- Now you would think that being a business partner of
the brother in law and alleged financier of "Enemy No. 1" would
be considered a bona fide "conflict of interest", particularly
when your mandate --as part of the 9/11 Commission's work-- is to investigate
"Enemy No. 1"...
-
- Unknown to most, UNOCAL's partner in the Cent-Gas trans-Afghan
pipeline consortium, the Saudi Company Delta Oil is owned by the bin Mahfouz
and Al-Amoudi clans which allegedly have ties to bin Laden's Al Qaeda.
-
- According to a 1998 Senate testimony of former CIA director
James Woolsey, powerful financier Khalid bin Mahfouz' younger sister is
married to Osama bin Laden,. (US Senate, Senate Judiciary Committee, Federal
News Service, 3 Sept. 1998, See also Wayne Madsen, Questionable Ties, In
These Times,12 Nov. 2001 )
-
- Bin Mahfouz is suspected to have funnelled millions of
dollars to the Al Qaeda network.(See Tom Flocco, Scoop.co.nz 28 Aug. 2002)
-
- Now, "by sheer coincidence", former New Jersey
governor Thomas Kean, the man chosen by President Bush to lead the 9/11
commission also has business ties with bin Mahfouz and Al-Amoudi.
-
- Thomas Kean is a director (and shareholder) of Amerada
Hess Corporation , which is involved in the Hess-Delta joint venture with
Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia (owned by the bin Mahfouz and Al-Amoudi clans).
Delta-Hess "was established in 1998 for the development and exploration
of oil fields in the Caspian region...In Azerbaijan Delta Hess is involved
in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli PSA (2.72%) and the Garabaghli-Kursangi PSA
(20%). It is also an equity holder in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil
pipeline":
-
- "An air of mystery hangs over Delta- Hess, which...
is registered in the Cayman Islands. Hess is in no hurry to reveal the
terms of the alliance, which it says are subject to confidentiality clauses.
'There's no reason why this should be public information,' a Hess spokesman
says."
- -(Energy Compass, 15 Nov. 2002)
-
- Coincidentally, the former Governor of New Jersey is
also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, together with another
prominent member of the board of directors of Amerada Hess, former Secretary
of the Treasury Nicholas Brady:
-
- In other words, Delta Oil Ltd. of Saudi Arabia --which
is a partner in the Hess-Delta Alliance--is in part controlled by Khalid
bin Mafhouz, Osama's brother in law.
-
- And former Governor Thomas Kean not only sits on the
board of directors of a company which has business dealings with Khalid
bin Mahfouz, he also heads the 9/11 Commission, which has a mandate to
investigate Khalid's brother in law, Osama bin Laden.
-
- Dr. Kissinger had a conflict of interest and resigned!
The vice chairman of the Commission, former Sen. George Mitchell of Maine,
resigned for the same reason. (See Xymphora, 19 Dec 2002 )
-
- Now you would think that being a business partner of
the brother in law and alleged financier of "Enemy No. 1" would
also be considered a bona fide "conflict of interest", particularly
when your mandate --as part of the 9/11 Commission's work-- is to investigate
"Enemy No. 1".
-
- And the corporate media applauds. Without acknowledging
his Saudi business connections, Thomas Kean is heralded as "a man
of extraordinary integrity, decency and intellect." In the words of
the Baltimore Sun: "he lacks obvious conflicts of interest" (26
Dec.2002). To which I respond: "how more obvious can you get"!
-
- It is also worth mentioning that Thomas Kean also sits
as co-chairman of the Homeland Security Project (HSP) under the auspices
of the Century Foundation. In this capacity, Kean has played a key role
in the draft recommendations of the Century Foundation, which laid the
groundwork of the Office of Homeland Security legislation.
-
- The Saudi Connection
-
- Thomas Kean, described as a "moderate Republican"
is not alone in this Saudi business relationship.
-
- Extensively documented, other prominent members of the
Republican party including the Bush family have had business dealings with
the bin Laden family. (See George W. Bush Financial Scams: CRG selection
of articles)
-
- Moreover, it would appear that Delta officials (involved
in the UNOCAL trans-Afghan pipeline consortium) played a key role in negotiations
with the Taliban. In turn, Enron, the infamous energy giant - whose former
CEO, Ken Lay, had close connections to the Bush family - had been contracted
in a cozy relationship to undertake feasibility studies for the Unocal-Delta
consortium. Enron Corporation had also been entrusted --in liaison with
Delta-- with pipeline negotiations with the Taliban government.
-
- Carefully documented by Wayne Madsen, George W. Bush
also had dealings with Osama's brother in law Khalid bin Mafhouz, when
he was in the Texas oil business. Both George W. Bush and Khalid bin-Mahfouz
were implicated in the Bank of Commerce International (BCCI) scandal:
-
- "Other links between Bush and Mahfouz can be found
through investments in the Carlyle Group, an American investment firm managed
by a board on which former president George Bush himself sat. The younger
[George W.] Bush personally held shares in one of the components of the
Carlyle group, the Caterair company, between 1990-94. And Carlyle today
ranks as a leading contributor to Bush's electoral campaign. On Carlyle's
advisory board is found the name of Sami Baarma, director of the Pakistani
financial establishment Prime Commercial Bank that is based in Lahore and
owned by Mahfouz.
- - (See Maggie Mulvihill, Jonathan Wells and Jack Meyers:
Slick deals; the White House connection; Saudi 'agents' close Bush Friends,Boston
Herald, 11 December 2001).
-
- In The Wake Of 9/11
-
- In the wake of 9/11, Khalid bin Mahfouz (Osama's brother
in law) was carefully exempted from the Treasury investigations (another
"sheer coincidence") which led to the freezing of the financial
assets of some 150 Saudi businesses, charities and individuals:
-
- "The US Treasury has frozen the assets of 150 Saudi
individuals, companies and charities suspected of financing terrorism.
It has named Blessed Relief, a Saudi "charity" as a front organisation
providing funds to Osama bin Laden. "Saudi businessmen have been transferring
millions of dollars to Bin Laden through Blessed Relief," the agency
said.
-
- One rich Saudi patriarch under suspicion is Khaled bin
Mahfouz, owner of the National Commercial Bank, banker to the Saudi royal
family, US and British authorities have also investigated Mohammed Hussein
Al-Amoudi, another billionaire Saudi, for possible financial ties to Bin
Laden. Al -Amoudi, who oversees a vast network of companies involved in
construction, mining, banking and oil, has also denied any involvement
with Bin Laden. His Washington lawyers said he "was unalterably opposed
to terrorism and had no knowledge of any money transfers by Saudi businesses
to Bin Laden.
-
- Both Al-Amoudi and Bin Mahfouz have been left untouched
by the US Treasury Department. The case against them, let alone against
the government itself, is unproven. But the post-September 11 spotlight
on Saudi Arabia has brought into sharp focus the fundamental question facing
the country's rulers."
- - (Scotland on Sunday, 11 August 2002)
-
- The 9/11 Victims Families Law Suit
-
- According to one press report, Thomas Kean --in contrast
to Dr. Henry Kissinger-- was selected to head the 9/11 Commission because
he was "close to the families of the 9/11 victims, an important credential
to the White House, which was coming under increasing criticism from those
families" (Scripps Howard News Service, 17 December 2002)
-
- Yet in a cruel irony, the $1 trillion lawsuit filed last
August by the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks , lists
two of Thomas Kean's business partners in the Hess-Delta joint-venture,
among the accused: Khalid Bin Mahfouz (Osama's brother in law), and Mohammed
Hussein al Amoudi. Both individuals have been tagged in the lawsuit as
alleged "financiers" of Al Qaeda. Now, how will Thomas Kean deal
with that in the context of the 9/11 Commission?
-
- Mystery Surrounding The 1998 Embassy Bombings
-
- Former CIA director James Woolsey's testimony confirms
that the Sudan pharmaceutical company bombed in 1998 on the orders of President
Clinton was owned by Salah Idris, a business associate and protegé
of Khalid bin Mahfouz, The bombing was in retribution for the alleged Al
Qaeda African Embassy bombings.
-
- The Mahfouz conglomerate, which owns the largest bank
in Saudi Arabia, the National Commercial Bank, was preparing to pump money
into the trans-Afghan pipeline deal. (For further details, see Michel Chossudovsky,
2002, Chapter VI) Delta-Hess was also set up in 1998 to explore and develop
oil and gas resources in the Caspian Sea basin.
-
- Now why would the Clinton administration order the bombing
of a factory which was controlled by a business crony of Unocal Corporation
and Amerada-Hess?
-
- © Copyright Michel Chossudovsky CRG 2002.
- For fair use only.
- http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO212A.html
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