-Caveat Lector-
Looking behind the Bushes
Great moments in a great American family
"Some people have too much freedom." -- George W. Bush
Much of this article originally appeared in the Progressive Review during
the 1992 campaign. It has been updated
THE CURRENT CAMPAIGN
DUBYA AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
BUSH'S RUNNING MATE
1918
Prescott Bush Sr., leads a raid on a Indian tomb to secure Geronimo's skull
for Skull & Bones.
1937
Prescott Bush's investment firm sets up deal for the Luftwaffe so it can
obtain tetraethyl lead.
1942
Three firms with which Prescott Bush is associated are seized under the
Trading with the Enemy Act.
SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE: The president of the Florida Holocaust
Museum said Saturday that George W. Bush's grandfather derived a
portion of his personal fortune through his affiliation with a Nazi-controlled
bank. John Loftus, a former prosecutor in the Justice Department's Nazi
War Crimes Unit, said his research found that Bush's grandfather, Prescott
Bush, was a principal in the Union Banking Corp. in Manhattan in the late
1930s and the 1940s. Leading Nazi industrialists secretly owned the bank
at that time, Loftus said, and were moving money into it through a second
bank in Holland even after the United States declared war on Germany.
The bank was liquidated in 1951, Loftus said, and Bush's grandfather and
great-grandfather received $1.5 million from the bank as part of that
dissolution . . . Loftus pointed out that the Bush family would not be the only
American political dynasty to have ties to the "wrong side of World War II."
The Rockefellers had financial connections to Nazi Germany, he said.
Loftus also reminded his audience that John F. Kennedy's father, an
avowed isolationist and former ambassador to Great Britain, profited
during the 1930s and '40s from Nazi stocks that he owned. "No one today
blames the Democrats because Jack Kennedy's father bought Nazi
stocks," Loftus said. Still, he said, it is important to understand these
historical connections for what they tell us about politics today. The World
War II experience points out how easy it was then -- and remains today -- to
hide money in multinational funds.
SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE
1953
George Bush and the Liedtke brothers form Zapata Petroleum. Zapata's
subsidiary, Zapata Offshore, later becomes known for its close ties to the
CIA.
1954
The Bush family buys out the Liedtke brothers.
1955
George Bush sets up a Mexican drilling operation, Permago, with a
frontman to obscure his ownership. The frontman later is convicted of
defrauding the Mexican government of $58 million.
1959
Manuel Noriega recruited as an agent by the US Defense Intelligence
Agency.
1960
Some investigators believe George Bush spent part of this year and the
next in Miami on behalf of the CIA, organizing rightwing exiles for an
invasion of Cuba. Is said to have worked with later Iran-Contra figure Felix
Rodriguez.
1961
According to the Realist, CIA official Fletcher Prouty delivers three Navy
ships to agents in Guatemala to be used in the Bay of Pigs invasion. Prouty
claims he delivered the ships to a CIA agent named George Bush. Agent
Bush named the ships the Barbara, Houston and Zapata.
Bay of Pigs invasion fails. Right-wingers blame Kennedy for failure to
provide air cover. CIA loses 15 men, another 1100 are imprisoned.
George Bush invites Rep. TL. Ashley -- a fellow Skull & Boner -- down to
Texas for a party in order to meet "an attractive girl." Bush writes that "she
may be accompanied by an Austrian ski instructor but I think we can
probably flush him at the local dance hall." Bush notes that he's had to unlist
his phone because "Jane Morgan keeps calling me all the time." [From a
letter in the Ashley archives uncovered by Spy magazine.]
Zapata annual report boasts that the company has paid no taxes since it
was founded.
1963
John F. Kennedy is assassinated. Internal FBI memo reports that on
November 22 "reputable businessman" George H. W. Bush reported
hearsay that a certain Young Republican "has been talking of killing the
president when he comes to Houston." The Young Republican was
nowhere near Dallas on that date.
According to a 1988 story in The Nation, a memo from J. Edgar Hoover
states that "Mr. George Bush of the CIA" had been briefed on November
23rd, 1963 about the reaction of anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami to the
assassination of President Kennedy. George says it ain't him, admits he
was in Texas but can't remember where.
1964
George Bush runs as a Goldwater Republican for Congress. Campaigns
against the Civil Rights Act.
1966
Bush, runs as a moderate Republican, gets elected to Congress. Robert
Mosbacher chairs Oil Men for Bush.
Apache leader Ned Anderson meets with the Skull & Bones lawyer and
George Bush's brother Jonathan who attempt to return the skull Prescott
Bush had looted in 1933. Anderson refuses the skull because he says it
isn't Geronimo's.
1968
George W. Bush joins Skull & Bones at Yale
1970
Bush loses Senate race to Lloyd Bentsen, despite $112,000 in
contributions from a White House slush fund. Jim Baker is campaign chair.
Bush later claims to have reported correctly all but $6000 in cash --which
he denies he got. A 1992 story in the New York Times says the $6000 was
listed in records of Nixon's "townhouse operation" which was designed in
part to make GOP congressional candidates vulnerable to blackmail.
1971
Bush is named UN Ambassador by Nixon.
Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs finds enough evidence of
Noriega's involvement in drug dealing to indict him, but US Attorney's office
in Miami considers grabbing Noriega in Panama for trial here to be
impractical. State Department also urges BNDD to back off.
1972
Bill Liedtke gathers $700,000 in anonymous contributions for the Nixon
campaign, delivering the money in cash, checks and securities to the
Committee to Re-Elect the President (the infamous CREEP) one day
before such contributions become illegal. Bill says he did it as a favor to
George.
1973
Bush is named GOP national chair. Brings into the party the Heritage
Groups Council, an organization with a number of Nazi sympathizers.
Bush, according to Lowell Weicker, inquires as to whether records of the
"townhouse operation" should be burned.
Robert Mosbacher wins an offshore drilling concession from Philippine
dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Watergate tapes indicate concern by Nixon and aide HR Haldeman that
the investigation into Watergate might expose the "Bay of Pigs thing."
Nixon also speaks of the "Texans" and the "Cubans." and mentions
"Mosbacher."
In another tape, Nixon decides following his re-election to get signed
resignations from his whole government so he can centralize his power.
Says Nixon to John Erlichman: "Eliminate everyone, except George Bush.
Bush will do anything for our cause."
1974
Bush is named special envoy to China.
1975
DEA report notes Noreiga's involvement in drug trade.
George W. Bush graduates from Harvard Business School
1976
Jerry Ford names George Bush CIA director, his fourth political patronage
job in a little over five years. Bush later claims this is the first time he ever
worked for the CIA. At his confirmation hearings, Bush says, "I think we
should tread very carefully on governments that are constitutionally elected."
Bush holds first known meeting with Noriega. Noriega starts receiving
$110,000 a year from the CIA.
Noriega found to be working for Cubans as well, but keeps his CIA gig.
Bush sets up Team B within the CIA, a group of neo-conservative outsiders
and generals who proceed to double the agency's estimate of Soviet
military spending.
Senate committee headed by Frank Church proposes revealing size of the
country's black budget -- intelligence spending that, in contradiction to the
Constitution, is kept secret even from the Hill. According to journalist Tim
Weiner, Bush argues that the revelation would be a disaster and would
compromise the agency beyond repair. By a one vote margin the matter is
referred to the Senate. It never reaches the floor.
Chilean dissident Orlando Letelier is assassinated by Chilean secret
police agents. CIA fails to inform FBI of pending plot and of assassins'
arrival in US. CIA claims the hit was the work of left-wingers in search of a
martyr.
Bush writes internal CIA memo asking to see cable on Jack Ruby visiting
Santos Trafficante in jail. In 1992, Bush will deny any interest in the JFK
assassination while CIA head.
Bush claims nuclear war is winnable.
1977
Philippine dictator Marcos buys back Robert Mosbacher's oil concession.
Mosbacher claims he was swindled. Philippine officials say they never saw
any expenditures by Mosbacher on the project.
1978
Bush, Mosbacher and Jim Baker become partners in an oil deal.
>From a Washington Post article by Bob Woodward and Walter Pincus:
"According to those involved in Bush's first political action committee, there
were several occasions in 1978-79, when Bush was living in Houston and
traveling the country in his first run for the presidency, that he set aside
periods of up to 24 hours and told aides that he had to fly to Washington for
a secret meeting of former CIA directors. Bush told his aides that he could
not divulge his whereabouts, and that he would not be available." Former
CIA chief Stansfield Turner denies such meetings took place.
George W. Bush declares his candidacy for the Midland Congressional
district. He wins the Republican primary and loses in the general election.
George W. Bush begins operations of his oil firm, Arbusto Energy. With the
help of Jonathan Bush, he assembles several dozen investors in a limited
partnership including Dorothy Bush, Lewis Lehrman, William Draper, and
James Bath, a Houston aircraft broker
1980
Bush becomes Reagan's vice presidential candidate. Runs as a
rightwinger again.
Mosbacher becomes chief fundraiser for Bush's presidential campaign.
Forms a millionaire's club of 250 contributors, each of whom cough up
$100,000.
William Casey forms a working group to prepare for possible Carter
October political surprise. In early October, an Iranian official meets with
three top Reagan campaign aides. All three deny memory of the meeting in
subsequent proceedings.
On October 21, Reagan hints he has a secret plan to release the hostages.
This is right around the alleged date of a Paris meeting at which the so-
called "October Surprise" was settled. Some allege that at this meeting it
was agreed to end the arms embargo against Iran if Iran would release its
hostages after the election. While Bush's presence at this meeting has
been denied by the House committee investigating the October Surprise,
Bush's whereabouts at this critical time remain in doubt. The White House,
in fact, has leaked conflicting stories.
Rep. Dan Quayle goes on a Florida golfing vacation with seven other men
and Paula Parkinson -- an insurance lobbyist who later posed nude for
Playboy. Parkinson describes Quayle as a husband on the make, but says
she turned him down because she was already having an affair with
another congressman. Marilyn Quayle says, "anybody who knows Dan
Quayle knows he would rather play golf than have sex."
The Reagan-Bush campaign receives stolen copies of Carter's briefing
books.
Bush's campaign manager, James Baker, forces the dismissal of Bush
aide Jennifer Fitzgerald, described in a 1982 Time story as having "much
to say about where Bush goes, what he does and whom he sees." Bush
continues to pay Fitzgerald out of his own pocket.
1981
Reagan-Bush inaugurated. Hostages released moments before. Shortly
thereafter, arms shipments to Iran resume from Israel and America. In July,
an Argentinean plane chartered by Israel crashes in Soviet territory. It is
found to have made three deliveries of American military supplies to Iran. In
a 1991 story in Esquire, Craig Unger quotes Alexander Haig as saying "I
have a sneaking suspicion that someone in the White House winked."
Says Unger: "This secret and illegal sale of military equipment continued
for years afterwards."
James Baker named Reagan's chief of staff.
SEC filings for Zapata Oil for 1960-66 are found to have been
"inadvertently destroyed."
Reagan authorizes CIA assistance to Contras.
1982
CIA director William Casey begins Operation Black Eagle to expand US
role in Central America. Urges use of "selected Latin American and
European governments, organizations and individuals" in the project.
Inslaw, a computer software company, signs a $10 million contract to install
a case-tracking program in 94 US Attorney's offices. Four months later,
after obtaining a copy of Inslaw's proprietary version of the program, the
government cancels the contract and begins an aggressive campaign to
force the company into bankruptcy. Later sources claim that the program
was installed by the CIA and sold to various foreign intelligence agencies.
After $3 million is poured into Arbusto with little oil and no profits, just tax
shelter George W. Bush changes the company name to Bush Exploration
Oil Co. Subsequently he is kept afloat by an investment from Philip Uzielli,
a Princeton friend of James Baker III. For the sum of $1 million, Uzielli
bought 10% of the company at a time in 1982 when the entire enterprise
was valued at less than $400,000. Subsequently, to save the company
George W. Bush merges with Spectrum 7, a small oil firm owned by
William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds. DeWitt had graduated from Yale a
few years earlier than Bush and was the son of the former owner of the
Cincinnati Reds. Bush becomes president of Spectrum 7. He also gets
14% of the Spectrum's stock. Meanwhile, 50 original investors in Arbusto
get paid off at about 20 cents on the dollar.
1983
Noriega meets again with George Bush.
Bush presents an autographed photo to a WWII Ukrainian leader under the
Nazis, whose regime killed 100,000 Jews.
KAL 007 crashes under circumstances that remain suspicious to this day.
Bush promotes Jennifer Fitzgerald from appointments secretary to
executive assistant. Seven staffers resign in protest. Fitzgerald tells the
New York Post: "Everyone keeps painting me as this old ogre. I really don't
worry about it. All these bizarre things just simply aren't true."
Neil Bush forms his first oil company. He puts in $100, his partners
contribute $160,000 and Neil is named president of the firm, JNB
Exploration.
Jeb Bush's business partner, Alberto Duque, goes bankrupt, is eventually
convicted of fraud and is sentenced to 15 years in prison.
1984
Jeb Bush lobbies the Department of Health & Human Services on behalf of
Cuban--American businessman Miguel Recarey, Jr., whose medical firm
later collapses. Recarey, who was close to mobster Santos Trafficante,
later disappears with at least $12 million in federal funds.
George Bush takes part in meetings to plan increased "third country" aid to
the Contras..
CIA mines Nicaraguan harbors.
1985
Jennifer Fitzgerald is sent to work on Capitol Hill after stories arise linking
her romantically with George Bush.
Stuart Spencer's public relation firm starts receiving over $350,000 from
Panama to improve Noriega's image.
CIA starts using BCCI as a conduit.
George Bush thanks Oliver North for "dedication and tireless work with the
hostage thing, with Central America." Bush will later deny knowing about
the Contra effort until late 1986.
Neil Bush joins the board of Silverado S&L, serves until 1988. Silverado
loans his partners in JNB $132 million which they never repay. Silverado
will eventually collapse at a taxpayer cost of $1 billion.
408 TOW anti-tank missiles are shipped from Israel to Iran. A day later, US
hostage Benjamin Weir is released.
1986
VP Bush goes to Honduras to promote support for the Contras. Takes
along baseball players Nolan Ryan and Gary Carter.
Contra figure Felix Rodriguez meets with Donald Gregg, Bush's national
security advisor, to complain about Iran-Contra operatives skimming funds
from the Contras.
Bush may have made several secret visits to Damascus between 1986-88
according to a 1992 report in Time, which said two senior GOP senators
were pressing for a probe. The allegation is that Bush went to negotiate the
release of hostages in Lebanon but in fact stonewalled Syria, "playing for
campaign timing. Republicans want to get to the bottom of intelligence-
community suspicions that the US somehow blew a chance to free Terry
Anderson and his fellow captives."
Iranian arms runner Manucher Ghorbanifar proposes "diversion" of profits
from Iran arms sales to Contras.
George W. Bush and partners receive more than $2 million of Harken
Energy stock in exchange for a failing oil well operation, which had lost
$400,000 in the prior six months. After Bush joined Harken, the largest
stock position and a seat on its board were acquired by Harvard
Management Company. The Harken board gave Bush $600,000 worth of
the company's publicly traded stock, plus a seat on the board plus a
consultancy that paid him up to $120,000 a year. When Harken runs short
of cash it hooks up with investment banker Jackson Stephens of Little
Rock, Arkansas, who arranges a $25 million stock purchase by Union
Bank of Switzerland. Sheik Abdullah Bakhsh, who joins the board as a part
of the deal, is connected to the infamous BCCI.
1987
Bush's former chief of staff, Daniel Murphy, flies to Panama with South
Korean influence peddler Tongsun Park on a private plane owned by arms
dealer Sargis Soghnalian to meet with Noriega. Murphy later tells a Senate
subcommittee that he informed Noriega that he need not resign before the
1988 election despite the Reagan administration public pressure to the
contrary.
Bill Casey dies.
Lee Atwater accuses Robert Dole of spreading stories about Bush and
Jennifer Fitzgerald. An agreement is worked out, as reported by Sidney
Blumenthal in the Washington Post: "The Dole people didn't spread any
rumors and promised not to do it again. And the Bush people haven't
spread rumors about the Dole people spreading rumors and won't do it
again. "
Harken Energy project gets rescued by aid from the BCCI-connected
Union Bank of Switzerland in a deal brokered by Jackson Stephens, later
to show up as a key supporter of Bill Clinton.
1988
Dan Quayle is named VP candidate. Stuart Spencer is assigned to
improve Dan Quayle's image, the same job he handled for Noriega and
Nixon.
Quayle embarrasses campaign by such statements as "[The Holocaust]
was an obscene period in our nation's history," adding that "I didn't live in
this century."
Prisoner who claimed he sold marijuana to Quayle is put into solitary
confinement by the head of federal prisons, aborting a planned news
conference shortly before the election.
Silverado S&L goes under after receiving 126 cease & desist orders in
past four years from the Topeka office of the Office of Thrift Supervision.
These orders found conflict of interests, insider abuse and other violations.
Dwight Chapin, ex-Nixon dirty trickster, gets job in Bush campaign.
Rudi Slavoff becomes head of Bulgarians for Bush. In 1983, Slavoff
organized an event honoring Austin App, promoter of the theory that the
Holocaust was a hoax.
Slavoff joins other GOP ethnic leaders in the Coalition of American
Nationalities co-chaired by Edward Derwinski. Among them is a former
member of an Hungarian pro-Nazi party. After press revelations, eight of
the leaders accused of anti-semitism resign from the campaign. Bush
says: "Nobody's giving in... These people left of their own account."
GOP flier warns that "all the murderers, rapists and drug pushers and child
molesters in Massachusetts vote for Michael Dukakis."
Bush establishes Team 100, which will eventually grow to 249 individuals
who contribute nearly $25 million in soft money to help the GOP cause. The
contributions also apparently help the contributors, various of whom get
ambassadorial appointments, legislative favors, and intervention on
regulatory and criminal matters.
Bush denies knowledge of Noriega's involvement in drug dealing.
The Willie Horton ad is aired. Credit for similar tactics is given to campaign
guru Lee Atwater, whose PR firm had represented drug-connected
Bahamian prime minister Oscar Pinding and the Philippines' Marcos.
Atwater himself had represented UNITA, the CIA-backed Africa rebel
group.
Fred Malek, ex-Nixon aide, resigns from the Bush campaign after it's
revealed that he compiled a list of Jews in the Labor Dept. as part of a
Nixon investigation of a "Jewish cabal."
A few days before the supposedly surprise arrest of five BCCI officials,
some of the world's most powerful drug dealers quietly withdraw millions of
dollars from the bank. Some government investigators believe the dealers
were tipped off by sources within the Bush administration.
Although Felix Rodriguez, former leading cop under Batista, claims he left
the CIA in 1976, Rolling Stone reports that he is still going to CIA
headquarters monthly to receive assignments and get his bulletproof
Cadillac serviced.
Bankruptcy judge George Bason Jr. concludes that the government stole
Inslaw's software through "trickery, fraud and deceit."
Stock market drops 43 points on false rumor that Washington Post was
about the publish the Bush-Fitzgerald story.
1989
Bush inaugurated. Aides tell the press that the new administration would
rather "stay one step behind than be one step ahead."
Bush authorizes CIA support to Noriega's opposition, giving Noriega an
excuse to annul Panama's elections.
Bush claims executive privilege to avoid testifying in the Oliver North trial,
thus becoming first president to use this power to keep his acts as vice
president under wraps.
Dan Quayle declares changes in Soviet Union "just a public relations
extravaganza."
Bush brother Prescott flies to Shanghai after the Tiananmen Square
massacre to close a deal for an $18 million resort there, despite his
brother's ban on high-level Chinese contacts. Prescott says, "We aren't a
bunch of carrion birds coming in to pick the carcass. But there are big
opportunities in China, and America can't afford to be shut out."
Prescott Bush also visits Japan, searching for consulting contracts just ten
days before his brother arrives on a presidential tour. The Japanese firm
that paid Prescott a quarter-million dollar consulting fee comes under
investigation for exchange law violations and links to the Japanese mob.
C. Boyden Gray, the president's top ethics official, corrects his 1985 and
1986 financial disclosure forms. He forgot to include $98,000 in income.
George Bush signs the S&L bailout bill promising that "these problems will
never happen again."
The Chicago Tribune reports: "After 14 fishing outings, the President has
failed to catch a single fish."
At White House behest, the DEA lures drug dealer to Lafayette Park to
make arrest in front of presidential home for the benefit of Bush's upcoming
drug speech. At first, drug dealer is dubious, asks DEA agent, "Where the
fuck is the White House?"
Defense secretary nominee John Tower runs into confirmation troubles
when it is revealed that he has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in
consulting fees from defense contractors. Runs into more trouble with
revelations of womanizing and drinking. His nomination is rejected.
The sale of three communications satellites to China is announced.
Prescott Bush is a $250,000 consultant in the deal.
GOP memo is leaked implying that House Speaker Tom Foley is a
homosexual.
President Bush signs a top-secret directive ordering closer ties with Iraq,
which opens the way for $1 billion in new aid just a little more than a year
before Bush goes to war against that country. The agricultural credit allows
Saddam Hussein to use his hard currency for a massive military buildup.
A second judge concurs that the government stole Inslaw's software.
The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published by the US
government, reports that the GNP of East Germany during the 1980s was
greater than that of West Germany. The figures come from the CIA.
Bahrain officials suddenly break off offshore drilling negotiations with
Amoco and decide to deal with Harken Energy, George Bush Jr.'s firm.
Harken has had a series of failed ventures and no cash, so the Bass
brothers are brought in to finance Harken's efforts at a cost of $50 million.
Neil Bush bails out of JNB Exploration, the firm where he became
president with a $100 ante, leaving his partners to worry about its debt.
Days earlier he forms Apex Energy with a personal investment of $3000.
The rest of the money -- $2.7 million -- comes from an SBA program
designed to help "high risk start-up companies." Like JNB, it proves to be
just that. Apex will later go belly-up with no assets.
Two months after his father's inauguration, George W. Bush announces that
he and a syndicate of investors have purchased the Texas Rangers. The
investors are Edward "Rusty" Rose, Richard Rainwater, Bill DeWitt, Roland
Betts (a former Yale frat brother) and Tom Bernstein (Bett's partner in a film
investment concern). While Bush appears to lead the group, Rainwater
makes clear that Rose is to control how the business is run. Bush's stake in
the $86 million deal is 2%, financed with a $500,000 loan from a Midland
Bank of which he had been a director and $106,000 from other sources.
Rainwater and Rose put up 14.2 million, Betts and Bernstein invested
about $6 million and the balance comes from smaller investors and loans.
Bush will eventually sell his share for $15 million.
1990
Federal regulators give Bush son Neil the mildest possible penalty in the
$1 billion failure of the Silverado S&L. The deal is so good that Bush drops
his appeal. Among other things, Neil, as a Silverado director, voted to
approve over $100 million in loans to his business partners.
January: Bahrain awards exclusive offshore drilling rights to Harken Oil.
This is a surprise as Harken is in very shaky financial condition, has never
drilled outside of Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma and had never drilled
undersea at all. The Bass brothers are brought in by Harken for sufficient
equity to proceed with the effort. Harken's stock price increases from $4.50
to $5.50.
George W. Bush sells two-thirds of his Harken Energy stock at the top of
the market for $850,000, a 200% profit, but makes no report to the SEC
until March 1991. Bush Jr. says later the SEC misplaced the report. An
SEC representative responds: "nobody ever found the 'lost' filing." One
week after Bush's sale, Harken reports an earnings plunge. Harken stock
falls more than 60%. Bush uses most of the proceeds to pay off the bank
loan he had taken a year earlier to finance his portion of the Texas Rangers
deal.
August: Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. Harken's stock price drops
substantially. Two months after Bush sells his stock, Harken posts losses
for the 2nd quarter of well over $20 million and is shares fall another 24 %,
by year end Harken is trading at $1.25. Bush has insisted that he did not
know about the firm's mounting losses and that his stock sell-off was
approved by Harken's general counsel.
George W. Bush is asked by Carlyle Group to serve on the board of
directors of Caterair, one of the nation's largest airline catering services
which it had acquired in 1989. The offer is arranged by Fred Malek, long
time Bush associate who is then an advisor to Carlyle.
October: Arlington, Texas Mayor Richard Greene signs a contract that
guarantees $135 million toward the new Texas Ranger Stadium's estimate
price of $190 million. The Rangers put up no cash but finance their share
through a ticket surcharge. From the team's operating revenues, the city will
earn a maximum of $5 million annually in rent, no matter how much the
Rangers reap from ticket sales and television (a sum that will rise to $100
million a year). Another provision permitts the franchise to buy the stadium
after the accumulated rental payments reached a mere $ 60 million. The
property acquired so cheaply by the Rangers includes not just a fancy new
stadium with a seating capacity of 49,000 but an additional 270 acres of
newly valuable land. Legislation is passed and signed that authorizes the
Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority with power to issue
bonds and exercise eminent domain over any obstinate landowners. Never
before had a Texas municipal authority been given the license to seize the
property of a private citizen for the benefit of other private citizens. A
recalcitrant Arlington family refuses to sell a 13 acre parcel near the
stadium site for half its appraised value. The jury awards more than $4
million to the family.
Fred Malek returns to power with ambassador status to head up planning
for the economic summit.
S&L industry is losing money at the rate of $3 million a minute. Bailout chief
estimates total cost at $325-500 billion.
Some 200 young soccer players have their games canceled for security
reasons because Bush wants to go fishing on the Potomac nearby. Says
one seven-year-old player: "We had a tough soccer game and he's just
going fishing. He could play somewhere else."
Bush son Jeb gets the federal government to pay off the $4 million he owed
to a failed Florida thrift.
Bush brother Jonathan's east coast brokerage fined in two states for
violating laws and Jonathan is barred from public trading in Massachusetts.
Bush's attorney general, Richard Thornberg, is warned about BCCI but
does nothing.
Federal court of appeals throws out the Inslaw case on the grounds that it
did not belong in bankruptcy court.
Bush says, "The economy is headed in the right direction."
1991
Former top aide to White House Chief of Staff John Sununu goes to work
for a prominent figure in the BCCI scandal less than a month after leaving
the Bush administration. Edward Rogers Jr. signs a $600,000 contract to
give legal advice to Sheik Kamal Adham, an ex-Saudi intelligence officer
who is being investigated for his role in BCCI's takeover of First American
Bancshares.
The Miami acting US Attorney is allegedly rebuffed by the Justice
Department in his efforts to indict BCCI and some of its principal officers
on tax fraud charges. Justice Department later denies this occurred.
Danny Casolaro, a reporter investigating the Inslaw story, is found dead in
a motel room bathtub, the day after he met a key source. The death was
ruled a suicide. Perhaps he is despondent over the loss of his briefcase,
which is missing from the room.
George Bush spends three nights in a Houston hotel so he can claim Texas
residency. Texas has no income tax.
Neil Bush bails out of Apex Energy after collecting $320,000 in salary plus
expenses. Bill Daniels, cable-TV magnate who has been lobbying against
regulation of the cable industry, offers Neil a job. According to a
representative, he "thought Neil deserved a second chance."
1992
New York Times reports that three of Bush's top fundraisers are being sued
in connection with bank failures and another pleaded guilty to mail fraud in
connection with an S&L. These men include the GOP national finance
chair, vice chair and two co-chairs of the President's Dinner, which raised
$9 million for Republican causes.
Former US Attorney General Elliot Richardson, representing the owners of
Inslaw, tells Mother Jones, "I don't know any case where the government
has stonewalled like this."
First of Harken Energy's wells off Bahrain comes up dry. George W. Bush
takes a leave of absence from the firm to work in his father's campaign,
saying "I don't want to involve this company in any kind of allegations of
conflicts or whatever may arise."
Village Voice reports that President Bush has taken at least 76 partisan
flights during his term, at a cost to the taxpayers of over $6 million.
Nixon's Jew hunter Fred Malek is back as Bush's campaign manager.
Campaign sells photo opportunities with the president at a fundraiser for
$92,000 each.
Washington, DC, loses $52,000 in taxes because Bush claims to be a
Texas resident.
Donald H. Alexander contributes $100,000 to Team 100; shortly thereafter
he's named ambassador to the Netherlands.
Bush says: "I will do what I have to do to be reelected."
JERRY URBAN, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, JUNE 4, 1992: 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 US policy under the
Reagan and Bush administrations, sources close to the investigations say .
. . The federal review stems in part from court documents obtained through
litigation by Bill White, a former real estate business associate of Bath . . .
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. 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. George W. Bush's
company, Bush Exploration Co., general partner in the limited partnerships,
went through several mergers, eventually evolving into Harken Energy
Corp., a suburban Dallas-based company . . . Bush said that to his
knowledge, Bath's investment was from personal funds, and no Saudi
money was invested in Arbusto. 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. Binladen, along with his brothers, owns Binladen
Brothers Construction, one of the largest construction companies in the
Middle East. According to White, Bath told him that he had assisted the
CIA in a liaison role with Saudi Arabia since 1976. 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.
1993
With the new Ranger stadium being readied to open the following spring,
George W. Bush announces that he would be running for governor. He is
says his campaign theme will be self-reliance and personal responsibility
rather than dependence on government.
PBS FRONTLINE: [From a French source] The Saudi authorities' decision
to issue an arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden on 16 May 1993 does not
threaten to affect the relationship between the bin Ladens and the royal
family. Osama, one of Mohammed's youngest son, has been known for
years for his fundamentalist activities . . . King Fahd's two closest friends
were: Prince Mohammed Ben Abdullah (son of Abdul Aziz' youngest
brother), who died in the early '80s and whose brother, Khaled Ben
Abdullah (an associate of Suleiman Olayan), still has free access to the
king; and Salem bin Laden, who died in 1988 . . . Like his father in 1968,
Salem died in a 1988 air crash...in Texas. He was flying a BAC 1-11 which
had been bought in July 1977 by Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd. The
plane's flight plans had long been at the center of a number of
investigations. According to one of the plane's American pilots, it had been
used in October 1980 during secret Paris meetings between US and
Iranian emissaries. Nothing was ever proven, but Salem bin Laden's
accidental death revived some speculation that he might have been
"eliminated" as an embarrassing witness. In fact, an inquiry was held to
determine the exact circumstances of the accident. The conclusions were
never divulged . . . There was also a political aspect to Salem bin Laden's
financial activities . . . Salem bin Laden played a role in the US operations
in the Middle East and Central America during the '80s. On his death in
1968, Sheik Mohammed left behind not only an industrial and financial
estate but also a progeny made up of no less than 54 sons and daughters,
the fruit of a number of marriages . . . Upon Sheik Salem's death, the
leadership of the group passed to his eldest son, Bakr, along with thirteen
other brothers who make up the board of the bin Laden group. The most
important of these are Hassan,Yeslam and Yehia. Most of these brothers
have different mothers and different nationalities as well. Each has his own
set of affinities, thus contributing to the group's international scope. Bakr
and Yehia are seen as representatives of the "Syrian group"; Yeslam, of
the "Lebanese group". There is also a "Jordanian group." Abdul Aziz, one
of the youngest brothers, represents the "Egyptian group" and is also
manager of the bin Laden group's Egyptian branch, which employs over
40,000 people. Osama bin Laden is, incidentally, the only brother with a
Saudi mother.
FRONTLINE
1994
George W. Bush is elected Governor of Texas, defeating Ann Richards 53
to 46 %.
1999
George W. Bush celebrates the Martin Luther King holiday by staying
inside the Governor's Mansion with the windows closed so he wouldn't hear
the thousands of Martin Luther King celebrants listening to speeches right
outside his window on the Texas capitol grounds, less than a football field
away . .
NEWSMAX: Soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush was
suspended during his service in the Texas Air National Guard for failing to
take a physical that included a drug test, The Sunday Times of London
reports . . . "In April 1972 the Pentagon implemented a drug-abuse testing
program that required officers on 'extended active duty', including
reservists such as Bush, to undergo at least one random drug test every
year," reported the Times. "The annual medical exam that year included a
routine analysis of urine, a close examination of the nasal cavities and
specific questions about drugs." . . . But in May 1972, he took a leave of
absence from the Guard to work on the Senate campaign of Winton Blount,
a friend of George Bush Sr., then a Texas congressman. Bush Jr. applied
for a transfer from Houston to Dannelly Air Force Base in Montgomery,
Alabama. But, says the Times, documents show no evidence that once in
Alabama, Bush ever attended the required training. Bush's commander for
the period in question, Gen. William Turnipseed, now retired, claims the
young airman never showed up for regular drills . . . The Texas Governor
has been plagued by drug questions since last summer, when he claimed
to be drug free for the last 25 years . . . Still, despite a deluge of media
speculation over Bush's possible past cocaine use, not a single witness
has come forward to say they saw him use the drug. On the other hand, no
fewer than six witnesses have claimed in published reports that President
Clinton used cocaine.
"Some people have too much freedom." -- George W. Bush
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