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Hike in US defence spending to benefit Osama's family: Report
Hindustan Times
T V Parasuram (PTI)
(Washington, September 28)
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If the United States boosts defence spending in its quest to stop
Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden's alleged terrorist activities, his
family may be the unexpected beneficiary of that, media reports said.
"Among its far-flung business interests, the well-heeled Saudi
Arabian clan, which says it is estranged from Laden, is an
investor in a fund established by Carlyle Group, a well-connected
Washington merchant bank specialising in buyouts of defence and
aerospace companies," The Wall Street Journal said in an
investigative dispatch.
It said "through this investment and its ties to Saudi royalty,
the bin Laden family has become acquainted with some of the
biggest names in the Republican
Party."
"In recent years, former president George H W Bush, ex-secretary
of
state James Baker and ex-secretary of defence Frank Carlucci have
made the pilgrimage to the bin Laden family's headquarters in
Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).
"Ex-president Bush makes speeches on behalf of Carlyle Group and
is
senior adviser to its Asian Partners Fund, while Baker is its
senior counselor and Carlucci is the group's chairman," the
journal said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/280901/dLAME27.asp
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