James Bath suspended from flight along with Dubya, and for the same reason

[trumad]

I picked this up on Atrios and read the comments posted:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments.php?user=atrios&comment=107667634611394789

Bath was suspended from flying along with Dubya at the same time in the Tang... Bath was one of the investors of Dubya's failed business, Arbusto.....

There's alot of speculation why and the comments posted on Atrios are pretty damn interesting...

[indepat]

1. Only two pilots are named as suspended from flying status, they knew

each other, but neither took their annual medical examination. Velly velly interesting: wonder if they hung out together, even partied together?

[Bronco69]

3. They either knew each other very well or became best buds

later on. Bath even covered for bush* when the 15 year old girl he got pregnant had an abortion.

http://www.bartcop.com/bushabortion.htm

[0007]

2. Where is James R. Bath? Isn't it odd that no one can find

this schmuck?

Is there a photo of him floating around somewhere?

[DeepModem Mom]

10. It is unbelievably odd that a prominent business person...

has disappeared without a trace (not suggesting "disappeared," as in dead or missing). What in the name of all that's holy does this man know?

[starroute]

24. The last notes I have on Bath seem to be from 1992

At that time, he was being invested by the FBI for not registering as a foreign agent while helping Saudi investors influence US policy. He was also being sued by his former partner, the one who claimed he'd been a CIA liaison to the Saudis going back to 1976.

Besides that, BCCI had gone out of business in July of 1991. Bath had been in partnership with both Khaled bin Mahfouz, BCCI's principal shareholder, and Ghaith Pharaon, the BCCI frontman in Houston's Main Bank.

All in all, it looks like things were falling apart about Bath's ears, and it may be no surprise that he would have wanted to lie low. Still, it does seem strange that he would have faded out so totally and never reappeared.


On edit: See http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0208/S00148.htm for much of the Bath saga. See also, at http://www.geocities.com/purplesage23/1992.html:

June 4 {1992}: The FBI is purported to be investigating the connections between George W. Bush and James Bath. Bath was Salem bin Laden's official representative in the US, and is intimately connected with bin Laden's financial successor, Khaled bin Mahfouz, who is now known to be a prime source of Al-Qaeda funding. Bath, and by inference bin Mahfouz, are accused of funneling money to the Reagan and Bush administrations in order to influence American foreign policy. Allegations of the bin Laden family's attempt to influence President Bush through his son are made, but before proof can be collected, the investigation is quietly throttled.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

25. More on James R. Bath

http://www.wburg.com/0202/arts/lombardi.html

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

26. Or do? Seems like a spook, no?

[SoCalDem]

4. At least Bath was a Major...

If they were drug buddies, probably neither could pass the "piss test"..:)

[revcarol]

5. After how many thousands of $$ spent training them,

they just OPT OUT of taking their physicals?

Dunno, is that theft or fraud or what, legal eagles?a federal crime, taking money from the U. S. gvernment for services one does not intend to perform?

[Ernesto]

8. Make that $millions

[ShootingStarr4u]

9. "After how many thousands of $$ spent training them,"

Was it fraud to make deceitful statements to get into the TNG to avoid serivce in Viet Nam in the first place?

Back in the late 60's, the US government spent roughly the equivalent of a million dollars training pilots. GWB made false and misleading statements that he intended to spend his life flying airplanes. So not only did GWB defraud the government out of the money to train him, but this jumping the line to get into the TNG and become a pilot denied someone who was not from a family of wealth to have a chance at spending their life flying. Who actually got a better qualilfying grade and was denied admittance to the TNG, than the absolute bare minimum of 25 as GWB got?

Who died in GWB's place so he could keep partying throughout the Viet Nam war? John McCain spent five years suffering in a POW camp while this jerk partied his butt off, only to have this same rich, frat-boy jerk accuse John McCain of being mentally unfit to become the President because he HAD been a POW. Is that not the epitamy of hypocritical irony?

I close by asking these questions...Was it fraud to make deceitful statements to get into the WH? GWB made statements the Federal Courts had no business deciding results affecting a state election, but he was the first to go whining to the Insupreme Court to set aside the counting of ballots that went to Al Gore in 2000. Was that fraud? He spoke of keeping Social Security in a "lock box." Is it fraud to attempt to eliminate SS and all social programs, by privatization under management of his cronies to embezzle? Was it fraud to lie repeatedly to the American citizens and doing the opposite of every promise he made to get into office? Was it fraud when he allowed the falsification of TNG personnel readiness reports to the Pentagon by carrying 1700 "ghost" soldiers on th payrolls? Was it fraud when GWB as Governor of Texas helped to cover it up?
Was it fraud when Dick Cheney flew to Wyoming to change his residency so he could be on the same ballot for VP, when this change did not become effective under Wyoming laws until a year later?

At what point do the American people say no more, and then rise up to take actions against an illegally installed, corrupt president and his administration? Do not forget it was Reagan and Bush 1 who created this mess in the first place. When will the American people decide that lies to start a war of aggression against a poor, third world country are Impeachable offenses and War Crimes, when these lies created an excuse to steal another country's oil and get revenge for a threat made by the same despotic dictator his father helped install into power, armed, aided and abetted crimes against other nations when it suited his own agendas?

Were these all frauds, or Republican (Nazi) politics as usual?

[newyawker99]

14. Hi ShootingStarr4u!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ShootingStarr4u]

6. "James Bath suspended from flight along with Dubya, and for the same reaso

James Bath was the front man for the five original investors in GWB's company, Arbusto Energy. Among the five original Saudi investors was the BROTHER of Osama Bin Ladin. Please remember the Bin Ladin family were the ONLY ones allowed to fly during that three day period beginning on 9/11, and they were allowed to leave the country without an interview by the FBI as one would normally expect in questions of national security and/or terrorism.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

28. A warm welcome to DU, and thanks for all your work

I have enjoyed your site for quite a while.

[jean]

7. A pilot getting grounded makes NOT being sent to Nam a slam dunk

[Jack from Charlotte]

11. Shooting Star asks who died in Bush's place.......

in Viet Nam?

Here's a link to the names of the guys from Midland Texas who were killed in VN.

Be interesting to read an interview with the family members of these guys to see how they feel about Bush's VN war activity.


http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/03/04/02.html

[newyawker99]

15. Hi Jack from Charlotte!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Karenina]

12. Well, errraaaa...

D'oh. BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[Stephanie]

13. This is where AWOL questions need to go next

WHY did they both fail to take their physicals? Why was Bush grounded? Why did he never fly again?

If you are going to prance around a flight deck in a flight suit posing as a pilot and announce Mission Accomplished, then we have the right to know if you are actually a pilot, or a fraud.

[Octafish]

16. BFEE lives in fear over public awareness of Bath.

Bath is the guy that ties AwOL to bin Laden from way back. Stephanie and trumad know the drill, but for newer DUers, a very good backgrounder on who James R Bath is and how he's toadied up to the BFEE:

QUESTIONABLE TIES
Tracking bin Laden's money flow leads back to Midland, Texas

by Wayne Madsen

On September 24, President George W. Bush appeared at a press conference in the White House Rose Garden to announce a crackdown on the financial networks of terrorists and those who support them. “U.S. banks that have assets of these groups or individuals must freeze their accounts,” Bush declared. “And U.S. citizens or businesses are prohibited from doing business with them.”

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.

When Salem bin Laden died in 1988, powerful Saudi Arabian banker and BCCI principal Khalid bin Mahfouz inherited his interests in Houston. Bath ran a business for bin Mahfouz in Houston and joined a partnership with bin Mahfouz and Gaith Pharaon, BCCI’s frontman in Houston’s Main Bank.

CONTINUED...

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

[DrBB]

17. As always, it's the concealment that's so revealing

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.

The pattern repeated over and over again with this guy, Dubya. It's not the relationship with Bath that's so suspicious, it's the fact that he DENIED a relationship with the guy. Why? It's not like there's anything to be found about Bath. If he just said, "Oh yeah, old Bath Boy, sure, knew him back in the guard. Run into him every once in a while. What's the BFD?"--then the whole question would evaporate. But instead, he denies knowing him. Why???? One can only speculate. Bath connects Bush not only to the Saudis, and to his AWOL service record (they both failed to take the SAME flight-qualification physical), but also BCCI and CIA. But the only thing that really makes Bath's seedy connections a matter of suspicion that taints Bush is Bush's DENIAL of Bath. Without that, I could maybe convince myself it was all innocent.

And of course here we are, 25 years after BCCI broke, and here's Bush again, and the Saudis/bin Ladens, and Iraq, and even BCCI figures like Adnan Kashuoggi (yup, putting his oar in trying to sell intel to the Office of Special Plans. In fact, he looks like a pretty good bet for the guy who conjured up the bogus Niger yellowcake story and insinuated into the US intel picture via the OSP and Italian intelligence).

I mean, what IS it with this family? You start with them, and you can't take a single step in any direction without running into the sleaziest people in modern geopolitical history.

[Octafish]

21. That's why they're called the Bush Organized Crime Family.

Like Willie Sutton, they go where the money is. Today, it's gold, oil and permawar.

BTW: Excellent post, as always, Doctor.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

27. Same pattern with Kenny-boy Lay.... deny, then, oops. oh yeah

maybe I did meet him once or twice!

What an idiot.

Yeah. BCCI, IranContra, Silverado Savings and Loan.

Everything old is new again.

Which one of these geniuses drempt up the short sell on United Airlines for Sept 12, 2001? That identity, if connected to the BFEE will be their ultimate downfall, and the one that makes mobs drag them into the street for their final rewards.

[grasswire]

18. we have a real investigator in our midst, I think

I believe it is the new poster shootingstarr4u who developed the story about the scrubbed Texas drivers licenses for Bush and Bath, working in conjunction with online journal.

[Octafish]

20. Oh yeah. She's good.

She works with our good friends over at Online Journal. Good reporter, too.

[OneTwentyoNine]

19. This document has been around for years and years...

Wonder why people are just starting to wake up to it? This was damning evidence back in 2000. Those two clowns didn't refuse to take the piss test because they went on a bender the night before.

Nope,something em...much more powerfull in the bloodstream...


David

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

22. Did daddy need these two idiots for a CIA op somewhere?

I mean, that is possible too.

[Octafish]

23. White: Bath ordered to "watch" Saudi contacts for CIA.

This stuff is nasty. It's called treason. Here's a brief overview for DUers new to the story:

Follow the Money: The Bush-bin Laden Connection

EXCERPT...

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.

When Harken Energy needed capital to expand, George W. - a member of Harken's board - assisted in obtaining a $25 million loan from the Union Bank of Switzerland. According to Byron, "Bush would doubtless have been astonished to learn that he was being surrounded by people with ties to the biggest and most crime-infested bank in the history of world capitalism. Bush would also have been astonished to learn that Bath's Persian Gulf patron, Khalid bin Mahfouz, was a large investor in BCCI. He would also have been surprised to learn that the bank that cut the $25 million check for Harken, the Banque de Commerce et de Placements, was only half owned by Union Bank of Switzerland. The other half was owned by BCCI." Yet, are rumors of Bush's "surprise" greatly exaggerated?

According to Byron, once the Harken financing was completed, Union Bank of Switzerland sold its interest in Harken to Saudi real estate developer Abdullah Bakhsh, whom The Wall Street Journal has linked to BCCI figures Pharaon and bin Mahfouz. In connection with BCCI, bin Mahfouz was fined $212 million and was barred from involvement in any American banking activity. In spite of this apparent "hand slap," bin Mahfouz is now believed to have provided financing to a "charitable front" that raises money for Osama bin Laden. He has reportedly been under house arrest in Saudi Arabia at the behest of U.S. authorities since at least March of 2000.

CONTINUED...

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

BTW: What kind of people "buy" aircraft for the CIA? What do they use these for? Is this another off-the-shelf operation AKA a cash cow? And to think there's a war on drugs on!

EDIT: Changed subject line to make clear it was William White who testified Bath worked for Poppy's CIA.