Port sale: It's all about dope. (Daily Kos)

[norml]

Port sale: It's all about dope.
by ben masel
Wed Feb 22, 2006 at 09:20:49 AM PDT

Long before oil money, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were wealthy smuggling ports, with close ties to the ports of what's now Pakistan.

The player behind Dubai Ports World, UAE President and Emir of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, is the son of the guy behind Bank of Commrce and Credit International, which expedited the heroin shipments, and return money flows of the US first Afghan War in the '80s. the Kerry Committee BCCI report issued in 1992.

ben masel's diary :: ::

From Section 14 of the report
Abu Dhabi was present at BCCI's creation as one of two providers of BCCI's capital. It was BCCI's largest depositor, and its largest borrower, and for most of BCCI's existence, its largest shareholder. The relationship between the two entities was, as Price Waterhouse told the Bank of England days before BCCI's closure, "very close," with BCCI providing services to the ruling family of Abu Dhabi far beyond the ordinary relationship of a bank to either its shareholders or depositors...

As Abu Dhabi's representative, Ahmed Al Sayegh, testified, "in excess of $2 billion was entrusted to Abedi and Naqvi for investment by Their Highnesses Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Khalifa under a power of attorney between 1980 and 1990."(32) Al Sayegh did not identify how much in excess of $2 billion was entrusted to BCCI, but given Abu Dhabi's testimony that it lost $6 billion in all in BCCI's collapse, the amount must have been considerable.


snip


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/22/112049/866

[hippiechick]

1. Kerry was involved with uncovering/investigating BCCI ...

... he should be at the forefront attacking this ports deal, if Kos's claims are true.

Unless ...

:shrug:

[TayTay]

3. He is investigating this deal

The Senate commerce committee just had a hearing on this on Tuesday. You can see the archives hearing webcast here: http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1776 Kerry spoke first and spoke about his opposition to the port sale to the UAE.

[hippiechick]

4. Gracias!

:hi:

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. How do we get this to the investigating committee?

You know, they might miss it...

[luckyleftyme2]

5. rotteram port

do we really want a foreign country running our ports? especially one from an arab country? the port
of rotterdam has more drug trade than any other country in europe.
do you know that many drugs in this port are legal on the streets of amsterdam? what easier way to get drugs into europe?
face it you can move a "hellva lot more freight" by ship than by air. so whats the bottom line if your a drug smuggler? less chance of discovery,larger shipment,fewer chances of getting inspected
and less risk.
you bet there is something wrong in "denmark"!!!!!!!!
alert your congressman.and if he's republican and votes for this tell him he's gone!
it's time we showed the texas mafia "their gone"

[norml]

9. Welcome Home!

If you do a search on (Afghanistan Heroin) you'll find information on Afghanistan's role in producing heroin. If you do a search on (Heroin UAE) you'll find information on the UAE's role in the shipping of heroin. If you do a search on (UAE Carlyle Group) you'll find information on the UAE's investments in the Carlyle Group. If you don't know what the Carlyle Group is, you should probably do a search on that.

You'll find that information on Afghanistan heroin the UAE and the Carlyle Group has been in the news and in many other official sources such as the CIA World Fact Book, and in the Carlyle Group's own press releases.

Currently most of the heroin in the US comes through Mexico, and is called "Mexican Mud" due to it's brown color.

The UAE currently ships Afghani heroin to Europe and Asia.

They want in on the US market.

That's all.

Thanks!

[High Plains]

10. "The UAE currently ships Afghani heroin to Europe and Asia."

Really? What are your sources for that?

And is it the UAE shipping heroin? Is it a UAE-based company? Is it a foreign company?

"They want in on the US market." Who is "they"?

Afghan opium flows north into the 'Stans and thence to Russia and Western Europe.
Afghan opium flows west into Iran and thence Turkery and Iraq and on to Western Europe
Afghan opium flows south into Pakistan, into the waiting veins of junkies there.
Afghan opium may flow through the port of Dubai, just like it flows everywhere else.

There may be smuggling connections through Dubai. Sounds entirely plausible, since it is a major regional port. That the UAE government has anything to do with it sounds much less plausible.

I'm getting really tired of everyone on DU pulling every goddamned conspiracy theory out of their ass and trying to pin it on the UAE. It's starting to smell like a lynching.

[norml]

12. Have you done a search on any of the word combinations I suggested?

If not, I'll repeat them here for you.

If you do a search on (Afghanistan Heroin) you'll find information on Afghanistan's role in producing heroin. If you do a search on (Heroin UAE) you'll find information on the UAE's role in the shipping of heroin. If you do a search on (UAE Carlyle Group) you'll find information on the UAE's investments in the Carlyle Group. If you don't know what the Carlyle Group is, you should probably do a search on that.

It's not "goddamned conspiracy theory".

If you do even a simple search of the web and the news you'll see that it's well documented, and reported on fact.

[cactusrose]

6. This really needs to be looked into

very closely.

[norml]

7. Welcome Home Cactusrose! Here's a related article that I posted in GD.

Drug smuggling made easy: Why GWB wants to sell America's ports to his friends?
by Jane Stillwater


http://www.opednews.com

Profits from the heroin trade are astronomical. Those of us who work for a living just to keep on top of paying the rent can't even grasp the amount of money involved. It's a lot. In 2004, Prof. Michel Chossudovsky of the University of Ottawa stated that, "The Afghan trade in opiates constitutes a large share of the worldwide annual turnover of narcotics, which was estimated by the United Nations to be of the order of $400-500 billion."

Prof. Chossudovsky goes on to state that, aside from oil production and weapons sales, the sale of opiates is the largest producer of revenue in the world.

And everybody who listens to KPFA or even reads the New York Times knows that 85% of the world's heroin supply now comes from American-occupied Afghanistan. Just Google "Heroin/Afghanistan" and see what shows up. This is NOT a closely-guarded secret.

Okay. We now understand that the heroin drug trade represents big bucks. And we also understand that most of the world's heroin supply is coming from American-occupied Afghanistan. But what we don't understand is, with all those drug-sniffing dogs poking around American airports, how can all these billions of dollars worth of heroin sneak their way into our country?

Through the ports!

And now George W. Bush is insisting that our ports are to be handed over to his friends. Think about it. Now George and his friends -- the very same people who control the country where the heroin is being produced -- are now in control of the ports where heroin enters America. How convenient for them. Now they have a monopoly on the production AND the distribution of drugs.


snip


http://opednews.com/articles/opedne_jane_sti_060222_drug_smuggling_made_.htm?PHPSESSID=76eff4d80f1622074678d8353fdc25a4



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x539552

[newyawker99]

8. Hi cactusrose!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[AntiFascist]

11. See this thread....

for a discussion of the political advantages of increasing heroin use, the effect of drug trade on the economy, and a useful reading list and other links:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=551264&mesg_id=551264