Sander Hicks talks to & about Randy Glass

[stickdog]

http://ftrsummary.blogspot.com/2005_03_22_ftrsummary_archive.html

SANDER HICKS: Glass said, "The only information that the terrorists -- the guys ever talked about -- was just the World Trade Center. They didn't ever say anything to me or to Dick, to my knowledge, that airplanes were going to be used. The State Department guy told me that. In other words, I called up and I bluffed him. I called up and I don't know what they knew that I knew. I just knew that America was going to be attacked. I didn't know if it was going to be the World Trade Center or what it was going to be. These people had talked about purchasing these weapons to use against us."

Later Glass stated that the State Department contact said, "Musharaf just took over and our position is that they're a nuclear power and they've been flexing their nuclear muscles with India and we are trying to prevent a nuclear catastrophe. And we know about the threat, the terrorist threat, from Al Qaeda and Bin Laden flying airplanes into the World Trade Center. And Musharaf has guaranteed us -- because it's his ISI behind it -- that he can stop it if we support him publicly. Look, Randy, we know you're a straight guy so we're going to give you some information. You cannot do two things: You cannot go to the media under any circumstance. This is -- we're playing in a nuclear minefield now. Secondly, you can't tell the agents that you're working with now because they're cut out of the loop. They know nothing."

...

RANDY GLASS: When I called the State Department, I said to them, "Listen, I already know about the World Trade Center." So they assumed that I knew more than I did. And I didn't. I didn't know anything about airplanes. But ... I just said what I knew. I said, "Look. Listen, I know the World Trade Center is going to be attacked." And then this guy said to me, "Randy, listen, you cannot mention any of these things, especially airplanes being used to fly into the World Trade Center." And when he said that I almost fell off of my fucking chair. I mean, you have no idea.

[RBHam]

1. Drip, drip, drip...

Citizen, this thread contains thought crimes. Prepared to be banished to the 9-11 Dungeon...

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. Randy Glass Video 10/7/02

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/essay.jsp?article=glass-graham_video_wmv

Randy Glass Video



By Paul Thompson



A fascinating video relating to an important unheeded warning of the 9/11 attacks was shown on WPTV, an NBC TV station in Florida on October 7, 2002. This video has been overlooked and forgotten until now.

What did Senator Bob Graham (left) and US intelligence know about the warning from Randy Glass (right) before 9/11?

In this video, Randy Glass, a private US citizen working as an undercover agent in a government sting operation, discusses how he learned about a threat to the World Trade Center and tried to warn various officials in government before 9/11. Florida State Senator Ron Klein and US Senator Bob Graham admit being given a warning by Randy Glass in the months before 9/11. What was the warning, who else knew about it, and why wasn't it acted upon?

Though the video doesn't discuss it, the sting operation Glass was part of recorded agents working for Pakistan's secret service, the ISI, say on more than one occasion before 9/11 that the World Trade Center was “coming down.”

For more information about Glass, ready the Randy Glass timeline

[RBHam]

3. Leakages...

This interview highlights the work of investigator, social worker and ex-cop Allan Duncan and publisher/author Sander Hicks. Setting forth the story of counter-terror sting “Operation Diamondback,” the program presents the stunning forecast of the 9/11 attacks recorded by the FBI in 1999. Apparent Pakistani intelligence agent R.G. Abbas (while attempting to procure weaponry for Al Qaeda and the Taliban) disclosed that the World Trade Center towers were “coming down.” Stingman Randy Glass was “wearing a wire” and Abbas’ statement was recorded! Nonetheless, few news media have reported this. After reviewing information about Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff and his connections to Bin Laden collaborator Dr. Magdy El-Amir, the program presents Randy Glass’ assertion that Abbas and his associates Diaa Moshen and Mohamed (Mike) Malik were interested in procuring nuclear weaponry for Al Qaeda. Glass reported his information about the impending attack on the World Trade Center to Florida Senator Robert Graham in July of 2001. When Glass relayed his information to the State Department in the summer of 2001, a top aide to Colin Powell disclosed that it was known that a plan was afoot to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center, but that Glass couldn’t discuss it.

[leveymg]

4. I'm glad this is coming out - particularly Chertoff's role w/ Magdy and

the obstruction of Op Diamondback - really goes to show how everyone who has a real stake in keeping this under wraps have been promoted to positions where they can effectively enforce the 9/11 cover-up.

If this account is true, and it does seem consistent with other info, it points to CIA counter-proliferation people being involved with CIA counter-terrorism in a failed operation against A.Q. Khan's funding network that had deep ties in the U.S. What made this investigation almost impossibly complicated (and compromised) is the tie-in of the GOP with the same funders through Norquist, and to the Bush family through Carlyle and other joint ventures, and the role of the Stephens in Arkansas. What we have is BCCI redux, the compromise of leading politicians in the U.S., and huge int'l financial network that included some of the Agency's own covert accounts.

This explains a great amount why the CIA cut FBI out of the UBL loop. It was an in-house problem.

This is about as serious black as it gets.

[seemslikeadream]

6. Khan Job: Bush Spiked Probe of Pakistan’s Dr. Strangelove, BBC reported in

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=312&row=0

You may never have heard of Khan Laboratories, but if this planet blows to pieces this year, it will likely be thanks to Khan Labs' creating nuclear warheads for Pakistan's military. Because investigators had been tracking the funding for this so-called "Islamic Bomb" back to Saudi Arabia, under Bush security restrictions, the inquiry was stymied. (The restrictions were lifted, the agent told me without a hint of dark humor, on September 11.)



Dr. A. Q. Khan is the Dr. Strangelove of Pakistan, the "father" of their bomb and, says a former associate, a crusader for its testing . . . on humans. On April 25, 1998, Khan met at the Kushab Research Center with General Jehangir Karamat, then army chief of staff, to plan a possible preemptive nuclear strike on New Delhi, India. The Saudis lit a fuse under this demented scheme by telling Pakistan intelligence that Israel had shipped India warplanes in preparation for a conventional attack on Pakistan. We only know these details because a young researcher who claims he was at the meeting wrote a horrified letter threatening to make the plan to bomb India public, a threat which appears to have halted the scheme.



After writing down his objections, the whistle-blower, Iftikhar Khan-Chaudhry, ran for his life to London, then the USA, seeking asylum. Khan-Chaudhry, when questioned, seemed to know too little to be the top nuclear physicist he claimed, and far too much about A. Q. Khan's bomb factory to be the tile company accountant Pakistan claims. Pakistan police, failing to arrest him, jailed, beat and raped his wife, suggesting they wanted him to keep secret something more interesting than bookkeeping methods.

[leveymg]

7. CIA Station Chief in Pakistan knew Plame, was inside source for Scooter

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/20/14939/6889

New Evidence of Motive In Plame Outing?
by leveymg
Mon Mar 20, 2006 at 12:09:39 PM PDT
Did Plame's Outing Disrupt CIA Iran Assessment?

UPDATED - A court filing in the Libby case indicates that a former Agency counterrorism officer in Pakistan revealed Plame's undercover role to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. This may provide support for the contention that the subsequent outing of Plame crippled work that was being done by the CIA to track and contain the proliferation of nuclear technologies spread by A.Q. Khan's network. Specifically, it may have effectively neutralized CIA analytical capability concerning Iran's weapons program, opening the door to tainted intelligence intended to pave the way for a preemptive U.S. or Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. See, http://www.truthout.org/... also see, the 39-page filing, http://talkleft.com/...

leveymg's diary :: ::
Mr. Libby has been indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice related to a coordinated White House operation that revealed Ms. Plame's identity to reporters. The 39-page filing submitted by defense lawyers indicates that Robert Grenier, a recently-retired former head of CIA counter-terrorism, may have been the source for some details of Libby's knowledge about Plame, an undercover CIA counterproliferation expert. Appointed head of counterrorism in 2004, Grenier was Chief of Station in Islamabad, and had been working in Pakistan for many years, a position that would make him familiar with A.Q. Khan's activities. According to a February Washington Post report printed at the time of Grenier's departure from the Agency in February, Grenier had been recalled from Pakistan to headquarters and been tasked to head the Iraq Issues Group in anticipation of the U.S. invasion. According to The Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Robert Grenier, who spent most of his career undercover overseas, took charge of the Counterterrorism Center about a year ago after a series of senior jobs at the center of the Bush administration's national security agenda.

When al Qaeda struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Grenier was station chief in Islamabad, Pakistan. Among the agency's most experienced officers in southwest Asia, Grenier helped plan the covert campaign that preceded the U.S. military ouster of al Qaeda and its Taliban allies from Afghanistan.

By the summer of 2002, with President Bush heading toward war in Iraq, then-Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet recalled Grenier to headquarters and promoted him to chief of a newly created Iraq Issues Group. His staff ballooned as the administration planned and launched the invasion in March 2003.

It is unknown whether Grenier became acquainted with Plame during his stint at CIA headquarters, or whether they had previously worked on matters in South Asia. But, both would likely have extensive knowledge of matters related to Pakistan's commerce in nuclear technology with Iran. From the mid-1980s until 1997, the A.Q. Khan network was Iran's primary supplier of nuclear know-how.

The A.Q. Khan network was of interest to both the CIA counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation divisions

The court filing revealing Mr. Grenier's knowledge of Ms. Plame sheds new light on how the CIA's nuclear counterproliferation activities were connected to counter-terrorism operations in South Asia, and some new clues to Plame's role at CIA.

It has been reported that Plame's primary assignment at the time of her outing in the summer of 2003 was Iran's nuclear program. If Grenier's knowledge of Plame's role was gained during the run-up to the Iraq invasion, it might indicate that Grenier simply worked down the hall from Plame. On the other hand, the two may have had a closer acquaintance. If Grenier had been working with Plame earlier, this would have much broader implications for Plame's role within the Agency and might suggest possible additional motives for the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) to ruin her career.

SNIP

It seems likely that Plame may have worked with Grenier at some point on issues of common interest, such as Pakistani-Iranian nuclear ties.

Bush downplaying the Pakistani WMD-terrorism connection?.

If Plame had worked with Grenier on Pakistani-Iranian nuclear ties, she would no doubt have developed a working knowledge of details about international funding for Khan's program. That funding network extends from Saudi Arabia through the Pakistani military to banks and technology suppliers in the West. That same financial web simultaneously supported the worldwide spread of al-Qaeda, also a favorite cause of certain Gulf petro-billionaires accused of financing bin Laden and the development of the Islamic bomb.

For reasons having to do with close ties with the Saudis, the Bush Administration may have wished to shift the Agency's investigative focus away from Gulf funding for WMD proliferation and terrorism, and onto matters such as suspected nuclear wepons programs of Iraq and Iran. That may have had the effect of making the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorist threats springing from the Saudi-Pakistani nexus, such as the 9/11 attack that killed 3,000 Americans.

Last week, Rawstory carried coverage from a pair of Asian news outlets alleging terrorist activities in Pakistan had been deleted from the 9/11 Commission report at the behest of lobbyists working for Pakistan. http://www.dailykos.com/.... If these reports are accurate, it points to the possibility that Plame and Grenier may have shared some insider's knowledge of what the CIA knew about A.Q. Khan's nuclear proliferation network, and the international funding network that sustained it. The 9/11 Commission report redacted 27 pages of material reportedly related to Saudi funding for terrorism. The reports from Asia now say that the similar material related to Pakistan were also omitted from the final draft of the Report issued in 2004.

CIA knew about Khan and his network for a quarter century before Musharraf was finally told, in no uncertain terms after 9/11, to put him back in the bottle. Even at that, Khan was not placed under house arrest until early 2004, after Libya revealed that it had received extensive nuclear weapons technology from Khan. Khan, who enjoys widespread support, has been placed in a very comfortable bottle. The Agency had his network mapped out, along with Bin Laden's network, and put tremendous resources into monitoring both (particularly where they overlapped), but did nothing to break up either until after 9/11. Why is that?

SNIP

Interesting, how all of these scandals are leading back to the same circles. By the summer of 2001, something truly bizarre was going on within the Agency. The near-obsession that Tenet had with bin Laden, and the smoke seen coming from his hair during the months before the attack, can be explained by his overview of these issues. I suspect that once these counter-terrorism guys start talking about the Plame outing, and the counter-proliferation people can speak to Saudi and Pakistani financial networks, the American public is going to learn a lot more than they've been told in the mass media about 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.

[seemslikeadream]

9. German Faces Trial for Nuclear Smuggling

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1309634

German Faces Trial for Nuclear Smuggling
Gerhard Wisser, 66, was arrested last September in South Africa and charged with four counts of contravening the Nuclear Energy Act and a law banning the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Wisser is believed to be part of the nuclear smuggling network thought to be linked to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan (photo), who has admitted to helping Libya and other nations develop their weapons programs.

The German national is in particular suspected of organizing production in South Africa of equipment for Libya's covert nuclear program, which the country has since abandoned, German weekly Der Spiegel reports in its Monday issue.

The magazine said prosecutors uncovered several pieces of evidence linking Wisser to Khan's network during their investigation: a video cassette of Khan's laboratory in Pakistan, a business card of Khan's chief purchaser, and documents signed by Khan.
more
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1517095,00.html


Gerhard Wisser
Noose tightens round alleged network of international nuclear black market
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=815500


South Africa charges two Germans with nuclear materials smuggling
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=815065

S.Africa arrests two on WMD charges(Abdul Qadeer Khan link)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=813182

Two Men Charged with Smuggling Nuclear Equipment to Appear in S. African C
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=855270

South Africa Reports Critical Stage in Nuclear Black Market Probe
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=829880

Swiss arrested for alleged aid to Libya
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=899311

Switzerland Opens Nuclear Investigation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=903185

On the Nuclear Edge
by Seymour M. Hersh
Issue of 1993-03-29
Posted 2004-01-12

In the past few weeks, news reports have revealed troubling information about the possible export of Pakistani nuclear technology to countries such as Iran and Libya, and about the role played in the transfers by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is known as the father of the Pakistani bomb. There have long been questions about Dr. Khan, who has, whenever possible, avoided the public eye. In this piece from 1993, Seymour M. Hersh takes a prescient look at Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation, and at Dr. Khan.

On May 30, 1990, President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union arrived in Washington for his second summit meeting with President George Bush. The Cold War was over, and the publicly announced agenda reflected that fact: the two world leaders would concentrate their talks on the future of unified Germany and on renewed negotiations to reduce long-range nuclear weapons. Most Americans were increasingly upbeat about the prospects for world peace. A Times/CBS public-opinion poll of more than eleven hundred Americans taken a week before the summit showed that fewer than one in five believed nuclear war to be likely by the year 2000—far fewer than those interviewed in earlier polls.

There was a fearful irony in the poll, because in the days before Gorbachev’s visit the Bush Administration became convinced that the world was on the edge of a nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India, as both nations continued their tug-of-war over control of the state of Kashmir, on India’s northern border, whose status has been in dispute since the collapse of the British Empire in India, in 1947. During months of increasing tension, India had massed two hundred thousand troops, including paramilitary forces, in Kashmir, and had deployed five brigades of its most sophisticated attack unit, the Indian Army Strike Corps, fifty miles from the Pakistani border in the south. Pakistan, against which the much larger India had fought—and won—three wars since 1947, openly deployed its main armored tank units along the Indian border and, in secret, placed its nuclear-weapons arsenal on alert. There would be no repeat of the disastrous two-week war of December, 1971, when Pakistan, outgunned and outgeneraled, was dismembered by an Indian blitzkrieg and lost what is now Bangladesh.

The American intelligence community, also operating in secret, had concluded by late May that Pakistan had put together at least six and perhaps as many as ten nuclear weapons, and a number of senior analysts were convinced that some of those warheads had been deployed on Pakistan’s American-made F-16 fighter planes. The analysts also suspected that Benazir Bhutto, the populist Prime Minister of Pakistan, had been cut out of—or had chosen to remove herself from—the nuclear planning. Her absence meant that the nation’s avowedly pro-nuclear President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, and the Pakistani military, headed by Army General Mirza Aslam Beg, had their hands, unfettered, on the button. There was little doubt that India, with its far more extensive nuclear arsenal, stood ready to retaliate in kind.

more
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?040119fr_archive02



The F-16s Were Secretly Fitted to Deliver NUKES!

Woe to anyone who made that business public. Barlow reported that CIA poobahs and Pentagon brass lied to Congress about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. What's worse than doing anything to make a buck, the fighter-bombers were modified in secret to equip nuclear bombs. Thank you, Dick Cheney.

Here's from Hersh's article

... Barlow went about his business without incident, so he thought, until July of 1989. Then he learned that the United States government was once again distorting intelligence on Pakistan’s nuclear capability. He had prepared a comprehensive analysis on Pakistan’s nuclear capability for Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney and other senior officials. The paper cited what Barlow and many others in the intelligence community understood to be persuasive data showing that the F-16 aircraft previously delivered to Pakistan had been modified to deliver nuclear weapons. Barlow’s paper was complemented by a separate Defense Intelligence Agency study, which reached the same conclusion....


BCCI funded Pakistan's nuclear bomb
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/05foreign

"...the Pakistani BCCI Foundation was created as a means of sheltering BCCI profits from taxation. In 1981, it received tax-free status while Ishaq Khan was Pakistan's minister of finance. In turn, the foundation received BCCI's profits from Pakistani operations, and then used some of those profits to finance projects the Pakistani government wanted and could not pay for itself. For example, BCCI provided $10 million in grants in the late 1980's to finance an officially "private" science and technology institute named for Pakistani President Ishaq Khan, whose director, A. Qadir Khan, has been closely associated with Pakistan's efforts to build a nuclear bomb. The institute is believed by some experts to be the headquarters for Pakistan's efforts to build an Islamic bomb. In the same period, other BCCI officials were assisting Pakistanis in purchasing nuclear technologies paid for by Pakistani-front companies through BCCI-Canada.(94).."

a few quotes...
From Outlaw Bank by Beatty and Gwynne.
They include this statement from Sheikh Kamal Adham, former head of Saudi intelligence, bro-in-law of late King Faisal, and shareholder in BCCI and First American Bank, who was speaking to an Arabic audience when admitted, in 1992, that "Pakistan had their own atomic bomb and that Abedi/BCCI had helped them get it.

...Kamal Adham was anticipating...indictment in the U.S. over BCCI fraud.

"So why would he want to call attention to all of this? The Western press aside, the wily old spy master certainly knew the intelligence agencies of the U.S. would pick up his remarks...He may have been sending a message directly to George Bush, reminding the president that Kamal Adham knew far too much to be trifled with.

in perspective...9-91. Morganthau was going after the powerful Saudi as one of the main culprits of the BCCI scandal. Morganthau kept quiet about his intentions to indict Adham AND SHEIKH KHALID BIN MAHFOUZ (in hopes to avoid state department inverventions.)

but when Kamal found out what was happening, he hired the former executive assistant of then White House Chief of Staff John Sununu...who had just (surprise...not) quit to go "private."

This publically brought the Bush administration into the BCCI scandal for the first time.

Beatty and Gwynne learned that Bush's White House was closely monitoring the BCCI investigation, insisting that a administration official sit in on congressional and justice dept. interviews with BCCI witnesses (does this sound familiar to anyone else?? ...the investigation into whistleblowing with Dubya).

some in the FBI complained the FBI probe was spinning its wheels because it was "too political" (again, sound familiar as an excuse to investigate the Bush lies to go to war with Iraq???)...and decisions were being held up in Washington.

A justice dept official complained Washington didn't really want the Atty Gen.'s office to actually return indictments. Washington (Bush) wanted to do an overall package deal, "'where we cut off the hands of a few Pakistanis and paint it as if they were really all the big folks.'"

Beatty and Gwynne go on to note that Bush Sr, lied and claimed he didn't know Adham. (who had been director of the CIA in 1976, WHEN GEORGE BUSH HEADED THE CIA).

The American agency had been "helping to modernize Saudi intelligence during Bush's tenure (oh, no conflict of interest there, huh, Zapata Oil?)

The authors also note that Bush was known as "the Saudi vice president" throughout the middle east. State dept said it was impossible for Bush not to have known Adham because he was the main man in S.A. when you making BIZ DEALS, as well as policy.

when asked about Bush's statement, Adham did not directly deny it, though Saudi's knew Adham's newphew, Sultan bin-Bandar was ambassador to the U.S. and was a frequent guest of Bush.

...but what about the nuclear weapons issue? Reagan, "intent on continuing military aid to Pakistan during the Afghanistan (mujahadeen/Osama bin Laden as Reagan's allies) war, turned a blind eye b/c U.S. law prohibited military aid or sale to nonnuclear countries known to be developing nuclear weapons.

In 88 and 89, Bush danced on the edge of truth about Pakistan, saying it did not "possess a nuclear explosive device" to justify continuing MASSIVE support for Pakistan, b/c Pak, bush said, only had "unassembled components."

As soon as Russia pulled out of Afghanistan, Bush said unassembled components violated the rules and cut off aid.

Beatty and Gwynne, in Time Magazine, were "the first to assert that BCCI was instrumental in Pakistan achieving unofficial Nuclear Club membership.

Via BCCI, Pakistan had received sophisticated American military technology that Congress NEVER AUTHORIZED. Adham's remarks re: an atmomic bomb may have been suggesting that it wouldn't be in the Bush administration's self-interest to probe too deeply into how Pakistan, and BCCI, came to possess such military capacity.

The Sheikh knew that BCCI was "the creation of a real life Dr. No, whose empire brokered ballistic missiles, illicit pharmaceuticals, stolen military secrets, heroin, and hot money, leaving a trail of corruption across two decades and seventy countries. And of all people, Adham had reason to know that the (Bush) White House knew it too, and had known about it for years."

pp 272-77

Why no trial for the world's biggest criminal?
Pardon for scientist who sold atom bomb secrets
By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore and Robin Gedye

Pakistan is likely to pardon without trial the father of the country's atomic bomb even though he has confessed to selling nuclear technology to rogue states, a senior government official told the Telegraph yesterday.

Another promised international indignation in the event of pardon. "He is the world's biggest criminal, involved for 27 years in selling nuclear technology. If you let him off with a slap on the wrist, then what kind of message are you sending to others?" he said.

Mr. Khan has let it be known that he is prepared to blow the whistle on the army's involvement. A cabinet minister revealed that Mr. Khan's daughter, a British citizen, had traveled to London with papers that could incriminate generals and other Pakistani leaders, including the former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

more
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/04/wpak04.xml


FromTheWilderness

U.S. intelligence sources have also said that Fitzgerald's investigation has gone far beyond the mere leaking of Plame's name, itself a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, but has expanded to look into the exposure of Plame's colleagues who worked under the cover of a CIA firm called Brewster, Jennings & Associates. The "brass plate" CIA proprietary had offices in Boston and Washington, DC. Active since 1994, Brewster-Jennings was instrumental in tracking the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and had agents or correspondents in a number of countries including Iraq, North Korea, Belarus, Russia, South Africa, Iran, Israel, China, Pakistan, Congo (Kinshasa), India, Taiwan, Libya, Syria, Serbia, and Malaysia. By releasing Valerie Plame’s name, other agents' non-official covers were blown and the lives of U.S. operatives within foreign governments and businesses may have been placed in danger. Therefore, Fitzgerald's investigation has reportedly been expanded to include the issue of whether members of the staffs of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, Cheney and Bush themselves, the National Security Council, and the Departments of Defense and State, may have violated more serious espionage laws.
http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/062504_grand_jury.shtml

[leveymg]

10. G.H.W. Bush-BCCI-Kamal Adham (Saudi Intelligence)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3308.htm
The BCCI-Bush connection is, it could be argued an ‘accidental’ one, but it’s highly unlikely even if it is difficult to track, But the seeds are all there, including GW Snr’s CIA connection (as head of it) in the 1970s and the links to BCCI as well as his long time association with James R. Bath an investor in Arbusto. Bath, was a Houston businessman and old friend was also an investor in BCCI. Essentially, BCCI was a convenient ‘channel’ for moving money through to fund the various illegal enterprises being undertaken at the time including, Iran-Contra, the Iranian arms sales, CIA money laundering operations, connections to powerful Middle Eastern businessmen, the Vatican and its right-wing connections through BNL.

Perhaps this extract from "Texas Connections" http://www.thedubyareport.com/txconnect.html gives you an idea of the reach:

"… Sheikh Abdullah Bahksh of Saudi Arabia, a 16% shareholder in Harken Energy at the time, was represented by a Palestinian-born Chicago investor named Talat Othman, who served with George W. Bush on the board of Harken Energy. Othman made at least three separate visits to the White House to discuss Middle East affairs with then President George Bush. At about the same time, and just prior to the Gulf War, Harken Energy, with no previous international or offshore drilling experience, was awarded a 35-year petroleum exploration contract with the emirate of Bahrain.

Sheikh Bahksh emerged as a co-investor in the Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI), a criminal enterprise since dissolved, that existed primarily as a mechanism for obtaining political influence using Middle Eastern oil money. Bahrain's prime minister, Sheik Khalifah bin-Sulman al-Khalifah, was a major investor in BCCI's parent company, BCCI Holdings, of Luxembourg. Through its commodities affiliate, Capcom, BCCI was used as a money laundering service by drug traffickers, arms dealers, etc. BCCI's front man in the U.S., and the person chiefly responsible for its takeover of First American Bank in the U.S., was Kamal Adham. Adham is referred to in the Kerry Committee report on BCCI as having been "the CIA's principal liaison for the entire Middle East from the mid-1960's through 1979." He was also the head of intelligence for Saudi Arabia during the time George Bush Sr. was Director of the CIA."

[leveymg]

12. Pakistan-BCCI-AQ Khan-Stephens

http://www.orlingrabbe.com/part10.htm

In 1972 Pakistani banks were nationalized by President Bhutto. One of these banks was United Bank, whose president was Agha Hasan Abedi. Abedi subsequently joined with Sheik Zayad, ruler of Abu Dhabi and patron of the PLO, to found BCCI. To prevent nationalization, BCCI was chartered in Luxembourg. In 1975 it split into two entities, one remaining in Luxembourg and the other established in the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands part became a "bank within a bank." While the legal registration was in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands, the actual operational head- quarters was moved to London.

SNIP

Abedi's attention was then brought to bear on Financial General, a Washington D.C.-based bank with headquarters a block from the White House. The bank had been acquired in April 1977 by an investor group led by William Middendorf II, who was Secretary of the Navy under Nixon and Ford. One member of the investor group was Jackson Stephens. Stephens then send salemen from his Little Rock firm Systematics to talk to Middendorf about providing banking software for Financial General, but they were firmly rejected. Stephens decided to wrest control of the bank from Middendorf. Jackson Stephens is a billionaire from Little Rock who owns the controlling interest in Worthen National Bank as well as in Stephens Inc., one of the largest privately owned investment banks outside Wall Street. In November 1977, he introduced BCCI-founder Abedi to Bert Lance, Carter's Director of the Office of Management and Budget, whom Stephens had met through Jimmy Carter, his old roommate from Naval Academy days. (Lance and Stephens, two Southern Baptists, had hit it off.) Lance also knew the people at Financial General, for it was Financial General that had sold to Lance controlling interest in the National Bank of Georgia in 1975.

Abedi in turn introduced Lance to Stanford-and-Harvard-(and Colorado School of Mines)-educated Ghaith Pharaon. Pharaon proceeded to acquire the stock of Bert Lance's National Bank of Georgia, a deal consummated on January 5, 1978, a day after Lance's $3.4 million loan from the First National Bank of Chicago was repaid by BCCI London. Pharaon was apparently acting on behalf of Abedi in the acquisition, at least in part. By then Lance had left the Carter administration, and he and Jackson Stephens joined together to help BCCI take over Financial General. A Financial General lawsuit filed on February 17 named "Bert Lance, Bank of Credit & Commerce International, Agha Hasan Abedi, Eugene J. Metzger, Jackson Stephens, Stephens Inc., Systematics Inc. and John Does numbers 1 through 25." Systematics was represented by C.J. Giroir, Webster Hubbell, and Hillary Rodham Clinton of the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock: "The suit was ultimately settled, but intriguingly, briefs for Systematics, a Stephens property, were submitted by a trio of lawyers including C.J. Giroir and Webster L. Hubbell and signed by Hillary Rodham" ("Who is Jack Ryan?" The Wall Street Journal, August 1, 1994). This BCCI-Lance-Stephens-Systematics-Hubbell-Clinton connection will continue to reappear in our story.


SNIP

The Federal Reserve finally approved the purchase in on April 19, 1982, and BCCI renamed the bank "First American" three months later. Clark Clifford was made chairman and Robert Altman president. The head of Bank Supervision at the Federal Reserve when BCCI's purchase was approved was Jack Ryan, who later became head of the Resolution Trust Corporation, in which role he denied Rep. Leach's requests for documents related to Madison Guaranty, the Whitewater thrift. What was the point of BCCI's takeover of First American? " 'They wanted an important stake across the street from the White House,' says one Washington banking executive, adding, 'Some people might think it is important to know about the outstanding loans and balances of Government officials'" (Time).

SNIP

In the meantime BCCI founder Abedi was committed to the development of an Islamic atomic bomb, even donating 500 million rupees for the creation of Pakistan's Gulam Ishaq Research Institute for nuclear development. BCCI was in some sense seen by Abedi as the financial competitor to the "committee of 30" that worked on behalf of Israel. (According to Israeli correspondents Tzadok Yehezkeli and Danny Sadeh: "Israel solicits money from wealthy Jews from all over the world for financing its nuclear weaponry programs. This fundraising drive is directed by a committee comprised of 30 Jewish millionaires" .) But while BCCI founder Abedi had intended BCCI to finance the development of a Pakistani nuclear bomb, this effort was compromised at the start by the presence of Kamal Adham, who through CCAH was the controlling power behind First American, and who had asked Clark Clifford to head up the bank. For Adham was both a CIA and a Mossad asset. Adham, in addition to being Faisal's most trusted advisor and the former head of Saudi intelligence, had attended CIA training school with the head of the Mossad. "Kamal Adham, who was the CIA's principal liason for the entire Middle East from the mid-1960's through 1979, was the lead frontman for BCCI in its takeover of First American, was an important nominee shareholder in BCCI, and remains one of the key players in the entire BCCI affair" (Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown, The BCCI Affair: a Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, December 1992). Perhaps that is why Pakistani's efforts to develop their own nuclear bomb met with repeated compromises, such as the following:


* "In 1983 a Dutch court convicted Dr. Abdul Qader Khan, head of Pakistan's nuclear program, on charges of stealing the blueprints for a uranium enrichment factory. . . . Kahn's lawyer was paid by BCCI. * "In 1984, three Pakistani nationals were indicted in Houston for attempting to buy and ship to Pakistan, high-speed switches designed to trigger nuclear weapons. The trio offered to pay in gold supplied by BCCI. * "In 1987 two Americans, Rita and Arnold Mandel, together with Hong Kong businessman Leung Yu Hung, were indicted by the U.S. Attorney in Sacramento, California, on charges of illegal importations of $1 billion worth of oscilloscopes and computer equipment for Pakistan's nuclear program. . . . BCCI facilitated " * "In 1987 in Philadelphia, Ashad Pervez, a Pakistani-born Canadian, was indicted for conspiring to export restricted specialty steel and metal used to enhance nuclear explosions. ... He . . . paid high prices with money delivered to the Toronto BCCI branch from BCCI London" (Rachel Ehrenfeld, Evil Money, HarperCollins, 1992). * BCCI became a important conduit for CIA intelligence, and also a ready target for the tenacles of the NSA. When Norman Bailey at the National Security Council urged NSA to "follow the money" as part of the "wars" on terrorism and drugs, the NSA had BCCI as one obvious banking target. The CIA was there also to assist in the monitoring of BCCI-related money flows of other intelligence and criminal enterprises. For BCCI had become a giant laundry machine, and the CIA made use of BCCI for their own covert money transfers.

[stickdog]

14. Thanks for all the additional information.

[leveymg]

11. GOP lobbyists Spike 9/11 Commission Report on Pakistan-UBL $$$ links

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x657798
leveymg (1000+ posts) Tue Mar-14-06 12:17 PM
Did GOP Lobbyists Spike the 9/11 Commission Report?
Edited on Tue Mar-14-06 12:56 PM by leveymg
GOP lobbyists working for Pakistan and Saudi Arabia behind censorship of the 9/11 Commission report

Rawstory carried a link yesterday to reports that lobbyists working on behalf of Pakistan had persuaded the 9/11 Commission to drop key references to the link between that country’s military and intelligence services with the network that financed al-Qaeda. Newspapers in India and Pakistan published these reports earlier this week.(see, *links below)

If true, this would NOT be the first time the 9/11 Commission deleted information embarrassing to countries accused of harboring and financing terrorists. At the time of the publication of the Commission’s report in 2004, the panel was widely criticized for the 27-page gap that was redacted from the public version. That section reportedly dealt with Saudi funding sources for the 9/11 attack. According to the new reports, similar types of information about Pakistani links to the hijacking were omitted from the final report. The articles that appeared in recent days accuse unnamed members of the Commission or its staff of bowing to lobbyists working for Parvez Musharrif regime.

If these reports are confirmed, it may prompt a reexamination of the files related to 9/11 and would force an official inquiry into the work of the Commissioners, who have been under question for their refusal to incorporate any reference to a Pentagon surveillance program codenamed Able Danger. Officers assigned to that DoD project claim they identified at least four of the 9/11 hijackers months before the attacks occurred. Commission Co-Chairs Lee Hamilton and Tom Keane defended the decision to omit reference to that program, dismissing the Able Danger findings as “historically insignificant.”

The covert funding and technology flows to Pakistan’s nuclear program, and its international proliferation under A..Q. Khan, are particularly sensitive issues to both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. had that nuclear program under surveillance for decades, and during that time, certain American policy-makers appear to have acted in complicity with some aspects of the program. It has been widely known within U.S. intelligence that the same international financial network that funded Khan’s nuclear proliferation was also a funding source for al-Qaeda.

(*LINKS - http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060313/asp/nation/story_... ; http://www.thefridaytimes.com / (story available on string at another site, do edit-find for Did Pakistan Influence 9/11 Report : http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18... )


THE ABRAMOFF FACTOR

These articles come at time that the work of Washington lobbyists is under close scrutiny after the indictment of Jack Abramoff and associates in a vast scheme to funnel illegal contributions, a considerable portion of which is foreign sourced, to leading GOP lawmakers in order to influence votes, and allegations of influence peddling within the Bush White House. A similar scandal involving defense contractors and Republican Congressman has resulted in the conviction of California Congressmen Randall Cunningham.

Abramoff was the registered lobbyist for Pakistan. In 1997, he is alleged to have arranged the travel of a Congressional delegation to Pakistan without informing the members of his relationship with the government of that country. Pakistan had retained the services of Abramoff’s lobbying group, Preston Gates & Ellis in 1995, after Congress imposed human rights sanctions and stopped arm shipments during the period of increasing tensions leading up to the first test explosions of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in May, 1998.

According to a New York Times, the trip to Pakistan arranged by Abramoff was sponsored by the National Security Caucus Foundation, a group that claimed to have very prominent figures on its Board, including former Secretaries of State, George Shultz and Henry Kissinger. When the scandal broke, both promptly disclaimed any knowledge of the foundation and the junket:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/politics/08abramoff.h ...
Lobbyist Paid by Pakistan Led U.S. Delegation There
By PHILIP SHENON and ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: May 8, 2005

WASHINGTON, May 7 - Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of a federal corruption investigation, led a Congressional delegation to Pakistan in 1997 but failed to tell the group's sponsor or the lawmakers that he was a registered lobbyist for the Pakistani government, according to the sponsor and the two House members on the trip.

"I wish I'd known that he had a bias that way," said Representative Michael R. McNulty, Democrat of New York, who was on the trip. Gregg Hilton, whose nonprofit organization, the National Security Caucus Foundation, sponsored the trip for Mr. McNulty and Representative Howard Coble, said he felt "deceived" by Mr. Abramoff. The trip to Pakistan and Mr. Abramoff's role in it came to light with the release of documents this week showing that he had also used his personal credit card to pay more than $350,000 in travel expenses for other Congressional trips, some of them sponsored by the National Security Caucus Foundation, which is now defunct.

SNIP

Mr. Abramoff did not pay for the group's trip to Pakistan, Mr. Hilton said, adding that his foundation had arranged the trip's financing. A spokesman for Mr. Abramoff had no immediate comment on the trip. Government filings show Mr. Abramoff's law firm was registered as Pakistan's lobbyist until April 1997, after his trip. The firm said on Saturday that it did its last work on the contract in 1996 and did not consider Pakistan a client by 1997. By not revealing his lobbying work for Pakistan while he served as a tour guide there for the nonprofit group, Mr. Abramoff might have served his own business practices, but he also deceived the people he had offered to help, the trip's participants said.

SNIP

Lobbyists for foreign governments are required to register with the Justice Department. Disclosure statements filed by Mr. Abramoff and his former firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, show that the firm was retained by Pakistan in May 1995 to lobby to overturn sanctions barring delivery of American weapons to Pakistan if its government continued to pursue a nuclear weapons program. The initial six-month lobbying contract paid the firm a retainer of $165,000, plus expenses. A spokesman for Preston Gates had no comment. Later disclosure forms show that Mr. Abramoff and the firm lobbied aggressively on Pakistan's behalf, including repeated contacts with the offices of Mr. DeLay, a close friend of Mr. Abramoff. Mr. DeLay, now the House majority leader, has asked the House ethics committee to resolve accusations involving his overseas travels with Mr. Abramoff.

Mr. Hilton provided a number of descriptions of Mr. Abramoff's role with the National Security Caucus Foundation, at one point denying that the lobbyist had a formal role and suggesting that the trip to Pakistan had never happened. Provided evidence to the contrary, he acknowledged that he had hoped Mr. Abramoff would donate money and join the board, but that he never did. Some of the dignitaries listed on the letterhead of the foundation, including Henry A. Kissinger, Elie Wiesel and George P. Shultz, said they had never heard of the group or agreed to have their names used by it. Mr. Hilton said they were actually affiliated with a sister organization. Preston Gates's disclosure statements with the Justice Department show that the firm largely ended its lobbying activity for Pakistan after Prime Minister Bhutto's government was ousted in 1996. The firm was on record as Pakistan's foreign agent, however, until April 1997.

THE OLD SPOOK CONNECTION

As far as is publicly known, Abramoff ceased lobbying directly for Pakistan in 1997. Following his departure from that role, but well before 9/11, the role of lobbyist shifted TO former Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, an Old Hand in the Great Game. Wilson is a near-legendary figure in intelligence circles, and someone intrinsically intertwined with the history of the Islamic Jihadists who were funded by the CIA and the Saudis, and organized by the Pakistani ISI and armed by the Israeli Mossad intelligence services, to rid Afghanistan of its Soviet occupiers in the late 1980s. This set up an paradoxical three-way relationship that has endured to this day, one which is at the center of the Bush Administration’s dilemma in the Middle East and South Asia, from 9/11 through its misconduct of the so-called war on terrorism, the bloody quagmire of Iraq, and the neocon orchestrated psywar against Iran.

Soon after he left Congress in 1997 -- according to a report in Dawn, the major Pakistani English-language daily -- Charlie Wilson took over the account from Abramoff. This was at a time following the nuclear tests that US-Pakistani relations were under mounting strains. Wilson appears to have been the right man to clear obstacles within American government to renewal of relations with the Pakistani military, which two years later, with only token objection from Washington, deposed the civilian government in a coup that led to the ongoing reign of General Musharraf.

There's an old article in Dawn that seems to indicate that Charlie Wilson, a former Congressman from Texas whose major client was Israeli defense contractors, which had been heavily involved in aiding Pakistan and the Mujahadeen, succeeded Abramoff:

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/9803/pak_s ...
DAWN - Features; 10 January, 1998, Shaheen Sehbai


VERY FEW eyebrows have been raised or questions asked about the main Washington lobbyist for Israeli arms industries who was hired by Islamabad last year as the main lobbyist for Pakistan but all hell is ready to break out if attempts by some influential Pakistani-Americans to replace him with an Indian Government lobbyist are even considered by Islamabad. The Israeli lobbyist, working for Israeli Military Industries Ltd., is none other than Pakistan's beloved and darling Democrat from Texas, Charlie Wilson, who retired from Congress last year and then waited for a year to begin his lobbying job for Israel and Pakistan in October, despite some high-profile strong-arm efforts by some Pakistani-Americans to push him aside and themselves takeover the job, lucrative both politically and financially. Charlie's Israeli connection was revealed recently but another of his key connections that went unnoticed was his prized client-lobbyist relationship with Lockheed Martin, the aerospace giant and maker of F-16 aircraft against which Pakistan has claims of over $650 million dollars for not delivering the purchased planes or returning the money.

That may possibly explain why Islamabad and its representatives in Washington were eager to hire Charlie as their man on the Hill, as in one move they would be able to secure both their past and their future. The past could be guarded by having their own paid man entrenched deep in the enemy camp once the F-16 issue goes for the marathon court battles after Pakistan sues Lockheed and the US. Future security could be ensured by keeping the channels to the Israelis open for any future military and weapons trade, once the politics of the Middle East was out of their bilateral relations. And Charlie fitted themoldd perfectly.

But Charlie is not having a smooth ride, despite his credentials. In the hurly burly of the grand judiciary-executive super thriller in Islamabad late last year, a small Washington crowd was quietly playing its game to oust Charlie and replace him with, believe it or not, a lobbying firm which works for India. This crowd did not get the attention it needed because of the turmoil of Titanic proportions sweeping Islamabad.

This set of well-placed Pakistanis in the US had taken with them a gentleman called Terry McAuliffe whose firm was given the Indian lobbying contract by Ambassador Ray in Washington in 1994. TM, as he is called, is the guy who was high up in the Clinton- Gore presidential campaign of 1992, specially on the fund-raising side and many Pakistani supporters of Clinton had made their way to the White House through TM, one of them also getting the symbolic privilege of flying with the President on Air Force One from Washington to Chicago. TM and his Pakistani-American sponsors were actually being hosted in Islamabad by Gen Zia's son Ejaz-ul-Haq who, it is well known here, was returning the compliment of the "Chicago Group", the name given to a host of rich Pakistani activists from that Illinois city who believe nothing in Pakistan-US relations moves without their consent and if Nawaz Sharif came to the US or Clinton would be visiting Pakistan, it is they who deserve the credit.


Here's a snip about Wilson's exploits described in the book, "Charlie Wilson's War":http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871138549/104-2615905 ...

Wilson, a six-feet-four-inch Texas congressman,liberal on social issues but rabidly anti-Communist, a boozer, engaged in serial affairs and wheeler-dealer of consummate skill. Only slightly less improbable is Gust Avrakotos, a blue-collar Greek immigrant who joined the CIA when it was an Ivy League preserve and fought his elitist colleagues almost as ruthlessly as he fought the Soviet Union in the Cold War's waning years. In conjunction with President Zia of Pakistan in the 1980s, Wilson and Arvakotos circumvented most of the barriers to arming the Afghan mujahideen-distance, money, law and internal CIA politics, to name a few. Their coups included getting Israeli-modified Chinese weapons smuggled into Afghanistan, with the Pakistanis turning a blind eye,and the cultivation of a genius-level weapons designer and strategist named Michael Vickers, a key architect of the guerrilla campaign that left the Soviet army stymied. The ultimate weapon in Afghanistan was the portable Stinger anti-aircraft missile, which eliminated the Soviet's Mi-24 helicopter gunships and began the train of events leading to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. and its satellites. A triumph of ruthless ability over scruples, this story has dominated recent history in the form of blowback: many of the men armed by the CIA became the Taliban's murderous enforcers and Osama bin Laden's protectors.

###

Alliance with Gus Avrakotos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wilson_ (politician)

An argument can be made that, in terms of the Cold War struggle to neutralize and weaken the Soviet Union, the most important recruitment in the CIA’s 30-year career was made that April 1984 by Gust Avrakotos when he enlisted Charlie Wilson, during an unannounced and unauthorized visit to the Congressman’s office

From that moment on, the terms of engagement for the CIA's war with the Red Army began to shift. Avrakotos had made a recruitment of sorts. This was the opening shot in what was going to become a Wilson-Avrakotos conspiracy, one that would very shortly succeed in neutralizing the traditional checks and balances that had been so carefully put in place to guide and restrain U.S. covert warfare. Wilson didn't yet know it but he had just found the true rogue elephant in the CIA.

Throughout the 1980s the Afghan mujahideen were America's surrogate soldiers in the brutal guerrilla war that became the Soviet Union's Vietnam, a defeat that helped trigger the subsequent collapse of the Communist empire. Afghanistan was a secret war that the CIA fought and won without debates in Congress or protests in the street. It was not just the CIA's biggest operation, it was the biggest secret war in history. In the course of a decade, billions of rounds of ammunition and hundreds of thousands of weapons were smuggled across the border on the backs of camels, mules, and donkeys. At one point over 300,000 fundamentalist \Afghan warriors carried weapons provided by the CIA; thousands were trained in the art of urban terror. Before it was over, some 28,000 Soviet soldiers were killed.

###

P.S. - Gus Avrakotos died on December 5, 2005 at age 67.


THE GOP CONNECTION

In October 1999, Gen. Musharaff overthrew the civilian regime in Islamabad. A little over a year later, George W. Bush was appointed President after an election marked by unprecedented levels of voter irregularity. With came yet another change in Pakistani representation in Washington, this time with heavy-duty Republican ties.

According to Bill Berkowitz of Working Assets, there have been at least three GOP-associated PR firms which have handled the Pakistan account since 9/11. Berkowitz mentions Dan Pero of Sterling International, Fleishman-Hillard (F-H), and Gary Polland of Houston-based Polland & Cook.

Partnering with Pakistan
Bill Berkowitz - WorkingForChange
http://www.workingforchange.com/printitem.cfm?itemid=14 ...

11.05.02 - It's tough for even the best public relations outfits to spin really bad news. Recent examples like the surprisingly good showing of Islamic fundamentalists in current elections, a New York Times story claiming Pakistan sold equipment to North Korea enhancing its nuclear weapons capabilities, and reports that al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are now operating out of Pakistan, are either: a) a PR firm's biggest nightmare, b) a welcome and challenging task, c) financially rewarding, or d) all of the above. Whether there's bad news to spin or good news to promote, you can depend on a well-paid PR firm to step up to the plate.

Dan Pero, a founding partner in the newly established Sterling International Consulting Corporation, which recently inked a month-by-month media relations contract with Pakistan, told me he was "excited about the possibilities" and "anxious to tell" Pakistan's story." As Pero sees it, the story is about how a "key ally of the U.S. in the war against terrorism" is moving closer toward democracy.

Even before 9/11, Pakistan was shelling out major-league money to US-based PR firms with conservative credentials and GOP connections. At that time, PR challenges included the dispute with India over Kashmir, the country's nuclear weapons program, human rights violations by Pakistan's military leadership, and the use of child labor.

Since 9/11, however, the "war on terrorism" has taken center stage.

Pero said that Sterling International, an affiliated company of the Sterling Corporation, will receive $50,000 a month in an agreement that began in early September and will be evaluated at the end of November.


SNIP


Pakistan is not a newcomer to the PR game. In April of this year, the country hired Fleishman-Hillard (F-H) "to win Congressional approval for tariff relief," O'Dwyer's Daily reports. Donna Rohrer from F-H's Washington, D.C., office, recently noted that the campaign was now on hold -- "caught up in the national vise of our war on terror." F-H has been told to "back off from the media," she added.
F-H was promoting the "Pakistan Emergency Economic Development and Trade Support Act," introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), which was aimed at rewarding Pakistan for its support for the president's "war on terrorism," O'Dwyers PR daily reported. The bill, that would have given Bush "the authority to reduce or suspend import duties on Pakistani apparel," was opposed by the U.S. apparel manufacturers. Pakistan already exports about $2 billion in apparel to the U.S., according to O'Dwyers.

In January 2002, O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that the country had hired the "well-connected Houston-based Republican firm, Polland & Cook, to help smooth ties with the U.S. just prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. The purpose was to end U.S. economic sanctions against Pakistan, bolster trade and debt restructure." Gary Polland, who chairs the Harris County GOP, "is 37.5 percent owner of a joint-venture known as 'Team Barakat,' registered lobbyist for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan." The company was given an $180,000 contract that could be "renewable for another two years," O'Dwyer's pointed out. How well connected to the GOP is Polland? In January 2001, he organized the Texas Inaugural Breakfast that was attended by Texas Senators Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison and Majority Whip Rep. Tom Delay. The event also included a media panel consisting of John Fund (The Wall Street Journal), Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform), John Gizzi (Human Events) and Glen Bolger (Public Opinion Strategies).

CONCLUSION

All this suggests that in the mid to late 1990s, Abramoff played a supporting role in the big-hitters efforts to help Pakistan with its nuclear program. Recall also that Kissinger was originally tapped to head the 9/11 Commission. Consider as well, the UBL cells were being treated as part of the Pakistani-Saudi network that had produced the "Islamic bomb" with very high level American support. Guided by Grover Norquist, this network was tapped by Abramoff in building his multi-million dollar GOP slush funds. These birds have all flocked back to roost, so to speak, if indeed sections of the 9/11 Commission report concerning Pakistan were removed, along with those related to the Saudis.

2006. Mark G. Levey

Mark
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Replies to this thread
Mark - did you ever read BCCI report's list of questions that still needed blm Mar-14-06 12:23 PM #1
Yes, I've read large sections of the original Kerry Commitee Report leveymg Mar-14-06 12:35 PM #2
Kerry's unanswered questions almost all centered on Pakistan. blm Mar-14-06 01:06 PM #4
The MSM ignores what's convenient -- anything that challenges leveymg Mar-14-06 02:22 PM #6
Sadly, even some at DU claim its irrelevant and ancient history. That does blm Mar-14-06 03:06 PM #9
That's why people like you, H2O, and robertpaulson are writing Old and In the Way Mar-15-06 12:03 AM #10
Grover Norquist was quite a sparkplug at George Mason University bobthedrummer Mar-14-06 12:39 PM #3
And where you find Norquist and Abramoff you find Rohrabacher. blm Mar-14-06 02:07 PM #5
Otherwise known as the 9/11 Omission report savemefromdumbya Mar-14-06 02:35 PM #7
Khan Job: Bush Spiked Probe of Pakistan’s Dr. Strangelove, BBC reporte... seemslikeadream Mar-14-06 02:43 PM #8

[seemslikeadream]

5. THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A MILITARY ORDER

BUDDY BUDDY
http://www.gsnmagazine.com.nyud.net:8090/images/aug_05/atta.jpg
DO THE MATH

24 MINUTES

THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A MILITARY ORDER WATCH THIS VIDEO

http://www.bushflash.com/buddy.html

[leveymg]

8. Check out Octafish's related thread at Greatest

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x757860

[Gabi Hayes]

13. specially now that Moussaoui spills it all in the docket

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x765611

[Octafish]

15. Thanks for the info, stickdog. One heck of an interview.

The more we learn about these rats, the quicker we need to be rid of them.

RANDY GLASS: Okay, the investigation continued on, okay? And Abbas brought—sent—he went back to Pakistan. He and Mohamed Malik got on a plane and flew back to Pakistan. Malik came back. Abbas sent other operatives from the ISI including one of their nuclear scientists, associate of their main nuclear scientist, Khan. He sent back one of his associates to inspect weapons-grade plutonium to make sure that it was weapons-grade plutonium and nuclear triggers. As well as other sophisticated weapons systems. 9/11 was supposed to be a nuclear attack.

These are not just traitors to America. They are working to destroy the world.

[robertpaulsen]

16. Kick this to the top!

:kick:

[Octafish]

17. What robertpaulsen said.

This is an unbelievable read.

Hicks kicks the BFEE square in the pants.

[Gabi Hayes]

18. thanks for bringing this back.... too bad it'll never be heard elsewhere

I hope to GOD I'm wrong.....