In f9/11 removal of Maj. James Bath's name and report

[nannah]

from George Bush's military record seems very significant to me. The decision to "clean up" that paragraph in GWB" military paperwork emmanated from thinking that understood the incriminating nature of Bush Bath dealings. Otherwise, why remove it at all?????

[opihimoimoi]

1. Very bad smell, very bad indeed.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

well, 'protecting ID of "innocent" Americans'...

.. immediately came to mind.


And then was TOTALLY destroyed as a valid argument!


WOOOHOOOOOO, MOOOORE rocks!

[gmoney]

2. well, the arguement could be made for privacy

since they were releasing W's military records, they might have redacted any other names appearing in the records for the "privacy" of the others mentioned. So they don't get pestered by journalists or anything...

[nannah]

3. so were all other names removed from released records?

i don't remember; it's been awile since i reviewed his records.

[renegade000]

11. yes i agree

it was most likely done for these purposes...its rather standard procedure.

but...there might indeed be ulterior motives...depends on what other names were redacted.

that was the only thing in the movie that might have been a stretch...and its really quite a minor point. the rest was absolutely awesome.

[Tosca]

4. Buds have to stick together

You know, through thick and thin.

Power is access, or is it access is power? Yeah, that's it.

It's all in Craig Unger's book.

[gasperc]

5. I also walked out with "let's dig into this James Bath thing"

I have "American Dynasty" by Kevin Phillups in front of me. from page 269,
<snip>
"Bush was a willing recipient of this inheritance-witness the CIA and BCCI ties of some who financed him, from Arbusto to Harken Energy a decade later. For example, James Bath, who invested fifty thousand $ in the 1979 and 1980 Arbusto partnerships, probably did so as US business respresentative for rich Saudi investors Salem bin Laden and Khalid bin Mahfouz (Osama bin Laden's brother in law) Both men were involved with BCCI...Bath, who made his fortune investing for the two Saudi's, was a colorful Texan- and then some. According to former Houston Post reporter Pete Brewton, Bath was " an asset of the CIA, reportedly recrutied by George Bush himself" in 1976 to keep the Agency up to date on Saudi activities."
<snip>
tons more, it's been an interesting read, pick up a copy at the library.

[Sporadicus]

6. Here's an Interesting Article from July 3, 2001

linking James R. Bath, Osama bin Laden, and *. Notice that the author suspected rumors of an assassination attempt on * for the purpose of giving him a boost in the polls. Little did he know the horrible truth awaiting the world just over two months later.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Hatfield-R-091901/hatfield-r-091901.html

[Sporadicus]

7. Michael Moore Played a Snippet of Eric Clapton's 'Cocaine'

when he showed *'s military records...and for good reason. This article shows a connection between James R. Bath, *, cocaine, the bin Ladens, the contras, and much, much more.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/April2004/Fitrakis0417.htm

[Sporadicus]

8. More Anomalous Activities During *'s National Guard Years

The section of this article dealing with * flying for a 'Houston-based agricultural company' is very interesting.

http://www.madcowprod.com/index46bb.html

[UTUSN]

9. Kick n/t

[Senior citizen]

10. So were Bath and Bush together that day?

Did they miss their appointment because they were too stoned to go?

The true story is probably much more incriminating than my speculation.

:kick:

[DrBB]

12. What I like about it

...as well as a lot of other things in the flick, is that it gets out into the public arena stuff that we've been kicking around on DU and other forums for years. It's not like almost any of Moore's stuff is new, and sure a lot of it's "one sided," but a lot of this stuff has never been answered; it has simply been dropped. And because it has been dropped, the assumption has been that it has been dealt with. But it HASN'T.

So, yeah, nice to see Mr Bath's name out there in such a nice prominently glaring spotlight, where all the Heathers can say, "Oh, gee but there's nothing there, right? or we'd have been told, right? right? Huh?"

And chief among all of such points of course is that delightful seven minutes of goat story while burning innocents were leaping from the second tower. Oh very important not to disturb the kiddies, you betcha. Lotta pundits got a lotta excuses for that one, you bet. Wanna bet, too, how many people go home after finally witnessing the full, agonizing seven minutes--many of 'em good upstanding non-boat-rocking 'Muricans who know that it's their duty to shut up, watch TV and do as they're told--asking themselves, "Wait a minute, what the fuck was that all about? He just SAT there? How come I never HEARD about this????"

We've known about it for years now. But it takes a hell of a big bunker-buster of a media event to drive this sort of thing through the heavily insulated crania of most media-besotted Muricans. Thank god that bunker buster has arrived at last. Even as they condemn it, the Reichpundits only succeed in magnifying its significance as a must-see media event.

[bossfish]

13. Damn right

I was on another message board today, in this case a baseball one, and there was a frothing "Michael Moore is a LIAR" threads. I challenged the author to point out some lies. I was, in turn, challenged to point out some truths.

Bath as the Bin Ladin bagman was one of the first I used.

[Stephanie]

14. Yup. Very curious. I wonder WHY they would need to block Bath's name.

If the President has nothing to hide, why is he hiding?
-quoting William Bennett on the subject of Clinton

Maybe because they don't want anyone wondering why the two good buddies both got suspended at the same time, both for failing to take their physicals, just, as it happens, when drug testing was first being implemented.

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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/08/11/1447218#transcript

AMY GOODMAN: And what is Bath’s connection to the Bushes?

J. H. HATFIELD: Well he was also in the National Guard with George W. back in the 70’s which is interesting too because in 1972 in August, my publisher was able not too long ago to get hold of Bush’s national guard records. And in 1972, at the same time we alleged he was doing community service for cocaine arrest James Bath who was in the unit with him. Both of them were grounded for failing to show up for medical exam. 14:19

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http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=480

After the death of Mohammed bin Laden, control of the company passed to Salem bin Laden, Osama’s half brother. The roots of the first known Bush-bin Laden convergence date back to the mid-1970s, when the two clans were linked by a Houston businessman named James R. Bath. Bath had befriended George W. Bush in the late 1960s, when they both served in the Texas Air National Guard. By 1976, when Gerald Ford appointed the elder George Bush as CIA director, Bath was acting as a business agent for Salem bin Laden’s interests in Texas. (Texas and Saudi Arabia were well-connected by this point through U.S. oil companies and related industries with operations in both locations.) In 1991 Time magazine and later other publications reported on allegations by Bath’s former business partner that the Bush CIA hired Bath in 1976 to create offshore companies to move CIA funds and aircraft between Texas and Saudi Arabia.

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http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3642/index.php

<snip>

In 1979, Bush's first business, Arbusto Energy, obtained financing from James Bath, a Houstonian and close family friend. One of many investors, Bath gave Bush $50,000 for a 5 percent stake in Arbusto. At the time, Bath was the sole U.S. business representative for Salem bin Laden, head of the wealthy Saudi Arabian family and a brother (one of 17) to Osama bin Laden. It has long been suspected, but never proven, that the Arbusto money came directly from Salem bin Laden. In a statement issued shortly after the September 11 attacks, the White House vehemently denied the connection, insisting that Bath invested his own money, not Salem bin Laden's, in Arbusto.

In conflicting statements, Bush at first denied ever knowing Bath, then acknowledged his stake in Arbusto and that he was aware Bath represented Saudi interests. In fact, Bath has extensive ties, both to the bin Laden family and major players in the scandal-ridden Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI) who have gone on to fund Osama bin Laden. BCCI defrauded depositors of $10 billion in the '80s in what has been called the 'largest bank fraud in world financial history' by former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. During the '80s, BCCI also acted as a main conduit for laundering money intended for clandestine CIA activities, ranging from financial support to the Afghan mujahedin to paying intermediaries in the Iran-Contra affair.

When Salem bin Laden died in 1988, powerful Saudi Arabian banker and BCCI principal Khalid bin Mahfouz inherited his interests in Houston. Bath ran a business for bin Mahfouz in Houston and joined a partnership with bin Mahfouz and Gaith Pharaon, BCCI's frontman in Houston's Main Bank.



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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4422.htm

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s talk about his time in Midland as an oil businessman. You go into great detail in the book about the kinds of people who bailed him out. Their connections to his father and the family. The connections to the Persian Gulf war, etc. Why don’t you give us a little more detail.

J. H. HATFIELD: Yeah. He’s made a lot of money by—being bailed out by his dad’s friends. For example. his first company Arbusto. One of the major investors was James Bath who had connections to the BCCI scandal and Osama Bin Laden family. And why would somebody invest in the son of a vice-presidents first little oil company. I mean you have to have an interest. Just like right now, he’s raised 70 million dollars. When he gets to the White House, if he gets to the White House, you’re naïve if you don’t think those corporate people who got him there, they’ll want something in return.

<snip>

AMY GOODMAN: And what is Bath’s connection to the Bushes?

J. H. HATFIELD: Well he was also in the National Guard with George W. back in the 70’s which is interesting too because in 1972 in August, my publisher was able not too long ago to get hold of Bush’s national guard records. And in 1972, at the same time we alleged he was doing community service for cocaine arrest James Bath who was in the unit with him. Both of them were grounded for failing to show up for medical exam. 14:19

AMY GOODMAN: Wait, what did you say about drugs?

J. H. HATFIELD: Oh the drug question. Well that’s the $64 question that we raise in the afterword of the book. We say that George W. Bush was arrested in 1972 for possession of cocaine and his father got it fixed and he did community service at Project Pool a minority mentoring program, tough area in Houston for 1 year 14:46 <more>

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[Octafish]

15. Bush buddy Bath handled USA business for bin Laden and bin Mahfouz

... Saudi businessfolk that got rich off construction and banking. Bath was their middleman for investing into the Bush Organized Crime Family.

For those new to the subject: GOOGLE combinations of Bath + Bush + BCCI + bin Mahfouz + bin Laden + Saudi Arabia + Pakistan ...