Dude, Where's My Country_ - Michael Moore [5]
I have seven questions for you, Mr. Bush, and if you would be so kind, I would like you to answer them. I ask them on behalf of the 3,000 who died that September day, and I ask them on behalf of the American people. I know you share the same sorrow we all feel, and I would hope that you (or the people you know who may have accidentally contributed to this tragedy) would not be so reticent with the truth. We seek no revenge against you. We want only to know what happened, and what can be done to bring the murderers to justice, so we can prevent any future attacks on our citizens. I know you want the same, so please help me out with these seven questions . . .
Question #1: Is it true that the bin Ladens have had business relations with you and your family off and on for the past 25 years?
Mr. Bush, in 1977, when your father told you it was time to get a real job, he set you up with your first oil company, something you called “Arbusto” (Spanish for “shrub”).8 A year later, you received financing from a man named James A. Bath.9 He was an old buddy of yours from your days (the ones when you weren’t AWOL10) in the Texas Air National Guard.11 He had been hired by Salem bin Laden—Osama’s brother—to invest the bin Ladens’ money in various Texas ventures. Some $50,000—or 5 percent of control of Arbusto—came from Mr. Bath.12
Was he acting on behalf of the bin Ladens?
Most Americans might be surprised to learn that you and your father have known the bin Ladens for a long time. What exactly is the extent of this relationship, Mr. Bush? Are you close personal friends, or simply on-again, off-again business associates? Salem bin Laden first started coming to Texas in 1973 and later bought some land, built himself a house, and created Bin Laden Aviation at the San Antonio airfield.13
The bin Ladens are one of the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia. Their huge construction firm virtually built the country, from the roads and power plants, to the skyscrapers and government buildings. They built some of the airstrips America used in your dad’s Gulf War, and they renovated the holy sites at Mecca and Medina.14 Billionaires many times over, they soon began investing in other ventures around the world, including in the United States. They have extensive business dealings with Citigroup, General Electric, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and the Fremont Group—a spin-off of energy giant Bechtel. According to The New Yorker, the bin Laden family also owns a part of Microsoft and the airline and defense giant Boeing.15 They have donated $2 million to your alma mater, Harvard University, $300,000 more to Tufts University, and tens of thousands more to the Middle East Policy Council, a think tank headed by a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Charles Freeman.16 In addition to the property they own in Texas, they also have real estate in Florida and Massachusetts.17 In short, they have their hands deep in our pants.
Unfortunately, as you know, Mr. Bush, Salem bin Laden died in a plane crash in Texas in 1988 (his father, Mohammad, also died in a plane crash in 1967).18 Salem’s brothers—there are around 50 of them, including Osama—continued to run the family companies and investments.
After leaving office, your father became a highly paid consultant for a company known as the Carlyle Group. One of the investors in the Carlyle Group was none other than the bin Laden family. The bin Ladens put a minimum of $2 million into the Carlyle Group.19
Until 1994, you headed a company called CaterAir, which was owned by the Carlyle Group. The same year you left the soon-to-be-bankrupt CaterAir, you became governor and quickly oversaw the University of Texas—a state institution—make an investment of $10 million in the Carlyle Group.20 The bin Laden family had also gotten on the Carlyle gravy train in 1994.21
The Carlyle Group is one of the nation’s largest defense contractors, among their many other lines of work. They don’t actually