What's the connection with James Bath?

[discopants]

Bush's buddy in Guard, both lost flight status due to similar circumstances. The same James Bath who has been the Bush/Saudi middleman. Has he been on the payroll to silence his knowledge of Bush's "youthful indiscretions"?

[Fridays Child]

1. Sounds logical to me...the familia made him an offer he couldn't refuse?

Welcome to DU, discopants. :hi:

[discopants]

3. I think Rather's is going to make the connection clear...

...between the flight suspensions, Poppy's influence (as CIA director) and the very cushy job of being the Bush's go-between with a whole lotta Saudi dough. After all, Bath didn't take up the Doonesbury $10k offer ;)


and thanks, it's a privilege to be here with you guys.

[Octafish]

2. James R Bath helped the Saudis finance Smirk's failed oil bidnizes.

Bath was the middleman who represented and handled the US business interests of Khalid bin Mahfouz in the United States. Bin Mahfouz is believed to be a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden. Mahfouz (and by many indications several other Gulf billionaires) helped bail out two of Bush's failed businesses, Arbusto Oil and HARKEN Energy. No theory, it's criminal evidence. Oh yeah, some report Bath was a director of a BCCI branch in the Caymans. Nice friend to have -- in the Witness Protection Program.

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.”

But the president, who is now enjoying an astounding 92 percent approval rating, hasn’t always practiced what he is now preaching: Bush’s own businesses were once tied to financial figures in Saudi Arabia who currently support bin Laden.

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.

CONTINUED...

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

Want to know how Bath and Bush got to know one another? Check out this US government document, ordering Bush and Bath to stand down from flight duty after they missed out on physicals. Gee. I wonder if anybody at NIGHTLINE knows they started drug testing pilots right around that time?





Lookout, a DUer knows that Bath feller!
BTW: A hearty welcome to DU, discopants! Where ya been?