Text 543, 184 rader
Skriven 2004-08-03 10:52:06 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: 59 Deceits - Pt 6
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Bush and James Bath
Deceits 15-16

     Moore mentions that Bush’s old National Guard buddy and personal friend
James Bath had become the money manager for the bin Laden family, saying, [that
after the bin Ladens invested in James Bath,] "James Bath himself in turn
invested in George W. Bush." The implication is that Bath invested the bin
Laden family’s money in Bush’s failed energy company, Arbusto. He doesn’t
mention that Bath has said that he had invested his own money, not the bin
Ladens’, in Bush’s company.

Matt Labash, "Un-Moored from Reality," Weekly Standard, July 5, 2004. See also:
Thomas Frank, "Film offers limited view," Newsday, June 27, 2004; Michael
Isikoff & Mark Hosenball, "More Distortions From Michael Moore. Some of the
main points in ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ really aren’t very fair at all," MSNBC.com,
June 30, 2004.
 
Moore makes a big point about the name of James Bath being blacked out from
Bush National Guard records which were released by the White House. The
blackout might appear less sinister if Moore revealed that federal law required
the National Guard to black out the names any Guardsmen whose medical
information was on the same pages as the records which the Guard released
regarding George Bush's health records. In Bath's case, he had been suspended
for failing to take an annual physical exam. So what Moore presents as a
sinister effort to conceal the identity of James Bath was in fact the
legally-required compliance with federal law.
 
Moore gloats: "What Bush didn't know was that I already had a copy of his
military records--uncensored--obtained in the year 2000." Moore creates the
impression that he is an investigative sleuth. Actually, the records had been
released in 2000. The privacy regulations for the Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act (HIPAA) went into effect on April 14, 2003, and so did
not apply when the National Guard records were released in 2000. 
 
[Moore response: Shows that Bath and Bush were friends, a fact which was never
disputed. Does not address the fact that the black-out of Bath's name was
required by new federal law. Does not defend the insinuation that Bath used bin
Laden money to invest in Bush. Does not address the fact that Craig Unger's
book House of Bush, House of Saud reports that there is no evidence that Bath
used bin Laden money for the Arbusto investment.]
 
Bush and Prince Bandar
Deceit 17
 
Moore points out the distressingly close relationship between Saudi Arabia’s
ambassador, Prince Bandar, and the Bush family. But Moore does not explain that
Bandar has been a bipartisan Washington power broker for decades, and that Bill
Clinton repeatedly relied on Bandar to advance Clinton’s own Middle East
agenda. (Elsa Walsh, "The Prince. How the Saudi Ambassador became Washington’s
indispensable operator," The New Yorker, Mar. 24, 2003.)
 
President Clinton’s former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Wyche Fowler, has been
earning a lucrative living as a Saudi apologist and serving as Chairman of the
Middle East Institute—a research organization heavily funded by Saudi Arabia.
(Joel Mowbray, "Feeding at the Saudi Trough," Townhall.com, Oct. 1, 2003.)
Former President Clinton received $750,000 for giving a speech in Saudi Arabia,
and the Saudis have donated a secret sum (estimated between $1 million and $20
million) to the Clinton Library.
 
I am not suggesting that Mr. Fowler is in any way corrupt; I’m sure that he is
sincere (although, in my view, mistaken) in his strongly pro-Saudi viewpoint.
Nor is there anything illegal about former President Clinton's receipt of huge
Saudi largesse. What is misleading is for Moore to look at the web of Saudi
influence in Washington only in regard to the Republican Bushes, and to ignore
the fact that Saudi influence and money are widespread in both parties.
 
Harken Energy
Deceits 18-19
 
Bush once served on the Board of Directors of the Harken Energy Company.
According to Fahrenheit: 

     Moore: Yes, it helps to be the President’s son. Especially when you’re
being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 
     TV reporter: In 1990 when M. Bush was a director of Harken Energy he
received this memo from company lawyers warning directors not to sell stock if
they had unfavorable information about the company. One week later he sold
$848,000 worth of Harken stock. Two months later, Harken announced losses of
more than $23 million dollars.
     Moore:…Bush beat the rap from the SEC…

What Moore left out: Bush sold the stock long after he checked with those same
"company lawyers" who had provided the cautionary memo, and they told him that
the sale was all right. Almost all of the information that caused Harken’s
large quarterly loss developed only after Bush had sold the stock. 
 
Despite Moore’s pejorative that Bush "beat the rap," no-one has ever found any
evidence suggesting that he engaged in illegal insider trading. He did fail to
file a particular SEC disclosure form on time. (Byron York, "The Facts About
Bush and Harken. The president’s story holds up under scrutiny," National
Review Online, July 10, 2002.) For a detailed factual timeline, see James
Dunbar, "A Brief History of Bush, Harken and the SEC," Center for Public
Integrity, Oct. 16, 2002.
 
Carlyle Group
Deceits 20-22

     Moore’s film suggests that Bush has close family ties to the bin Laden
family—principally through Bush’s father’s relationship with the Carlyle Group,
a private investment firm. The president’s father, George H.W. Bush, was a
senior adviser to the Carlyle Group’s Asian affiliate until recently; members
of the bin Laden family—who own one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest construction
firms—had invested $2 million in a Carlyle Group fund. Bush Sr. and the bin
Ladens have since severed ties with the Carlyle Group, which in any case has a
bipartisan roster of partners, including Bill Clinton’s former SEC     
chairman Arthur Levitt. The movie quotes author Dan Briody claiming that the
Carlyle Group "gained" from September 11 because it owned United Defense, a
military contractor. Carlyle Group spokesman Chris Ullman notes that United
Defense holds a special distinction among U.S. defense contractors that is not
mentioned in Moore’s movie: the firm’s $11 billion Crusader artillery rocket
system developed for the U.S. Army is one of the only weapons systems canceled
by the Bush administration.

Michael Isikoff, "Under the Hot Lights. Moore’s movie will make waves. But it’s
a fine line between fact and fanaticism. Deconstructing ‘Fahrenheit 9/11."
Newsweek, June 28, 2004. (Isikoff appears to be wrong on one fact; the Crusader
uses a self-propelled gun, and does not fire rockets.)
 
Moore claims that refusing to mention the Crusader cancellation was all right
because the cancellation came after the United Defense initial public offering
(stock sale to the public). But the cancellation had a serious negative
financial impact on Carlyle, since Carlyle still owns 47% of United Defense.

     Moore tells us that when Carlyle took United Defense public, they made a
one-day profit of $237 million, but under all the public scrutiny, the bin
Laden family eventually had to withdraw (Moore doesn’t tell us that they
withdrew before the public offering, not after it). 

Labash, Weekly Standard.
 
There is another famous investor in Carlyle whom Moore does not reveal: George
Soros. (Oliver Burkeman & Julian Borger, "The Ex-Presidents’ Club," The
Guardian (London), Oct. 31, 2000.) But the fact that the anti-Bush billionaire
has invested in Carlyle would detract from Moore’s simplistic conspiracy
theory. 
 
Moore alleges that the Saudis have given 1.4 billion dollars to the Bushes and
their associates. 

     Moore derives the $1.4 billion figure from journalist Craig Unger’s book,
"House of Bush, House of Saud." Nearly 90 percent of that amount, $1.18
billion, comes from just one source: contracts in the early to mid-1990’s that
the Saudi Arabian government awarded to a U.S. defense contractor, BDM, for
training the country’s military and National Guard. What’s the significance of
BDM? The firm at the time was owned by the Carlyle Group, the powerhouse
private-equity firm whose Asian-affiliate advisory board has included the
president’s father, George H.W. Bush. ...The main problem with this figure,
according to Carlyle spokesman Chris Ullman, is that former president Bush
didn’t join the Carlyle advisory board until April, 1998—five months after
Carlyle had already sold BDM to another defense firm.

Isikoff & Hosenball, MSNBC.com. (The full text of the article contains the
counter-argument by Moore's "war room" and the replies by Isikoff and
Hosenball. Moore's staff points out that at the time of the bin Laden $1.18
billion investment, Carlyle included some Bush associates).
 
Craig Unger points out that George H.W. Bush still receives daily C.I.A.
briefings. As Unger points out, Bush has the right to do, but he is the only
former President who does. The suggestion is made that Bush uses the C.I.A.
information for personal business purposes. We have no way of knowing, and it
is possible the Bush does so. On the other hand, this segment of Fahrenheit
omits a very relevant fact which would supply an alternative explanation: Bush
served as C.I.A. Director in
1976. It would not be surprising for him to want to follow C.I.A. activities in
retirement. Earlier in the film, however, Moore does state, in passing, that
"Bush’s dad was head of the CIA."
 
[Moore response: Provides extensive citations for facts about Carlyle which
were never disputed. Does not address the fact that Democrats and George Soros
are also involved in Carlyle. Does not address how Bush administration severely
harmed Carlyle by cancelling the Crusader. Reiterates the points made in
response to Isikoff & Hosenball, that Bush friends were involved in Carlyle
before George H.W. Bush was.]
   ----- 59deceits-p6.txt ends -----

John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
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 * Origin: We are the Watchmen of our own Liberty! (1:379/1.99)