The Bush/Saudi Love Nest

Bush's disgraceful record speaks for itself, if enough folks bother to read it.

Brad Friedman

September 13, 2004, 4:12pm
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Investigative journalist (yes, there are still a few) Greg Palast reports on the top-secret memo they received at the BBC from sources back in November 2001 about the “suspected terrorist organization” in the USA known as “the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). The organization supported various youth activities and was funded by the Saudi’s and two members of the bin Laden family.

BBC obtained video from Florida of one of the WAMY activities other than Soccer and Softball which the group organized; “a speech exhorting kids on the heroism of suicide bombings and hostage takings.”

The Palast report describes the directives recieved by the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the FBI to “back off the Saudis” both when Bush took office, and over the years that followed 9/11:

Before you jump to the wrong conclusion, let me tell you that we found no evidence — none, zero, no kidding — that George Bush knew about Al Qaeda’s plan to attack on September 11. Indeed, the grim joke at BBC is that anyone accusing George Bush of knowing anything at all must have solid evidence. This is not a story of what George Bush knew but rather of his very-unfunny ignorance. And it was not stupidity, but policy: no asking Saudis uncomfortable questions about their paying off roving packs of killers, especially when those Saudis are so generous to Bush family businesses.

Yes, Bill Clinton was also a bit too tender toward the oil men of Arabia. But this you should know: In his last year in office, Clinton sent two delegations to the Gulf to suggest that the Royal family crack down on “charitable donations” from their kingdom to the guys who blew up our embassies.

But when a failed Texas oil man took over the White House in January 2001, demands on the Saudis to cut off terror funding simply stopped.

In November 2001, as the dust still hung in the air in NYC, the BBC ran a report on WAMY and their connection to the Saudis and the bin Laden family. The Bush Administration refused comment for that report.

It wasn’t until May of this year (2004!) that the FBI finally got around to raiding WAMY!

Then, in May this year, fifty FBI agents surrounded, invaded and sealed off WAMY’s Virginia office. It was like a bad scene out of the ‘Untouchables.’ The raid took place three years after our report and long after the bin Ladens had waved bye-bye. It is not surprising that the feds seized mostly empty files and a lot of soccer balls.

Why now this belated move on the bin Laden’s former operation? Why not right after the September 11 attack? This year’s FBI raid occurred just days after an Islamist terror assault in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Apparently, messin’ with the oil sheiks gets this Administration’s attention. Falling towers in New York are only for Republican convention photo ops.

Ouch…Tough, but true to anyone who bothers to look past the veil of Bushist Propoganda to notice what these PR All-Stars really did (or in this case, didn’t) when it comes to their failed “War on Terror”.

Palast concludes:

The 199-I memo was passed to BBC television by the gumshoes at the National Security News Service in Washington. We authenticated it, added in our own sleuthing, then gave the FBI its say, expecting the usual, “It’s baloney, a fake.” But we didn’t get the usual response. Rather, FBI headquarters said, “There are lots of things the intelligence community knows and other people ought not to know.”

Ought not to know?

What else ought we not to know, Mr. President? And when are we supposed to forget it?

Thanks to Johnhp for the tip-off on this one! See the full story, and while you’re there, be sure to take a look at the trailer for Palast’s upcoming Documentary on the Bush Family, and the systematic purging of minority voters in Florida during the 2000 Elections!

Bush/Cheney: Anything to Win

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