My Republican neighbor came over and asked who was James R. Bath?

[IChing]

She is really a independent voter but is registered Republican. I have keep her informed on stuff since 2004.
I loaned her F-911 years ago and she said she has watched it 2-3 times.

Today she came over after work and asked me 'WHO WAS JAMES R BATH'
as a fun knowledge test question, then told me to follow the money, she had watched F-911 last night again.

She asked why has this guy fallen off the radar on the blogs and news?

I had no answer to that question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Bath

BTW she is a LHOP even leaning to MHOP now.

[seemslikeadream]

1. Isn't that a wonderful question?

Just who is James Bath?

[IChing]

2. He was/is friends with the Bin Laden family

and banked GWB in his elections. It really blew me away that she asked that
also said she smilingly that she wanted some credit for bringing it to my attention again on the net.

I had forgotten about him.

[Octafish]

69. He's got lots of pals: Kissinger & BCCI spells BUSH & 9-11

Smells sulphury. Smells too, like burning oil...

The Bank of Credit and Commerce International BOUGHT INFLUENCE at the highest levels of the US Government, establishing a base of operations with the help Clark Clifford and those close to Jimmy Carter on the Democratic side. BCCI did even BIGGER Business with the Repukes, using the services of Henry Kissinger and his crowd — and wherever there's a Kissinger, a Bush won't be far behind.
Anyway, fueled by all its oil money, BCCI did Big Time Business with the BFEE. So, DUers might be interested in seeing how the BCCI affair involves many of the same crooks who run the BFEE today, people like James R. Bath, kicked off the Texas ANG flight line along with fellow officer, George W Bush, who also was involved with BCCI through the bin Laden family. Small world.

BCCI AND KISSINGER ASSOCIATES

Introduction

Beginning in the fall of 1986, and continuing through early 1989, BCCI initiated a series of contacts with perhaps the most politically prominent international and business consulting firm in the United States -- Kissinger Associates.

At the time, Kissinger Associates had five partners: former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Assistant and current National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former Under Secretary and current Acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, international economist Alan Stoga, and investment bank T. Jefferson Cunningham III.

Ultimately both Stoga and a retired Brazilian Ambassador working as a consultant to Kissinger Associates, Sergio Correa da Costa, seriously explored finding ways to link BCCI's global network of banks with the services being offered by Kissinger Associates. Discussions between representatives of BCCI and representatives of Kissinger Associates took place over an 18 month period concerning the possibility of merging the capabilities of BCCI and Kissinger Associates on various, mostly unspecified, projects. Following BCCI's indictment, discussions continued as to whether Kissinger Associates could help BCCI respond to the ramifications of that indictment. These discussions ended in early 1989 at Henry Kissinger's personal insistence.

During the discussions, Stoga provided advice to BCCI on a possible public relations campaign. At their conclusion, Kissinger Associates referred BCCI to one its own directors, former Assistant Secretary of State William Rogers, and his firm, Arnold & Porter, who already represented Kissinger Associates on its own legal work. Rogers and Arnold & Porter in turn agreed to provide BCCI with legal services arising out of its indictment, although few services were provided as a consequence of the opposition of Clark Clifford and Robert Altman to the firm's involvement.

Although discussions concerning a broader relationship were cut short by the indictment, the BCCI-Kissinger Associates correspondence reveals much about BCCI's approach to seeking political influence in the United States. The correspondence also highlights BCCI's focus on doing business with, and ability, given its $23 billion in reported assets and 73 countries of operation, to attract interest from, some of the most politically well-connected people in the United States.

CONTINUED…

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/20kiss.htm

Small world. And very, very, very, very bad.



OIL

a famous prayer by Firesign Theatre:

“...anointed with oil on troubled waters?
Oh Heavenly Grid, help us bear up thy Standard,
our Chevron flashing bright,
across the Gulf of Compromise,
standing Humble on this Rich Field
of Mobile American Thinking?
Here in this Shell, we call Life.”

[irislake]

3. Ditto

I must have missed something.

[IChing]

4. I missed it too

can people keep this kicked for research?

[seemslikeadream]

5. here ya go

I think this is the only known photo of Bath


James R Bath connects Bush, bin Laden, Petrodollars, BCCI & BFEE.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1928339
James (Jim) R. Bath's campaign donations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1930028
The FBI investigated James Bath & Bush!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1905988
James R Bath, SuperTurd of the BFEE
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2053861
Call to Octafish: We need massive linkage on BCCI and IranContra.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2118878
Michael Moore: Re: James Bath....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2344047
How many here know who Adnan Khashoggi is?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2316608.
Know your BFEE: James R Bath - Bush - bin Laden Link
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3571293
James R Bath Links Bush and BFEE to House of Bin Laden (PROOF)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3234845

Know your BFEE: Killer Businessmen who Put Power & Profit Before Country.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4401300

[seemslikeadream]

7. Highlights

Bush, Bath, BCCI and the Caymans
Posted by Octafish on Mon Mar-07-05 09:51 PM

Where the loot went...



Follow the Money: The Bush-bin Laden Connection

President Bush's September 2001 address to the American people will live on in infamy. In it, Bush roused the American people to a "war on terrorism," which was to consist of rooting out the financial sources of support for terrorist activities. A global effort ensued in the following weeks. Bush then signed an executive order freezing the financial assets of several alleged charities reputed to be "fronts" for the al-Qaida network. According to a report by Christopher Byron dated 9/24/01 entitled "Terrorists, dollars and a tangled web", however, one glitch got ahead of Bush's fanaticism: following this money trail would require investigators to "probe deep into the offshore activities of America's mightiest banks and the financial affairs of many of America's leading public figures," including George W. and George H.W. Bush. It all starts with the Bank for Credit & Commerce International, now infamous as the "BCCI Scandal." The BCCI, with its main offices in London and New York, was bankrolled by Saudi Arabian money handlers. The BCCI was engaged in widespread bribery of officials in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas; its criminal activities touched nearly every country on Earth. According to Byron, the BCCI "laundered money on a global scale, intimidated witnesses and law enforcement authorities, engaged in extortion and blackmail; supplied the financing for illegal arms trafficking and global terrorism; financed and facilitated income tax evasion, smuggling and prostitution." As Byron also explains, BCCI operated via secrecy through various front organizations, and "penetrated the top-most echelons of American business, co-opting and exploiting many of the most visible and influential public figures in America."

The tentacles of BCCI began to touch George W. Bush when he sold his young, struggling oil company to Harken Energy. This, according to Byron, "set in motion a chain of events that wound up entangling Bush, briefly but awkwardly, in the affairs of not just BCCI but of the bin Laden family itself." Specifically, what is the bin Laden connection?

James Bath, one of Bush's original partners in his oil company, had contacts in the Middle East. According to Byron, Bath was named in a 1976 trust document as the business representative for Salem bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's half-brother, who was killed in a private plane crash in Texas in 1988. William White has claimed that Bath was involved in a secret conspiracy to funnel Saudi money into the U.S., and that since 1976-the year Bush Sr. became head of the CIA-Bath had worked as a CIA liaison to Saudi Arabia. White has made the claim, which Bath denies, that "Bath ran an aviation business and obtained several aircraft from the CIA."

As Byron reports, Bath did run Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd., an aviation business based in the Cayman Islands, which was owned by Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz. In 1977, bin Mahfouz joined up with Saudi front man for BCCI, Ghaith Pharaon, and became an investor in the Main Bank of Houston, in which Bath also held a stake.

CONTINUED...

http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/followmoney.html

Does George W. Bush Have Something To Hide?
Mahfouz’s past also includes business dealings with George W. Bush, having invested $50,000 in the younger Bush’s first company, Arbusto Energy, through his U.S. representative James R. Bath, an aircraft broker and friend of Mr. Bush from their days together in the Texas Air National Guard. (Wall Street Journal (WSJ), “Vetting the Frontrunners: From Oil to Baseball to the Governor’s Mansion,” 9-28-1999)

Legal papers regarding Bath's contested divorce listed one of his assets as a $50,000 investment in Arbusto Oil -- Bush's first company. Moreover, Bath's business partner said he had no substantial money of his own at the time he made the Arbusto investment, implying that Bath received the money from someone else: "Most of Bath's investments....were really fronts for Mahfouz and other Saudis connected with the Bank of Credit and Commerce (BCCI)." (The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI, Random House, Beaty & Gwynne, 1993, page 229.)

Award-winning author and journalist at the Houston Chronicle and “The Economist,” Peter Brewton, consulted James R. Bath’s resume and wrote that in early summer 1976 Bath received a huge business break:


“Bath was named a trustee for Sheikh Salem bin Laden of Saudi Arabia , a member of the family that owns the largest construction company in the Middle East. Bath’s job was to handle all of bin Laden’s North American investments and operations.” ( The Mafia, CIA, and George Bush, Shapolsky Book Pub., 1992)
Shortly thereafter, Bath also began working for billionaire Sheikh Mahfouz, NCB banker for Saudi billionaire financier Abdullah Bakhsh. Meanwhile, George Junior’s failing Arbusto company was renamed Bush Exploration -- hoping to trade on his father‘s increasing importance; however, it was soon merged with Spectrum 7 Energy, as oil prices were collapsing.

While hard times continued for Spectrum, in 1988 Harken Energy Corporation absorbed the company, according to WSJ. And in return for adding the famous Bush name as a corporate asset, Texas-based Harken in effect bailed out the future president’s failing fortunes with generous stock options, a salaried seat on Harken’s board of directors, low-interest loans, and other helpful perks. < Harken Energy: George W.‘s Perfect Storm, 7-15-2002 -- http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0207/S00104.htm >



James R Bath Links Bush and BFEE to House of Bin Laden (PROOF)
Posted by Octafish on Mon Mar-07-05 04:38 PM

Back when George W was defendin' Texas from the Air Force of North Vietnam, he met a man by the name of James R Bath. They both were drummed off the flight line for failing to take physical exams -- coincidently, I'm sure, right about the same time the government starting testing pilots for illegal drugs.

Here's the document:



Here's the document James R Bath signed to be the official US business agent of the bin Laden family. Neet, huh?



Here's a great, fair-and-balanced in the best sense of the phrase, article:

Mystery man

Why the White House deleted the name of Bush pal and Saudi go-between James Bath from the president's military records is a tantalizing but unanswered question.

By Craig Unger

April 27, 2004 | Last month, before the 9/11 commission began its public hearings and Iraq exploded in renewed warfare, the White House tried to quell a gathering storm regarding President Bush's military service, releasing hundreds of documents about Bush's tenure in the Texas Air National Guard some 30 years ago. A close examination of the documents reveals that they not only fail to answer lingering questions about Bush's service but prompt a crucial new area of inquiry that could play a role in the presidential campaign -- a long and lucrative, but low-profile, relationship between Saudis and the Bush family that goes back 30 years.

The document that raises that question is dated Sept. 29, 1972, and notes that 1st Lt. George W. Bush was suspended from flying because of his "failure to accomplish annual medical examination." Since he had just received hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of training as a jet fighter pilot, the fact that Bush let his medical certification lapse raises a troubling matter. Why did he allow himself to become ineligible to fly when he still had two years of service left? Given that random drug testing by the military had just started, some have suggested that Bush had not yet given up his partying ways and may have begged off because he had a substance abuse problem.

The records released by the White House last month fail to answer that question, but they do add one compelling fact to the story -- namely, that Bush was not the only man in his unit to be suspended for failing to take the physical, and that someone else at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston was suspended for exactly the same reason at almost the same time. However, in the documents, the second man's name was inexplicably redacted -- raising new questions.

Throughout the reams of documents released by the administration, standard practice was to allow each National Guardsman's name to be printed in full. Why did the White House make an exception in this case? Why would the Bush administration want to make sure this name in particular did not make it into the public eye?

The White House declined to answer these questions. However, the same document that was redacted by the White House had been the subject of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Marty Heldt, who was investigating the story before the 2000 presidential election. In the same document that the White House selectively censored for release to the public, the name of the man who was also suspended with Bush is clearly printed. His name: James R. Bath.

CONTINUED...(worth wading through the commercial to retrieve)...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/27/james_bath /

Anyone seen Mr. Bath lately? Hope his health is holding up, seeing what happens to those who know too much about the BFEE and all.



James R Bath, SuperTurd of the BFEE
Posted by Octafish on Fri Jul-23-04 10:22 PM

James R Bath is George W Bush's buddy from the Texas Air National Guard. They got grounded together for refusing to take a physical (read: drug test) in 1972. If you want to see a copy of the actual document, ask and I'll post it for you.

So... later that decade, Bath becomes a bidnessman, Texas-style, and serves as the official business representative of two of the wealthiest Saudi families: the bin Mahfouz (banking, like, um BCCI) and the bin Laden (construction, Mecca and Afghan mountain redoubt).

The Honorable Skip Fox of the DU, made a solid post to chronicle the Little Turd from Crawford's life as a crooked businessman. Behold:


Forum: DCForumID38
Thread Number: 4933
< Go back to previous page >
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original Message
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"HarkenGate, July 9, 2002 file:"
Posted by skip fox on Jul-09-02 at 04:38 PM

HarkenGate readily breaks down into five areas for investigation and discussion:

1.W. possibly built oil company and interests through favoritism or trading off his father's name (esp. Bahrain's naming of Harken as the oil company for the country's off-shore interests).

2. Harken's posted of phony financial statements, claiming incoming assets for a subsidiary it bought from itself. (A mere $8-12 million, a low-rent version of what Enron did a decade later.)

3. W.'s trading of stock based on possible knowledge of potential stock devaluation i.e., insider trading (2 possibilities):
–a. Knowledge of secret State Dept. memo claiming Hussain was ready to attack neighbors.
–b. Knowledge of Harken's dire straits as one member of a three-member "Fairness" (auditing) committee.

4. W.'s late filing of stock sales to SEC and variation in story as to reasons.

5. Possible favoritism shown to Bush's business "indiscretions" by SEC through father's influence and/or the possible reward to SEC investigator(s) by W. himself.

According, this first file breaks into these five areas with hotlinks and clipping of the stories focusing on each issue. The second file provides the base of documents from which the first file was drawn in a manner that the reader might follow the progression of the story. Both files begin with BACKGROUND, citing Joe Conason's thorough and clear overview of the narrative of W.'s fortune. To Joe's credit, he brings up nearly all of the five issues (and sub-issues) listed above. Pizzo's article is also a good background piece.

************************************************
************************************************

BACKGROUND:

--Joe Conason's "Notes on a Native Son," Harper's Magazine, Feb. 2000. (A thorough, given article parameters, overview of George W. Bush's fortune. Harken is covered primarily on pp. 4-6 of item. Due to this article, Conason has been frequently quoted on Bush's corporate dealings):

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1111/1797_300/59086099/p1/article.html


–Stephen Pizzo, "Bush Family Values," Mother Jones, Sept.-Oct. 1992 (another good example of early reporting on Bush's fortunes):

http://www.motherjones.com/news_wire/bushboys.html


Will Pitt's December 18, 2001 DU article, "King Midas in Reverse," also summarizes the major issues well and is a good read:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/01/12/18_midas.html


************************************************
************************************************


1.THE POSSIBILITY THAT W. BUILT OIL INTERESTS BY TRADING OFF HIS FATHER'S NAME AT THE LEAST, FAVORITISM AT THE MOST:

Read Conason and Pizzi in Background.


Kevin Sack's "George Bush the Son Finds That Oil and Blood Do Mix," NY Times, May 8, 1999 (another excellent background piece concerning W.'s acquisition of a fortune, but Sack's clearly draws the personal and familial connections):

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/f/friedman/spring02/govt1/schedule/j/j1/bush.html


Tom Flocco, Wolrd Net Daily, laid it out clearly:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16298

<snip>

In October 1991, Time Magazine questioned why the tiny country of Bahrain would stake so much of its financial future on Harken Energy, which it labeled an "obscure, money-losing company with no refineries and no experience in offshore oil exploration." But the magazine also noted that oil-insiders speculated that Bahrain's rulers saw the arrangement as a way to gain influence with the Bush administration.

Mysteriously, primary reporters have also ignored what could point to a nexus regarding foreign policy and personal financial interests. Interestingly, the Village Voice in January 1991 reported that in 1990 the Bush administration signed an agreement with Bahrain that chose the small country as the permanent principal allied base in the Middle East, although it was some 200 miles away from the hostilities in Iraq and Kuwait.

The military-base deal came after Harken announced its Jan. 30, 1990, joint oil-drilling venture with Bahrain. So President Bush's key contributors and his son George W. were carrying on personal financial business with Bahrain at the same time decisions were being made regarding the possibility of a war in the Gulf.

And neither the president nor his adviser, George Jr., let the press know that Bahrain had been permitted to infuse $7.7 million in foreign cash to hire U.S. public relations firm Hill & Knowlton to lobby Congress and the American people; a stunning variety of opinion-forming devices and techniques were employed to inflame U.S. patriotic passions of war while personal financial interests were on the line.

<snip>


And it's even possible that some bin Laden money went to Bush's launching pad in the oil business (Arbusto) as the wealthy Saudi family sought to maintain favor with the Republican administration as Wayne Madsen reports in In These Times:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/25/feature3.shtml


<snip>

In 1979, Bush's first business, Arbusto Energy, obtained financing from James Bath, a
Houstonian and close family friend. One of many investors, Bath gave Bush $50,000 for a
5 percent stake in Arbusto. At the time, Bath was the sole U.S. business representative
for Salem bin Laden, head of the wealthy Saudi Arabian family and a brother (one of 17)
to Osama bin Laden. It has long been suspected, but never proven, that the Arbusto
money came directly from Salem bin Laden. In a statement issued shortly after the
September 11 attacks, the White House vehemently denied the connection, insisting
that Bath invested his own money, not Salem bin Laden's, in Arbusto.

In conflicting statements, Bush at first denied ever knowing Bath, then acknowledged
his stake in Arbusto and that he was aware Bath represented Saudi interests. In fact,
Bath has extensive ties, both to the bin Laden family and major players in the
scandal-ridden Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI) who have gone on to
fund Osama bin Laden. BCCI defrauded depositors of $10 billion in the '80s in what has
been called the "largest bank fraud in world financial history" by former Manhattan
District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. During the '80s, BCCI also acted as a main conduit
for laundering money intended for clandestine CIA activities, ranging from financial
support to the Afghan mujahedin to paying intermediaries in the Iran-Contra affair.

<snip>

************************************************
************************************************

2. HARKEN'S POSTING OF PHONY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CLAIMING ASSETS WITHOUT NOTING DEBITS AND BUSH'S KNOWLEDGE OF THE FRAUDLENT ACCOUNTING.


Paul Krugman's July 7 column spells it out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/opinion/07KRUG.html

<snip>

That's exactly what happened at Harken. A group of insiders, using money borrowed
from Harken itself, paid an exorbitant price for a Harken subsidiary, Aloha Petroleum.
That created a $10 million phantom profit, which hid three-quarters of the company's
losses in 1989. White House aides have played down the significance of this maneuver,
saying $10 million isn't much, compared with recent scandals. Indeed, it's a small
fraction of the apparent profits Halliburton created through a sudden change in
accounting procedures during Dick Cheney's tenure as chief executive. But for Harken's
stock price — and hence for Mr. Bush's personal wealth — this accounting trickery made
all the difference.

Oh, and Harken's fake profits were several dozen times as large as the Whitewater land
deal — though only about one-seventh the cost of the Whitewater investigation.

Mr. Bush was on the company's audit committee, as well as on a special restructuring
committee; back in 1994, another member of both committees, E. Stuart Watson,
assured reporters that he and Mr. Bush were constantly made aware of the company's
finances. If Mr. Bush didn't know about the Aloha maneuver, he was a very negligent
director.

<snip>

An unattributed editorial in the St. Louis Post Dispach July 7, 2002, puts it succinctly:

http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel%5Cpdweb.nsf/TodaySunday /
86256A0E0068FE5086256BEF002DD29E?OpenDocument&PubWrapper=Editorial

(You'll have to bind http address together to go directly.)


<snip>

...Harken sold a subsidiary to a group of its own insiders. It lent those insiders much of the money to make the purchase. Then Harken claimed a profit from the sale. It was almost as if the company were claiming profits for selling something to itself. Shades of Enron, Qwest and Dynegy, among others. The SEC cried foul. It forced the company to restate its earnings to show a much larger loss.

Did Mr. Bush approve of such accounting sleight of hand? After all, he was on Harken's audit committee. Or was he snoozing while management had fun with figures?

<snip>


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/07/08/MN139428.DTL

<snip>

Democrats hope to draw attention to a controversial deal by Harken to sell one of its subsidiaries, Aloha Petroleum, to a group of Harken insiders. The SEC later found that deal might have disguised at least $8 million in losses by Harken and asked the company to restate its 1989 earnings. Bush was on the audit committee of Harken's board at the time.

<snip>

************************************************
************************************************

3. BUSH'S SELLING OF HARKEN STOCK BASED ON POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE OF POTENTIAL STOCK DEVALUATION, I.E, INSIDER TRADING (2 possibilities):

–a. BUSH'S KNOWLEDGE OF A SECRET STATE DEPARTMENT MEMO CLAIMING HUSSAIN WAS OUT OF CONTROL AND READY TO ATTACK KUWAIT

Pizzo lays out the case:

http://www.motherjones.com/news_wire/bushboys.html

<snip>

In May 1990, the U.S. State Department sent a chilling but still classified report to Scowcroft. The report warned that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was out of control and was threatening his neighbors:

May 16, 1990
SECRET
Attached is a paper containing a list of options for responding to recent actions and statements by the Government of Iraq. ...We ask that you pass this paper to Robert Gates for his review.

Under "options" the memo suggested: Ban Oil Purchases: The largest benefit Iraq receives from the US is through our oil purchases...
PRO -- A total ban on oil purchases would have some short-term impact.
CON -- Such action might also have an impact on US Oil prices.

Oil companies had learned, during the years of the long Iran-Iraq war, that trouble in the gulf hurts companies with oil interests because, for one thing, at the first sound of a rifle shot in the gulf region, Lloyds of London jacks up insurance rates on oil tankers and company installations. The "wartime" rates are very high and cut deeply into company profits and investor confidence. If things really get out of hand, pipelines are destroyed and waterways are mined.

The secret memo augured ill for Harken's fledgling venture.

<snip>

(Memo is May, Bush sells in June!)

–b. KNOWLEDGE OF HARKEN'S POOR FINANCIAL SITUATION AS A MEMBER OF A THREE-MEMBER "FAIRNESS" (read: AUDIT) COMMITTEE :

Read Conason and Pizzi in Background.

Molly Ivins Feb. 15, 2002 Texas Observer article:

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=562

<snip>

A month before Bush sold his stock, the Harken board appointed Bush and another company director, E. Stuart Watson, to a "fairness committee" determine how restructuring would affect ordinary stockholders.

Smith, Barney, Harris, Upham & Co., the financial consultants hired by Harken, told Bush and Watson only drastic action could save the company. So Bush sold his stock before the news became public. According to U.S. News & World Report, there was "substantial evidence to suggest that Bush knew Harken was in dire straits."

<snip>

Daschle's desire to look into the SEC's 1991 investigation of Bush (mostly on late filings, but also on possible insider trading):

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/07/08/MN139428.DTL


************************************************
************************************************

4. BUSH'S LATE FILING OF STOCK SALES TO SEC AND VARIATIONS IN THE STORY

Real problems are brewing in this area. Did you notice that the story changed again in the last 24-36 hours?? The initial story had been that the SEC had misplaced the filings. But that didn't wash (since nobody at SEC was willing to take the heat for W.'s incompetence in a high profile case.) Recently he claimed that the hold up was due to Harken's lawyers. At Bush's Monday (June 8) press conference, he said that they are not clear what happened. Why can't the previous story, that Harken's lawyers filed months late, stand up under scrutiny??

A July 4, 2002, NYTimes story by Elisabeth Bumiller succinctly provides details on W's changed story about late filing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/04/politics/04BUSH.html?ex=1026532800
&en=249a29fcb97603b8&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER

You'll have to paste address together and register to read, but a shortened version without NYTimes registration necessity at:

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/3599668.htm

<snip>

Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday. that Bush failed to promptly disclose the sale of stock 12 years. ago because of a ``mix-up'' with his lawyers. In 1994, however,. Bush blamed not his lawyer but the Securities and Exchange Commission for misplacing the proper forms.

Fleischer could not completely explain the inconsistency, and he said he did not know when or why Bush changed his explanation about the reason the sale was disclosed late.

. . .

Bush, who was on Harken's board of directors, has said that he quickly realized that the stock's slide would raise concerns that he had sold based on inside information, a potential crime. The suspicions grew when the SEC said that it did not have a document from Bush, a Form 4, that insiders must file when they sell stock. Bush did not file the Form 4, and officially report the sale, until March 1991.

But Bush had promptly filed another required document, a Form 144, disclosing his intent to sell the stock.

In 1994, when Bush was asked why he had not filed the Form 4, he said he thought he had and that the SEC must have misplaced it. But on Wednesday, Fleischer said the problem was a ``mix-up, a clerical mistake'' by lawyers for Harken.

``The best explanation is the attorneys thought the form hadbeen filed, which is what led George W. Bush to say he thought it had been filed and the SEC had lost it,'' Fleischer said. ``That was not the case.''


<snip>


http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/07/08_Harken.html

<snip>

Ari Fleischer who, if you read the. transcript of July 3, 2002's White House Press Briefing, craftily alleged. that Harken Energy's corporate attorneys were grossly incompetent. No, he didn't "say" they were grossly incompetent, but if you follow Fleischer's logic, you would have to conclude that this is what he meant. Apparently the attorneys neglected to read the deadline and filing instructions printed at the top of SEC Form-4: "This Form must be filed on or before the tenth day after the end of the month in which a change in beneficial ownership has occurred (the term "beneficial owner" is defined in Rule 16a-1(a)(2) and discussed in Instruction 4)." That is the tenth day after the end of the month . . .. Not 34 weeks.

. . .

I have never once worked with what I'd call an "upright" attorney who would dare miss a director's SEC filing deadline. In fact, if I were the assigned secretary to that lawyer, I would have been fired had I failed to note the deadline on my own working calendar.


<snip>

The third change in the story, Chicago Trib:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum /
duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=25150&forum=DCForumID5

(You'll have to paste address back together to go direct and then register, but here is the salient paragraph.)

<snip>

Changing his response for a third time, Bush said he did not know why some of the
forms he was required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission about his
1990 sale of nearly $850,000 in Harken Energy Corp. stock were 34 months late reaching
the SEC. He earlier had blamed the SEC for losing the documents, and then a "mix-up"
by Harken's attorneys.

<snip>

David Scheim, for Campaign Watch, summarizes the SEC's final disposition on Bush's sales:

http://www.campaignwatch.org/more1.htm

<snip>

. . . the SEC had not exonerated Bush. On October 18, 1993, Bruce A. Hiler, the SEC's associate director for enforcement, wrote a letter to Bush's lawyer stating that "the investigation has been terminated as to the conduct of Mr. Bush, and that, at this time, no enforcement action is contemplated with respect to him."7 Bush claimed he had been cleared, and the head of the SEC's enforcement division, William McLucas, went beyond the letter and stated that "there was no case there."8

Yet Hiler's official letter had added that it "must in no way be construed as indicating that the party has been exonerated or that no action may ultimately result from the staff's investigation ."9

<snip>


Knut Royce's report for The Public i stresses the SEC connection:

http://www.public-i.org/story_01_100400.htm
and he follows it up with another:

http://www.public-i.org/story_01_100400.htm


Informational: Nederland posted this in DU July 8, 2002

<snip>

Mr. Bush followed the law by informing regulators of his intention to sell stock in Harken Energy Corp., a Texas oil company, in 1990. But he conceded that because of a "mix-up, a clerical mistake" by Harken lawyers, Mr. Bush had not promptly reported the sale after it took place.

Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/03/politics/main514190.shtml


As I mentioned before, its the intention to sell (form 144) that is the important document. The document indicating that you actually sold your stock (form 4), is generally regarded as a formality.

<snip>

and Nederland follows up with:

<snip>

This form must be filed with the SEC as notice of the proposed sale of restricted securities or securities held by an affiliate of the issuer in reliance on Rule 144. Notice on the form is only required when the amount to be sold during any three-month period exceeds 500 shares or units or has an aggregate sales price in excess of $10,000. The sale must take place within three months of filing the form and, if the securities have not been sold, an amended notice must be filed.

Link: http://www.sec.gov/answers/form144.htm


As you can see, the form must be filed within three months of the sale, not in the "next couple of years" . . . .

<snip>

The seriousness of late filings?? Frank Rich's "All the President's Enrons," NY Times (July 6) provides only a brief paragraph on Harken, but includes the sentence, "A Presidential spokesman assured us . . . that this infraction amounted to nothing more than driving 60 in a 55-mile-an-hour zone.")

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/06/opinion/06RICH.html


Daschle's desire to look into the SEC's 1991 investigation of Bush (mostly on late filings, but also on possible insider trading):

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/07/08/MN139428.DTL


************************************************
************************************************

CONTINUED. THIS IS ONE IMPORTANT READ. GO TO THE LINK AND GET THE ENTIRE THREAD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=4933&forum=DCForumID38&archive=


14 page interview w/ Bill White, mentioned above
Posted by rog on Thu Jul-01-04 10:05 PM

14 page interview from the CBC website
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/white.pdf

Conspiracy Theories: Broadcast on the fifth estate Wednesday, October 29 2003 on CBC-TV
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories /

Google "george w bush" "james r bath" "bill white"
http://tinyurl.com/yv4jo

More articles, including the complete "part 1" of the Jerry Urban article from the Houston Chronicle.
http://tinyurl.com/yq43d

Part 1 also available here (about 1/3 of the way down):
Feds Looked Into G.W. Bush-Bin Laden Connection
http://www.bushnews.com/attack.htm

Can't seem to find part 2, supposedly published on the following day, June 5, 1992.


The FBI investigated James Bath & Bush!
Posted by ALago1 on Thu Jul-01-04 09:05 PM

Just doing some random Google searches turned up this 1992 article from the Houston chronicle:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/1990s/houstonchronicle060492.html

"Federal authorities are investigating the activities of a Houston businessman -- a past investor in companies controlled by a son of President Bush -- who has been accused of illegally representing Saudi interests in the United States.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network -- known as FinCEN -- and the FBI are reviewing accusations that entrepreneur James R. Bath guided money to Houston from Saudi investors who wanted to influence U.S. policy under the Reagan and Bush administrations, sources close to the investigations say. FinCEN, a division of the U.S. Department of Treasury, investigates money laundering. Special agents and analysts from various law enforcement agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Customs Service, are assigned to work with the FinCEN staff.

"The federal review stems in part from court documents obtained through litigation by Bill White, a former real estate business associate of Bath. White contends the documents indicate that the Saudis were using Bath and their huge financial resources to influence U.S. policy.

Moore should have mentioned that the Feds were on to them (or at least appeared to be) in his film. Anyone else ever heard of this?


James (Jim) R. Bath's campaign donations
Posted by President Jesus on Tue Jul-06-04 08:01 AM

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=TX&last=Bath&first=Jim


James R Bath connects Bush, bin Laden, Petrodollars, BCCI & BFEE.
Posted by Octafish on Tue Jul-06-04 12:12 AM

If Corporate McPravda should ever get off its bloated backsides long enough, they might trace and document the BFEE's many nefarious connections to Smirko's blacked-out Texas Air National Guard buddy -- James R Bath.

Named in Fahrenheit 9/11, the guy ties the BFEE to Saudi petrodollars, international terrorism, money-laundering, drug-dealing and a whole lot more, including nuclear proliferation.

The press won't t be doing the nation any favors calling Bath a linchpin or missing link: It would be doing its job. And if they do, it's likely the nation would discover what Danny Casolaro termed "The Octopus."

Here's an excerpt from a BBC interview with Bath's one-time business partner, a brave man named Bill White. There's also a link to the interview.

BILL WHITE
Interview by: Bob McKeown

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

EXCERPT...

SO IN A SENSE, AT THE POINT WHEN YOU FIRST MET HIM WAS BATH THIS LINK BETWEEN THE BUSHES ON ONE SIDE AND THE BIN LADEN’S AND SAUDIS? Right. That link had already been established and Jim was actually in an operational mode. He spent probably ninety-five percent of his time, I’d call it hand-holding the Arabs. He bought a bank for them. He bought an airport for them. He started an airline for them among other ventures in Houston, Texas and was the nominee or the front man for their ownership of these various entities. He would spend most of his time dealing with their interests while I concentrated on running our real estate development company.

WHAT WAS THE EXTENT OF THE INTEREST OF THE SAUDIS IN AND AROUND HOUSTON? WHY DID THEY COME TO TEXAS AT THIS TIME? Well they had a large presence here because of their oil interests (Aramco & Saudia are headquartered in Houston). And they had banking interests by virtue of Bush Senior’s association with First International Bank which subsequently became InterFirst. And there was also John Connolly, who was a former Democrat who turned Republican and worked in the Nixon Administration with Bush, he ran First City NationalBank. We also had James Baker and his Baker & Bott’s Law Firm, so you basically had a confluence of political and business interests that were friendly to the Saudi Royal Family here in Houston.

IN THE MID SEVENTIES WHEN YOU FIRST CAME IN CONNECTION WITH JIM, WHAT DID YOU LEARN THROUGH BATH ABOUT THE EXTENT OF THE BUSH CONNECTIONS AND THE BUSH HISTORY WITH SAUDI ARABIA? Well Bath explained to me that he had been tapped by George Senior to set up a quasi-private aircraft firm that would basically engage in CIA-sponsored activities funded by the Saudi Royal Family. He explained that the Saudis had basically entered into a quid pro quo relationship with Bush and that Bush when he was CIA Director worked with the head of Saudi Intelligence and the CIA trained the Palace Guard to protect the Saudi Royal Family who was concerned about a fundamentalist revolution. And it was at that point I think that this thing got kicked into high gear and the Saudis agreed to provide surreptitious funding to the United States to fight it’s secret wars in Afghanistan and Nicaragua. Payback came when Bush as Vice President sent AWACS and F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and supported Saddam Hussein under the adage that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. We had the Iran-Iraq War at the time so that’s really how the relationship evolved. “That’s my understanding although I think in retrospect the Saudis realized that they had the power, the magic wand by virtue of their Petro-dollars and that they could use that to influence US foreign and domestic policy. “

SNIP...

WHEN YOU LOOK BACK OVER ALL OF THIS HOW MUCH HAS IT COST YOU IN FINANCIAL AND OTHER WAYS? Well it’s cost me virtually everything, financially. I lost my business, all my real estate holdings, all of my assets were conveyed to Bath in the lawsuits, my house was foreclosed on because the mortgage was held by the Bank that was laundering the Saudi money, all my property was sold at constables’ sale, my Navy retirement was forfeited, and we paid a terrible price. One irony was that during this litigation process, when I refused to cooperate in the cover-up, they began to offer me money and banking business - a package worth millions of dollars if I would only sign what they called a Settlement Agreement. But as I explained to my Lawyer, the Settlement Agreement was nothing but a ‘hush money’ agreement. It said basically that we could never have this conversation and that I could never disclose the Bush-Saudi relationship. I felt that to take that money and to sign that Agreement would have been to basically spit on the graves of all of my friends who died in Vietnam and were fighting to fulfill the Oath we took to protect the Constitution. So I’ve paid a heavy price but I really feel like some of us have a destiny. I certainly didn’t choose this destiny, but it was thrust upon me and I’m trying to do my best to get the truth out. And again there’s really no ill will toward Jim Bath or George Bush. It’s just a matter of getting the truth out on the table and letting the consequences be what they may. But I think the truth’s important.

CONTINUED...


http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:JkjMbciHAlgJ:www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/white.pdf+jim-bath+bill-white+cbc&hl=en&ie=UTF-8



CONSPIRACY OR COINCIDENCE?

Is it a conspiracy or a coincidence? There is a long and tangled history between the Bush family and the elite of Saudi Arabia.

There are many business and connections between the Bush family and the elite of Saudi Arabia.

It begins in the 1970's in Houston, Texas, when George W. Bush was just starting out in his family's two businesses of politics and oil. The powerful - and very rich - Bin Laden family helped fund his first venture into oil.

The cozy friendship continued for decades. After a terrorist attack at a barracks in Saudi Arabia which killed 19 Americans, the bin Laden family received a multi-billion dollar contract to re-build. And incredibly, George Bush Sr. was in a business meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington on the morning of September 11th with one of Osama Bin Laden's brothers.

Below is a timeline that details the relationship between the Bin Laden and Bush families that culminates in the tragic events of September 11th.

CONTINUED...

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/saudi.html


Bush's Former Oil Company
Linked To bin Laden Family

By Rick Wiles
American Freedom News.com
c. 2001 American Freedom News
10-3-1

EXCERPT...

According to a 1976 trust agreement, Salem bin Laden appointed James Bath as his business representative in Houston. Revelation about Bath's relationship with the bin Laden financial empire and the CIA was made public in 1992 by Bill White, a former real estate business partner with Bath. White informed federal investigators in 1992 that Bath told him that he had assisted the CIA in a liaison role since 1976 - the same year former President George Herbert Walker Bush served as director of the CIA.

During a bitter legal fight between White and Bath, the real estate partner disclosed that Bath managed a portfolio worth millions of dollars for Sheik Khalid bin Mahfouz and other wealthy Saudis. Among the investments made by Bath with Mahfouz's money was the Houston Gulf Airport.

A powerful banker in Saudi Arabia, Mahfouz was one of the largest stockholders in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. BCCI was a corrupt global banking empire operating in 73 nations and was a major financial and political force in Washington, Paris, Geneva, London, and Hong Kong. Despite the appearance of a normal banking operation, BCCI was actually an international crime syndicate providing "banking services" to the Medellin drug cartel, Pamama dictator Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein, terrorist mastermind Abu Nidal, and Khun Sa, the heroin kingpin in Asia's Golden Triangle.

The BCCI scandal implicated some of the biggest political names in Washington - both Democrats and Republicans - during the first Bush White House. The bank was accused of laundering money for drug cartels, smuggling weapons to terrorists, and using Middle Eastern oil money to influence American politicians.

CONTINUED...

http://www.rense.com/general14/bushsformer.htm

Banking scandal figure seeks claim to airport contract

By JERRY URBAN
Staff

A key figure in the world's largest banking scandal is participating in an attempt to take control of a major city of Houston aviation contractor, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court here.

National Commercial Bank-Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (NCB), which is controlled by the family of Sheik Khalid Bin Mahfouz, has claimed rights to 90 percent of the outstanding shares of Southwest Airport Services, according to documents accompanying the lawsuit filed by Sandra C. Bath , president of Southwest Airport Services.

SNIP...

Bath filed the lawsuit against the bank and her former husband, James R . Bath , a local entrepreneur.

SNIP...

James Bath is the guarantor on the defaulted loan. He pledged 900 of the 1,000 outstanding shares of Southwest Airport Services to the bank as collateral to secure the loan, according to court documents. Bath held the shares for himself and on behalf of his former wife as community property, the lawsuit says.

CONTINUED...

http://sugarinthegourd.com/bath/bath02.html


Bush Said Friend's Arbusto Investment Was His Own, Not Saudi Money

Friend "Declined To Comment For The Record"

by Jerry Urban
The Houston Chronicle
June 4, 1992

"Federal authorities are investigating the activities of a Houston businessman -- a past investor in companies controlled by a son of President Bush -- who has been accused of illegally representing Saudi interests in the United States.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network -- known as FinCEN -- and the FBI are reviewing accusations that entrepreneur James R. Bath guided money to Houston from Saudi investors who wanted to influence U.S. policy under the Reagan and Bush administrations, sources close to the investigations say. FinCEN, a division of the U.S. Department of Treasury, investigates money laundering. Special agents and analysts from various law enforcement agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Customs Service, are assigned to work with the FinCEN staff.

SNIP...

Such representation by Bath would require that he be registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice. In general, people required by law to be registered are those who represent a foreign entity seeking to influence governmental action or policy. An Annapolis graduate and former Navy fighter pilot, White, 46, claims that Bath and the judicial system, under the veil of national security, have blackballed him professionally and financially because he has refused to keep quiet about what he regards as a conspiracy to secretly funnel Saudi dollars to the United States. White became entangled in a series of lawsuits and countersuits with Bath, who for some six years has prevailed in the courts. White says the legal action has financially devasted him and Venturcorp Inc., the real estate development company in which he and Bath were partners.

"In sworn depositions, Bath said he represented four prominent Saudis as a trustee and that he would use his name on their investments. In return, he said, he would receive a 5 percent interest in their deals. Tax documents and personal financial records show that Bath personally had a 5 percent interest in Arbusto '79 Ltd., and Arbusto '80 Ltd., limited partnerships controlled by George W. Bush, President Bush's eldest son. Arbusto means bush in Spanish. Bath invested $50,000 in the limited partnerships, according to the documents. There is no available evidence to show whether the money came from Saudi interests.

CONTINUED...

http://billstclair.com/911timeline/1990s/houstonchronicle060492.html

[leftchick]

8. Excellent Links as usual SLaD!!

The next question is... where the fuck is he???

[IChing]

10. The BCCI thing is now big news ...thanks again

She asked was he hasn't been called to any hearings

He is dirty as shit.

[Ghost in the Machine]

18. I truly admire the effort and dedication that you put into your posts.. Thank you!

You amaze me. Really. Your dedication, along with the likes of Octafish, bobthedrummer, H20Man, autorank, Land Shark, kpete, and many more, to exposing the BFEE and educating people who would otherwise be blind to these criminals is greatly appreciated. Keep up the great work! :hi:

Now I have reading material for a week or two...

[AntiFascist]

25. Bill White felt that what Bath did to him should indicate conspiracy....

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/6/61854/9150


Dear Mr. Fitzgerald,

I am writing to advise you that I have evidence that debunks Bush administration claims that your indictment of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff is evidence that the outing of CIA undercover agent Valerie Plame was not a conspiracy, but rather an isolated incident carried out by a rouge administration official. I am living proof that both Bush administrations have a sordid history of launching brutal attacks against uncorrupt Americans when the Bushes believe that their political ambitions are in jeopardy. Based on my experience, I can assure you that what the Bush administration did in the Wilson/Plame matter amounts to little more than "business as usual".

....

[seemslikeadream]

28. I finally found IT BILL WHITE Interview by: Bob McKeown

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/white.pdf

BILL WHITE Interview by: Bob McKeown
LET’S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING. WHEN DID YOU FIRST MEET JAMES BATH? I met him when I graduated from Business School in nineteen seventy-eight. I came down to Houston for an interview.
AND WHAT KIND OF PERSON WAS HE? I was actually recruited from Harvard Business School by Lan Bentsen, Senator Bentsen’s son. When he found that I was a Navy Fighter Pilot, he said that there was an Air Force Fighter Pilot in Houston that I should meet – a pilot who the Bentsen family and the Bush families were already in business with. And he said that this fellow James R. Bath needed someone to run a series of real estate companies that would be grub staked by not only the political families, but also by some foreign Nationals - the Saudis. And so I came down for an interview and met Jim Bath.
SO, THE INTRODUCTION WAS MADE BECAUSE YOU HAD THE COMMON GROUND OF HAVING HAD BOTH BEEN PILOTS? Exactly. We’re both fighter pilots.
AND AT THE TIME BATH WAS IN BUSINESS IN HOUSTON DOING WHAT? He was in Business primarily operating an Aircraft Brokerage Company called JB&A which stands for Jim Bath and Associates. He also ran a company in the same building called Bin Laden&Associates which Jim explained was a procurement company for the Saudis.
NOW AT THAT POINT, HAD YOU EVER HEARD THE NAME BIN LADEN? No, I had not.
AND AS YOU INVESTIGATED AND FOUND OUT WHO THESE PEOPLE WERE, WHAT DID YOU LEARN? Well, I learned that there was a relationship between the Saudi Royals and the politicians here in the United States. Bath was helping to protect the Saudi Royal Family by hosting some of the Saudi Nationals who were at our Air Force bases being trained as pilots. We had a Prince (Sultan) training at NASA who was the first foreign National to fly on the US Space Shuttle. We had other foreign Nationals here too. Jim was functioning as an intermediary between the Bushes and the Saudi Royal Family.
HOW HAD JIM BATH BEEN ANNOINTED TO BE THIS INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN THE SAUDIS ON ONE HAND AND FAMILIES LIKE THE BUSHES ON THE OTHER? Well, Jim explained that in the early seventies George Bush Junior, our current President, came on boardthe Texas Air National Guard where Bath was stationed along with some other Politicians’ children. This is during the Vietnam War era when Bush and Bath became drinking buddies and good friends. And then in 1976, when Dubya’s Father became CIA Director, the CIA was trying to privatize it’s air affiliate subsidiaries. Jim was actually
1
recommended to the CIA Director, George Senior, by Dubya - that’s when the relationship was established.
AT THE POINT THAT YOU FIRST MET JIM BATH, HE WAS NOT ONLY CONNECTED TO THE SAUDIS, TO THE BIN LADENS BUT ALSO TO THE BUSHES? That’s correct.
“He spent probably ninety-five percent of his time, I’d call it hand-holding the Arabs. He bought a bank for them. He bought an airport for them.”
SO IN A SENSE, AT THE POINT WHEN YOU FIRST MET HIM WAS BATH THIS LINK BETWEEN THE BUSHES ON ONE SIDE AND THE BIN LADEN’S AND SAUDIS? Right. That link had already been established and Jim was actually in an operational mode. He spent probably ninety-five percent of his time, I’d call it hand-holding the Arabs. He bought a bank for them. He bought an airport for them. He started an airline for them among other ventures in Houston, Texas and was the nominee or the front man for their ownership of these various entities. He would spend most of his time dealing with their interests while I concentrated on running our real estate development company.
WHAT WAS THE EXTENT OF THE INTEREST OF THE SAUDIS IN AND AROUND HOUSTON? WHY DID THEY COME TO TEXAS AT THIS TIME? Well they had a large presence here because of their oil interests (Aramco & Saudia are headquartered in Houston). And they had banking interests by virtue of Bush Senior’s association with First International Bank which subsequently became InterFirst. And there was also John Connolly, who was a former Democrat who turned Republican and worked in the Nixon Administration with Bush, he ran First City NationalBank. We also had James Baker and his Baker&Bott’s Law Firm, so you basically had a confluence of political and business interests that were friendly to the Saudi Royal Family here in Houston.
IN THE MID SEVENTIES WHEN YOU FIRST CAME IN CONNECTION WITH JIM, WHAT DID YOU LEARN THROUGH BATH ABOUT THE EXTENT OF THE BUSH CONNECTIONS AND THE BUSH HISTORY WITH SAUDI ARABIA? Well Bath explained to me that he had been tapped by George Senior to set up a quasi-private aircraft firm that would basically engage in CIA-sponsored activities funded by the Saudi Royal Family. He explained that the Saudis had basically entered into a quid pro quo relationship with Bush and that Bush when he was CIA Director worked with the head of Saudi Intelligence and the CIA trained the Palace Guard to protect the Saudi Royal Family who was concerned about a fundamentalist revolution. And it was at that point I think that this thing got kicked into high gear and the Saudis agreed to provide surreptitious funding to the United States to fight it’s secret wars in Afghanistan and Nicaragua. Payback came when Bush as Vice President sent AWACS and F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and supported Saddam Hussein under the adage that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. We had the Iran-Iraq War at the time so that’s really how the relationship evolved.
2
“That’s my understanding although I think in retrospect the Saudis realized that they had the power, the magic wand by virtue of their Petro-dollars and that they could use that to influence US foreign and domestic policy. “
TO WHAT EXTENT DID PEOPLE LIKE BIN MAHFOUZ AND … BIN LADEN SET UP THEIR OWN INFRA STRUCTURE IN HOUSTON? DID THEY HAVE HOMES THERE? DID THEY HAVE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS THERE? HOW MUCH TIME DID THEY SPEND THERE? Yes they spent quite a bit of time here. When we say they had interests like homes and businesses here, they were all almost invariably set up in trust. The agreements were drawn up by some of the big law firms in town. And the Saudis’ownership was always artfully hidden behind nominees or front people like Jim Bath or one of the lawyers who acted as a Trustee. The Arabs would fly into town and Jim would entertain them. They threw parties and hosted social events.
SO YOU WERE PART OF THIS ON OCCASION? Jim actually seemed to be grooming me. I was ten years younger and his protégé. Instead of taking his airplane company employees, he seemed to take me to all the Chamber of Commerce functions that George Bush Jr. was speaking at,the lunches at the Ramada Club that George Bush Sr. attended, and the parties at the Big House, as he called it, that the Saudis were in attendance at. Now the Arabs were very different in their personalities. Salem Bin Laden was very Westernized. He wore Western clothes. He spoke English and was very articulate. He liked to entertain and acted as the Master of Ceremonies. Whereas bin Mahfouz typically wore the traditional Saudi garb. He was very reclusive. He was not fluent in English. And so there was a very great disparity between the two individuals.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN TO BE THE, THE BUSINESS TIES AT THAT POINT BETWEEN THE BUSHES AND BIN MAHFOUZ AND BIN LADEN? Well, Bath had told me that he had used Saudi money to fund George Bush Junior’s start up in the Energy business.
THIS IS THE ARBUSTO OPERATION? Yes, the Arbusto Partnerships that started in Midland, Texas in the late seventies - early eighties.
WHAT DID THE DOCUMENTS SHOW? Well I have copies of Jim’s personal financial statements to show that he maintained a revolving line of credit for the Bin Laden Family.
AND HOW MUCH? It’s $6 to $7 million on the statements that I have. And then on schedules that show his partnership interests, he shows a personal partnership interest of $25 thousand dollars invested in Arbusto Seventy-Nine and another $25 thousand dollar investment in Arbusto Eighty. But those only represent his personal share of the Arab money that went into those ventures.
DO YOU HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF HOW MUCH MONEY THE SAUDIS PUT IN? Well he told me it was in excess of a million dollars. But I don’t have documents that show exactly how much. I just have Bath’s word to take for the amount.
3
AND TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE, HOW IMPORTANT WOULD THAT MONEY HAVE BEEN TO GEORGE W. BUSH? Well, at the time I could tell you as a fledgling entrepreneur it would have been of critical importance.
HE’S JUST STARTING OUT. SET THE SCENE FOR US HERE. AT WHAT STAGE OF HIS CAREER WAS GEORGE W. BUSH BACK IN NINETEEN SEVENTY-NINE? Yes, in 1979 as I understand it he was a fledgling entrepreneur just trying to get a business off the ground. Obviously it would take seed capital to get into the oil exploration or drilling business as it was very expensive even back then to purchase land leases, rent oil rigs, and hire Wild Catters to drill. So the business was all capital-driven.
AND ONE OF THE FIRST IN WAS JIM BATH. Yes. Well, Jim Bath was investing as nominee for the Saudis. I mean Bath was very forthright with me when we went into business together in 1978. He said: “Bill, I come from a poor background, I have no money of my own and this relationship with the Bushes and the Saudis is of paramount importance to me because I derive all of my capital and all of my business contacts from that relationship.”
NOW JIM BATH HAS EFFECTIVELY DENIED HE PUT SAUDI MONEY INTO GEORGE W. BUSH’S COMPANIES AT THAT POINT. I don’t believe that he’s either denied it or admitted to it. My understanding is that he’s dodged the question by refusing to answer questions pertaining to the funding of Dubya’s companies. I do know that Time Magazine, when they began to investigate this got George Bush Junior to go on the record having denied being in business with Bath and saying that they were just personal friends. Once he was confronted with the documents, then Bush recanted and admitted that Bath had put money in. But my understanding is that in the aftermath of the 9-11 catastrophe, the White House denied that any of that money was Saudi money. They are maintaining that it was all Bath’s money.
“Well I know that it was Saudi money because Bath had no money of his own. We were in business together. I saw his personal financial statements. I knew the amount of cash he had available at any given time. “
AND HOW DO YOU KNOW THERE WAS SAUDI MONEY THERE? Well I know that it was Saudi money because Bath had no money of his own. We were in business together. I saw his personal financial statements. I knew the amount of cash he had available at any given time. And he also confided in me that the money invested both in our Real Estate business and in Dubya’s Energy business was Saudi money. That was the only money there was.
SO EVEN THE FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS YOU SEE REFLECTED IN THOSE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS HE WOULD NOT HAVE HAD THAT AS … CASH? No, if you look at his financial statement it’ll show that he has maybe fourteen thousand dollars in cash. He has millions of dollars in assets but the only cash available is this Bin Laden revolving line of credit.
4
SO THERE’S NO QUESTION IN YOUR MIND WHATSOEVER THAT WHATEVER WENT INTO GEORGE W. BUSH’S COMPANIES FROM JIM BATH WAS MONEY … One-hundred percent of it was Saudi money.
AND GEORGE W. BUSH WOULD HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THAT? Oh, absolutely. Bush was responsible for Bath’s relationship with the Arabs from the onset. So of course he was aware.
LET’S, LET’S LEAP AHEAD HERE. WHAT, WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT UH HARKEN ENERGY? I’m not very knowledgeable about Harken Energy. I just know that Arbusto went through several iterations and became Harken Energy. My understanding is that once again the Arabs came in and bailed Bush Jr. out of some bad business ventures resulting from his bad business decisions and that because of this, he was able to cash in his chips prematurely before the stock nose-dived. What’s of most interest to me in that light is that James Doty, the first Attorney with Baker & Botts who attempted to compel me to cover up this whole story exonerated Bush Jr. from insider trading allegations relating to his dumping of Harken stock while he was with the Securities and Exchange Commission working under Bush Sr.
“He would take the Saudis to Las Vegas and entertain them and he made mentions of procuring prostitutes for them, and commented about the hypocrisy of them being religious zealots when they were in Saudi Arabia when he visited there, on the one hand, and then engaging in this drinking and womanizing when they were in this Country. “
LET’S TALK A LITTLE MORE SPECIFICALLY ABOUT BATH’S RELATIONSHIP WITH BIN MAHFOUZ AND BIN LADEN. HOW, HOW DID YOU OBSERVE BATH’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THOSE TWO MEN? WHAT, WHAT DID YOU SEE OF IT AND CAN YOU CHARACTERIZE IT FOR US? I can characterize it. Bath was their Business representative. And he would buy the Main Bank on their behalf. He would then hire the Bank President. He also serve on the Bank’s Board of Directors. He purchased the Houston Gulf Airport on their behalf. He set up a management infra-structure to maintain the Airport and to operate it.. And so he really was their figurehead as these enterprises cannot legally be owned by foreign Nationals. If you have an aircraft and want to have it FAA-certified, it’s got to be owned by a US citizen. And so by Bath stepping in to the fray as the ostensible owner of that aircraft, the Saudis were able to control and manage businesses in the United States that otherwise that they could not have. So he was the point man in that respect for their Business interests.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF IT, DID YOU SEE BATH IN HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH GEORGE BUSH SENIOR AND GEORGE W. BUSH? Yes, I did. It was very limited. The Bushes made a point of never interfacing personally with the Saudis. It was always done with a wink and a nod. But as I recall, Jim was the Chairman of the Aviation Committee for the Houston Chamber of Commerce and he would schedule Speakers for the luncheons downtown and would always take me as his protégé to the luncheons. And I remember riding with him to the Chamber meeting – I think it was 1980 – and he said: “Bill, I can’t wait for you to
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meet the guest speaker that I have arranged for the Chamber luncheon.” He said: “The two of you are cut from the same cloth.” He said: “You’re both Fighter Pilots. You’re both Harvard Business School Graduates. You’re going to love this guy.” And so when I arrived at the luncheon, he introduced me to George Bush Jr., our current President. And Bush gave a talk. Jim introduced him as his friend from the Air National Guard days. That was the one time that I met George Bush Junior. And then George Bush Senior, I met at a luncheon at the Ramada Club when he was Vice President. He came in when Jim and I were sitting on a sofa facing the elevator bank. The elevator doors opened and then the Vice President walked off with his Secret Service entourage and he just looked at us and said: “Jim” - and kind of winked at him and nodded - and then went off. It was kind of a knowing look as they were obviously very guarded about any public display of familiarity.
“I attended too many funerals at Arlington National Cemetery where we had twenty-two year old widows with little children in attendance because we believe so strongly in these principles and in fulfilling that obligation and when you find out that other people like the President who have taken that same Oath or entrusted with great responsibility had basically sold out for political ambition or for just raw greed you know it does not sit well with us”
IF JIM BATH WERE TO SAY ‘BILL WHITE’S GOT A CHIP ON HIS SHOULDERS. WE HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN LITIGATION FOR A DECADE AND A HALF, OF COURSE HE’S GOING TO BE SAYING THESE THINGS ABOUT ME AND ABOUT MY FRIENDS’. HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND? Well I would say with all candor that I have no hidden agenda or no desire to get even. What motivates me is that I took an Oath as a Navy Fighter Pilot, much like the Oath that the President or the Congressmen take, to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic. A lot of my Annapolis classmates believed in that Oath to the extent that they went into harm’s way in Vietnam. Their blood has been spilled all over South East Asia. I attended too many funerals at Arlington National Cemetery where we had twenty-two year old widows with little children in attendance because we believed so strongly in these principles and in fulfilling that obligation. When you find out that other people like the President, who have taken that same Oath and is entrusted with great responsibility, have basically sold out for political ambition or for just raw greed, you know it does not sit well with us. The only reason I’m willing to go on camera or even tell this story is not because of any resentment or bad blood against Jim Bath or George Bush, but because I think the truth’s important and I think to the extent that people have taken that same Oath and have compromised their values, and made the United States vulnerable to these Saudi interests, I think that information needs to be made public. It needs to be aired. And the electorate needs to know it.
“ I just can’t imagine how he can be an objective arbitrator of the Bin Laden family’s activities when in fact he’s taken money from them that’s never been reported publicly and I think he’s compromised. And that’s of great
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concern to me. And I think that’s a great concern to the families of the victims of the Nine-Eleven tragedy. “
HAVE YOU SEEN IT AFFECT THE PRESIDENT’S PERFORMANCE DO YOU BELIEVE? Oh I feel certain that it’s affected his performance. Just hearing about the Bin Laden family members in this Country who were flown out during the airways lockdown in the aftermath of 9-11 and he fact that the Administration blocked both the FBI and CIA investigations into the Bin Laden family members living in the United States under the auspices of - oh gee the family are all patriotic citizens except for this one bad apple Osama – I mean I just have a hard time buying off on that. I can’t help wondering if the money that changed hands back during my experiences with Bath hasn’t influenced or clouded or even compromised the President’s ability to wage War against Terrorism. I just can’t imagine how he can be an objective arbitrator of the Bin Laden family’s activities when in fact he’s taken money from them that’s never been reported publicly. I think he’s compromised andnd that’s of great concern to me. And I think that it’s also a great concern to the families of the victims of the 9-11 tragedy.
HOW DIFFICULT HAS JIM BATH MADE THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS FOR YOU? Well, when Bath and I first had our conversation where he requested that I cooperate in a cover-up, he said you’ve got a choice. He said you can either do this voluntarily or the Bank that’s laundering the Saudi money and I are going to inundate you in frivolous lawsuits and we’re going to make your life “a goddamn living hell”. Those were his exact words. He also said: “Now I know you being Mom and Apple Pie think that America’s about truth and justice, but that’s nothing but a bunch of horse petui.” He said if we sue you, number one you’re not going to have money to pay lawyers to defend yourself against these lawsuits, and number two, in the unlikely event that you could ever get legal representation, all it would take is a call from George Bush to the Republican Judges who are beholding to him - his political appointees, and he said you’ll never get a chance to tell this story to a Jury. You’ll never even get a day in Court.
HE QUOTES THE NAME OF GEORGE BUSH – Oh absolutely.
SENIOR OR JUNIOR? Senior. He said that he would call the politically appointed Judges and I would never get due process. And that really is what motivated me to fight the fight in the courts. I couldn’t believe in the aftermath of all of us risking our lives fighting for the system that we could be denied our rights of due process under law. I just couldn’t believe that. Unfortunately I thought it was a bluff, but it turned out to be true because what he predicted is precisely what happened. I thought it was Bath who was blowing smoke so I resisted and I said: “Jim, I’m not going to sue you, I’m not going to go report these Saudi dealings to the DA’s Office. I just don’t want to be in Business with you anymore.” Then I called my Attorney and I didn’t instruct him to file a lawsuit. I said please look at our Partnership agreement and find out how I can become a Businessman independent of Jim Bath. I just don’t want to be involved in all this. Well, I never had that luxury because Bath and the Bank that was laundering the Saudi money inundated me in lawsuits. I had four criminal chargesand I think twenty-eight civil
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lawsuits that were filed against me concurrently. And it just dominated my life. Fortunately I was able to get legal representation. The best lawyers in Houston took up my case on a contingency fee basis. They filed counter claims against Bath alleging Saudi influence peddling with the Bush family, although in retrospect when I read my own legal pleadings, the lawyers were very careful to remove a lot of the references to the threats and avoided using the Bin Laden, the Bin Mahfouz the Bush name. And I would ask my own lawyers, why aren’t you stating succinctly the nature of the Bath’s threat?. And they’d say: “Well Bill, you know we don’t want to make the Judges angry. We have to be very careful.”
AND IT WASN’T THAT THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE THOSE LINKS WERE TRUE, IT WAS JUST THE OPPOSITE. THEY BELIEVED THEM ?– They believed the links to be true. They’re afraid of backlash from the Judges. One of my many Lawyers, John O’Neill of Porter and Clements, was actuallythe campaign manager of one of the Republican judges who poured me out every case - Judge Lewis Moore,. And when John found out that my case was assigned to Judge Moore he said: “Bill, we’ve got this case made-in-the-shade.” He said: “This guy - I’m his campaign manager. I raise funds for his reelection. No problem.” And then we’d get into the courtroom and be poured out without a trial. And John would shake his head and comment: “The Judge must have gone crazy. I can’t believe it, he’s never treated me this way.”
WHERE IS JIM BATH TODAY? He’s in hiding in Houston. He’s in hiding.
HE HAS NOT BEEN SEEN? Oh he’s been seen. I ran into him at the grocery store about nine months ago. But he was formerly high profile in the Community. He had a very prominent role with the Chamber of Commerce and in Houston social circles. It was only after Bin Mahfouz was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney in 1991 paid a $225 million dollar fine, was kicked out of the Country and his Banks BCCI and NCB were shut down, that Bath basically was put on ice by Bush because he became a political liability. And if you call his Aircraft Brokerage Company, JB&A, they’ll tell you: “We know who Jim Bath is but we haven’t seen him in years and we don’t know how to contact him.” So he’s, he’s really being kept on ice.
AND WHERE DO YOU THINK PHYSICALLY HE IS?
I think he’s at his ranch in Simmons Bottoms (in Dayton Texas). He’s got a ranch out there with a landing strip. I see his airplane flying over every day so I know he’s still flying.
WHEN GEORGE BUSH SENIOR WAS REPLACED AS DIRECTOR OF THE CIA, WHERE DID HE GO? He came to Houston where he became affiliated with a Bank in Houston called FIB, First International Bank. And that was the bank that Bath used to deposit the Saudi money. That’s where the Bin Laden revolving line of credit was. The name changed in 1980 to InterFirst Bank from FIB but it was the same bank.
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AND YOU SAY HE WAS CONNECTED WITH THIS BANK. WHAT WAS GEORGE BUSH SENIOR’S INTEREST? He was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bank.
SO THAT’S MORE THAN CONNECTED. Well, more than connected. Yes.
FUNDAMENTAL ROLE. He was the principal player.
“This is no coincidence at all. This is all arranged. It was all arranged at the time that Bush made his quid pro quo relationship with the Saudis. “
SO NO COINCIDENCE AS FAR AS YOU’RE CONCERNED THAT THE SAUDI MONEY AND THE MONEY THAT BATH’S DOING BUSINESS WITH, ENDS UP AT GEORGE BUSH SENIOR’S BANK? No this is no coincidence at all. This is all arranged. It was all arranged at the time that Bush made his quid pro quo relationship with the Saudis. My understanding of it is that Bath represented the Bush interests and Bin Laden/Bin Mahfouz interchangeably represented the Saudi Royal Family interests. People who have tried to villify the Bin Laden family or the Bin Mahfouz family fail to realize that the Saudis have a very patriarchal society and that according to Bath, neither of those families sneeze without the Saudi Royals’ blessing. I mean everything they do is at the beholding at the Saudi Royal Family. As a matter of fact, Bin Mahfouz’ Bank NCB is the only Bank that was not nationalized in Saudi Arabia. All the rest of the Banks were nationalized in 1974 except National Commercial Bank (NCB) which is privately owned by Bin Mahfouz. That’s where the Saudi Royals keep all their personal money.
SO AGAIN, THEN YOU’VE GOT BIN MAHFOUZ AND BIN LADEN TIGHTLY CONNECTED TO THE SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY ON ONE SIDE ?
Right.
GEORGE BUSH SENIOR AND HIS SON ON THE OTHER SIDE, AND IN THE MIDDLE JIM BATH ?
Right.
THERE’S NO QUESTION IN YOUR MIND THAT THESE WERE ALL INTER-RELATED? THEY, COULD THEY NOT HAVE BEEN ARM’S LENGTH RELATIONSHIPS? No.
YOU’RE SURE IF BATH WAS DOING BUSINESS WITH THE SAUDIS, SURE HE WAS DOING BUSINESS WITH THE BUSHES, BUT NEVER THE TWAIN WOULD MEET? There’s no way. I mean Bath confided in me and told me the nature of the relationship. His rendition fits every bit of evidence I’ve seen. I’ve met all the players including the Bushes and the Saudis - everything fits and is very consistent.
AND THAT WOULD EXPLAIN JIM BATH’S POSITION? Absolutely. He went from a nondescript nobody, who had no capital and no political connections, to this high-rolling business man who’s managing banks and fleets of airplanes for
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the wealthiest individuals on the planet. That doesn’t happen by accident. I mean Jim’s a very capable, personable guy but he doesn’t have the pedigree, the credentials, or the connections on his own to explain any of this.
SO HOW IS IT HE WAS CHOSEN TO BE THIS EXULTED ONE? Well if you recall back in the mid-1970’s the CIA came under fire for trying to assassinate Fidel Castro,for engineering elections in Latin America and putting friendly Dictators in power. The Church and Pike committees were empanelled in Congress to bring the Agency under control. After these Intelligence committees investigated illegal CIA activities they issued a stinging report concluding that it is incompatible for theGovernment of a Democratic Society to engage in KGB-type activities. What Bush did as CIA Director, rather than just terminate these activities, was to privatize them. He began to look for people qualified and willing to form quasi private corporations to take control of these assets and continue to do the CIA’s bidding. Because he needed a pilot to form an Aviation cutout, he turned to the obvious referral source - his Son George Jr. who was in an Air National Guard Aviation Squadron. All military pilots like myself and Bath have to hold top-secret security clearances, are clearly patriots, and have been vetted by the FBI. Knowing this (as a former Naval Aviator himself), George Bush Sr. asked Dubya: “Do you know a guy in your Air National Guard Unit who we could bring in to operate an Air proprietary and deal with the Saudis?” George Jr. responded by recommending his drinking buddy, Jim Bath.
AND THIS IS WHAT JIM BATH TOLD YOU? Jim’s a very capable, personable guy. In retrospect, he’s somebody that I probably would have chosen for that responsibility had I known him back then.
AND IT WAS THROUGH THAT CONNECTION WITH THE BUSHES THAT HE ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF THE SAUDIS? Right, well he was introduced to the Saudis. That was clearlywas an arranged marriage.
AND AGAIN INTRODUCED BY?
By the Bushes –
… FOR THEIR REPRESENTATIVES?
Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely.
“Well it’s cost me virtually everything, financially. I lost my business, all my real estate holdings, all of my assets were conveyed to Bath in the lawsuits”
WHEN YOU LOOK BACK OVER ALL OF THIS HOW MUCH HAS IT COST YOU IN FINANCIAL AND OTHER WAYS? Well it’s cost me virtually everything, financially. I lost my business, all my real estate holdings, all of my assets were conveyed to Bath in the lawsuits, my house was foreclosed on because the mortgage was held by the Bank that was laundering the Saudi money, all my property was sold at constables’ sale, my Navy retirement was forfeited, and we paid a terrible price. One irony was that during this litigation process, when I
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refused to cooperate in the cover-up, they began to offer me money and banking business - a package worth millions of dollars if I would only sign what they called a Settlement Agreement. But as I explained to my Lawyer, the Settlement Agreement was nothing but a ‘hush money’ agreement. It said basically that we could never have this conversation and that I could never disclose the Bush-Saudi relationship. I felt that to take that money and to sign that Agreement would have been to basically spit on the graves of all of my friends who died in Vietnam and were fighting to fulfill the Oath we took to protect the Constitution. So I’ve paid a heavy price but I really feel like some of us have a destiny. I certainly didn’t choose this destiny, but it was thrust upon me and I’m trying to do my best to get the truth out. And again there’s really no ill will toward Jim Bath or George Bush. It’s just a matter of getting the truth out on the table and letting the consequences be what they may. But I think the truth’s important.
HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON FOR MORE THAN A DECADE AND A HALF? Yes.
“So, in this case because we fought the fight through to the bitter end, now at least the truth has a chance of getting out and being laid bare. “
IT’S JUST RIGHT THERE AT THE FOREFRONT OF YOUR … ? It’s like a tar baby because you think you’ve put it behind you and then 9-11 happens and all of a sudden, it surfaces again and it’s germaine - it’s material. I feel like it’s divine destiny and that world events have really made the fight meritorious in a sense because now people do care. They’re starting to wonder about the integrity and the motives of these people and so what happened is now relevant. I mean it’s extremely relevant. And so in that sense it validated the fight we fought. I’ve been told by my own Lawyers that most people in my situationhave a skeleton or two in their closets, They have a drinking problem, they’re doing drugs or they’re married and have girlfriends on the side. So when they’re confronted with the threat to expose their dirty laundry, they take the easy way out by signing the Settlement Agreement. They take the payoff money and then the story never gets out. So, in this case because we fought the fight through to the bitter end, now at least the truth has a chance of getting out and being laid bare.
YOU SAY WATCING THE EVENTS UNFOLD AFTER 9-11 – YOU REALIZED HOW RELEVANT YOUR EXPERIENCE AND YOUR KNOWLEDGE NOW ARE – Yes.
“I can tell you in the Military that if you have any potential conflict of interest that you won’t get a security clearance because you’re subject to blackmail. We currently have somebody in the Oval Office who’s subject to blackmail. That disturbs me. That’s why the Saudis’ secret funding of the Commander-In-Chief’s oil business is relevant.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE ESSENTIAL RELEVANCE OF WHAT YOU KNOW AND WHAT YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH, AND WHAT’S GOING ON NOW? I don’t believe that Bush as President can be an objective arbitrator of the
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war on terrorism. The Bin Ladens and the Saudis are obviously involved. Fifteen of the nineteen terrorists were Saudis and the Saudis, including Bin Mahfouz and his National Commercial Bank, are known to have been funding the Islamic charities that have funded the Terrorists. The same people that were doing business with Bath at Bush’s request and funding Bush’s business interests have been sponsoring terrorism. The Saudis basically had Bush on the payroll back in the late seventies and early eighties. Because of this, Bush moved heaven and earth to keep this information under wraps including calling in chits with Houston Judges. Concealment of these dealings puts the Saudis in position to blackmail the President of the United States. This may account for the Adminstration quashing investigations into Saudi activities including their funding of Islamic charities. I can tell you in the Military that if you have any potential conflict of interest that you won’t get a security clearance because you’re subject to blackmail. We currently have somebody in the Oval Office who’s subject to blackmail. That disturbs me. That’s why the Saudis’ secret funding of the Commander-In-Chief’s oil business is relevant.
IN TERMS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BUSHES AND THE SAUDIS – WAS THERE SUPPORT FOR HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN? My understanding from Bath was that they were making campaign contributions by taking brief cases full of cash to the law firms. They would give the cash to the lawyers and then each of the lawyers in turn would make a thousand dollar campaign contribution to Bush or Bentsen or whomever.
WHICH WOULD PRESUMABLY BE AGAINST ELECTORAL LAW – Well, it is against the law but it’s obviously concealed by virtue of the Attorneys making the contributions. And that’s my understanding of how it worked. Again I didn’t see the money changing hands.
BUT BATH EXPLAINED THIS TO YOU? Yes.
IN THOSE TERMS? And he also did it himself in his own dealings with the City of Houston. He even arranged for the employees to make thousand dollar campaign contributions to the City, the Houston City Councilmen who sat on the Aviation Committee and awarded him the grant of an FBO Franchise at Houston’s Ellington Airport. Then Bath would reimburse everyone who made the thousand-dollar contribution which is the statuatory limit in cash allowed from a single donor.
WHICH AGAIN WOULD BE AGAINST THE LAW. Well of course it’s against the law. But that’s the way Bath operated. He told me when he did it that he was mimicking the Saudi funding of the Bush campaign.
WE VISITED THIS EARLIER BUT TO WHAT EXTENT WERE YOU PART OF THIS SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SAUDIS? HOW OFTEN WOULD YOU SEE THEM? UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES? CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW THEY, HOW THEY ACTED PERSONALLY, PRIVATELY? Oh, yes I can. Salem Bin Laden was very gregarious. He was very Westernized. He wore Western clothing, was very articulate, and spoke English well. And he was a gad-
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fly, an international playboy. He would buzz into town with an entourage and he would have a party over at the Big House with a lot of the important Houston businessmen and attorneys in attendance. And he would entertain by playing the piano and singing. It was all over cocktails and was quite interesting. There was some unseemly conduct as well. On one occasion one of my secretaries came into work about an hour and a half late and she told me that Jim Bath had called her at eleven o’clock the night before and told her that Salem Bin Laden was at the hotel and he was lonesome and would she go over and entertain him for a while. He would also take the Arabs to Las Vegas and arrange for prostitutes and things like that. I was fortunately never part of the unseemly side of it but I did interface with them directly.
YOU SAY THE BIG HOUSE, WHICH HOUSE IS THAT? That is a big mansion on Willowick Street in the River Oaks area - it was actually three houses. There was a central estate that had a swimming pool behind it that was shaped like a kidney bean with an island in the middle of it and a bridge across to the island. There were lighted tennis courts and the three and a half acre property was right on the bayou.The house was recently sold to Tilman Fertita, one of Houston’s biggest restaurantuers.
TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE DO THE BIN LADENS AND OR BIN MAHFOUZ’ STILL HAVE RESIDENCES THERE? I have no knowledge of that. Salem Bin Laden was killed in 1988 in a plane crash in San Antonio. I believe that after Bin Mahfouz was indicted in the early 1990’s that they begin to liquidate his holdings here. I heard through a Lebanese source in the late 1990’s that he had re-entered the United States and was re-acquiring assets and doing business here again. But I have no personal experience or knowledge of that.
NOW THE FIRM IN WHICH YOU WERE IN BUSINESS WITH JIM BATH WAS A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY. That’s correct.
DOING WHAT SORTS OF PROJECTS AND HOW, HOW PROFITABLE? Well we were building multi-family residential projects - basically five to eight million dollar projects. And we were also working on Corporate Aviation facilities at both Airports. Our businesses were generally profitable because Ww were very conservativein our approach. Our financing included adequate equity capitaland I was very zealous in getting low interest rate mortgages through housing finance corporations as opposed to borrowing high interest rate money at thirteen and a half percent. So, when the market downturn occurred and in 1986, our projects relative to other developers were doing very well. InterFirst Bank in fact they put me on their Board of Directors for Business Development and recommended me for the Board of the Arthritis Foundation. The Bank indicated that theywere going to steer their foreclosed properties to us to have us manage them and do the workouts. They were very confident in our capabilities.
“Over in Saudi Arabia if you steal an apple from a fruit stand they summarily cut your hand off at the wrist. He said if the Arabs find out I’ve stolen a half a million dollars of their money, they’re going to cut off my private parts.”
13
14
SO WHAT WAS IT THAT LED TO THE RIFT BETWEEN YOU AND BATH? Bath was the funding partner for our real estate business. I was thrown for a loop when Bath sent me an interestpayment invoice relating to a $550 thousand dollar personal loan that he had at InterFirst Bank. The invoice indicated that a $27 thousand dollar interest payment was due and Bath’s handwritten notation said: “CW can you help with this?” My thought was - gee this is peculiar. Here was the guy that sent money down to fund our business asking if we can help make one of his personal loan payments to the Bank? I threw the invoice in my ‘hold’ basket and thought nothing of it until Bath’sBank Office called me. Jim McNutt from InterFirst Bank phoned and said: “Bill, Jim Bath said you’re going to make this payment for him.” I replied: ”Well Jim, you know if I had the money I’d be happy to make Jim’s payment for him. I just don’t have the money.” McNutt said: “Well I’ll have Bath call you.” And that’s when Bath came down to the Conference Room and said: “Partner, I need you to help me make this payment I’ve borrowed money from the Arabs to secure this personal loan at the Bank, I’m having trouble making this quarterly interest payment. If I don’t make it, the Bank’s going to cash the Arab Certificate of Deposit in”, and he continued: “you don’t understand how things work in Saudi Arabia.” He said: “If you steal a six-pack at a Seven-Eleven in the United States, you get a lawyer and you have a Trial and the Merits.” He stated that: “Over in Saudi Arabia if you steal an apple from a fruit stand they summarily cut your hand off at the wrist.” He said: “If the Arabs find out I’ve stolen a half a million dollars of their money - they’re going to cut off my private parts.” He also said that when Bush finds about it: – “the ball game’s over”. He said I’m going to lose all my business interests: “I’ll lose the wherewithal to our fund our real estate companies. I’ll take you down with me. So Partner you gotta help me.” That’s when I said: “Jim, you’ve told me you’ve committed a misappropriation of Saudi money - that’s a felony”. I said: “You can’t expect me to commit a felony to cover up your felony.” (because he was suggesting that I divert money from our real estate partnerships to pay his personal note.Because we had third party investors in those deals it wasn’t our money to spend on our personal notes.) And that’s what caused the rift between the two of us. It was my refusal to misappropriate funds.
AND TRIGGERED THE TWENTY-EIGHT DIFFERENT LAWSUITS AGAINST YOU BY HIM? Exactly. But that was the methodology to try to compel me to do this against my will. He said: “I’m going to George Bush and I and Banker Joe Bailey are going to compel you to basically steal money from your own companies and partnerships to cover up my theft of the Saudi money.” And I said: “You’re telling me you’re going to use the Court system to compel an innocent person to commit a felony?” That’s why I thought it was a bluff. I couldn’t believe it. But that’s what he said he was going to do. Bush would call the Judges and I’d never get my day in Court. I couldn’t believe it.
NOW WHEN YOU SAY BUSH CALLED IN IOU’S FOR THE JUDGES - Right. DO YOU HAVE ANY DIRECT EVIDENCE CONDUCTED BY HIM IN ANY OF THOSE? No direct evidence.

[IChing]

34. Amazing connections, Thank you very much from Iching's neighbor

Fabulous link, we both just read it and you were answering all of my sneaking suspicions creeping around in my head. Thank you for this!!!!

Iching's neighbor.....

[Octafish]

41. John "Smear Boat Liar" O'Neill ties to DEFENDING BIN LADEN-BUSH Connection

Once upon a scary time, Bath owed the Saudis (bin Laden and bin Mahfouz clans) BIG MONEY and is alleged to have ripped off his former business partner to pay them back. Bill White objected. White wanted his money and good name, so he found a lawyer and sued. Guess who the lawyer was? John O'Neill, the same turd who helped sink Kerry's ACTUAL HERO STATUS during the 2004 campaign.

No wonder poor Bill White lost everything -- the game was fixed. Then again, that's how it always is for the BFEE.

From White's CBC interview:

CBC: HE QUOTES THE NAME OF GEORGE BUSH?

Bill White: Oh absolutely.

CBC: SENIOR OR JUNIOR?

Bill White: Senior. He said that he would call the politically appointed Judges and I would never get due process. And that really is what motivated me to fight the fight in the courts. I couldn’t believe in the aftermath of all of us risking our lives fighting for the system that we could be denied our rights of due process under law. I just couldn’t believe that. Unfortunately I hought it was a bluff, but it turned out to be true because what he predicted is precisely what happened. I thought it was Bath who was blowing smoke so I resisted and I said: “Jim, I’m not going to sue you, I’m not going to go report these Saudi dealings to the DA’s Office. I just don’t want to be in Business with you anymore.” Then I called my Attorney and I didn’t instruct him to file a lawsuit. I said please look at our partnership agreement and find out how I can become a Businessman independent of Jim Bath. I just don’t want to be involved in all this. Well, I never
had that luxury because Bath and the Bank that was laundering the Saudi money inundated me in lawsuits. I had four criminal chargesand I think twenty-eight civil lawsuits that were filed against me concurrently. And it just dominated my life.

Fortunately I was able to get legal representation. The best lawyers in Houston took up my case on a contingency fee basis. They filed counter claims against Bath alleging Saudi influence peddling with the Bush family, although in retrospect when I read my own legal pleadings, the lawyers were very careful to remove a lot of the references to the threats and avoided using the Bin Laden, the Bin Mahfouz the Bush name. And I would ask my own lawyers, why aren’t you stating succinctly the nature of the Bath’s threat?. And they’d say: “Well Bill, you know we don’t want to make the Judges angry. We have to be very careful.”

CBC: AND IT WASN’T THAT THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE THOSE LINKS WERE TRUE, IT WAS JUST THE OPPOSITE. THEY BELIEVED THEM ?

Bill White: They believed the links to be true. They’re afraid of backlash from the Judges. One of my many Lawyers, John O’Neill of Porter and Clements, was actually the campaign manager of one of the Republican judges who poured me out every case - Judge Lewis Moore. And when John found out that my case was assigned to Judge Moore he said: "Bill, we’ve got this case made-in-the-shade.” He said: “This guy - I’m his campaign manager. I raise funds for his reelection. No problem.” And then we’d get into the courtroom and be poured out without a trial. And John would shake his head and comment: “The Judge must have gone crazy. I can’t believe it, he’s never treated me this way.”

CONTINUED... (on PDF, seemslikeadream found it as HTML on this thread)...

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/white.pdf

Can't lose. Like playing the markets or when backing both sides in a war. Fix the game. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Standard BFEE business model.

[Octafish]

40. Banks is where the money is.

CBC: WHEN GEORGE BUSH SENIOR WAS REPLACED AS DIRECTOR OF THE CIA, WHERE DID HE GO?

WHITE: He came to Houston where he became affiliated with a Bank in Houston called FIB, First International Bank. And that was the bank that Bath used to deposit the Saudi money. That’s where the Bin Laden revolving line of credit was. The name changed in 1980 to InterFirst Bank from FIB but it was the same bank.

CBC: AND YOU SAY HE WAS CONNECTED WITH THIS BANK. WHAT WAS GEORGE BUSH SENIOR’S INTEREST?

WHITE: He was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bank.

CBC: SO THAT’S MORE THAN CONNECTED.

WHITE: Well, more than connected. Yes.

CBC: FUNDAMENTAL ROLE.

WHITE: He was the principal player. This is no coincidence at all. This is all arranged. It was all arranged at the time that Bush made his quid pro quo relationship with the Saudis.

CBC: SO NO COINCIDENCE AS FAR AS YOU’RE CONCERNED THAT THE SAUDI MONEY AND THE MONEY THAT BATH’S DOING BUSINESS WITH, ENDS UP AT GEORGE BUSH SENIOR’S BANK?

WHITE: No this is no coincidence at all. This is all arranged. It was all arranged at the time that Bush made his quid pro quo relationship with the Saudis. My understanding of it is that Bath represented the Bush interests and Bin Laden/Bin Mahfouz interchangeably represented the Saudi Royal Family interests. People who have tried to villify the Bin Laden family or the Bin Mahfouz family fail to realize that the Saudis have a very patriarchal society and that according to Bath, neither of those families sneeze without the Saudi Royals’ blessing. I mean everything they do is at the beholding at the Saudi Royal Family. As a matter of fact, Bin Mahfouz’ Bank NCB is the only Bank that was not nationalized in Saudi Arabia. All the rest of the Banks were nationalized in 1974 except National Commercial Bank (NCB) which is privately owned by Bin Mahfouz. That’s where the Saudi Royals keep all their personal money.

CBC: SO AGAIN, THEN YOU’VE GOT BIN MAHFOUZ AND BIN LADEN TIGHTLY CONNECTED TO THE SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY ON ONE SIDE ?

WHITE: Right.

CBC: GEORGE BUSH SENIOR AND HIS SON ON THE OTHER SIDE, AND IN THE MIDDLE JIM BATH ?

WHITE: Right.

[IChing]

42. Follow the money this is not a conspiracy site it is a CBC interview

thanks friend

[donkeyotay]

55. Thanks. Privatizing is such a benign term for such corruption.

After these Intelligence committees investigated illegal CIA activities they issued a stinging report concluding that it is incompatible for theGovernment of a Democratic Society to engage in KGB-type activities. What Bush did as CIA Director, rather than just terminate these activities, was to privatize them. He began to look for people qualified and willing to form quasi private corporations to take control of these assets and continue to do the CIA’s bidding.

[AntiFascist]

59. Exactly, and people don't seem to fathom the depth of the corruption....

portions of our intelligence apparatus went up for hire to the highest bidders, including those with ties to terrorism. Who cares about securing the "homeland" when they can play games and rake in huge bucks. False flag attacks can now be staged by independent operatives with intimate ties to our own government. Black ops programs can grow exponentially with their own financial networks of drug and arms trading.

[Mind_your_head]

46. Crikey!!! You're pretty thorough.....and my middle finger has gotten tired

from scrolling through SOME of the truth just to get to the part where I can post.

We've had MORE enough. And, as 'mystery poster' has pointed out at TPM Muckracker....the Senate/House is just as complicit/involved....b/c they didn't DO what they SHOULD have done LONG AGO.....there's a saying about 'swift justice'....

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003805.php

[rucognizant]

63. Thank you..........

I've been through 3 computers since I bookmarked that material and I could never find it again!

[ooglymoogly]

67. I bookmarked it

and I can't say it enough...http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003805.php Mystery poster has opened glazed eyes to clear eyes....Mystery poster....thanx

[ooglymoogly]

66. Thank you for highlilghting the mystery poster

He is able to put it all together. You only have to touch the surface to find the complete soulessness of this bunch of hyenas...and yet our congress will not begin impeachment...for fear that their own political Self agrandisement will be tarnished never mind the survival of this country. No more fucking excuses....we need to light a fire under these spineless dumb clucks that will burn them at the stake if they do not do what they are sworn to do and that is to protect the constitution...and alas they are making such complicated excuses for not doing....and that is unforgivable.

[KansDem]

61. You're definitely the resident Bathologist!

K&R!!

:dem:

[seemslikeadream]

70. Oh no!

Quite a bit of help from my friends here at DU :hi: :hug:

[The Doctor.]

62. OMG SLAD! Just when I think

I can't absorb one more pure conspiracy factoid such as Sibel Edmonds, Ken Blackwell/Diebold, US attorneys, the BCCI, etc... someone like you drops a big, juicy, comprehensive riot of damning facts into the mix and I just pick my fork back up again.

I feel like my outrage threshold and attention limits are full to bursting, but I just-can't-stop!

Curse you seemslikeadream!

(Thanks for the links though ;))

[IChing]

9. Thank you so much

I wish I could nominate this thread since a republican asked me
to asked DU on this.

[Cha]

11. Recommended~

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[IChing]

12. Thanks for the nom

hopefully Octafish will grace this thread, my neighbor went to get
a haircut so she will be back soon.

[MagickMuffin]

21. Since you can't Nominate, I'll gladly do so for you

A lot of great info here. And here's some more:

http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=66928052&QueryID=827dc785-a328-4f4d-a480-6ea780a34334

1. Resonance: February 2004 Archives
www.brianarner.com/weblog/arch -
Published on: 2/1/2004 Last Visited: 11/11/2006

Was it a coincidence that Bush and Bath both declined physicals?
...
Like his father before him, Dubya founded his oil business with the financial backing of investors, including James R. Bath, a Houston businessman whom Dubya apparently first met when they were in the same Texas Air National Guard unit. (Interestingly, both Dubya and Bath were both suspended from flying in August and September 1972, respectively, for "failure to accomplish annual medical examination.")

Tax documents and other financial records show that Bath, an aircraft broker with controversial ties to Saudi Arabia sheiks, had invested $50,000 in Arbusto, granting him a 5 percent interest in two limited partnerships controlled by Dubya.

Time magazine described Bath in 1991 as "a deal broker whose alleged associations run from the CIA to a major shareholder and director of the Bank of Credit & Commerce." BCCI, as it was more commonly known, closed its doors in July 1991 amid charges of multibillion-dollar fraud and global news reports that the financial institution had been heavily involved in drug money laundering, arms brokering, covert intelligence work, bribery of government officials and-here's the kicker-aid to terrorists.

Bath was never directly implicated in the BCCI scandal, but according to The Outlaw Bank, an award-winning 1993 book by Time correspondents, Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne, Bath originally "made his fortune by investing money for Mahfouz and another BCCI-connected Saudi, Sheikh bin Laden," reportedly the brother of none other than Osama bin Laden, the man accused by the U.S. government of masterminding the August 1998 terrorist bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed more than 250 people. Bath was never directly implicated in the BCCI scandal, but according to The Outlaw Bank, an award-winning 1993 book by Time correspondents, Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne, Bath originally "made his fortune by investing money for Mahfouz and another BCCI-connected Saudi, Sheikh bin Laden," reportedly the brother of none other than Osama bin Laden, the man accused by the U.S. government of masterminding the August 1998 terrorist bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed more than 250 people.
...
According to court documents, Bath swore that in 1977 he represented four prominent and wealthy Saudi Arabians as a trustee and used his name on their investments in the United States. In return, he received a 5 percent interest in their deals. Time reporters Beaty and Gwynne suggest in their book that the $50,000 Bath invested in Dubya's Arbusto Energy drilling company may have belonged to Bath's Saudi clients since the Houston businessman "had no substantial money of his own at the time."

2. Bush
www.spingola.com/bush_war7.htm -
Published on: 11/9/2005 Last Visited: 3/5/2007

Another one of Bush's financial backers was James Bath, a Houston aircraft broker who also had ties to Salem bin Laden. In fact, it was on behalf of Salem bin Laden that James Bath purchased the Houston Gulf Airport.

3. BEHIND THE BUSHES: Chronology of a family KEY WORDS: George W. Bush
www.prorev.com/bush.htm -
Published on: 4/4/1999 Last Visited: 9/5/2000

4. BartCop's most recent rants - Political Humor and Commentary
www.bartcop.com/bfee-history.h -
Published on: 3/3/2007 Last Visited: 3/12/2007

William Draper, and James Bath, a Houston aircraft broker
5. Solari: Gideon: Chronology
www.solari.com/gideon/chronolo -
Published on: 7/18/2000 Last Visited: 10/3/2000




1. AWOLBush.com - Home Page
www.sibology.com/BUSHAWOL.HTM -
Published on: 1/1/2007 Last Visited: 1/10/2007

Who is James Bath? North Adams (MA) Transcript, 5/3/04

Who in the world is James Bath and why censor his name?

Bath is the American representative of two Saudi Arabian businessmen--one of them Osama bin Laden's older brother--and his position has brought him millions in deals involving banks and airports.
...
Online Journal, 9/19/01 - Who's that guy James Bath (suspended on the same document as G.W. Bush) and what's his relationship to Osama Bin Laden? (More on Bath and Bush) (More on Bath and Saleem Bin Laden)
...
Online Journal, 9/19/01 - Who's that guy James Bath (suspended on the same document as G.W. Bush) and what's his relationship to Osama Bin Laden? (More on Bath and Bush) (More on Bath and Saleem Bin Laden)
...
Online Journal, 9/19/01 - Who's that guy James Bath (suspended on the same document as G.W. Bush) and what's his relationship to Osama Bin Laden? (More on Bath and Bush) (More on Bath and Saleem Bin Laden)

2. Try To Live Better by Self Education
www.trytolive.com/c0811.htm -
Published on: 9/18/2002 Last Visited: 10/21/2006

Another is the mysterious Houston businessman James R. Bath, a deal broker whose alleged associations run from the CIA to a major shareholder and director of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International. The President's son has denied that he ever had business dealings with Bath, but early 1980s tax records reviewed by TIME show that Bath invested $50,000 in Bush's energy ventures and remained a stockholder until Bush sold his company to Harken in 1986. Bath's penchant for secrecy has been frustrated by a feud with a former business partner, Bill White, who claims that Bath was a front man for CIA business operations.
...
White contends that Bath has used his connections to the Bush family and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen to cloak the development of a lucrative array of offshore companies designed to move money and airplanes between the Middle East and Texas.
...
White, an Annapolis graduate and former Navy fighter pilot, claims it was Bentsen's son Lan who suggested that White go into the real estate development business with Bath, a former Air Force fighter pilot.
...
The partners prospered together at first, but since their falling out they have dueled in five lawsuits in which Bath has kept the upper hand, White claims, by privately asserting to the court that he had "national security" connections. White now claims in court that Bath wanted to borrow $550,000 from their real estate venture to cover funds that Bath had "misappropriated" from an aircraft company he controlled.

Bath, 55, acknowledges a friendship with George W. Bush that stems from their service together in the Texas Air National Guard, and says he is "slightly" acquainted with the President. But Bath vehemently denies White's accusations. "I am not a member of the CIA or any other intelligence agency," he says, describing White's portrayal as a "fantasy." Even so, Bath, while insisting he is nothing more than a "small, obscure businessman," is associated with some of the most powerful figures in the U.S. and Middle East. Private records show, and associates confirm, that Bath is a "representative" for several immensely wealthy Saudi families, an unusual position for any small-time Texas businessman.

Bath got his start in real estate in 1973 by forming a partnership with Lan Bentsen.
...
Bath and Bentsen have said they have not been partners for years, but secretaries at Bath's office still answer the phone with a cheery "Bath Bentsen Interests."
...
Bath says he simply hasn't got around to changing the name of his company.

Bath opened his own aircraft brokerage firm in 1976, but his Middle East connections first surfaced two years later, when he became a shareholder and director of Houston's Main Bank.
...
Bath controlled a fleet of companies connected to his aircraft business, and he enjoyed unusual carte blanche to direct the U.S. investments of several wealthy Middle Easterners. Associates confirm that Bath has brokered more than $150 million in private plane deals in recent years, concentrated in sales and leases to Middle Eastern royalty and other influential figures. Pharaon is believed to have bought several expensive jets for his construction company. One Bath entity, Skyway Aircraft, leased a $10 million Gulfstream II to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., which is controlled by Sheik Zayed bin Sultan an- Nahayan, the President of the United Arab Emirates and the current owner of B.C.C.I. Bath's partners in Skyway, one of four similarly named companies he controls, are artfully hidden.
...
Even if Bath is a clandestine public servant, the U.S. may not always get a bargain. The Houston Post reported last year that the U.S. had spent millions of dollars more than necessary by fueling military aircraft, including Air Force One, at privately owned Southwest Airport Services at Ellington Field rather than using a government fuel station there. Bath operates and holds a majority ownership stake in Southwest Airport Services, which the Post said was charging a markup of as much as 60% on the fuel. So far, the paper's charges have prompted no official investigations.

Go to 9849
3. Welcome to GuvWurld
www.guvwurld.org/cgi-bin/live. -
Published on: 8/28/2002 Last Visited: 12/29/2005

Legal papers regarding Bath's contested divorce listed one of his assets

as a $50,000 investment in Arbusto Oil -- Bush's first company.

Moreover, Bath's business partner said he had no substantial money of

his own at the time he made the Arbusto investment, implying that Bath
...
Economist," Peter Brewton, consulted James R. Bath's resume and wrote
...
that in early summer 1976 Bath received a huge business break:

"Bath was named a trustee for Sheikh Salem bin Laden of Saudi Arabia
...
Shortly thereafter, Bath also began working for billionaire Sheikh
...
representative James Bath had a close business associate named Charles
...
businessman named James Bath, who was in real estate and aircraft

sales, and represented some of the richest Arab sheikhs. Bath, also a
...
Bentsen thought that since Bath was also a former fighter pilot, the

two men would have a lot in common." ( The Outlaw Bank)

White and Bath became partners; and predictably, they were successful in
...
while George Junior's friend James Bath quietly found the investors --

including Saudi billionaires. "Bath told me that he was in the CIA. He
...
Moreover, White said the elder Bush recruited Bath to monitor the
...
elder's friendship with Bath for himself: "White said that one time in
...
Bush walked in. Bush waved at Bath and said, ‘Hi, Jim,' according to
...
investments through James Bath.
...
Mahfouz also bought into Houston's Main Bank as a partner with Bath and
...
However, Bill White also told Jonathan Beaty that Bath had been
...
were partners, adding "the DEA suspected Bath was using his planes to
...
into the Caymans by Saudi-backed representatives like James Bath --
...
"The directors named Mahfouz's envoy James Bath as president and

director, and then resigned. All of the stock was made into bearer

stock, which meant that it belonged to whoever possessed it," according

to Brewton.

And in his sworn lawsuit against Bill White, Bath refused to reveal the
...
When the real estate market tanked, Bath turned on White for the
...
surrogate Jim Bath's Southwest Airport Services company at Houston's

Ellington Field.

Southwest was charging government military aircraft anywhere from 22
...
James Bath, more than $12 million in contract overruns for over-priced
4. American Free Press News October 2001
www.denverspiritualcommunity.o -
Published on: 10/23/2003 Last Visited: 5/27/2006

James R. Bath, a friend and neighbor, was used to funnel money from Osama bin Laden's brother, Salem bin Laden, to set up George W. Bush in the oil business, according to The Wall Street Journal and other reputable sources.
...
"Like his father who made his fortune in the oil business with the money of others, George W. founded Arbusto with the financial backing of investors, including James R. Bath," said the late James Howard Hatfield, author of a "controversial biography," Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Mak ing of an American President.
...
Bath became friends with George W. during their days together in the Texas Air National Guard.
...
Bath "confided that he was an original investor in George Bush Jr.'s oil exploration company," according to The Outlaw Bank.

Bath found investors for Arbusto and "made his fortune" by investing the money of two BCCI-connected Saudi sheiks, Khalid bin Mahfouz and Salem bin Laden. Mahfouz was one of the richest men in the world and a controlling shareholder in BCCI.

Bill White, a former real estate business partner of Bath, said: "He had put up $50,000 to help George, Jr., get started in oil business" at a time when "Bath had no substantial money of his own," according to The Outlaw Bank. Bill White, a former real estate business partner of Bath, said: "He had put up $50,000 to help George, Jr., get started in oil business" at a time when "Bath had no substantial money of his own," according to The Outlaw Bank.
...
However, Bush said Bath was "a lot of fun."
...
White contends that the Saudis were using Bath and their huge financial resources to influence U.S. policy during the Reagan and Bush administrations, according to the Houston Chronicle of June 4, 1992.
...
Such representation by Bath would require that he be registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice, which he was not.

Shortly after Bush's father was appointed director of the CIA, Salem bin Laden appointed Bath as his business representative in Texas. According to The Houston Chronicle, Salem bin Laden, heir to one of the largest building companies in the Middle East, signed a trust agreement appointing Bath as his Houston representative in 1976.

In 1978 Bath purchased Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden. When bin Laden died in 1988, his interest in the airfield passed to bin Mahfouz.
5. Texas Radiation - Newsbits
www.texasradiation.org/NewsBit -
Published on: 7/14/2005 Last Visited: 3/18/2007

with James Bath, an aircraft broker and friend of George W. Bush from their
...
Mr. Bath invested $50,000 in Mr. Bush's first company,
...
In 1978, Mr. Bath became a director of Houston's Main Bank.
...
Mr. Bath's interesting connections to Saudi Arabia go back to at least
...
show that Mr. Bath purchased an airfield in south Texas, Houston Gulf Airport, in 1978 on behalf of Salem bin Laden.

Mr. bin Laden died in a plane crash near San Antonio in 1988, and his interest in the airfield passed to Mr. bin Mahfouz, according to the Chronicle. Mr. Bath also founded Southwest Airport Services to manage Houston Gulf Airport and to provide fueling service at another Houston-area airport, Ellington Field, where the company fueled military aircraft.

Mr. Bath was as well the president of Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd., a
...
Mr. Bath did not
...
any business" with Mr. Bath, but that Mr. Bath was "a lot of fun." Last
...
not have any other financial dealings with Mr. Bath." She said Gov.
...
has seen Mr. Bath once or twice at social events over the past six years.
...
Frost, a lawyer who has represented Mr. Bath, to the Texas 14th Court of
...
for Mr. Bath "ended in the early 1990s." She added that she had "never met Gov. Bush, never discussed Mr. Bath with any of his representatives, and filled out a standard judicial application."
6. TomPaine.com - The Movie Disney Doesn't Want You To See
www.tompaine.com/articles/the_ -
Published on: 6/4/2004 Last Visited: 6/4/2004

But Moore bogs down in exploring Bush's extensive Saudi connections (though there's a good catch in the revelation that James Bath, a bin Laden family adviser in Houston and an early business partner of Bush's, was also suspended from National Guard duty for failing to get a medical in '72, and that his name was subsequently blacked out of the record).
7. F L Y B Y N E W S
www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/ne -
Published on: 1/12/2002 Last Visited: 7/2/2006

One of President Bush's earliest financial backers was James Bath, a Houston aircraft broker. Bath served with President Bush in the Texas Air National Guard. Bath has a mysterious connection to the Central Intelligence Agency.

According to a 1976 trust agreement, Salem bin Laden appointed James Bath as his business representative in Houston. Revelation about Bath's relationship with the bin Laden financial empire and the CIA was made public in 1992 by Bill White, a former real estate business partner with Bath.
...
During a bitter legal fight between White and Bath, the real estate partner disclosed that Bath managed a portfolio worth millions of dollars for Sheik Khalid bin Mahfouz and other wealthy Saudis.
...
Among the investments made by Bath with Mahfouzs money was the Houston Gulf Airport.
...
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a division of the Justice Department, reviewed allegations by Bill White in 1992 that James Bath funneled money from wealthy Middle Eastern businessmen to American companies to influence the policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations.
...
In sworn depositions, Bath admitted he represented four wealthy Saudi Arabian businessmen as a trustee. He also admitted he used his name on their investments and received, in return, a five- percent stake in their business deals.

Indeed, Texas tax documents revealed that Bath owned five percent of Arbusto 79 Ltd., and Arbusto 80 Ltd.
...
James Bath, Texas political confidant of George W. Bush, managed to obtain a $1.4 million loan from Mahfouz in 1990.
...
Bath and Mahfouz, along with former Secretary of Treasury John Connally, were also co-investors in Houston's Main Bank.
...
Bath was also president of Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd, a Texas air charter company registered in the Cayman Islands.
8. Totally Delco Web Portal
totallydelco.com/v-web/portal/ -
Published on: 7/30/2004 Last Visited: 5/4/2005

James R. Bath, a friend and neighbor, was used to funnel money from Osama bin Laden's brother, Salem bin Laden, to set up George W. Bush in the oil business, according to The Wall Street Journal and other reputable sources.
...
"Like his father who made his fortune in the oil business with the money of others, George W. founded Arbusto with the financial backing of investors, including James R. Bath," said the late James Howard Hatfield, author of a "controversial biography," Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Mak ing of an American President.
...
Bath became friends with George W. during their days together in the Texas Air National Guard.
...
Bath "confided that he was an original investor in George Bush Jr.'s oil exploration company," according to The Outlaw Bank. Bath found investors for Arbusto and "made his fortune" by investing the money of two BCCI-connected Saudi sheiks, Khalid bin Mahfouz and Salem bin Laden. Mahfouz was one of the richest men in the world and a controlling shareholder in BCCI. Bill White, a former real estate business partner of Bath, said: "He had put up $50,000 to help George, Jr., get started in oil business" at a time when "Bath had no substantial money of his own," according to The Outlaw Bank. Bill White, a former real estate business partner of Bath, said: "He had put up $50,000 to help George, Jr., get started in oil business" at a time when "Bath had no substantial money of his own," according to The Outlaw Bank.
...
However, Bush said Bath was "a lot of fun."
...
Bath told White that he was in the CIA and that "he had been recruited by George Bush himself in 1976 when Bush was director of the agency . . . he said Bush wanted him involved with the Arabs, and to get into the aviation business." White contends that the Saudis were using Bath and their huge financial resources to influence U.S. policy during the Reagan and Bush administrations, according to the Houston Chronicle of June 4, 1992. Such representation by Bath would require that he be registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice, which he was not. Shortly after Bush's father was appointed director of the CIA, Salem bin Laden appointed Bath as his business representative in Texas. According to The Houston Chronicle, Salem bin Laden, heir to one of the largest building companies in the Middle East, signed a trust agreement appointing Bath as his Houston representative in 1976. In 1978 Bath purchased Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden. When bin Laden died in 1988, his interest in the airfield passed to bin Mahfouz.
9. movie-spy.com - Movie spoiler & plot summary for Fahrenheit 9/11
www.movie-spy.com/viewspoiler. -
Published on: 1/2/2007 Last Visited: 1/11/2007

The other was James R. Bath.

In the 2004 copy of the military record, Bath's name was blacked out. Why? Perhaps it was because at one time, Bath was the Texas money manager for the Bin Ladens. Bush and Bath were good friends in the army.
...
When Bush's dad was the head of the CIA, Bath opened a new airplane business after selling a plane to Salem Bin Laden, heir to the second largest fortune in Saudi, the Saudi Bin Laden Group.
...
Bath invested in him.

Bin Laden had given money to Bath to invest in good places. Bath in turn invested in Bush.
10. - September 11th, Conspiracy Theories.
www.infonature.org/english/wor -
Published on: 9/11/2001 Last Visited: 1/12/2007

While a member of the Guard, Bush meets and befriends Jim Bath, a former Air Force pilot and budding entrepreneur.
...
Bush also privatizes various CIA assets, with Bath considered one of the beneficiaries because of his involvement in the aircraft business.
...
Bath will later tell a business associate he works for the CIA and was recruited by Bush Sr.

Salem Bin Laden, older brother to future al Qaeda leader Osama, enters into a trust agreement with Jim Bath, whereby Bath will act as the bin Laden family's representative in North America, investing money in various business ventures. Bath also becomes the business representative of Khalid bin Mahfouz, a member of Saudi Arabia's most powerful banking family and owners of the National Commercial Bank, the principal bank of the Saudi royal family.
...
Bath hires White as his partner.
...
Money from the bin Laden and bin Mahfouz families is invested in Bath's real estate company. Among other things, Bath buys the Saudis an airport, office and apartment buildings, and invests in Texas banks.
...
Bath will invest money from Salem bin Laden and Khalid bin Mahfouz in this new company. Bill White is told by Bath that more than $1-million of the Saudis' money was pumped into Bush's venture.
...
Bill White and Jim Bath have a falling out.
...
Bath then launches 28 frivolous lawsuits against White, leading to White's financial ruin and expulsion from Houston's business community.
11. I-News
www.iland.net/inews/story.php? -
Published on: 11/13/2004 Last Visited: 11/14/2004

The young, Western-leaning Saudi billionaires chose Houston businessman James Bath to represent their American interests. Bath was a family friend of George W. Bush, dating back to their days together in the Texas Air National Guard.
...
George W's first oil venture, Arbusto Energy, was funded, in part, by Bath. In the late 1970s, Bath invested $50,000 to help Bush start Arbusto. In conflicting statements, Bush first denied ever having known Bath, but later admitted that he was aware that his former partner and friend was representing Saudi interests. At the time that Bath invested in Arbusto, he was the sole U.S. business agent for Salem bin Laden as well as Khalid bin Mahfouz. According to a 1991 Time magazine report, Bath made investments for his Saudi clients in his own name in exchange for a percentage of the deals. While it cannot be proven with certainty, there has been much speculation-and evidence-to suggest that Bath invested bin Laden's and/or bin Mahfouz's money into Bush's first oil venture.

Bath came under investigation by the FBI in 1992 for his Saudi business relationships. He was accused of funneling Saudi money through Houston in order to influence the foreign policies of the Reagan and first Bush Administrations. Bath's former business partner Bill White testified that Bath had been a liaison for the CIA as well.
...
If this was not enough, Bath continued to run the BinLaden Group's American business interests when bin Mahfouz took over after Salem bin Laden's death. Bath even joined in a partnership with bin Mahfouz and some other figures associated with the terrorist-funding BCCI.
12. Andrew Wheat, 11/9/2001 - The Texas Observer
www.texasobserver.org/showArti -
Published on: 3/18/2003 Last Visited: 3/18/2003

The roots of the first known Bush-bin Laden convergence date back to the mid-1970s, when the two clans were linked by a Houston businessman named James R. Bath. Bath had befriended George W. Bush in the late 1960s, when they both served in the Texas Air National Guard.
...
By 1976, when Gerald Ford appointed the elder George Bush as CIA director, Bath was acting as a business agent for Salem bin Laden's interests in Texas. (Texas and Saudi Arabia were well-connected by this point through U.S. oil companies and related industries with operations in both locations.) In 1991 Time magazine and later other publications reported on allegations by Bath's former business partner that the Bush CIA hired Bath in 1976 to create offshore companies to move CIA funds and aircraft between Texas and Saudi Arabia.
...
For $50,000, Bath bought a 5 percent stake in W.'s Arbusto (Spanish for "Bush") partnerships. At the time, Bath also served as business agent for several prominent Saudis, including Salem bin Laden. In exchange for a percentage of the deals, Bath made U.S. investments for these clients in his own name, according to Time. Although Bath has said that he invested his own money in Arbusto, not Saudi money, the fact that he was Salem's agent at the time has fueled speculation that Osama bin Laden's eldest brother was an early investor in W.'s first oil venture. It was around the time of this investment, incidentally, that Osama bin Laden made his first trip to the Khyber Pass, where he would soon join the Mujaheddin and the CIA in the holy war that expelled the Soviets from Afghanistan. (Salem, for his part, owned a house in Marble Falls, and died in a 1988 plane crash near San Antonio.)

The bin Ladens cemented clearer-cut financial ties with the Bush clan in 1995, when they invested $2 million in the Carlyle Group. Carlyle specializes in the buyout of government defense contractors, and many of its principals were heavyweights in the Reagan and Bush administrations.
13. VHeadline.com - CIA links to 'Venezuelan' plane seized in Mexico with 5.5 tonnes of cocaine
www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp -
Published on: 4/26/2006 Last Visited: 5/2/2006

The Boeing 727 was operated by Skyways International, a Saudi-owned airline with past connections to the mysterious James Bath, George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard friend and later Arbusto and Harken Energy investment pass-through between the Saudis and Bush.
...
Bath was the registered agent for Salem Bin Laden.

Nayif told UN that he could transport up to 20,000 kilograms of cocaine in his jet airliner, and propositioned UN "to conduct 10-20,000 kilogram shipments in the future."
...
In 1992, according to The Houston Chronicle, George W. Bush's friend James Bath was investigated by the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) and the FBI. Investigators suspected Saudi investors who worked with Bath of illegally trying to influence US policy during the Reagan and Bush I administrations. Bath invested Saudi money in Arbusto '70 Ltd., Arbusto '80 Ltd., and Bush Exploration Co. (which later morphed into Harken Energy Corp., which included George W. Bush as its director).

After Desert Storm, Harken was granted lucrative off-shore drilling rights by Bahrain, a Desert Storm coalition partner.
...
According to the Chronicle, Bath, who was a sole agent of Salem Bin Laden, was also the sole director of Skyway Aircraft Leasing Corp., one of the affiliates of Skyways International. Bath established four corporate entities with the name "Skyway" and the firm that incorporated the corporate contrivances in the Cayman Islands for Bath was the same one that established a Cayman-based money laundering front company for Oliver North in the Iran-contra scandal.
...
In 1977, Bath bought Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of Salem Bin Laden.
14. Factual Back-Up For Fahrenheit 9/11
www.anti-sheep.com/articles/04 -
Published on: 10/10/2004 Last Visited: 8/17/2005

FAHRENHEIT 9/11: James R. Bath was the Texas money manager for the Bin Laden family.

See Notarized Trust Agreement, Harris County, Texas, signed by Salem M. Binladen, July 8, 1976 (original document), Attachment C ("I, Salem M. Binladen, do hereby vest unto James Reynolds Bath, 2330 Bellefontaine, Houston, Texas, full and absolute authority to act on my behalf in all matters relating to the business and operation of Binladen-Houston offices in Houston, Texas."
...
"According to a 1976 trust agreement, drawn shortly after Bush was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi Sheik Salem M. Binladen appointed Bath as his business representative in Houston.
...
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: George W. Bush and James R. Bath had become good friends.
...
"Bath, 55, acknowledges a friendship with George W. Bush that stems from their service together in the Texas Air National Guard."
...
"In a copy of the record released by the National Guard in 2000, the man in question, James R. Bath, was listed as being suspended from flying for the National Guard in 1972 for failing to take a medical exam next to a similar listing for Mr. Bush.
...
It has been widely reported that the two were friends and that Mr. Bath invested in Mr. Bush's first major business venture, Arbusto Energy, in the late 1970's after Mr. Bath began working for Salem bin Laden."
...
It has been widely reported that the two were friends and that Mr. Bath invested in Mr. Bush's first major business venture, Arbusto Energy, in the late 1970's after Mr. Bath began working for Salem bin Laden."
...
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: "After they were discharged, when Bush's dad was head of the CIA, Bath opened up his own aviation business, after selling a plane to a man by the name of Salem bin Laden, heir to the second largest fortune in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi bin Laden Group."

"Bath opened his own aircraft brokerage firm in 1976."
...
"Sometime around 1974… Bath was trying to sell a F-27 turboprop, a sluggish medium-range plane that was not exactly a hot ticket in those days, when he received a phone call that changed his life.
...
FAHRENHEIT 9/11: "Bush's good friend James Bath was hired by the bin Laden family to manage their money in Texas and invest in businesses. And James Bath himself, in turn, invested in George W. Bush."
...
See Notarized Trust Agreement, Harris County, Texas, signed by Salem M. Binladen, July 8, 1976 (original document), Attachment C ("I, Salem M. Binladen, do hereby vest unto James Reynolds Bath, 2330 Bellefontaine, Houston, Texas, full and absolute authority to act on my behalf in all matters relating to the business and operation of Binladen-Houston offices in Houston, Texas."
...
See 1981 Schedule 4 spreadsheet showing $50,000 investment by James Bath in George W. Bush's Arbusto Exploration, Attachment D (original document).

Bath's business relationship with Salem bin Laden, and other wealthy Saudi businessmen, has been well documented.
...
"arly 1980s tax records reviewed by TIME show that Bath invested $50,000 in Bush's energy ventures and remained a stockholder until Bush sold his company to Harken in 1986."
15. The End of 'Unalienable Rights'
gnn.tv/headlines/7176/The_End_ -
Published on: 1/25/2006 Last Visited: 1/25/2006

In 1979, Bush's friend James Bath was the sole U.S. business representative for Salem bin-Laden, scion of the wealthy Saudi bin-Laden family and Osama's half-brother. While fronting for Salem bin-Laden, Bath helped bankroll Bush's first company, Arbusto Energy, by investing $50,000 for a five percent stake.
16. James R. Bath - SourceWatch
www.disinfopedia.org/index.php -
Published on: 1/28/2006 Last Visited: 1/28/2006

James R. Bath
...
James R. Bath
...
James R. Bath is a long-time friend of US President George Walker Bush. He served in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s along with Bush. It was this that brought him to widespread public attention, when the White House released Bush's military service records in March 2004.

A document dated Sept. 29, 1972 records that 1st Lt. George W. Bush was suspended from flying because of his "failure to accomplish annual medical examination." Bath was also suspended one month later, and this is recorded immediately below the information about Bush.
...
Craig Unger, "Mystery man: Why the White House deleted the name of Bush pal and Saudi go-between James Bath from the president's military records is a tantalizing but unanswered question (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/27/jame
s bath/)", Salon.com, 27 April, 2004.

17. It's A Lie
www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/oct15 -
Published on: 10/15/2001 Last Visited: 3/8/2007

In 1976 his firm Arbusto Energy was funded with $50,000 from Texas investment banker James R. Bath who was also the U.S. investment counselor for the bin Laden family.
...
A long-time friend of George W. Bush, Bath was connected to a number of covert financing operations in the Iran-Contra scandal, which also linked to bin Laden friend Adnan Khashoggi.
...
"'Wackenhut has had some success running the immigrant camps in Australia by converting military bases,' said MacDonald."
18. D2 Press - Editorials
www.doubledarepress.com/2002/0 -
Published on: 1/5/2004 Last Visited: 1/5/2004

In 1979, Bush's ran Arbusto Energy which got financial support from James Bath (family friend from Huston).
...
Bath coughed up $50,000 for a 5% stake in Arbusto. Bath just happened to be the sole US representative to Salem bin Laden (brother of Osama). Immediately following September 11th, Bush denied even knowing Bath (sort of like, Kenny Boy Who?) then remembered Bath's stake in Arbusto but said that he had never heard of Saudi Arabia, then remembered the country and wandered around looking confused and asked what was the question? Bath's involvement in one of the biggest international banking scandals of all time (BCCI) may have induced W's temporary amnesia. He never remembers his friends when they are in trouble.
19. SonsOfTheLight by scandal_sheet_1
sonsofthelight.blogstream.com/ -
Published on: 1/27/2007 Last Visited: 2/5/2007

Tax documents and personal financial records show that Bath personally had a 5 percent interest in Arbusto '79 Ltd., and Arbusto '80 Ltd., limited partnerships controlled by George W. Bush, President Bush's eldest son.
...
Bath invested $ 50,000 in the limited partnerships, according to the documents.
...
Bath, 55, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, declined to comment for the record. Spokesmen for FinCEN and the FBI also declined to comment. According to a 1976 trust agreement, drawn shortly after Bush was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi Sheik Salem M. Binladen appointed Bath as his business representative in Houston.
...
Bath has previously denied having worked for the CIA . . . Bath received a 5 percent interest in the companies that own and operate Houston Gulf Airport after purchasing it on behalf of Binladen in 1977.

20. http://www.newsmakingnews.com/archive -
Published on: 8/19/2001 Last Visited: 7/11/2006

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network -- known as FinCEN -- and the FBI are reviewing accusations that entrepreneur James R. Bath guided money to Houston from Saudi investors who wanted to influence U.S. policy under the Reagan and Bush administrations, sources close to the investigations say. FinCEN, a division of the U.S. Department of Treasury, investigates money laundering. Special agents and analysts from various law enforcement agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Customs Service, are assigned to work with the FinCEN staff. The federal review stems in part from court documents obtained through litigation by Bill White, a former real estate business associate of Bath.
...
White contends the documents indicate that the Saudis were using Bath and their huge financial resources to influence U.S. policy.
...
Such representation by Bath would require that he be registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice. In general, people required by law to be registered are those who represent a foreign entity seeking to influence governmental action or policy. An Annapolis graduate and former Navy fighter pilot, White, 46, claims that Bath and the judicial system, under the veil of national security, have blackballed him professionally and financially because he has refused to keep quiet about what he regards as a conspiracy to secretly funnel Saudi dollars to the United States. White became entangled in a series of lawsuits and countersuits with Bath, who for some six years has prevailed in the courts.
...
In sworn depositions, Bath said he represented four prominent Saudis as a trustee and that he would use his name on their investments. In return, he said, he would receive a 5 percent interest in their deals. Tax documents and personal financial records show that Bath personally had a 5 percent interest in Arbusto '79 Ltd., and Arbusto '80 Ltd., limited partnerships controlled by George W. Bush, President Bush's eldest son.
...
Bath invested $50,000 in the limited partnerships, according to the documents.
...
Bath, 55, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, declined to comment for the record. Spokesmen for FinCEN and the FBI also declined to comment. According to a 1976 trust agreement, drawn shortly after Bush was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi Sheik Salem M. Binladen appointed Bath as his business representative in Houston.
...
Bath has previously denied having worked for the CIA. In a sworn deposition, Bath said he was the sole director of Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd., a company that a court document shows is owned by Khaled bin Mahfouz. Bin Mahfouz had been a major shareholder in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a banking empire that has been accused of money laundering and of using Mideast oil money to seek ties to political leaders in several countries. Mahfouz and his family own the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia. In 1990, Bath bought the Express Auto Park garage at Hobby Airport for $8.4 million, which included a $1.4 million loan provided by Mahfouz, according to transaction documents. Bath received a 5 percent interest in the companies that own and operate Houston Gulf Airport after purchasing it on behalf of Binladen in 1977. After Binladen died in 1988, his interests in

21. Register to vote, Work in swing states, Redefeat Bush
www.joecitizen.org/news/news03 -
Published on: 3/1/2003 Last Visited: 12/22/2006

Salem, Osama bin Laden's brother, was represented on Harken's board of directors by his American agent, James R. Bath.

[cureautismnow]

13. Perhaps, a more recent picture?

Not sure. :shrug:

[IChing]

14. How recent?

Has he been in the news lately?

[cureautismnow]

15. I have no idea.

I just located it at http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=159&name=James-R-Bath

There's very little information at the site other than the supposed pic.

edited: for a better link with additional information at this same site

[IChing]

16. He seems to be off the radar.

But is a major player.

[cureautismnow]

20. Yep. He's been hidden quite well during the Bushco years.

It would probably be easier to find Bin Laden than him.

[MagickMuffin]

24. His current resume

Representative: American Airlines , Inc. (NYSE: AMR)
Headquarters Address: 4333 Amon Carter Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76155 USA


This link has 395 references: ENJOY:evilgrin:

http://www.zoominfo.com/search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=66928052

BLACK COCK so big little white Jane can hardly suck... -
www.uncensored.20megsfree.com/
Published on: 9/19/2006 Last Visited: 9/19/2006

James R. Bath, a friend and neighbor, was used to funnel money from Osama bin Laden's brother, Salem bin Laden, to set up George W. Bush in the oil business, according to The Wall Street Journal and other reputable sources.
...
"Like his father who made his fortune in the oil business with the money of others, George W. founded Arbusto with the financial backing of investors, including James R. Bath," said the late James Howard Hatfield, author of a "controversial biography," Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Mak ing of an American President.
...
Bath became friends with George W. during their days together in the Texas Air National Guard.
...
Bath "confided that he was an original investor in George Bush Jr.'s oil exploration company," according to The Outlaw Bank.

Bath found investors for Arbusto and "made his fortune" by investing the money of two BCCI-connected Saudi sheiks, Khalid bin Mahfouz and Salem bin Laden. Mahfouz was one of the richest men in the world and a controlling shareholder in BCCI.

Bill White, a former real estate business partner of Bath, said: "He had put up $50,000 to help George, Jr., get started in oil business" at a time when "Bath had no substantial money of his own," according to The Outlaw Bank. Bill White, a former real estate business partner of Bath, said: "He had put up $50,000 to help George, Jr., get started in oil business" at a time when "Bath had no substantial money of his own," according to The Outlaw Bank.
...
However, Bush said Bath was "a lot of fun."
...
White contends that the Saudis were using Bath and their huge financial resources to influence U.S. policy during the Reagan and Bush administrations, according to the Houston Chronicle of June 4, 1992.
...
Such representation by Bath would require that he be registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice, which he was not.

Shortly after Bush's father was appointed director of the CIA, Salem bin Laden appointed Bath as his business representative in Texas. According to The Houston Chronicle, Salem bin Laden, heir to one of the largest building companies in the Middle East, signed a trust agreement appointing Bath as his Houston representative in 1976.

In 1978 Bath purchased Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden. When bin Laden died in 1988, his interest in the airfield passed to bin Mahfouz.
...
According to the Houston Chrincle, Salem bin Ladin brother to Osama named Bath his business rep in Texas, shortly after Daddy Bush (a member of the traitorous Trilateral Commission dedicated to world govt) was named CIA Director by President Ford in 1975. By 1984 Vice-President Bush overseen the Afgan situation, Osama bin Ladin was in charge of the Makab al-kidamir (MAK) which funneled money, arms and manpower into the war in Afganistan. He helped form a polyglot formation of Arab troops from Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syrian and Palestininian refugee camps.

FOLLOW THE MONEY


More at http://www.zoominfo.com/search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=66928052

[babylonsister]

31. You never fail to impress with your research, seemslikeadream!

Thank you!

[seemslikeadream]

71. It's all right here in the archives

:hi:

[proud patriot]

6. I wonder if putting that question out there

:think: would get people to find out.

It is a very good question .

[David Zephyr]

17. K&R.

IChing, are we on the same wave length today or what? Gee whiz! Great thread! :thumbsup:

[IChing]

22. Honestly my Republican neighbor asked this

She is a level 70 world of warcraft warlock working on her 4th tier epic gear.
I used to be in the guild and play so she talks warcraft and I talk politics and
Vice-versa. I was shocked it was the first thing she wanted to talk about today,

Until she came back from her haircut just a while ago and politics came up at work today she pays attention to what I have to say
and really informed the discussion at work.

( she knows I am a level 70 shaman on my politics) LOL:) :rofl:

[KoKo]

27. Wish I had an interesting neighbor like that.....I have yet had one of my Repugs

mention F-9/11 or question W... But then...I'm my own enterprise here...just don't let on what I think or do. :-( But...I'd love a neighbor like that...

Thanks for posting.

[IChing]

32. She just said right now on a question

This guy sold the Bin Ladens a plane a long time ago also had flight schools.......
and went Hmmmmmm.

[bleever]

19. A most recworthy topic.

:thumbsup:

[Harper_is_Bush]

23. MHOP.

:puke:

[joeunderdog]

26. Read The Best Democracy Money Can Buy--the title says it all

Greg Palast knows alot about this man and how he got W into power.

[Mark Twain Girl]

29. Oh yes, kicking and recommending -- I love good questions. n/t

[SpiralHawk]

30. Commander AWOL & Cronies = MIHIOP

Treasonous deserters and despoiling bastards all.

[Canuckistanian]

33. That's an EXCELLENT question

Congratulate her on recognizing one of the great mysteries of the BUSHCO administration.

Namely, what role did Bath play in Shrub's early years that got him out of so much trouble? Did he manage Shrub's rise to power? What were all the Bush-bin Laden connections?

[Hydra]

35. That wikipedia article combined with the others is bad

Not because of what is said, but because of what isn't. Such dirty hands...

This guy had access to WAY TOO MUCH to not be a CIA or something deeper operative, probably with either a get out of jail free card or even orders to be sticking his hands in so many pies of this type. The fact that he was involved in BCCI is HUGE. Even the small amount I've read about regarding that talks about every conceivable crime there is, and that's just a small part of his resume.

[IChing]

36. My neighbor just left and said do you have to be a member of DU?

to read this stuff? No, just to post I said.

I got another convert!!!!!!

[IChing]

37. Thanks DU.....

especially the Canadian broadcast interview from Seemslikeadream

You made my evening and hopefully enlighten others.

[Octafish]

38. White House deleted name of Bush pal and Saudi go-between from pResident's military records...

Like all members of the Bush family, Bath is a human being and deserves respect just for that. It may not be all his fault at what fate and fortune have held in store for him.

Mystery man

Why the White House deleted the name of Bush pal and Saudi go-between James Bath from the president's military records is a tantalizing but unanswered question.

By Craig Unger

EXCERPT...

As it happens, when I interviewed Bath for my recently published book, "House of Bush, House of Saud," I discovered that the White House may not want to reveal his name because Bath, a Houston businessman who became friends with George W. Bush in the '70s, is the middleman in a story Bush doesn't particularly want told -- the saga of how the richest family in the world, the House of Saud, and its surrogates courted the Bush family. Bath was present at the birth of a relationship that would bring more than $1.4 billion in investments and contracts from the House of Saud to the House of Bush over more than 20 years. The blotting out of Bath's name indicates President Bush's extreme sensitivity about his family's extensive connections with the Saudis.

About 6 feet tall, trim and balding, Bath mingles a wry, folksy Texas charm with the machismo of a veteran jet fighter pilot. It is a combination that has served him well in cultivating relationships with the greatest Texas power brokers of the last generation -- from former Gov. John Connally to the Bush family.

A native of Natchitoches, La., Bath moved to Houston in 1965 at age 29 to join the Texas Air National Guard. In 1968, he was hired by Atlantic Aviation, a Delaware company that sells business aircraft, to open an office in Houston. He went on to become an airplane broker on his own. Sometime around 1974 -- Bath doesn't recall the exact date -- he was trying to sell an F-27 turboprop when he received a phone call that changed his life.

The man on the phone was Salem bin Laden, heir to the great Saudi Binladin Group fortune. Then only about 25, Salem was also the older brother of Osama bin Laden, then 17.

Bath not only had a buyer for a plane no one else wanted but also had stumbled upon an extraordinary source of wealth and power. Bath ended up befriending both Salem bin Laden and his close associate, Khalid bin Mahfouz, then also about 25 and heir to the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, the biggest banking empire in the kingdom. Bath immediately took to the two men. "I like the Saudi mentality. They like guns, horses, aviation, the outdoors," he told me. "We had a lot in common."

In many ways, bin Mahfouz and bin Laden were Saudi versions of the well-heeled good old boys Bath knew so well. "In Texas, you'll find the rich carrying on about being just being poor country boys," he says. "Well, these guys were masters of playing the poor, simple Bedouin kid."

In fact, they were anything but poor. The Saudi Binladin Group was on its way to becoming the Saudi equivalent of Bechtel, the huge California construction and engineering firm. Likewise, bin Mahfouz had begun to build the National Commercial Bank into the Saudi version of Citibank, paving the way for it to enter the era of globalization.

CONTINUED...

http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/27/james_bath/index.html

Great job with your neighbor, IChing.
Normally, in conversation, I have to bring up BCCI and Bath.
I'm so glad your neighbor has an open mind.

PS: The DUer who knows Bath best is DemoTex.

[IChing]

39. Amazing night just another human being

seeking the truth in the world around them.
Asking questions on her relationship to the world around her.

She asked when will the FBI knock on her door when she left after reading this thread,
and thinks we are exposing the truth and that could
be dangerous......LOL

Thanks OctaFish.
A lot was exposed on this thread that every DU member should read.
She really did ask the right question.

[IChing]

43. See my friend

over 1400 people have viewed this thread in its short time.

[Disturbed]

44. The best defense against Fascism is .....

knowledge.

[IChing]

47. It certainly is not faith or religion

that will set you free
but the truth of your reality will be
brought to you by science, logic, information and an inquisitive, questioning mind.




Damn socrates!!!!

[Mind_your_head]

48. Whaaaat?????

Like all members of the Bush family, Bath is a human being and deserves respect just for that. It may not be all his fault at what fate and fortune have held in store for him.

A LOT of people have suffered and DIED ....DIED......b/c of the decisions/circumlocutions of these 'people'....and bush and bath deserve 'respect'? Because why?????

This post seems strangely out of character, Octafish.

Good thing 'God' is merciful, b/c I'm only human....and I don't have to be/am not merciful in the face of their evil.

[Octafish]

60. Respect in the way all human beings deserve.

As you know, my Friend, I loathe the Bush Family Evil Empire and all its members. Their murderous ways are a matter of public record and, thus, I have devoted much time to spreading the word of their evil machinations. The reason I've given a damn for almost 40 years now is to help speed the day closer when their stain is removed from America.

My point above, however, was not very well made. What I wanted to write is that not all members of the Bush family are evil. And evil or not, they deserve the respect that good human beings hold for others – even for members of the BFEE when they they themselves have not respected human life.

The reason I feel this way is that I consider myself a Democrat, a person who believes in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. I refer specifically to the ideas that all people are created equal and that this is a nation of laws. And the accused are innocent until proven guilty.

BFEE members who have committed crimes, murders, mass-murder, treason and the rest deserve impeachment (if in selected or appointed office), indictment, trial and punishment. Especially punishment.

And I can’t condemn those who are until they are convicted. Until then, I will provide evidence. And provide my opinion about guilt. Hopefully, my arguments help lead authorities to investigate and prosecute these traitors, warmongers, mass-murderers, war profiteers, money-launderers, drug-dealers, corrupt politicians, gangsters, crooks, bed-wetters and perverts.

So, justice I will leave for the authorities. As to revenge, I will leave that to God. In the meantime I will plug away with rhetoric and whatever else I can.



"If the people knew what we had done, they would chase us down the street and lynch us." -- George H.W. Bush to journalist Sarah McClendon.

Thank you for keeping me honest, Mind_your_head. Thanks also for giving a damn.

[Imagevision]

45. James R. Bath, teah! he was in F-9-11, he stated he served with W. but

can anyone possibly be in the service and only have one individual that remembers you????.....!

[judaspriestess]

49. I'm sure he is drinking margaritas with ken lay somewhere

[Amonester]

56. Maybe somewhere in Paraguay...

or in Belize, or on any tax-free paradise-island's white sandy beach.

[Raster]

50. bath was dubya's college fuckbudy, cocaine confederate and confidant.

Almost all information about bath has been sanitized or destroyed.

[Jackpine Radical]

51. Wasn't Bath the other guy--then a Major in TANG--named with Bush

on the same orders suspending them from flight status for failure to take thier required physicals?

Bush & Bath go back a LONG ways together.

[Karenina]

52. Ya know, I been asking that same question

fer YEARS!!!

Where the Sam Hill IS that James Bath feller??? :freak:

[Stephanie]

53. Here you go >>>

Where in the World Is James R. Bath?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1106153

[peacetalksforall]

54. Two of the closest people to George get passes - Bath and Card.

Where are Bath and Card. Amazing evasion. More amazing lack of curiosity and coverage by the press.

Rove goes unindicted.

Bolton and Meiers get a ride.

Libby gets a bungee trip.

Gonzo is loyally and smartly dumb.

Baker protects the father who protects the son.

Jeb still deals.

Everybody has a nickname, but we may or may not be getting justice? And we may or may not be losing or have lost our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and balance of power.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

57. Look! Over here! Paris or Lindsey or Britney just did something!

Can't you see that our intrepid news media have important and pressing matters to cover? They've got no time to dilly around with trifles such as massive corruption and threats to our democracy.

[DutchLiberal]

64. Nichole Richie is pregnant!

OMG! :wow:

[ooglymoogly]

68. They are the main threat to our democracy....alas and begory

[loudsue]

58. Holy shit. K & R n/t

:kick:

[Blue Fire]

65. Incredible post! Very incredible!

I've bookmarked it so I can delve into this at a later time, and absorb this information. I mean, this could almost be a high school cirriculum in classic American corruption!

[DemReadingDU]

72. another kick

because i missed this earlier

[Perry Logan]

73. In the future, if a Republican asks you a question, just lie.

Don't waste a word of truth on these people.

[seemslikeadream]

74. Unbelievable that you would say that

just unbelievable :crazy: