Bush, Osama, and Posada Carriles

 

Andres Kargar (galileo19@hotmail.com)

 

Seymour Hersh's article in the March 2007 issue of the New Yorker, entitled "The Redirection" is the most recent mainstream writing that brings up the subject of the Bush administration's ties to Al Qaeda. Indirect as such ties might sound (and despite some establishment liberals' pretend surprise and shock at such revelations), these connections have always existed since the days of the CIA-sponsored Mujahedeen crusade to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. How could one forget Ronald Reagan's "Freedom Fighters" so soon (1)?

 

"In the nineteen-eighties and the early nineties, the Saudi government offered to subsidize the covert American C.I.A. proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Hundreds of young Saudis were sent into the border areas of Pakistan, where they set up religious schools, training bases, and recruiting facilities. Then, as now, many of the operatives who were paid with Saudi money were Salafis. Among them, of course, were Osama bin Laden and his associates, who founded Al Qaeda, in 1988," reads the New Yorker article.

 

Such ties are by no means indirect, incidental, or sporadic. Saudi Arabia's hawkish national-security advisor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, endearingly referred to as "Bandar Bush", is a close friend and associate of the Bush family with ties to those fundamentalist Jihadists that had formed the Mujahedeen to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan and later transformed to "Al-Qaeda."

 

That reminds me of the story of a crook who ran into a simpleton. He pointed an elephant to the simpleton. "What is that?" asked the simpleton. "It's a 25-cent coin," replied the crook. Convinced that he had found a quarter of a dollar, the simpleton set out to spend the "coin". He tried to put the elephant in a vending machine, but alas it would not fit. After a few attempts, even our simpleton caught on that something was amiss.

 

Will our establishment liberals ever catch on?

 

Well, yours truly, once attempted to test the simpleton theory and see if the proverbial quarter could be spent. Some time ago, I did some research into what happened to Osama bin Ladin's wealth after he supposedly parted ways with the Saudi and US governments. As you might know, even before joining up with the US intelligence, bin Ladin had made himself a fortune in the construction business. By some accounts, he had amassed a wealth of around $300 million. A businessman with that sort of fortune was bound to have had bank accounts in his name in Saudi Arabia, the United States, England, and other Western countries,

 

Here is the funny thing: the more I searched, the less I was able to find specifics about Osama's millions. Don't get me wrong. I did find many news articles about money frozen (stolen) that belonged to Middle Eastern charity groups or even so-called groups tied to "Al-Qaeda", and then Osama's name was just mentioned in passing, but nothing concrete. You can be sure if they ever froze my $500 checking account, one could find more traces of the bank name, branch address, balance, country and other details, but not Osama, America's No. 1 enemy (2).

 

In contrast to what some conformist liberals might have us believe, Osama bin Ladin did not stuff his $300 million dollars into his mattress and carry it around on his back to finance his fight against the "infidels". Humor and science fiction aside, such an experience (freezing of his bank accounts) would be the equivalent of taking a handicapped person's wheelchair away from him. It would incapacitate the Saudi multi-millionaire, but of course not Osama. He needs no stinking passport or dollars to get around, carrying out his crusade. Apparently, the "Lord" provides him with food and bullets and the maps to avoid the tens of thousands of NATO, Pakistani, and Afghan troops (3).

 

I even ran across this news item about the Saudi government refusing to investigate and freeze bin Ladin's assets, and all this time I was wondering: why would the Saudi government, a close partner of the United States, the Bush family, and America's oil and defense industries behave like that? Why would they do that? The only explanation that made sense was the following: "thou shalt not steal thy partner's money". Believe me, it is not so easy to make $300 million disappear without footprints everywhere.

 

To those who might feel too "patriotic" to believe in links between Osama and the Bush regime, I have only to mention the case of Luis Posada Carriles. Carriles is the Latin version of Osama bin Ladin, a true lifetime terrorist who collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency, not just in its acts of aggression against Cuba. He is reported to have participated in Operation Phoenix in Vietnam murdering suspected Viet Cong and sympathizers. In Venezuela, under former corrupt regimes, Posada Carriles was an important figure of the Venezuelan secret police (DISIP) with ties to the CIA. Posada's name also appears in Iran-Contra's drug-N-gun running investigations (eventually swept under the rug by the "good cops and bad cops" of the Democratic and Republican parties).

 

Despite Posada's involvement in the 1976 bombing of the Cuban airliner that ended up in the death of all 73 passengers as well as many other acts of violence and terror, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone has let Posada walk free, fearful of damaging information Posada might present at his May 11, 2007 trial (4).

 

The CIA's collection of terrorist "assets" is not limited to bin Ladin and Carriles; there are numerous other individuals enjoying the US Government's protection, people such as Orlando Bosch (implicated in the assassination of the US citizen Ronnie Moffit) or Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, a leader of the Haitian death squad FRAPH who was involved in torture and the murder of hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Haitians (by testimony of human rights organizations).

 

The unfortunate truth is that the Democrats have shown themselves to be partners-in-crime and collaborators of the Republicans in this continuous assault on our liberties and the human rights of the people in the rest of the world. That is why you do not hear them demanding the extradition of the terrorist Posada Carriles to Venezuela where he is wanted for murder. It is also why not one of them is asking the whereabouts of Osama bin Ladin and the reason he has not been found yet.

 

 As far as the mainstream media, you will certainly not be getting the truth about bin Ladin or Posada Carriles from the likes of CNN, the Fox News, or even NPR and the New York Times. If you want the truth, you have to search for it from alternative sources, and that is why it is imperative to be fighting for a free Internet and against further stealing of public airwaves by a handful of corporations. Before all is lost, our vigilant grass roots organizing will be the only guarantee of people power.

 

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Notes

 

(1) Ronald Reagan called the Afghan Mujahedeen and Nicaragua's "Contra" terrorists "freedom fighters" and the "moral equivalent of our forefathers".

 

(2) Wouldn't it be nice if some conscientious investigative journalist could look into the matter of bin Ladin's wealth and specifically what happened to it after 9/11?

 

(3) Even Saddam Hussein, the head of a state with such extensive connections and resources couldn't hide away forever.

 

(4) More information on the Bush administration's other terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles. Again, forgetting about Posada's terrorist history, if some conscientious investigative journalist just takes a closer look at Carriles' immigration case, I am sure they will discover gross violations of the US immigration laws by Carriles and the Bush administration's US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS):

            http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/January/07_nsd_011.html

            http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm

            http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/19761008.pdf