posted 04-04-2003 07:05 PM            

BUSH ADMINISTATION ADMITS 9-11 "EXCUSE FOR A NEW WORLD ORDER"....and "WORLD WAR 4."

posted 04-05-2003 12:27 PM            

The BBC says that America's special agents backed away from the bin Laden family soon after George W Bush became president.

Agents were also told to back off the Saudi royals - although that has all changed since September 11.

The findings come from documents obtained from the FBI investigation of the US terror attacks by the Newsnight programme.

The papers show that despite the myth that Osama is the black sheep of the family, at least two other American-based members of it are suspected of links with a possible terrorist organisation.

Newsnight says it has uncovered a long history of shadowy connections between the State Department, the CIA and the Saudis.

The former head of the American visa bureau in Jeddah from 1987 to 1989, Michael Springman, told the programme: "In Saudi Arabia I was repeatedly ordered by high-level State Department officials to issue visas to unqualified applicants.

"People who had no ties either to Saudi Arabia or to their own country. I complained there. I complained here in Washington to Main State, to the Inspector General and to Diplomatic Security and I was ignored."

He added: "What I was doing was giving visas to terrorists - recruited by the CIA and Osama bin Laden to come back to the United States for training to be used in the war in Afghanistan against the then Soviets."

The US allegedly wanted to keep the pro-American Saudi royal family in control of the world's biggest oil spigot, even at the price of turning a blind eye to any terrorist connection - so long as America was safe.

posted 04-05-2003 04:18 PM            

"SUPPORT OUR WARS AND WE FORGIVE YOUR DEBT."

US formalises billion dollar debt write-off to Pakistan
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=20286

Reuters

Washington, April 5: Pakistan and the United States signed a formal agreement on Saturday to write off a US $1.0 billion debt owed by Islamabad to Washington.

posted 04-06-2003 05:05 PM            

Larry Wheeler
New Journal Washington Bureau
http://propagandamatrix.com/pensacola_nas_link_scrutiny.html

U.S. Sen. Bob Graham is requesting information on published reports of a possible Pensacola Naval Air Station tie-in to last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

As many as four of 19 suspected hijackers may have participated during the 1990s in the base's flight training program for foreign military trainees, according to reports in The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.

In addition, The New York Times reported that one of the four also may have lived at the Fountains apartment complex near the University of West Florida, leaving about a year ago.

Graham, D-Miami Lakes, who is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was briefed early Sunday on the latest intelligence information, but there was no mention of suspected hijackers having been enrolled as pilot trainees in Pensacola, said his spokesman, Paul Anderson.

Since then, Anderson said, Graham has requested more information on the possible Pensacola tie-in as well as updates on suspected hijackers who may have been receiving civilian flying lessons at commercial training academies elsewhere in Florida.

Graham and a number of state lawmakers returned to Florida aboard a Florida Air National Guard flight Saturday. He could receive the requested information today, Anderson said.

It's not unusual for foreign nationals to train at Pensacola-area bases.

Pensacola NAS and Whiting Field train many of the more than 6,000 foreign military students who receive flight training each year at U.S. military institutions.

The students are instructed in everything from warfare specialty training to air navigation meteorology and land/water survival, according to the NaPentagon and local military officials refused to comment on the media reports on Sunday. They referred calls on the subject to the FBI, which also refused comment.

The news articles caution that there are slight discrepancies between the FBI list of suspected highjackers and the military training records, either in the spellings of their names or in their birth dates. They also raise the possibility that the hijackers stole the identities of military trainees.

Tracking names

The Newsweek article says U.S. military officials gave the FBI information suggesting that five of the alleged hijackers received training in the 1990s at secure U.S. military installations.

It says three of them listed their address on driver licenses and car registrations as 10 Radford Blvd. on Pensacola NAS, a base road on which residences for foreign- military flight trainees are located.

Those suspects are:

Saeed Alghamdi, believed to have helped hijack United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Ahmad Alnami, who also was aboard Flight 93.

Ahmed Alghamdi, who is suspected of helping commandeer United Airlines Flight 75, which hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.

Saeed Alghamdi listed the address in March 1997 to register a 1998 Oldsmobile; five months later, he used the same address to register a late-model Buick.

The other two used the address on driver licenses issued in 1996 and 1998.

The Newsweek article cites two other suspects with possible U.S. military training: One may have been trained in strategy and tactics at the Air War College in Montgomery, Ala., and one may have received language training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

A Washington Post article adds a fourth suspect who may have trained in Pensacola:

Hamza Alghamdi, who also is believed to have been aboard Flight 75.

A New York Times article, using an alternative spelling, says that Ahmed A. al-Ghamdi lived in the Fountains near UWF. The article says he moved out about August 2000 and does not specify how long he may have lived there.

The Fountains, off University Parkway, caters to UWF students and also has a number of military personnel, according to several residents. The apartment manager could not be reached on Sunday.

The FBI's official list of suspected hijackers gives the most recent addresses of the four with possible Pensacola links as possibly Delray Beach.

Complicating the effort to learn if the suspects ever trained in Pensacola is the fact that Alghamdi is an extremely common name. Scores of people with that name live throughout Florida.

Foreign trainees

Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity, which administers training of foreign aviation students for the Navy, is headquartered in Pensacola.

Robert Pemberton, the technical director, declined to comment Sunday. But the group has estimated that 15 percent of aviation students on any given day are foreign nationals.

They come from as far away as Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Norway.

Locally, foreign pilots contribute to the Pensacola-area economy, spending an estimated $10 million a year in local malls, restaurants and shops, the Security Assistance group has estimated.

posted 04-06-2003 05:09 PM            

Original Link: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/WTC_profits.htm

Meet the brazen Al-Arian family of Tampa, Fla. Sami Al-Arian a University of South Florida professor and his son Abdullah, a Duke
student, who was an intern for Democratic whip, Rep. David Bonior, a Michigan gubernatorial candidate who is very supportive of Arab-American leaders' efforts to block reasonable counterterrorism measures. Dr. Al-Arian is the author of this speech: "We assemble today to pay respects to the march of the martyrs and to the river of blood that gushes forth and does not extinguish, from butchery to butchery, and from martyrdom to martyrdom, from Jihad to Jihad."

According to the July 16 Newsweek, during a campaign speech in Tampa, last year, candidate Bush singled his son, Abdullah, out in the
crowd, something done for specially selected, pre-screened individuals to which a candidate wants to draw attention. Calling Abdullah, Photo taken in Tampa, Florida - Bush Campaign 2000.
Laura and George W. Bush (3rd and 4th from left) with Islamic Jihad frontman Sami Al-Arian (third from right)
and family (son, Abdullah "Big Dude" - Bush's nickname for him - Al-Arian, is on far left). , "Big Dude" one of his trademark nicknames reserved for close advisors and White House press, Bush and wife Laura posed for pictures with the Arian family, standing right next to Dr. Al-Arian. The problem is, Dr. Al-Arian is the U.S. frontman for one of the largest terrorist-group coalitions in the world Islamic Jihad which was declared an international terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and which openly promotes death to Americans. Hijackers on Flight 93, which crashed near Pittsburgh, wore red headbands, customary among Islamic Jihad warriors who take their instruction from Iran.

President of the Islamic Committee for Palestine, Al-Arian headed up the primary U.S. support group for Islamic Jihad, according to "Jihad in America," a 1994 PBS documentary on Arab Muslim terrorists in America, produced and reported by Steven Emerson a courageous investigative journalist who has worked for the U.S. News & World Report and CNN. "Jihad in America" can be viewed online. (Dr. Al-Arian and his activities are detailed in the last quarter of the hour-long documentary.)

When "Jihad in America" was first set for broadcast in 1994, Arab- and Muslim-American leaders tried to censor PBS and prevent its broadcast. Instead of deploring Arab terrorist groups in the U.S., they demanded and were granted 1.5 hours of PBS airtime to justify these groups and people like Al-Arian. As a result of this documentary and other similar work, Emerson a real-life Indiana Jones exposing U.S.-based Islamic terrorist groups received constant death threats from Arab terrorist groups, which the Arab-American community (that today professes a love of America amidst the WTC bombing) refused to condemn.

FBI and INS affidavits accused Al-Arian of, "among other things, 'fraud and misuse of visas' and 'aiding and abetting or assisting certain aliens' involved in terrorism to enter the United States unlawfully." Islamic Jihad's newspaper, "Islam and Palestine," openly promotes jihad against the West, and has listed Al-Arian's ICP as one of its main offices, complete with ICP's Tampa address.

ICP conferences have featured Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the ringleader of the first WTC bombing in 1993 and now in prison, and
Sheik Abdul Aziz Odeh, the spiritual leader to Islamic Jihad and a named unindicted co-conspirator in the first WTC bombing. Odeh has also been a guest at Al-Arian's Masjid Al-Qassan Mosque in Tampa, named for a Palestinian terrorist. Al-Arian also heads World Islamic Studies Enterprise, which according to the Wall Street Journal, "brought terrorists into the U.S. and raised funds for Islamic Jihad." One of those terrorists was Al-Arian's good friend Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, for whom he arranged a visa, who also became a USF professor and director of WISE, and who is now the head of Islamic Jihad, based in Damascus Syria. Disguised as religious charities, ICP and WISE collaborated with and laundered money for parties involved in the 1993 WTC bombing, including Sheik Rahman. These facts were confirmed by Emerson in sworn congressional testimony on Feb. 24, 1998, and May 23, 2000.

From 1988-1992, Al-Arian organized a series of conferences featuring "a number of the world's top, terrorist leaders" and worked with "Hamas leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere, and helped oversee terrorist cells in the Middle East."

Al-Arian's brother in law, Mazen al-Najjar, was jailed for three years for using a University of South Florida Islamic think tank as a front for terrorism. He was released because secret evidence against him was prohibited and is soon to be deported as an illegal alien, but in a hearing to release him, Al-Arian "invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination 99 times," according to the Associated Press.

But the Newsweek article doesn't mention any of this. It's more like "Newsweak."
Instead, Newsweek reports that Al-Arian campaigned for Bush "when Bush decried the use of secret evidence during the campaign" secret evidence that should've been used to deport Al-Arian. And it details the anger of Muslim-Americans, who walked out of the Bush White House in protest when Abdullah Al-Arian was ejected from a Bush meeting, based on the evidence.

Instead of being embarrassed, Muslim- and Arab-American leaders decried it as profiling, and the Al-Arian family is a cause célèbre for Arab - and Muslim-American leaders. Dr. Al-Arian has become a "civil rights leader" among them. Incredible. Even more incredible, Bush apologized to the junior Al-Arian for ejecting him from the White House, inviting him back. He dispatched the deputy director of
the U.S. Secret Service to Congressman Bonior's office to personally apologize to the 20-year-old intern. And, in June, the New York Times reported that Dr. Al-Arian, himself, "was among a group of Muslim leaders admitted to the White House for a political briefing."

posted 04-06-2003 05:15 PM            

by Toby Rose
http://propagandamatrix.com/cia_agent_met_bin_laden_in_july.html

Le Figaro today claimed that a CIA agent met Osama bin Laden in a Gulf hospital as recently as last July and received "precise information" about an imminent attack on the US.

The agent met Bin Laden while he was being treated at the American Hospital in Dubai for a kidney infection. The agent was subsequently recalled to Washington.

The hospital today vigorously denied the report, which is based on a number of sources, including French secret services and a hospital administrator.

Bin Laden is said to have arrived in the UAE from the Pakistan city of Quetta, accompanied by his personal physician, four bodyguards and an Algerian nurse. He was visited by family members and leading Saudis. The paper claims he was treated in the urology department headed by Dr Terry Callaway.

Bin Laden is said to have severe medical problems and "the kidney infection has spread to his liver". Le Figaro claims a mobile dialysis machine was delivered to his Kandahar hideout in Afghanistan last year.

In a further twist, French secret service operatives are said to have met officials from the US embassy in Paris last August after the arrest of Algerian Djamel Beghal in the UAE.

A French secret service report on 7 September warned of possible attacks, and that the order to act would come from Afghanistan. Le Figaro says very precise information on targets for attack was communicated to the CIA.

posted 04-06-2003 05:23 PM            

Feds say Mid-Easterners knew
of the coming danger

By GREG B. SMITH
Daily News Staff Writer

Original Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-10-12/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-128273.asp

Federal investigators have received evidence that some Middle Easterners in the New York area were warned ahead of time to stay out of lower Manhattan the morning of Sept. 11, the Daily News has learned.

The FBI was able to confirm several such warnings occurred but has been unable to discover the source of the warnings.

Agents with the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force have interviewed school officials in Jersey City and Brooklyn and questioned members of a Bronx mosque about the warnings, sources told The News.

James Margolin, a spokesman for the FBI's New York office, confirmed that agents were looking into several reports of warnings that preceded the attack against the World Trade Center.

"Among the e-mails and tips we received are a number of reports of people overhearing people boasting about or warning about coming attacks," he said.

Suspicious Comments

He declined to discuss specifics and would not say whether any of the 600-plus people detained in the terror probe were questioned about pre-attack warnings.

But officials and sources familiar with the investigation said the incidents include the following:

Jersey City school administrators confirmed that several days before the attack, a student of Middle Eastern descent issued a vague warning not to travel into lower Manhattan the morning of Sept. 11.

Joanne Kenny, associate superintendent of the Jersey City public schools, said, "Crisis staff determined that comments made or notes written were serious enough so we called the juvenile bureau of the Jersey City police and they followed up."

Sources Not Found

Jersey City police did not return calls seeking comment, but a source said the matter wound up being investigated by the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force.

Kenny wouldn't discuss the nature of the warning or reveal the name of the student who made the comment. But a source said federal authorities investigated the matter and could not determine the source of the warning.

"They ran into a dead end, and whoever may have given the warning denied it," the source said.

In the Bronx, federal investigators received reports about a similar warning at a mosque, sources said. The sources would not reveal the name of the mosque.

Sources with the Joint Terrorist Task Force questioned dozens of members of the mosque, many of whom told agents they had been given a vague warning to stay out of lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, sources said.

One source said investigators again hit a dead end when the mosque's hierarchy denied having prior knowledge of the attack.

The source pointed out that in years past, law enforcement had received tips about warnings to stay away from specific locales and of planned attacks that never materialized.

"There's a cry-wolf aspect to this that you need to put this in context," the source said.

At Brooklyn's New Utrecht High School, the FBI was notified that a Pakistani student in a bilingual class "made a comment to a teacher the week prior about the twin towers," said Karen Finney, spokeswoman for the Board of Education.

Finney would not reveal the nature of the comment, but the Journal-News of Westchester reported yesterday that the student pointed at the tower during a heated political argument and declared, "Look at those two buildings. They won't be here next week."

School officials would not release the name of the student, but said he was still attending classes at New Utrecht. They said they notified New York police and that the matter was turned over to the FBI.

posted 04-06-2003 05:27 PM            

by Tom Flocco and Michael C. Ruppert

Edited by Michael C. Ruppert

[© Copyright 2002, From The Wilderness Publications, www.copvcia.com. All Rights Reserved. May be recopied, distributed or posted on the worldwide web for non-profit purposes only.]

Original Link: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/01_09_02_death_profits_pt3.html

[Editor’s Notes – In Part I of this series FTW, thanks to the brilliant research of Tom Flocco, demonstrated that the CIA has, in fact, been involved in monitoring stock trades on world financial markets, and that current CIA executives have had recent business relationships with firms handling obvious insider trades connected to the attacks of September 11th. Those connections ran directly into the heart of German financial giant Deutschebank. In Part II we documented that a former Deutschebank executive, Kevin Ingram, had recently been convicted on drug and money laundering charges that were directly a result of attempts to arm Islamic terrorist groups. Now in Part III, we conclude this series by revealing a devastating conflict of interest in investigating these leads on the part of President George W. Bush by virtue of his own past insider trading through Harken Energy in Bahrain and Kuwait.

The Administration’s apparently deliberate omission of key mid-Eastern banks in these two countries from post 9-11 investigations suggests clearly that the principal financial institutions of the countries where Harken did business have something to hide which the Bush Administration does not want to see the light of day – especially as potentially explosive Enron investigations gather steam.

After our publication of Part II a number of careful FTW readers were careful to point out that our description of “put” options was oversimplified to the point of describing a short-sell, rather than the more highly leveraged “put option.” We acknowledge this error but re-emphasize that the point of these stories – which could easily be sidetracked into lengthy and detailed discussions of the workings of financial instruments – is not the trades themselves, but who might have made the trades, why they made them and, most importantly, why the Bush Administration wants so desperately to conceal information about them from the world. – MCR]

----------

FTW, January 9, 2002 -- President George W. Bush may have personal reasons for hampering investigations into insider trading connected to the attacks of September 11th. There is substantial evidence suggesting that a detailed investigation into Deutschebank’s connection to Islamic terrorists and 9-11 might reopen a mysteriously closed 1991 investigation of criminal insider trading connected to Harken Energy, a Houston company where George W. Bush served on the board of directors as a major stockholder with his some of his father's key campaign contributors. On January 30, 1990 Harken, with a remarkably unsuccessful history of drilling projects, signed major oil drilling contracts with Bahrain. Five months later, Bush's company suffered an unexplained huge loss of stock value just prior to the Gulf War -- but not before the future president had already cashed out, making close to a million dollars selling his own stock. Because of 9-11 leads suggesting the possible involvement of certain Arab banks in financing the attacks, a conflict of interest exists, clearly limiting how far the President would be willing to pursue the most obvious leads. And U.S. government investigations since 9-11 have avoided looking at key Middle Eastern banks in Bahrain and Kuwait already linked to terrorist activities.

In fact, two banks located in Bahrain and Kuwait – The Faysal Islamic Bank and the Kuwait Finance House – which had been listed in European reports as having terrorist ties were glaringly omitted from George W Bush’s financial crackdown after September 11th. [Source: The Inner City Press, 9-11-99.] Both banks have correspondent relationships with Deutschebank.

In spite of mounting evidence of a number of connections between German financial giant Deutschebank and the terrorist attacks of September 11 - including previously documented links to insider trading based upon events of 9/11 - no press agency or government entity is questioning why certain banking institutions in Kuwait and Bahrain with deep financial ties to the Bush family have been overlooked in the President’s supervision of a so-called "worldwide crackdown on terrorist financing." Reuters reported on 11-7-2001 that the Treasury Department added 61 additional people and organizations to the President’s original Executive Order of September 23 -- including banks in Somalia and Nassau, The Bahamas. But mysteriously, no banks in Bahrain, Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia were named in either the original order or its expansion.

Moreover, the President’s lack of effective direction and oversight of terrorist finance appears to be abetted and endorsed by the U.S. Congress.

Just 32 days before the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, a Financial Times of Asia (FT) Wire-Business Line report linked Deutschebank to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Pakistani and Afghani heroin smuggling, and money laundering of narcotics proceeds (8-10-2001). Retired Pakistani intelligence chief Brig Imtiaz was jailed for eight years on July 31, 2001 for laundering heroin profits -- for covert actions -- via a CIA-linked drug smuggling cell, using Deutschebank and other financial entities and properties.

Former State Department official Jonathan Weiner confirmed that Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have been of little help to federal officials regarding known terrorist funds moving back and forth between those countries. Weiner made these statements in a National Public Radio (NPR) interview on 11-21-2001.

Weiner told host Linda Wertheimer, "Since September 11th, all those countries have frozen accounts or have looked in their banking systems for the money of people associated with terrorist finance, [and] have gone through the entire list provided by the United States."

He added that "country after country has announced, ‘we’ve looked for funds. We’ve looked diligently. We’ve been ready to freeze some funds. We just haven’t found anything.’ No money in the UAE, no money in Kuwait." Weiner then revealed, "There is, I can tell, no money announced in Saudi Arabia, none announced in Bahrain.

"Well, given that we know [that terrorist] funds came out of there and we know [that terrorist] funds went back there, their inability to find funds is pretty astonishing," said the former State Department official.

While 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudis, it is Bahrain and Kuwait’s strange lack of assistance in ferreting out terrorist financial support and insider trading evidence that raises questions, given their extremely close ties to both Bush presidents.

The close financial relationships of both Bush 41 and Bush 43 (referring to their respective presidencies) with government officials of Bahrain as stockholders via Texas corporation Harken Energy, which had secured major drilling rights came during the period when the elder Bush and his advisor son were making U.S. military decisions prior to the Gulf War. Many Harken investors were major campaign donors to Bush 41.

Current President Bush made his first million dollars as a result of a classic insider stock trade--directly related to the sale of his stock in Harken. Moreover, Bush’s oil stock sale was finalized immediately prior to Iraq‘s invasion of Kuwait -- at the height of its share price -- before plummeting days later on news of Iraq’s invasion.

George W. avoided prosecution, thanks to some "well-connected" lawyers, and a soft investigation of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) violations -- supervised by a presidential parent who pulled the strings with SEC enforcement staff. This, as current and past Enron employees have now lost their pensions as a result of illegal insider stock sales in the oil industry through another company directly connected to the Bushes.

George H. W. Bush, the elder is a hero, an icon, with his picture in Kuwaiti public buildings, and has been a regular visitor to Kuwait since U.S. the Gulf War.

However, considering that Kuwait Finance House and Faysal Islamic Bank of Bahrain are both correspondent banks with Deutschebank, questions remain as to why President Bush would not place them on his list of banks under scrutiny for terrorist ties, given the German bank’s many links to the 9/11 attacks and the above revelations by a former State Department official.

BANKING ON TERRORISM

According to German news weekly Der Spiegel, Deutschebank handled accounts for the bin Laden family worth $103 million British pounds (The London Guardian, 10-1-2001).

The New York Times (9-29-2001) added that FBI officials are "focusing more than ever on Germany," and in particular, an apartment used by Mohamed Atta -- considered the lead hijacker -- and Ramzi Muhammad Abdullah Bin Al Shibh, who also shared the apartment with other hijackers. Fox News and the Washington Post both reported on 1-2-2001 that Al Shibh wired $14,000 to Zacarias Moussaoui, now in U.S. custody and referred to as the “20th hijacker.”

An American official said "It looks like it was organized in Germany... there is clear evidence of meetings between Mr. Atta, Mr. al-Shehhi, and Mr. Jarrah, three of the four suspected hijackers," according to the Times.

Mamoun Darkanzanli, a Syrian businessman whose bank accounts were frozen after the attacks, has been implicated by American officials as an associate of Osama bin Laden who took part in a 1996 attack on U.S. troops at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. U.S. officials say currently jailed terrorist and bin Laden’s highest ranking associate in U.S. custody -- Mamdouh Mahmud Salim -- named Darkazanli as the co-signer of Salim’s bank account at Deutschebank in Hamburg, also according to the Times. The bin Laden family, with whom the Bushes have had long standing business deals through The Carlyle Group, was later awarded the contract to rebuild the facility.

The New York paper reported that Deutschebank was also linked to Wadih el-Hage, a naturalized American citizen from Lebanon who served as bin Laden’s personal secretary at his Sudan office, and was named by prosecutors as also setting up terrorist front businesses for bin Laden in Kenya during 1994.

El-Hage’s business card lists Mamoun Darkazanli’s current apartment as his Hamburg address, while his confiscated address book lists Darkazanli’s address, phone numbers and yet another Deutschebank account in Hamburg -- but not the same account as Salim’s.

Investigators also suspect that Darkazanli was supporting bin Laden’s Al-Q’aeda network financially, using Deutschebank as his supporting entity for terrorism.

According to the Asian Wall Street Journal (9-28-200), insiders familiar with the family say the bin Ladens do most of their banking with the London branch of Deutschebank and the Saudi National Commercial Bank; however, they also use Citigroup, a bank long linked to drug money laundering and on whose board of directors sit former CIA Director John Deutch and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Rubin is also the former CEO of Goldman Sachs which was once the home of convicted Deutschebank drug money launderer Kevin Ingram. (See Part II).

DEUTSCHEBANK’S “CORRESPONDING” LACK OF INTELLIGENCE

Michigan Senator Carl Levin’s Minority Banking Report of February 2001 calls correspondent banking the "gateway to money laundering," a financial technique wherein illicit money is moved from bank to bank with "no questions asked," thereby cleansing funds prior to being used for legitimate purposes. Via correspondent banking relationships, banks not licensed in the U.S. may gain access to American financial markets by establishing a correspondent relationship with banks that are. Deutschebank is licensed in the U.S. and maintained offices at the World Trade Center. All U.S. Deutschebank records were destroyed in the September 11 attacks.

An obvious question then is why none of these Middle Eastern financial institutions have felt the sting of U.S. investigative wrath since the attacks.

In another curious disclosure, the FBI also says al Shamal Islamic Bank -- Osama bin Laden’s personal bank -- headquartered in Khartoum, Sudan -- which the terrorist leader helped capitalize with $50 million in private funds, "is being investigated by U.S. or overseas authorities." According to U.S. News (10-8-2001), the Bureau won’t say which authority. President Bush, however, has failed to place Osama bin Laden's al Shamal Islamic Bank in his Executive Order -- freezing all of its correspondent transactions with other banks of the world. [See http://www.banking.state.ny.us/il01102a.pdf ]

This is especially strange, since the Washington Post (9-29-2001) reported that a an unnamed bin Laden associate testified (at the U.S. trial on the 1998 African embassy bombings) that "$250,000 was wired from al Shamal Islamic Bank directly into the bin Laden cohort’s Texas bank account -- where he used it to buy a plane delivered to bin Laden... intended to transport Stinger missiles...." Two months later, FT (11-29-2001) offered more information, reporting that "The money was wired from the Wadi al Aqiq account at al Shamal bank via Bank of New York to a Bank of America account held in Dallas, Texas by Essam al Ridi. Al Ridi, an Egyptian flight instructor who met bin Laden in Pakistan in 1985, flew the plane to Khartoum."

Congress has not sought to inquire as to whether bin Laden's Stinger missiles were flown directly out of Texas, or how his fellow terrorists were able to buy a plane in Dallas to illegally transport arms, or how a bin Laden associate was able to become a Texas flight instructor -- let alone whether he taught other terrorists how to fly airplanes in Dallas.

A Financial Times of Asia Wire story (8-10-2001) revealed that dirty money profits for covert actions resulting from CIA-linked heroin smuggling (which is a primary means of financing terrorist operations) through Pakistan and Northern Afghanistan have been shown to find their way into the international banking system. This was the role played by Kevin Ingram, formerly of Deutschebank in New York as described in Part II of this series.

And while U.S. News (10-8-2001) reported that FBI officials say Deutschebank is "being investigated by U.S. or overseas authorities," again the Bureau will not say which authorities, indicating that the U.S. may not even be taking a lead role in investigating the matter.

A spokesman for Deutschebank said it had provided investigators with information on accounts linked to members of the bin Laden family (The Guardian, 10/1/01). No further information has been made public.

Meanwhile, continued and current revelations indicate that negligence and the "prior-knowledge issue" -- insider trading or otherwise - -will not go away. An executive at a Pan Am flight school in Minnesota told Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-MN) and Rep. Martin O. Sabo (D-MN) that he had discussed and been questioned by an FBI agent on August 15 -- 27 days before the 9/11 attacks, "warning that a Boeing 747-400, which [alleged terrorist Zacarias] Moussaoui was seeking to learn how to fly, could be used as a bomb,’’ (Washington Post, 1-2-2002). But shockingly, the executive also told the lawmakers that "it took between four and six telephone calls to find an [FBI] agent who would help," according to a letter obtained by the Post.

In a Fox News interview hosted by Rita Cosby on 1-3-2002, political analyst Dick Morris exposed more governmental negligence by reporting that President Bush "used information provided by FBI wiretaps dating back to 1993 to determine which terrorist-related bank accounts he would freeze in 2002," -- indicating lengthy U.S. intelligence prior knowledge of terrorist financial transactions. Fox’s revelation of the additional careless handling of critical pre-9/11 intelligence data may yet face scrutiny in three states via courtrooms of victim families, despite congressional oversight silence -- and a quickly legislated compensation statute making victim families promise not to sue the government.

Given evidence of prior knowledge, insider trading, CIA ties, and other financial relationships leading directly into Deutschebank (http://www.copvcia.com/stories/dec_2001/death_profits_pt1.html), the question is begged as to why "President Bush’s original Executive Order [freezing assets] didn’t name any banks," (Washington Post, 9-29-2001). The President has the power to freeze American monetary operations connected to global banks with institutions in countries refusing to cooperate in his terrorist finance probe.

On December 31, 2001, a U.S. State Department Memo revealed that the president again avoided dealing with middle eastern countries -- with close ties to the Bush family -- by announcing that assets of 1 German and 5 Irish terrorist-linked organizations had been frozen--but still no banks linked to the epicenter of terrorist finances in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates had been touched (http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/02010202).

THE CIA, TERROISM AND DRUG MONEY

Documented Russian organized crime connections to money laundering also lead back to Deutschebank, Pakistan, and terrorist financing.

On September 5, 1999, the German newspaper Weld am Sonntag quoted Deutschebank CEO Rolf Breuer saying that "It could be that we were abused as an intermediate coordinating point" in the fast-developing Russian money laundering scandal. Deutschebank and its U.S. affiliate Bankers Trust (BT) filed "suspicious transaction" reports about Russian clients, as BT had "correspondent banking" relationships with Russia’s Inkombank, which "allegedly had ties to organized crime," according to USA Today ( 8-27-1999 ). Moreover, an Inner City Press story (9-11-1999) also revealed that German magazine Der Spiegel quoted Breuer as admitting that it was "possible" his bank was "misused" as an intermediary for money laundering.

The FT Asia Wire report (8-10-2001) suggested that at least 30 Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials, serving and retired have accumulated wealth through heroin smuggling. In pervious stories, FTW and other news agencies have thoroughly documented that the Pakistani ISI is a creation and surrogate of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The FT report also revealed that "Pakistani residents are allowed to maintain dollar accounts with no questions asked about the origin of the money and about its liability for income tax." FT added that "the total amount of dollars in private circulation since the military regime came to power was almost equal to that in the Government coffers, if not more....[and] largely, if not totally, derived from the heroin trade."

Additional direct CIA and Deutschebank ties to heroin smuggling and money laundering were also revealed by the FT story. "In the 1980’s, at the instance [sic] of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Internal Political Division of the [Pakistani] Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), headed by Brig Imtiaz... started a cell for the use of heroin for covert actions. This cell promoted the cultivation of opium and the extraction of heroin in Pakistan as well as in those parts of Afghanistan under Mujahedeen control for being smuggled into the Soviet-controlled areas to get the Soviet troops addicted.

"After the withdrawal of the Soviets, ISI’s [Pakistani] heroin cell started using its network of refineries and smugglers to send heroin to the West and use the money to supplement its legitimate economy... After capturing power on October 12, 1999, Gen. Pervez Musharraf had Brig Imtiaz, because of his proximity to Mr. Nawaz Sharif, arrested and prosecuted for having assets disproportionate to his known sources of income....He was convicted by a court on July 31, 2001 (52 days before the 9-11 attacks), and jailed for eight years.

"According to evidence produced in the court by the National Accountability Bureau, Brig Imtiaz had foreign exchange bearer certificates worth $20 million, a Pakistani rupee account in the Union Bank with a balance of Rs 2.13 billion, a dollar account in Deutschebank with a balance of $19.1 million, five residential houses, five commercial units and three shops. This huge wealth was allegedly accumulated by him through heroin smuggling."

BAHRAIN, KUWAIT AND DEUTSCHEBANK – THE DOOR TO HARKEN ENERGY

According to attorney Matthew Lee of Inner City Press (ICP), after September 11, regulators in Luxembourg, former headquarters of the notorious Pakistani Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), circulated a list of five banks, in addition to President Bush’s U.S. Executive Order of September 23, freezing the accounts of suspected terrorist-connected individuals and organizations.

In Part II of the Profits of Death series, located at: (http://www.copvcia.com/stories/dec_2001/death_profits_pt2.html) the U.S. government’s ongoing scrutiny of terrorist banking was documented in an AP story by Catherine Wilson. The story provided clear indication that U.S. intelligence agencies routinely monitor banking transactions in terrorist-related cases. Wilson wrote about the current prosecution of Egyptians in a case connected to former Goldman Sachs and Deutschebank securities trader Kevin Ingram’s attempt to launder heroin and cash for the illegal sale of weapons to Islamic terrorists. She added that "numerous promised wire transfers never arrived, but there were discussions of foreign bankers taking payoffs to move the money to purchase weapons into the United States..."

Moreover, the AP story never questioned how the federal agents knew the names of particular banks and bankers, so as not to arouse suspicion on the part of Kevin Ingram and the other Middle Eastern accomplices, because the bankers had previously been "in-the-loop" of drug money laundering and illegal arms sales.

The Bush Administration would necessarily have to be concerned if congressional investigations of Deutschebank ties to Faysal Islamic Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait Finance House started to dredge up and revive old financial investigations into the 1991 probe of Harken Energy.

AN INSIDE TRADER DIRECTS PROBE OF INSIDE TRADERS – THE MOTHER OF ALL ENRONS

One reason why the Administration has not frozen the assets of the two banks in Kuwait and Bahrain with correspondent relationships with Deutschebank leads directly to Harken.

The probe in question is tied to Bahrain and Kuwait, and directly involves George W. Bush and SEC lawyers appointed by his father. According to SEC records, on four separate occasions President George W. Bush disregarded federal statutes by failing to file insider stock trade reports on a timely basis, back-dating one trade by some four months. (Harken Energy SEC Abstract Filing, transaction date: 6-22-1990; Oil stock sale made 41 days prior to Iraq's attack on Kuwait -- $848,560 profit, filing date: 3-4-1991- 8 1/2 months late and reported to the SEC two days after Gulf War was over on 3-2-1991; Harken Energy SEC Abstract Filing, transaction date: 6-16-89, filing date: 10-23-1989 -- 17 weeks late.) [Sources: Wall Street Journal, 4-4-1991 and 9-28-99; Time, 10-28-1991; U.S. News, 3-16-1992; Associated Press, 10-28-94; Houston Post, 10-18-1994.]

The younger Bush denied the charge of insider trading in spite of his positions on the Harken Energy board of directors, audit committee, and stock restructuring panel. He added that he had no idea Harken was going to get an audit report full of red ink until weeks after he had made his stock sale.

During December, 2000 into January, 2001, journalist Tom Flocco’s former research associate, Mario Calabrese, repeatedly called the SEC requesting copies of George W. Bush’s original Harken Energy stock filings. After some 3 1/2 weeks of calls made during the critical Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court arguments deciding the Bush-Gore election, SEC representative Linda Thompson called Mr. Calabrese on January 14, 2001 to confirm that all original Bush SEC documents had been destroyed. Thompson said that "the dates you requested have all met their (6 year) retention time." It is possible that copies are still available via major search engines.

The future president completed his key insider trade eight days before Harken announced a $23 million second quarter corporate loss and about six weeks before the invasion. Having just profited by nearly $1 million--representing a 200 % insider windfall--George Jr. watched Harken stock take a nosedive on the bad news. Thus, Harken Energy, a Houston oil company doing business in Bahrain, wherein some of his father’s largest contributors also maintained substantial stock positions, made George W. his first million which served as seed money for his upcoming Texas Rangers deal.

The April 4, 1991 Wall Street Journal added that "Mr. Bush did not return their phone calls seeking comment, and the Bush White House tersely said ‘It doesn’t comment on the activities of the president’s children.’" Moreover, the SEC also declined to comment, according to The New York Times. [3-9-92]

Neither the younger Bush nor the media made much of the blatant conflicts of interest since the chairman of the SEC was Richard Breedon, former lawyer with Houston firm of Baker and Botts. Breedon had served as deputy counsel to Bush 41 when he was Vice President under Ronald Reagan.

Moreover, the SEC investigation of George W. was led by general counsel James R. Doty who, according to a UPI report, mysteriously neglected to interview any of the Harken directors --including the younger Bush -- regarding "enforcement" oversight. Moreover, Doty had previously served as George W. Bush’s personal lawyer Bush 43’s purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise.

So, in the end, a future president--George W. Bush -- was cleared of insider trade wrongdoing by his personal attorney and by his father’s counsel. That said, the Bush Administration is currently keeping a low profile regarding campaign contributors at Enron Corporation which participated in insider stock sales that bankrupted the corporation while Enron employees were prohibited from cashing in their Enron stock-based 401K plans as their value plummeted.

BUSH IN BAHRAIN – PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

In October 1991, Time Magazine questioned why the tiny country of Bahrain would stake so much of its financial future on Harken Energy, which it labeled an "obscure, money-losing company with no refineries and no experience in offshore oil exploration." The magazine also noted that oil insiders speculated that Bahrain’s rulers saw the arrangement as a way to gain influence with the Bush Administration.

In January, 1991, The Village Voice reported a potential nexus regarding foreign policy and personal financial interests as in 1990, the Bush Administration signed an agreement with Bahrain that chose the small country as the permanent principal allied base in the Middle East, although it was some 200 miles away from the hostilities in Iraq and Kuwait.

The military base deal came right after Harken announced its January 30, 1990 joint oil-drilling venture with Bahrain, suggesting that the elder Bush’s contributors and his son, the future President of the United States, were involved in personal financial business involving Harken, while also making decisions – including dispatching Ambassador April Glaspie to tell Saddam Hussein that it’s actions vis a vis Kuwait were none of the U.S.’s business – that led directly to the Gulf War.

And neither Bush let the press know that they had permitted Kuwait and Bahrain to infuse $19.6 million in foreign cash to hire U.S. public relations firm Hill & Knowlton to lobby Congress and the American people into a war frenzy against Iraq.

A former U.S. ambassador to Bahrain, Sam Zakhem, funneled $7.7 million in advertising and lobbying dollars through two front groups: Coalition for Americans at Risk (a former front group for the contras in Nicaragua) and Freedom Task Force. The Iran-Contra front group prepared and placed TV and newspaper ads and had 50 speakers available for pro-war rallies and publicity events; however, neither disclosed Bahrain as the source of the money. [Source: O'Dwyer's Foreign Agent Registration Act Report, October, 1991 and "Flacking for the Emir," by Arthur E. Rowse, The Progressive, October, 1991]

AN ILLEGAL PRIVILEGE TO “NOT” RELEASE DOCUMENTS

On March 16, 1992, U.S. News & World Report said that "according to documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bush 43’s position on the Harken (restructuring) committee gave him detailed knowledge of the company’s deteriorating financial condition."

Spokesmen from Texas Gov. Ann Richards’ campaign said "Was this a real investigation, or was it a whitewash of an insider stock sale by the son of the sitting president?" UPI noted that "while Bush claims the [conflicted] SEC investigation absolved him of illegal insider trading, he has refused to release the investigation files."

The younger Bush has continued his practice of hiding family information (which should be publicly available) to Congress and the American people. On September 18 he asserted "Executive Privilege" in a proclamation refusing to release his father’s vice-presidential and presidential papers as required by law. This is a violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978. What those documents might have revealed remains a mystery that only legal action by families of the victims of 9-11 might disclose.

On December 20, 2001, Fox News analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, quoted Congressman Dan Burton, Chairman of the House Government and Reform Committee, saying that "George Bush is abusing his power regarding executive privilege in refusing to release documents." Burton (and other members of the House Government Reform Committee are) attempting to acquire the elder Bush’s papers, Vice President Cheney’s closed-door energy policy meeting papers and closed FBI investigative reports of alleged wrongdoing in the Bureau’s Boston field office. All requests have been denied by Bush and Cheney.

It does not seem likely that Chairman Burton will push for records that may reopen Harken energy in the past or shed light on Enron in the present. Only an as-yet nonexistent suit filed in civil court by families of the victims of 9-11 would have the necessary legal clout to drag the records into court. In the meantime all the profits of death remain hidden behind a wall of government secrecy.

Tom Flocco is a freelance writer and researcher. Email: TomFlocco@cs.com

Previous stories in the Profits of Death series:

PART I - CIA Does Not Deny Stock Monitoring Outside the U.S.:
http://www.copvcia.com/stories/dec_2001/death_profits_pt1.html

posted 04-06-2003 06:37 PM            

Isabel Vincent
National Post

Original Link: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?f=/stories/20020315/344843.html

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network has been active in the Balkans for years, most recently helping Kosovo rebels battle for independence from Serbia with the financial and military backing of the United States and NATO.

The claim that al-Qaeda played a role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s came from an alleged FBI document former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic presented in his defence before the Hague tribunal last week. Mr. Milosevic faces 66 counts of war crimes and genocide.

Although Hague prosecutors have challenged the veracity of the document, which Mr. Milosevic identified as a Congressional statement from the FBI dated last December, Balkan experts say the presence of al-Qaeda militants in Kosovo and Bosnia is well documented.

Today, al-Qaeda members are helping the National Liberation Army, a rebel group in Macedonia, fight the Skopje government in a bid for independence, military analysts say. Last week, Michael Steiner, the United Nations administrator in Kosovo, warned of "importing the Afghan danger to Europe" because several cells trained and financed by al-Qaeda remain in the region.

"Many members of the Kosovo Liberation Army were sent for training in terrorist camps in Afghanistan," said James Bissett, former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia and an expert on the Balkans. "Milosevic is right. There is no question of their participation in conflicts in the Balkans. It is very well documented."

The arrival in the Balkans of the so-called Afghan Arabs, who are from various Middle Eastern states and linked to al-Qaeda, began in 1992 soon after the war in Bosnia. According to Lenard Cohen, professor of political science at Simon Fraser University, mujahedeen fighters who travelled to Afghanistan to resist the Soviet occupation in the 1980s later "migrated to Bosnia hoping to assist their Islamic brethren in a struggle against Serbian [and for a time] Croatian forces."

The Bosnian Muslims welcomed their assistance. After the Bosnian war, "hundreds of Bosnian passports were provided to the mujahedeen by the Muslim-controlled government in Sarajevo," said Prof. Cohen in a recent article titled Bin Laden and the war in the Balkans. Many al-Qaeda members decided to stay in the region after marrying local Muslim women, he said.

They also set up secret terrorist training camps in Bosnia -- activities financed by the sale of opium produced in Afghanistan and secretly shipped through Turkey and Kosovo into central Europe.

In the years immediately before the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the al-Qaeda militants moved into Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia, to help ethnic Albanian extremists of the KLA mount their terrorist campaign against Serb targets in the region.

The mujahedeen "were financed by Saudi and United Arab Emirates money," said one Western military official, asking anonymity. "They were mercenaries who were not running the show in Kosovo, but were used by the KLA to do their dirty work."

The United States, which had originally trained the Afghan Arabs during the war in Afghanistan, supported them in Bosnia and then in Kosovo. When NATO forces launched their military campaign against Yugoslavia three years ago to unseat Mr. Milosevic, they entered the Kosovo conflict on the side of the KLA, which had already received "substantial" military and financial support from bin Laden's network, analysts say.

posted 04-06-2003 06:50 PM            

SEC SECRET PROBE OF STOCK DEALINGS BEFORE 9/11

http://tbrnews.org/Archives/a048.htm

Between August 26 and September 11, 2001, a group of speculators, identified by the American Securities and Exchange Commission as Israeli citizens, sold “short” a list of 38 stocks that could reasonably be expected to fall in value as a result of the pending attacks. These speculators operated out of the Toronto, Canada and Frankfurt, Germany, stock exchanges and their profits were specifically stated to be “in the millions of dollars.”

Short selling of stocks involves the opportunity to gain large profits by passing shares to a friendly third party, then buying them back when the price falls. Historically, if this precedes a traumatic event, it is an indication of foreknowledge. It is widely known that the CIA uses the Promis software to routinely monitor stock trades as a possible warning sign of a terrorist attack or suspicious economic behavior. A week after the Sept.11 attacks, the London Times reported that the CIA had asked regulators for the Financial Services Authority in London to investigate the suspicious sales of millions of shares of stock just prior to the terrorist acts. It was hoped the business paper trail might lead to the terrorists.

Investigators from numerous government agencies are part of a clandestine but official effort to resolve the market manipulations There has been a great deal of talk about insider trading of American stocks by certain Israeli groups both in Canada and Germany between August 26 and the Sept.11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Lynne Howard, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), stated that information about who made the trades was available immediately. "We would have been aware of any unusual activity right away. It would have been triggered by any unusual volume. There is an automated system called 'blue sheeting,' or the CBOE Market Surveillance System, that everyone in the business knows about. It provides information on the trades - the name and even the Social Security number on an account - and these surveillance systems are set up specifically to look into insider trading. The system would look at the volume, and then a real person would take over and review it, going back in time and looking at other unusual activity."

Howard continued, "The system is so smart that even if there is a news event that triggers a market event it can go back in time, and even the parameters can be changed depending on what is being looked at. It's a very clever system and it is instantaneous. Even with the system, though, we have very experienced and savvy staff in our market-regulations area who are always looking for things that might be unusual. They're trained to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Even if it's offshore, it might take a little longer, but all offshore accounts have to go through U.S. member firms - members of the CBOE - and it is easily and quickly identifiable who made the trades. The member firm who made the trades has to have identifiable information about the client under the 'Know Your Customer' regulations (and we share all information with the Securities and Exchange Commission.)"

Given all of this, at a minimum the CBOE and government regulators who are conducting the secret investigations have known for some time who made the options puts on a total of 38 stocks that might reasonably be anticipated to have a sharp drop in value because of an attack similar to the 9/11 episode. The silence from the investigating camps could mean several things: Either terrorists are responsible for the puts on the listed stocks or others besides terrorists had foreknowledge of the attack and used this knowledge to reap a nice financial harvest from the tragedy.

Adam Hamilton of Zeal LLC, a North Dakota-based private consulting company that publishes research on markets worldwide, stated that "I heard that $22 million in profits was made on these put options..."

Federal investigators are continuing to be so closed-mouthed about these stock trades, and it is clear that a much wider net has been cast, apparently looking for bigger international fish involved in dubious financial activity relating to the 9/11 attacks on the world stock markets.

Just a month after the attacks the SEC sent out a list of stocks to various securities firms around the world looking for information. The list includes stocks of American, United, Continental, Northwest, Southwest and US Airways airlines, as well as Martin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corp., AIG, American Express Corp, American International Group, AMR Corporation, Axa SA, Bank of America Corp, Bank of New York Corp, Bank One Corp, Cigna Group, CNA Financial, Carnival Corp, Chubb Group, John Hancock Financial Services, Hercules Inc, L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc., LTV Corporation, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., MetLife, Progressive Corp., General Motors, Raytheon, W.R. Grace, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., Lone Star Technologies, American Express, the Citigroup Inc. ,Royal & Sun Alliance, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., Vornado Reality Trust, Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter & Co., XL Capital Ltd., and Bear Stearns.

The Times said market regulators in Germany, Japan and the US all had received information concerning the short selling of insurance, airlines and arms companies stock, all of which fell sharply in the wake of the attacks.

City of London broker and analyst Richard Crossley noted that someone sold shares in unusually large quantities beginning three weeks before the assault on the WTC and Pentagon.

He said he took this as evidence that someone had insider foreknowledge of the attacks.

"What is more awful than he should aim a stiletto blow at the heart of Western financial markets?" he added. "But to profit from it? Words fail me."

The US Government also admitted it was investigating short selling, which evinced a compellingly strong foreknowledge of the coming Arab attack.

There was unusually heavy trading in airline and insurance stocks several days before Sept.11, which essentially bet on a drop in the worth of the stocks.

It was reported by the Interdisciplinary Center, a counter-terrorism think tank involving former Israeli intelligence officers, that insiders made nearly $16 million profit by short selling shares in American and United Airlines, the two airlines that suffered hijacking, and the investment firm of Morgan Stanley, which occupied 22 floors of the WTC.

Apparently none of the suspicious transactions could be traced to bin Laden because this news item quietly dropped from sight, leaving many people wondering if it tracked back to American firms or intelligence agencies.

Most of these transactions were handled primarily by Deutsche Bank-A.B.Brown, a firm which until 1998 was chaired by A. B."Buzzy" Krongard, who later became executive director of the CIA.

More serious was an article in the Sept. 28, 2001 edition of the Washington Post stating that officials with the instant messaging firm of Odigo in New York confirmed that two employees in Israel received text messages warning of an attack on the WTC two hours before the planes crashed into the buildings!

The firm's vice president of sales and marketing, Alex Diamandis said it was possible that the warning was sent to other Odigo members, but they had not received any reports of such.

The day after, the Jerusalem Post claimed two Israelis died on the hijacked airplanes and that 4,000 were missing at the WTC.

A week later, a Beirut television station reported that 4,000 Israeli employees of the WTC were absent the day of the attack.

This information spread across the Internet but was quickly branded a hoax.

On Sept. 19, the Washington Post reported about 113 Israelis were missing at the WTC and the next day, President Bush noted more than 130 Israelis were victims.

Finally, on Sept. 22, the New York Times stated "There were, in fact, only three Israelis who had been confirmed as dead: two on the planes and another who had been visiting the towers on business and who was identified and buried."

Investigators from numerous government agencies are part of a clandestine but official effort to resolve the market manipulations There has been a great deal of talk about the insider trading of American stocks by certain Israeli groups both in Canada and Germany between August 26 and the Sept.11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Government investigators have maintained a diplomatic silence about a Department of Justice (DOJ) probe of possible profiteering by interested parties with advance knowledge of the attack.

On Sept. 6, 2001, the Thursday before the tragedy, 2,075 put options were made on United Airlines and on Sept. 10, the day before the attacks, 2,282 put options were recorded for American Airlines. Given the prices at the time, this could have yielded speculators between $2 million and $4 million in profit.
The matter still is under investigation and none of the government investigating bodies -including the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and DOJ -are speaking to reporters about insider trading. Even so, suspicion of insider trading to profit from the Sept. 11 attacks is not limited to U.S. regulators. Investigations were initiated in a number of places including Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Spain. As in the United States, all are treating these inquiries as if they were state secrets.

posted 04-06-2003 09:32 PM            

Another FBI Agent Blows the Whistle on 9-11

http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/5/29/192954

FBI Special Agent Robert G. Wright Jr. will hold a news conference Thursday in Washington to reveal FBI negligence and obstruction of counterterrorism investigations targeting Hamas and al-Qaeda.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, said its co-counsel David Schippers (the man who impeached Bill Clinton) would join Wright at the press conference.

"Special Agent Wright, of the FBI's Chicago Division, is the only agent in the history of the FBI to have used the civil forfeiture laws to seize over $1.4 million dollars in Hamas terrorist money in connection with a criminal investigation of terrorist money laundering operations here in the United States," Judicial Watch said.

Minneapolis FBI agent Coleen Rowley has corroborated Wright's experiences dealing with FBI headquarters and senior management, "who consistently delayed, down-played and soft-peddled the investigative efforts of counterterrorism agents in the field," the organization said.

posted 04-07-2003 02:27 AM            

By Christopher Lockwood, Diplomatic Editor

Original Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=006576086753008
&rtmo=wKiAefnb&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/96/10/11/wtal111.html

BEHIND the tribal clashes that have scarred Afghanistan lies one of the great prizes of the 21st century, the fabulous energy reserves of Central Asia.

Largely unexplored, and almost completely unexploited, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all formerly components of the Soviet Union, but now independent, are known to possess vast oil and gas reserves. As supplies from the Gulf begin to peter out next century, these will become highly significant.

No one knows how much hydrocarbon wealth lies beneath central Asia's deserts, but most of the world's major oil companies are already prospecting there. "The deposits are huge," said a diplomat from the region. Kazakhstan alone may have more oil than Saudi Arabia. Turkmenistan is already known to have the fifth largest gas reserves in the world."

A consortium including BP, Mobil, Shell and Total has just completed what is thought to be the largest seismic study ever undertaken, in the Caspian Sea region of Kazakhstan, costing more than £130 million.

But there is an immense problem. The Central Asian republics are all land-locked and there is no way to get the oil and gas out. So a race has begun to find a route. There are three main contenders. Russia wants to tap into the mineral wealth of its former empire by pushing pipelines from its Black Sea terminal at Novorossiysk eastwards towards Kazakhstan.

Iran, which dreams of being a powerful player in the region, talks of driving a pipeline from its coast at Chabahar via Mashad into Turkmenistan and beyond.

Pakistan is keen to have a source of oil that bypasses Iran and Russia
Georgia, already at work on a pipeline crossing the Caucasus to tap the fields of Azerbaijan, thinks it could eventually be driven across or around the Caspian into Kazakhstan. But to Western, and especially American interests, none of these options look attractive. Georgia is too unstable, and the idea of allowing a Russian or Iranian hand to rest on the oil jugular is considered too dangerous. Hence the attractions of Afghanistan.

Another pipeline route exists, and is already at a detailed planning stage. This pipeline, initially for gas, would begin in the Dauletabad field in central Turkmenistan, traverse Afghanistan along the Herat-Kandahar corridor, territory controlled by the Taliban, and exit into Pakistan.

From Pakistan, it could either serve the local market, push on into India, or terminate at a tanker-terminal on Pakistan's Indian Ocean coast, probably at Gwadar. The cost would run into billions of pounds, with a figure of £1.3 billion quoted for a short pipeline to Pakistan. Analysts say the pipeline is not currently fundable, but if peace comes to Afghanistan, that could rapidly change. Even though the Taliban advocates medieval religious and social practices, it is a sharp negotiator.

Unocal, the Californian oil company, in alliance with Delta Oil, the Saudi Arabian company, has been in negotiation with the Taliban, as well as rival warlords, for much of this year over terms for the Turkmenistan-Pakistan pipeline. Preliminary agreement was reached between the two sides long before the fall of Kabul last month.

A vice-president of Unocal said last week that the victory of the Taliban could help the country if it brought stability. That would allow international investors to fund the pipeline, and eventually bring billions of pounds a year in transit revenues to Afghanistan.

Oil industry insiders say the dream of securing a pipeline across Afghanistan is the main reason why Pakistan, a close political ally of America's, has been so supportive of the Taliban, and why America has quietly acquiesced in its conquest of Afghanistan.

posted 04-07-2003 02:40 AM            

By Patricia Wilson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House complained on Thursday that a House-Senate probe into the Sept. 11 attacks released sensitive information about secret intercepts with the potential to undermine U.S. national security.

"The president has deep concerns about the inappropriate disclosure of information that can compromise both sources and methods and potentially interfere or harm America's capacity to fight the war against terror," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Government sources said on Wednesday that the day before hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington, the National Security Agency intercepted two messages indicating an event was planned the following day, but the communications were not translated until Sept. 12.

The agency, which eavesdrops on communications worldwide, intercepted messages that said, "Tomorrow is zero hour" and "The match begins tomorrow," the sources said.

Fleischer said President Bush directed Vice President Dick Cheney to express administration concerns about the leak of the information to the co-chairmen of the House-Senate intelligence committee, Republican Rep. Porter Goss and Democratic Sen. Bob Graham.

The disclosure of the Sept. 10 messages was inappropriate "because it involves risk to our national security that can harm America's ongoing ability to fight and win a war," Fleischer told reporters.

He cited a 1998 leak of NSA information about the agency's ability to listen to Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks, on his satellite phone.

As a result, bin Laden stopped using it, Fleischer said, and the United States "was denied the opportunity to monitor and gain information that could have been very valuable for protecting our country."

'EXTRAORDINARILY SENSITIVE'

"Information that is being provided to these committees is extraordinarily sensitive," Fleischer said. "The selective, inappropriate leaking of snippets of information risks undermining national security and risks undermining the promises made to protect the sensitive information."

The Bush White House is renowned for its discipline, and the president has reacted angrily in the past when information has leaked from Capitol Hill.

He publicly rebuked members of Congress last October for leaking sensitive information about the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 attacks, saying, "This can't stand."

"We can't have leaks of classified information. It's not in our nation's interest. We're now in extraordinary times," Bush said at a Rose Garden news conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

In response, he tried to limit briefings to eight leading members of Congress, but relented a few days later after members of the House and Senate foreign relations and armed services committees objected strongly, saying Bush was abusing their traditional oversight role.

After the vice president's telephone conversation with Goss and Graham, Fleischer said both Cheney and Bush were confident the committee chairmen would address the issue.

posted 04-07-2003 07:46 AM            

by Dr. Leonard Horowitz | http://www.tetrahedrom.org

Approaching the first anniversary of the biggest and daftest lie this planet has ever been told: 9-11. [Hang on though! We've been told quite a few evil whoppers over the past several decades. Like Bush saying "We're a peaceful people." - and yet America has had 20 wars since WWII.]
http://www.world-action.co.uk/war.html
http://www.konformist.com/911/war-is-a-racket.htm

------------------

Article taken from: http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/apocalypse/26_reasons.html

26 Reasons Why "White Collar Terrorists" Are To Blame for "America's New War" and the Impending World War III

1) The "terrorist" attacks were completely predictable and, in fact, predicted. Forewarnings were issued by many patriotic and heroic individuals to government and military officials well in advance of Sept. 11, 2001. For instance, in August, Drs. Garth Nicolson, Ph.D., and his wife Nancy Nicolson, Ph.D., among the world's most esteemed Mycoplasma researchers and Gulf War Syndrome investigators, reported to Pentagon officials that they had confirmed intelligence that on Sept. 11, 2001 a terrorist strike against the Pentagon would be made. Their sources included individuals in key intelligence positions, the mob, and one high level African diplomat. Their "information was passed on to the Director of Policy of the Department of Defense, the Inspector General of the US Army Medical Corps and the National Security Council," Dr. Nicolson wrote. "Unfortunately, it was ignored." Likewise, Dr. Leonard Horowitz, the award- winning author of the prophetically titled book, Death in the Air: Globalism, Terrorism and Toxic Warfare, (http://www.tetrahedron.org; http://www.prophecyandpreparedness.com) released three months before the attacks on Washington and New York, correctly predicted such a first strike on New York. For three years, based on government documents and intelligence reports, he had been warning "Metropolis" residents, "It's time to move."

2) On Friday, September 7, Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, brother to the President, issued an Executive Order in which members of the Florida National Guard were activated, "for the purpose of training to support law- enforcement personnel and emergency-management personnel in the event of civil disturbances or natural disaster." Perhaps the president and his brother received Dr. Nicolson's warnings or were the source of the warnings?

3) Numerous reports have surfaced alleging that Bush administration, military, and intelligence officials' close associates had suddenly, and inexplicably, sold all their airline stock just days before the terrorist attacks. The F.B.I. is reportedly investigating these reports and such "inside traders."

4) FEMA sent the Urban Search and Rescue Team to New York City THE NIGHT BEFORE the attacks occurred! One FEMA official, Mr. Tom Kennedy told Dan Rather on Sept 11, "We're currently one of the first teams that was deployed to support the City of New York in this disaster. We arrived on late Monday night [that is, on September 10, the NIGHT BEFORE] and went right into action on Tuesday morning."

[BUT strange how the government didn't arm the sole FOUR figther planes charged with defending the whole eastern seaboard of the USA - which is the latest cover story hogwash we've been told. How much is it, again, the USA spends on the military each year? Excuse me if I fall about laughing and screaming on the floor, like someone who can't take anymore of this rubbish. Michael /World-Action]

5) Osama bin Laden and his band of "Terrorists" could not have pulled off the "sophisticated" operation of four simultaneous air hijackings, and precision directed attacks, without the support of one or more "intelligence organizations." This was the expert testimony provided by past CIA Afghanistan operations director and bin Laden's American intelligence aficionado, Milt Bearden, interviewed by Dan Rather on September 12, 2001. In fact, when pressed by Dan Rather to endorse the theory of bin Laden's culpability, Mr. Bearden stated, "if they didn't have an Osama bin Laden, they would invent one."

6) On October 31, 2001, the French daily Le Figaro reported that Osama bin Laden had met with a high-level CIA official in July 2000. At that time, bin Laden was already being sought for trial for his involvement in two U.S. embassy bombings and the U.S.S. Cole attack. The meeting was held in bin Laden's private suite in a Dubai hospital. Though he was eligible for extermination, according to President Bill Clinton's intelligence findings, on July 14th he was let go and left Dubai on his private jet.

7) Every expert in the field of terrorism, up until Sept. 11, 2001, routinely explained the fact that certified terrorist organizations operate in an effort to garner worldwide attention and support for their political cause(s). In the case of pro-Palestinian terrorist organizations, their attacks had been traditionally against American military facilities and personnel. This was obviously neither the intent nor outcome of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

8) For weeks preceding September 11, 2001 international opinion regarding Israel and the United States had plummeted to an all-time low. Alternatively, pro-Palestinian attitudes had rapidly increased to an all-time high, particularly following the United Nations Conference on Racism wherein the U.S. and Israel had been chastised for their racist policies. Any intelligent pro-Palestinian terrorist group, such as Osama bin Laden's legions, or intelligence organization(s) supportive to the Palestinian cause, would not have jeopardized the significant gains achieved at that time.

9) Osama bin Laden took his direction and money from the CIA for ten years. During this time, approximately $5 billion was funneled to his organization through black op budgets into CIA operation known as Maktab al-Khidamar-the MAK. It is clear, as a MAK mercenary army leader, bin Laden's fortune vastly increased during that time. It is said that, "Once in the CIA, always in the CIA." Could this be one of the intelligence organizations about which Milt Bearden was speaking? (See #5 above.)

10) Also on Tuesday evening September 12, 2001 previous Secretary of Defense for the Clinton administration, William S. Cohen, explained to CBS News anchorman Dan Rather, that the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington were an aberration. He fully expected there to be a full-scale deployment of biological and chemical "weapons of mass destruction" very soon. This reinforced his earlier statements as Defense Secretary that a five- pound bag of anthrax bacteria in the hands of terrorists would likely cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. We were particularly vulnerable to this "immanent" threat, he said. Many critical military observers considered these statements treasonous. Reason? At no time in American military history has a top level official broadcast internationally the country's greatest attack vulnerability. In effect, his statements were akin to giving anti-Americans their marching orders.

11) A sincere U.S. Government, truly concerned about the health and safety of American citizens, would be doing everything in its power to advance public health and educational policies for biological and chemical attack preparedness. Instead, such critical policy and advice has been left entirely to independent, often ill-trained, "experts," at best, and special interests and media producers at worst. The mainstream media has completely neglected the simple things people can do to guard loved-ones, such as natural medicines (e.g.,garlic) to ward off infections such as anthrax.

12) In July 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) endorsed one single largely untested and highly risky antibiotic, Bayer Corporation's Cipro, for anthrax prophylaxis and treatment. Following September 11, 2001 demand for this drug skyrocketed 1,000 percent, according to Peter Jennings in an ABC News report broadcast September 27. Pharmacies charged $700 per person for a mere two-month supply of Cipro. It is well established that far less expensive antibiotics, including the penicillins and tetracyclines, are highly effective against Anthrax. The Bayer Corporation during and following World War II had been blacklisted by the U.S. Government for being the principle profiteer, in partnership with the Rockefeller Standard Oil Company, for funding the Third Reich, their terrorist organizations, and Germany's war machine.

13) During the first week of October, the media heralded a bizarre anthrax outbreak at the National Enquirer near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. By October 11, three cases of reported "criminal" anthrax infections had occurred. This form of anthrax--a classic biological weapon strain --is not easily acquired. It is distributed mainly by the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) of Rockville, Maryland. The curator there is Dr. Joshua Lederberg, who is also the president of Rockefeller University. Preceding the Gulf War, the U.S. Congressional Record (May 25, 1994, commonly called the "Don Riegle Report") exposed the ATCC for shipping to Sadam Hussein's Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Trade, nineteen shipments of various strains of Bacillus Anthraces from 1978 to 1988.

14) According to investigators at the FBI, the Enquirer anthrax attack was not likely done by typical "terrorists," but rather one or more "criminals." For what motive? Obviously, whoever did this had a motive, and had access to weapons grade anthrax. That virtually leaves typical blue-collar "criminals" out entirely since skill in handling and shipping live anthrax would be required for this crime. The fact that, of all places, America's best selling tabloid was first attacked, then other mainstream media outlets, speaks volumes about the criminal motive. Since no one has claimed responsibility for this act, they obviously did not do it for personal publicity. Obviously, then, the attack was a white collar crime by one or more "white collar bioterrorist(s)." At least one Rockefeller- linked U.S. biological weapons official, Dr. Lederberg, and Rockefeller-partnered Corporation, Bayer (aspirin) that largely financed the Third Reich, and Hitler's rise to power, had obvious white-collar (financial) motives for these contemporary "terrorist" attacks. This deserves critical consideration and further investigation.

15) On October 1, 2001, Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz sent the FBI, as well as half the members of the U.S. Congress, an urgent request to investigate this matter. (See: http://www.tetrahedron.org "Apocalypse Prevention Project") Included in this letter was the following statement concerning the links between contemporary terrorist organizations, the global neo-Nazi movement, and possible Bayer Corporation involvement:

The Bayer Company [also linked to AID-virus contaminated blood products during 1980 investigations] evaded U.S. Government controls during and following the holocaust in which millions of mostly Jewish people were used as experimental subjects in medical atrocities overseen by I.G. Farben's president Hermann Schmitz, who also directed the German-multinational Bayer A.G.

Of urgent pertinence to the FBI's current investigation into terrorism's money trail, a recent investigation into terrorist group funding, issued by The Oklahoma Bombing Investigation Committee (OBIC) directed by Representative Charles Key, found "Neo-Nazi figures have actually been implicated in Middle Eastern special weapons procurement and terrorist activity." For example, the group reported, "since the 1960s, an old Swiss Nazi named Francois Genaud has reportedly masterminded several airplane hijackings for the PLO." The now defunct "Odessa" organization, the post-war successor to Hitler's S.S., according to OBIC, "had numerous documented meetings with representatives of various Arab organizations; and, during the early 1980s, a Neo-Nazi named Odfried Hepp attacked several U.S. military installations in Germany with bombs. Hepp was later found to have been financed by Al Fatah." Hepp, OBIC reported, did his Ph.D. on "Neo-Nazi/PLO bombings of U.S. housing, cars and military facilities in Germany." Given these facts alone, an FBI investigation into this matter is critical.

I am also contacting congressional leaders at this time urging an immediate U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation into the FDA's "advisory committee" that sponsored the unprecedented sole endorsement of Bayer's Cipro for anthrax. Nowhere in the Physician's Desk Reference (2000) is it claimed that Cipro is especially indicated for anthrax. In fact, Bacillus anthracis is not even mentioned. What is mentioned is that, "although effective in clinical trials, ciprofloxacin is not a drug of first choice in the treatment of presumed or confirmed pneumonia secondary to Streptococcus pneumoniae." This organism, like anthrax, is an aerobic gram-positive microbe. (Likewise, Bacillus anthracis causes pneumonia in the form of commonly terminal hemorrhagic broncho pneumonia.) Furthermore the PDR states: "WARNINGS- THE SAFETY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF CIPROFLOXACIN IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS AND ADOLESCENTS (LESS THAN 18 YEARS OF AGE), PREGNANT WOMEN, AND LACTATING WOMEN HAVE NOT BEEN ESTABLISHED." Alternatively, numerous bioweapons experts have consistently recommended far less costly and time- tested antibiotics to fight anthrax, including the natural and synthetic penicillins, erythromycin, cephalosporins, and the tetracyclines.

As with Dr. Nicolson's forewarning to military leaders concerning the Sept 11 Pentagon attack, the above urgent request by Dr. Horowitz for FBI investigation into this matter, to date (Nov. 5, 2001) has gone ignored. This strongly suggests, if not evidences, a conspiracy within our own government - a conspiracy of silence at minimum.

16) Aaron Swirski, one of the architects of the World Trade Center, said they designed the towers to withstand airplane collisions. "I designed it for a 707 hit, he said." The collapse of the buildings came as a complete "shock" to him and his colleagues. Van Romero, a demolition expert, former director of the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, and current vice present for research at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology said that the manner in which the twin towers collapsed, resembled those of controlled implosions used in planned demolition. "My opinion is, based on the video