This morning, local (Chicago)Fox news news reporter Walter Jacobsen delivered an earnest and outraged commentary (his stock in trade) on his discovery that George Bush Sr. and Osama’s old man are both heavily involved in some big investment Co. (I wish I could remeber the name of it. Begins with “C” methinks). Some other US political heavies were also involved (I believe former Sec of State Jim Baker has some executive level position in the company).
So is this the big news Walter seems to think it is? or is business with the Bin Laden family no biggie? WJ ended his tirade by saying something like “You KNOW what kind of response I got from the Bush handlers…NO RESONSE!” So should I, like Walter, be shocked and outraged, or not? And if so, why haven’t I seen this story anywhere else?
AHA! I found the name of the name of the company: The Carlyle Group, though their website is down, and I couldn’t find a link to the original Fox news commentary.
OK, I finally found a link with some info. Seems there could be a story here after all:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press_release.asp?pr_id=1624
“Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, reacted with disbelief to The Wall Street Journal report of yesterday that George H.W. Bush, the father of President Bush, works for the bin Laden family business in Saudi Arabia through the Carlyle Group, an international consulting firm.”
Hmmm. If one were to believe that Osama’s entire family were extremists, or that George Bush Sr. had a great deal of foresight and knew that Osama would eventually become a terrorist, then outrage would certainly be acceptable.
But from everything I’ve read, the bin Ladins were generally rational and mostly indistinguishable from other Saudi elites who came to this country to hang out with the rich and elite.
Let me put it this way- if Bill Gates’ daughter eventually grew up to become a terrorist and use her fortune* to fund terrorist activities, do past investors in Microsoft have any culpability in her actions?
[sub]*Yes, I’ve heard that Gates doesn’t plan on giving his kids a red cent, in giving his fortune to charity once he’s done with it. But I need an allegory, and this serves the purpose.[/sub]
I missed the story, and can’t really offer any real information on it, but I will share some thoughts and anecdotal evidence I’ve heard. I haven’t heard this precise factiod however.
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Walter Jacobson is a jackass. Doesn’t mean the story is fasle…but he is a jackass.
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I think the Bush family has a really slimy history.
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Bin Laden is a very common name in Arab countires, the possibility of a mistake is possible. Its been cited as the cause of alot of dead ends in the investigation. Who knows how well Walter researched this.
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Bin Laden’s parents are supposedly estranged from sonny boy. I don’t know if they are outraged at him, or just playing politics to keep their huge stakes in the Saudi economy going.
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If its a public company, there little to blame them for. Chances are both families are nothing more than faceless blank checks that funded a clean, public held company, just like thousands of other Americans and Arabs.
Who knows, but on its face its nothing to get in a huff about.
Osama Bin Laden’s family runs the largest construction company in the Middle East, and ANY oil man who did business in that part of the world is likely to have hired that firm at one point or another.
THAT is a non-story. On the other hand, if there’s any evidence that George Bush, or ANY important American businessman is STILL doing business with them, that’s newsworthy.