This seems an opportune time to look back on a little chapter in George W. Bush's life. Oh, I'm not alleging anything ... just throwing out some information that, oh, just maybe, might be interesting in light of recent events.
We all probably remember Harken Energy, the small Texas oil firm that bought Bush's failed Spectrum 7? It turned around and landed a major contract in Bahrain to do something it had never done, a major offshore drilling project.
Well, guess who had major ties with Harken? BCCI. And guess who founded BCCI and later owned it outright? That's right, part of the UAE (to be precise: Abu Dhabi). The details below:
Now, Harken. Let's just give a little primer for those who don't know, forgot, or whatever. Bush's Spectrum 7 was failing. The money was gone, and Bush was facing total ruin. And then ... from the
WaPo:
Bush's name, however, was to help rescue him, just as it had attracted investors and helped revive his flagging fortunes throughout his years in the dusty plains city of Midland. A big Dallas-based firm, Harken Oil and Gas, was looking to buy up troubled oil companies. After finding Spectrum, Harken's executives saw a bonus in their target's CEO, despite his spotty track record.
By the end of September 1986, the deal was done. Harken assumed $3.1 million in debts and swapped $2.2 million of its stock for a company that was hemorrhaging money, though it had oil and gas reserves projected to produce $4 million in future net revenue. Harken, a firm that liked to attach itself to stars, had also acquired Bush, whom it used not as an operating manager but as a high-profile board member.
And then Harken landed that big contract in Bahrain (Bush, as many will remember, would later be investigated for his sale of Harken stock, but that's another story). But the Harken connection is pretty interesting for another matter that was never really pursued. Here's the WSJ (quoted here):
Indeed, an investigation by this paper has not revealed evidence of wrongdoing or influence-peddling by George W. Bush or anyone else connected to Harken. Yet what does emerge is a complex pattern of personal and financial relationships behind Harken's sudden good fortune in the Middle East, raising the question of whether Bahrainis or others in the Middle East may have hoped to ingratiate themselves with the White House. Even more intriguing, there are numerous links among Harken, Bahrain and individuals close to the discredited Bank of Credit & Commerce International, a banking empire that used Mideast oil money to seek ties to political leaders in several countries.
The story then goes on to list a few of those connecctions. And they are, to say the least, suggestive.
The co-founder of BCCI was Shaykh Zayid ibn Sultan Al Nuhayyan, the head of the royal family of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi retained enough control over the bank to buy it in 1990, unfortunately just in time for it to get shut down across the world over the various scandals.
And guess who a director of BCCI was? James R. Bath That's right, the same Mr. Bath who got suspended from TANG with Bush, that co-owned Arbusto with Bush ... the whole thing seems pretty chummy, really.
So, to recap: Bush is failing, Harken bails him out, Harken gets major Mideast business, and the UAE-connected BCCI is connected in every way to the deal, as well as employing a long-time Bush friend.
Now ... what does this mean? I don't know. Maybe nothing. I'm just throwing this out there as another data point to consider during this deal.
But, I wonder what Kevin Phillips would say? He did after all write an LATimes article titled THE BARRELING BUSHES: Four generations of the dynasty have chased profits through cozy ties with Mideast leaders, spinning webs of conflicts of interest
Hmmm ... cozy ties with Mideast leaders ... conflicts of interests ... maybe that's germane to what's going on now?
Just throwin' it out there.