cooperatives who were "no longer interested in cooperating" with the K-Team's very own "investigation" in the affair.
Agent Taus claims that he was told by FBI K-Team case agent, Carmine Rivera, that he would be "seriously hurt" if he continued with his investigation into "Oliver North's enterprise". In fact, Taus claims that supervisory FBI officials warned him to cease and desist or he "will be in great trouble". Even so, Taus continued on with his investigation into the Iran-Contra matter and he was, indeed, finally arrested on November 4, 1988, just prior to '88 presidential elections. Taus was charged with using a government credit card to put $10 worth of gas into his personal automobile and... for molesting young boys.
The government's case against Taus was moved from federal to state court when the federal charges against him were dropped. In State court, Taus claims that the NY State judge refused a jury to hear any testimony regarding the government's motivation for arresting him. Taus claims also that the NY State judge refused testimony exposing the fact that the families of the boys had been, themselves, charged with criminal offenses and that the charges were dropped only after the boys testified as the prosecutors wanted. Senior FBI Supervisory agents testified that Taus's arrest was ordered at the "highest level in Washington".
Agent Taus claims that his refusal to falsify information and state, for the record, that he knew of no unreported criminal activities by the Iran-Contra co-conspirators, was what triggered retaliation against him by the government. Agent Taus was predictably found guilty and was sentenced to prison for 32 to 90 years.
In the aftermath that followed Taus's verdict and sentencing there was a mass firing and/or resignation of most of Taus's opponents. In fact, the prosecutor himself was ousted by the DA for soliciting sex with a minor. FBI Director William Sessions was fired by then President Clinton when Sessions, a la' Taus, stated he was going to conduct an investigation of corruption in Government. James Fox, the Assistant Director-In-Charge of the FBI, was suspended because he wouldn't retract a statement he made to the press regarding the innocence of another agent who, like Taus, was exposing drug related activities and the bribery of politicos. The government's house of cards was teetering.
In an eerie parallel to the story Taus tells, Dee Ferdinand, the daughter of a NY City Vice-Squad Detective with alleged ties to the Gambino family echoes Taus's claims regarding the relationship between the Mafia and the CIA. According to Ferdinand, her father, Al Carone, was a former member of the OSS (precursor of the CIA). Ferdinand's claims have been confirmed by Jim Rothstein of the NYPD and CIA operatives Gunther Russbacher and Oswald LeWinter.
Ferdinand claimed that Sam Giancana "did a lot of drug deals with the Agency" and that the CIA had "regular drug dealings with Noriega...". Manuel Antonio Noriega was eventually convicted in 1992 of money laundering and drug trafficking charges.
The government, at Noriega's trial, put 51 witnesses on the stand to prove its case against Noriega. At least 18 of those witnesses were confessed or convicted drug offenders that gave first-hand accounts of payoffs to Noriega by Colombian drug lords. Noriega himself was not allowed to call witnesses to the stand or enter letters favoring his release. These letters, on Noriega's behalf, were penned by a former U.S. ambassador to Panama, a former CIA station chief in Panama and a former U.S. Southern Command official.
Noriega had dealings with George H. Bush when Bush was Director of, and oversaw, the CIA. Noriega was regarded a Bush/CIA source. And, like Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Noriega soon became the target of a U.S. invasion. The invasion of Hussein's Iraq was ordered by George W., who appears to some, to be picking-up where George H., who ordered the invasion of Panama (and the fall of Noriega), left off.
Meyer Lansky died in 1983. Reader's Digest named an individual described by federal authorities as a "top associate of organized crime figures", Alvin Malnik, as Lanksy's "heir apparent". Lansky was widely regarded as the U.S. Mafia's treasurer. Lansky allegedly laundered Mafia proceeds to Israel via front companies that were set-up in the Bahamas. Malnik himself was, at one time, listed as the director of a Bahama based entity called, Bank of World Commerce, that was alleged to be involved with some of U.S.'s "top gangsters".
A Bahamian company named Appolonia Investment Limited allegedly paid over three million dollars to purchase property just north of a parcel of land, and a ranch, owned by Malnik. According to records filed with the Register General's Office in the Bahamas, it appears that the Mafia wasn't the only ones incorporating in the offshore haven. Records filed with the Register General's Office disclose that the principal shareholder in Appolonia Investment Ltd. was a member of Saud Royalty, the son of King Abdul Aziz. This Royal Prince just happens to have been a neighbor of Alvin Malnik's in Florida. They lived in neighboring condos and there appears to be more than just 'friendship' and 'business' tying Malnik to the Prince and his Royal Family. Malnik's son Mark, in fact, changed his name to Shareef and married into the Saud Royal family. This would make Malnik Sr. not only a neighbor, business associate and friend, but family as well.
The Saudi Prince's father - whose daughter Mark, n/k/a Shareef, Malnik married - is not only alleged to have ties to U.S. organized crime associates, but he is also said to have complete control over his daughter's actions.
When FBI agent Taus told Congress about an upper echelon faction of the American Mafia with ties to covert CIA ops, the NSC, the White House... When Agent Taus told Congress that established criminal and financial networks were being used by both CIA operatives - and the Mafia - to launder money, route drugs and sell arms... When Agent Taus told Congress that this lucrative drug biz was being fought over by American and Sicilian factions of the Mafia... According to Taus, he was "taken care of", ie; indicted on bogus charges, tried by a court he claims refused him justice and was sentenced to a long prison term.
So who is listening now? As noted earlier, Bush ignored the Secret Service's advice not to invite a terrorist, Sami Al-Arian, to a White House briefing. He did so anyway, and followed-up by inviting Sami's son to the White House a few days later. George W., like George H. before him, also appear to have ignored substantial intelligence regarding Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar. Ambassador Bandar himself is a Royal figure. He is the grandson of a King, nephew to four more and there are those who suggest, like writer Seymour Hersch does, that Prince Bander has fallen "out of favor" with another Royal figure, Saudi Arabia's ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah.
Hersch accuses Prince Bandar of corruption, in particular to "helping himself to mega-commissions on arms deals". Both the Times and Los Angeles Times have "scalded" Saudi Arabia for "refusing to freeze assets connected to Osama Bin Laden...". Assets of the Holy Land Foundation remain frozen regardless of the public outcry from the Muslim community. Ironically, as the Times and New York Times turn up the heat on Saud Royalty to freeze Osama Bin Laden's assets, "voices" from the Muslim community at home are joining the "voices" petitioning on behalf of the Holy Land Foundation to unfreeze the foundation's assets. These are the "voices" of Sami Al-Arian's Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and the "voices" of directors serving both the Holy Land Foundation and Sami Al-Arian's IAP, the "primary political propaganda wing for Hamas in the United States". These are the "voices" of the CAIR and the AMC and their MPAC allies. These are the "voices" of CAIR's Khaled Elgindy and Sami Al-Arian's IAP's Raeed Tayeh.
Raeed Tayeh served on the executive board of Al-Arian's IAP. Authorities say that IAP's finances are entwined and frozen with those of the Holy Land Foundation. Tayeh was also a researcher for the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). In 1993 a convicted Hamas operative testified in an Israeli court that the UASR was the political arm of Hamas in the United States. Tayeh, like Khaled Elgindy, was working as a member of former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's staff. Tayeh was employed as an aide. Elgindy was employed as McKinney's Press Secretary.
At a fundraiser for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which, by the way, was incorporated as an offshoot of Al-Arian's IAP, McKinney called CAIR "a reputable and respected Muslim civil-rights organization".
Tayeh resigned his aide position from McKinney's staff after he declared that Jewish members of Congress had divided loyalties between America and Israel. Tayeh's comments appeared as a letter to the editor in an issue of The Hill.
"What is more disturbing to me is that many of these pro-Israeli lawmakers sit on the House International Relations Committee despite the obvious conflict of interest that their emotional attachments to Israel cause..."
Tayeh identified himself as a member of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's staff.
"The Israeli occupation of all territories must end, including Congress..."
Khaled Elgindy appears to have been living somewhat of a political and ideological double life. While Khaled was spouting rhetoric like this:
"Equally as disturbing as the alleged ties to Zionists are the Coptic associations' affinities for another group inimical to Arabs and Muslims. The powerful Christian Right, whose cult-like devotion to Israel and profound disdain for Islam are among the pillars of its religious-political doctrine, has also given wide play to Coptic claims of persecution. For evangelical Christians, the litany of "social ills" these born-again soldiers of God aim to defeat -- abortion, homosexuality, pornography, higher taxes, etc. -- was added a crusade against Islam and Muslims."
... and was employed as Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's Press Secretary, he was also serving Abrams on his DC Human Rights Committee.
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Gary Dobry
McKinney losing her seat in Congress may very well have come down to her pressing for an investigation into the Bush's Administration's links to 9-11. McKinney wanted to know how much of a role our reliance on imported oil played in the military policies being put forward by the Bush Administration. She wanted to know what role the close relationship between the Bush Administration and the oil and defense industries played in Bush administration policy decisions. Most importantly, McKinney wanted to know why Bush's Administration remained steadfast in its opposition to an investigation into the biggest terrorism attack upon our nation. Are we seeing shades of FBI Agent Richard Taus? McKinney pressed for an investigation into the President's father's relationship, through the Carlyle Group, with joint business interests with the bin Laden construction company and many defense industry holdings, the stocks of which, soared after September 11.
George W. Bush told the American public that ties between 911 mastermind Osama bin Laden and Sadam Hussein - and WMD - were behind implementation of Operation Iraqi Freedom. James A. Baker was George H's Administration's Secretary of State. Baker's law firm represented George W. during his legal battle with Al Gore in the Florida state vote fraud debacle. Baker is Senior Counselor for Carlyle and it is noteworthy that Mr. Baker's law firm is representing the Royal Saud family in their defense of civil law suits filed by the survivors and heirs of those killed or injured in 911. The lawsuit names the suspected financiers of 911, including Osama bin Laden. So the American Public is to understand now that Baker's firm is defending co-defendants of Osama bin Laden?
While Khaled Elgindy was employed as Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's Press Secretary... as she pressed for investigations into Bush's administration's links to 9-11... Khaled was also, concurrently, serving a Bush pardoned Iran-Contra war criminal who, himself, had served as Ronald Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State, Elliot Abrams.
News of Khaled's brother, Amr 'Anthony' Elgindy, being indicted for his role as the ringleader of a stock manipulation racketeering enterprise, brought Khaled, albeit no doubt begrudgingly, into the spotlight with his hi-profile 'investment advisor' brother. Here was a guy, Amr Elgindy, an Egyptian American, whose father, the press was telling us, led protests on behalf of "global terrorist" Muhammad Salah. Here was a guy who was indicted on multiple counts including illegally manipulating stock in - and extorting shares from - companies he learned were under criminal investigation from rogue FBI agents on the take. Here was a guy that the AUSA suggested traded to profit on prior knowledge of 9-11 and here was a guy whose brother just happened to be working as a press secretary for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (as she pressed for investigations into Bush's administrations links to 911) while he was sitting on an ex-Reagan staffer and Bush pardoned Iran Contra war criminal Elliot Abrams, DC Human Rights Committee.
What did McKinney think about all this? A poster on an internet bulletin board, signing her post as "Cynthia Mckinney", on May 23, 2002 at 5:56AM, PST, posted this:
"I'm not guilty. It's a setup".
Seymour Hersch reminds us that Adnan Khashoggi was a middlemen between Oliver North and the mullahs in Iran and that Khashoggi claimed to have lost million of dollars that he put up to obtain embargoed weapons for Iran which were to be bartered, with Presidential approval, for American hostages. A congressional investigation revealed that Khashoggi had actually borrowed much of the money for the weapons from the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (B.C.C.I.). BCCI went belly-up in 1991 after defrauding thousands of depositors.
Hersch says that in January 2003, Khashoggi was attempting to broker another deal. He claims that Khashoggi arranged a "private lunch" to which he invited the Chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle and Saudi Industrialist Harb Saleh al-Zuhair.
Hersch tells us that Perle is a managing partner in a venture-capital company called Trireme Partners L.P. Trireme's main business "according to a two-page letter that one of its representatives sent to Khashoggi last November" is investing in "technology" companies and companies offering services that are "of value to homeland security and defense". The letter argued that "the fear of terrorism would increase the demand for such products in Europe and in countries like Saudi Arabia and Singapore".
Hersch informs us that Richard Perle, seeing he is the Chairman of the Defense Policy Board, is considered a "special government employee" and therefore he is subject to a federal Code of Conduct. A "special government employee" is barred from participating in an official capacity in any matter in which he has a financial interest.
In March of 2003, Richard Perle announced his resignation as chairman of the Defense Policy Board. He said he was quitting because he was hired to help bankrupt Global Crossing win approval from the Department of Defense to sell the company to billionaire Li Ka-Shing and Hutchinson-Whampoa Ltd.. Senator/Astronaut John Glenn, during the Thompson hearings, pointed out that Li Ka-Shing had strong investment ties to Henry Kissinger, George Bush and Oliver North. Ka-Shing, as it is, controls four of Panama's ports via Hutchinson-Whampoa (post-Noriega) and was a shareholder in BCCI.
Back to Perle and Trireme; Hersch adds that Adnan Khashoggi and Harb Saleh al-Zuhair told him, at their lunch meeting, that they understood that "one of Trireme's objectives was to seek the help of influential Saudis to win homeland-security contracts with the Saudi royal family for the businesses it financed". According to Hersch, Trireme apparently turned to Adnan Khashoggi for help.