Saudi prince gave Bush million dollar painting.

[Harry Hope]

As Bush seeks a second term as president, largely on the strength of
his war against terrorism, the long-standing personal and financial
ties between the Bush family and the family that rules Saudi Arabia
are coming under increased scrutiny.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee, has assailed the Bush ties to the Saudis,
questioning whether a "secret White House deal" has been struck with
the Saudis to manipulate oil prices for the president's political
advantage.

The Bush-Saudi relationship, cloaked in wartime government and
corporate boardroom secrecy, is difficult to assess.

But it invites legitimate questions of public policy as well as
wild-eyed conspiracy theories.

Interest in the relationship has been growing since the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The attacks were the work of al-Qaida, an organization founded by
Saudi fugitive and Islamist radical Osama bin Laden, and were carried
out by 19 people, 15 of whom were Saudis.

But what has intensified interest is the recent publication of two
books, combined with the political heat of a presidential election
year, the intrigue surrounding a special investigation of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, and spiraling gasoline prices.

In "Plan of Attack," an account of the Bush administration's march to
war with Iraq, author Bob Woodward writes that Saudi officials
promised to cut oil prices to bolster the postwar U.S. economy and
boost Bush's re-election prospects.

Saudi Arabia controls more of the world's oil than any other country
and serves as the market regulator for the global petroleum industry.

And no country consumes more oil than the United States.

The appearance of Woodward's book last month and his numerous
television appearances since have prompted a vigorous public relations
campaign by the Saudis, featuring vehement denials by Bandar that the
kingdom planned to use its oil to influence the election.

"There was no deal," Bandar said on NBC's "Meet the Press" a week ago.

And the White House repeatedly has emphasized that "there was no
secret deal," as White House spokesman Dan Bartlett put it recently.

But the book that perplexes the Saudis even more than Woodward's is
"House of Bush, House of Saud" by journalist Craig Unger, an account
of the long and complicated relationship between the president's
family and friends and the ruling family of Saudi Arabia.

In a telephone interview last week from his home in New York, Unger
said that since his book was published, his critics have accused him
of spinning conspiracy theories.

But, he said, "I'm not saying that at all."

What Unger does say is that the personal and public fortunes of the
Bush and Saudi dynasties have been entwined in ways never before seen
in U.S. politics, and that it is legitimate to question whether these
unique ties are influencing U.S. public policy -- most notably the war
on terrorism.

"If you have longtime friendships and you've done $1.4 billion in
business with a group of people, you tend to regard them in a
favorable light," Unger said.

"I don't think they [the Bush administration] have asked the tough
questions [of the Saudis] about terrorism as a result."

He added:

"You have to ask if 9/11 would have happened without the Saudis, and
it's not just that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis or that Osama
bin Laden is a Saudi. I think it's a fair question to ask. . . . And
what does that say about our war on terrorism?"

Political theorist Kevin Phillips, once a top Republican strategist,
echoed Unger in a recent opinion article in the Los Angeles Times.

"The Bush dynasty's many decades of entanglement and money-hunting in
the Middle East have created a major conflict of interest that
deserves to be part of the 2004 political debate," Phillips wrote.

"No previous presidency has had anything remotely similar. Not one."

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/2/04:
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0504/02bush.html

Bush ties to Saudis given new scrutiny

By SCOTT SHEPARD

WASHINGTON --

Last July, just months after U.S. soldiers dismantled Saddam Hussein's
regime in Iraq, the White House announced that Saudi Arabian Prince
Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz had presented President Bush with a $1
million oil painting of an American buffalo hunt.

The painting, by famed Western artist C.M. Russell, is to be displayed
in the Bush presidential library once the president leaves the White
House -- an event Bandar does not necessarily want to see happen for
another four years.

___________________________________________________________

And the Saudi will spend big money to see that it doesn't happen.

Harry

[American Citizen]

>
>
> From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/2/04:
> http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0504/02bush.html
>
> Bush ties to Saudis given new scrutiny
>
> By SCOTT SHEPARD
>
> WASHINGTON --
>
> Last July, just months after U.S. soldiers dismantled Saddam Hussein's
> regime in Iraq, the White House announced that Saudi Arabian Prince
> Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz had presented President Bush with a $1
> million oil painting of an American buffalo hunt.
>
> The painting, by famed Western artist C.M. Russell, is to be displayed
> in the Bush presidential library once the president leaves the White
> House -- an event Bandar does not necessarily want to see happen for
> another four years.

A little gift of appreciation for Bush getting 140 Saudi citizens out of
the U.S. a week after 911, those folks included 26 bin Ladens.

How corrupt can an administration get before it implodes?

[Man from Mars!]

"Harry Hope" <riv...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:i3s990tjbr3dd7pci...@4ax.com...

It all started with Prescott Bush, George W. Bush's grandfather. In 1918 it
is said that he robbed the grave and stole the skull of the Native American
warrior Geronimo as part of an initiation into Yale's Skull and Bones
Society. The Skull and Bones society has long been important to the Bush
Family. George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush were also members of this secret
society.
http://www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html

When George Bush, Sr. was the Vice President, he was involved in secretly
selling weapons to our enemy Iran. The money from the weapons sales went to
build a secret army that was trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.
This resulted in years of violence and slaughter for many thousands of
Central Americans, and it allowed thousands of tons of drugs to be dumped on
the streets of America. When he was president, George Bush, Sr. gave a
presidential pardon to the others who were involved in the Iran-Contra
scandal.
http://www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html

Now George Bush, Sr. works for The Carlyle Group. They invest in defense
companies, medical laboratories, and the telecommunications industry. The
Carlyle Group is one of the government's biggest contractors. George Bush,
Sr. and The Carlyle Group stand to make billions of dollars from the War on
Terror. On September 11, The Carlyle Group was having a conference at the
Ritz Carlton hotel in Washington, DC with members of the Bin Laden family,
one of their investors.
http://www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html