Thanks Kakki. You are right .... degrees of separation can be surprising. Money does attract strange bedfellows though.
Heather At 07:23 PM 10/4/01 -0700, Kakki wrote: >This article was not from The Wall Street Journal but rather from Judicial >Watch, which tends to be a right-wing "watchdog" group which has filed many >suits against Clinton, among others in the past few years. Please read >carefully the actual article from the Wall Street Journal Online which I've >posted below because you can only get it now by being a subscriber. Using >the logic of Judical Watch, probably most of us here could be somehow >construed as supporters of the Bin Laden family, whether it be through the >companies we work for or the financial firms connected to our retirement and >bak accounts, etc. Here is the original article from the WSJ. Kakki > >Bin Laden Family Could Profit From a Jump >In Defense Spending Due to Ties to U.S. Bank >By DANIEL GOLDEN, JAMES BANDLER and MARCUS WALKER >Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL > > >If the U.S. boosts defense spending in its quest to stop Osama bin Laden's >alleged terrorist activities, there may be one unexpected beneficiary: Mr. >bin Laden's family. > >Among its far-flung business interests, the well-heeled Saudi Arabian >clan -- which says it is estranged from Osama -- is an investor in a fund >established by Carlyle Group, a well-connected Washington merchant bank >specializing in buyouts of defense and aerospace companies. > >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 Bush, ex-Secretary of State James >Baker and ex-Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci have made the pilgrimage to >the bin Laden family's headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Bush makes >speeches on behalf of Carlyle Group and is senior adviser to its Asian >Partners fund, while Mr. Baker is its senior counselor. Mr. Carlucci is the >group's chairman. > >Osama is one of more than 50 children of Mohammed bin Laden, who built the >family's $5 billion business, Saudi Binladin Group, largely with >construction contracts from the Saudi government. Osama worked briefly in >the business and is believed to have inherited as much as $50 million from >his father in cash and stock, although he doesn't have access to the shares, >a family spokesman says. Because his Saudi citizenship was revoked in 1994, >Mr. bin Laden is ineligible to own assets in the kingdom, the spokesman >added. > >The bin Laden family has long disavowed Osama, and has cooperated fully with >several federal investigations into his activities. The family business, >headed by Osama's half-brother Bakr, epitomizes the U.S.-Saudi alliance that >the suspected terrorist often rails against. After the 1996 truck bombing in >Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 U.S. servicemen, Saudi Binladin Group >built military barracks and airfields for U.S. troops. > >But the Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued subpoenas to banks used >by the bin Laden family seeking records of family dealings, a person >familiar with the matter said. This person said the subpoenas weren't an >indication the FBI had found any suspicious behavior by the family. A family >spokesman said he had no knowledge of the subpoenas but that the family >welcomes them and has nothing to hide. > >People familiar with the family's finances say the bin Ladens do much of >their banking with National Commercial Bank in Saudi Arabia and with the >London branch of Deutsche Bank AG. They also use Citigroup Inc. and ABN >Amro, the people said. > >"If there were ever any company closely connected to the U.S. and its >presence in Saudi Arabia, it's the Saudi Binladin Group," says Charles >Freeman, president of the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington nonprofit >concern that receives tens of thousands of dollars a year from the bin Laden >family. "They're the establishment that Osama's trying to overthrow." > >Mr. Freeman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf >War, says he has spoken to two of Osama's brothers since hijacked airplanes >rammed the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11. They told him, >he says, that the FBI has been "remarkably sensitive, tactful and >protective" of the family during the current crisis, recognizing its >longstanding friendship with the U.S. > >A Carlyle executive said the bin Laden family committed $2 million through a >London investment arm in 1995 in Carlyle Partners II Fund, which raised $1.3 >billion overall. The fund has purchased several aerospace companies among 29 >deals. So far, the family has received $1.3 million back in completed >investments and should ultimately realize a 40% annualized rate of return, >the Carlyle executive said. > >But a foreign financier with ties to the bin Laden family says the family's >overall investment with Carlyle is considerably larger. He called the $2 >million merely an initial contribution. "It's like plowing a field," this >person said. "You seed it once. You plow it, and then you reseed it again." > >The Carlyle executive added that he would think twice before accepting any >future investments by the bin Ladens. "The situation's changed now," he >said. "I don't want to spend my life talking to reporters." > >A U.S. inquiry into bin Laden family business dealings could brush against >some big names associated with the U.S. government. Former President Bush >said through his chief of staff, Jean Becker, that he recalled only one >meeting with the bin Laden family, which took place in November1998. Ms. >Becker confirmed that there was a second meeting in January 2000, after >being read the ex-president's subsequent thank-you note. "President Bush >does not have a relationship with the bin Laden family," says Ms. Becker. >"He's met them twice." > >Mr. Baker visited the bin Laden family in both 1998 and 1999, according to >people close to the family. In the second trip, he traveled on a family >plane. Mr. Baker declined comment, as did Mr. Carlucci, a past chairman of >Nortel Networks Corp., which has partnered with Saudi Binladin Group on >telecommunications ventures. > >Former President Carter met with 10 of Osama's brothers early in 2000 on a >fund-raising trip for the Carter Center in Atlanta. According to John >Hardman, executive director of the center, the brothers told Mr. Carter that >Osama was completely removed from the family. After Mr. Carter and his wife >followed up with breakfast with Bakr bin Laden in New York in September >2000, the bin Laden family gave $200,000 to the center. "We don't have any >reason to think there's a connection" between Osama and the rest of the >family, Mr. Hardman says. > >During the past several years, the family's close ties to the Saudi royal >family prompted executives and staff from closely held New York publisher >Forbes Inc. to make two trips to the family headquarters, according to >Forbes Chairman Caspar Weinberger, a former U.S. secretary of defense in the >Reagan administration. "We would call on them to get their view of the >country and what would be of interest to investors." > >Mr. Weinberger said no trips to Saudi Arabia were planned. "If we went," he >said, "we may or may not call upon them. I don't think the sins of the son >should be visited on the father or the brother and the cousins and the >aunts." > >There is no indication President George W. Bush has met any of the bin >Ladens, but he was indirectly linked to one of them two decades ago. His >longtime friend James W. Bath, who met Mr. Bush when they were both pilots >in the Air National Guard, acted as a Texas business representative for >Osama's older brother, Salem bin Laden, from 1976 to 1988, when Salem died >in a plane crash. Mr. Bath brought real-estate acquisitions and other deals >to Salem bin Laden, an ebullient man who headed the family construction >business. Mr. Bath generally received a 5% interest as his fee, and was >sometimes listed as a trustee in related corporate documents. Mr. Bath >acknowledged that during the same period he invested $50,000 in two funds >controlled by Mr. Bush but said that stake was unrelated to his dealings >with Mr. bin Laden. > >Among the properties that Salem bin Laden bought on Mr. Bath's >recommendation was the Houston Gulf Airport, a lightly used airfield in >League City, Texas, 25 miles east of Houston. But Mr. bin Laden's hope that >it would develop a major overflow airport for Houston never materialized, in >part due to concern over wetlands. Ever since his death, his estate has >sought to sell the airfield -- without success. Today, it is still on the >market. > >Write to Daniel Golden at [EMAIL PROTECTED], James Bandler at >[EMAIL PROTECTED] and Marcus Walker at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
