- WASHINGTON, DC - Judicial
Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes
government
corruption, today pointed out that the recent spate of terror attacks on
Israel has lent new urgency to the need for former President Bush to resign
from the Carlyle Group, an international investment firm with close ties
to the government of Saudi Arabia.
-
- The former president, the father of President Bush,
worked
for the bin Laden family business in Saudi Arabia through the Carlyle
Group,
meeting with them at least twice. The terrorist leader Osama bin Laden
had supposedly been "disowned" by his family, which runs a
multi-billion
dollar business in Saudi Arabia and was a major investor in the senior
Bush's firm. Other reports have stated his Saudi family have not truly
cut off Osama bin Laden.
-
- In the wake of Judicial Watch and other criticism of
its ties to the bin Laden family business, the Carlyle Group reportedly
no longer does business with the bin Laden conglomerate. Yet the Group,
among other conflicts of interest, reportedly has a major business
relationship
with the Saudi Arabian government, which many have criticized for its lack
of cooperation in America's war on terrorism and its financial and other
support for terrorist attacks on Israel and U.S. interests.
-
- "It stands to reason, as noted in the David Sanger
piece in The New York Times today, that President Bush consults with his
father on issues of the day. In a normal situation, this would be
appropriate,
but with President Bush's father being effectively an agent of the Saudi
Arabian government, it raises, in the least, a conflict of interest
problem.
Questions can be raised, for instance, if the "kid gloves"
treatment
of Saudi Arabia by the Bush Administration has anything to do with his
father's financial ties to the Saudi regime. Former President Bush would
be doing his son and his country a favor by immediately resigning from
the Carlyle Group," stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel
Larry Klayman.
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