How many here know who Adnan Khashoggi is?

[tinanator]

just curious

[democratreformed]

1. No. Waiting for more info. n/t

[tinanator]

3. google.com

or yahoo (not a foreign policy I gather?)

[democratreformed]

9. okay, you have awakened my curiosity

n/t

[desi]

2. Arms Dealer...

...big time arms dealer..

[salin]

30. wasn't he also suspected to have played a role in the October Surprise?

and isn't there some odd connection between he and Theresa LaPore (author of the Butterfly Ballot?)

[Spiffarino]

4. Saudi arms dealer? The guy who got guns for the Contras?

Nah, never heard of 'im.

[tinanator]

5. no surprise, really

Isnt he also GHWB's boss?

[NMDemDist2]

6. i knew that name was familar

At the peak of his deal-making activities, in the nineteen-seventies, the Saudi-born businessman Adnan Khashoggi brokered billions of dollars in arms and aircraft sales for the Saudi royal family, earning hundreds of millions in commissions and fees. Though never convicted of wrongdoing, he was repeatedly involved in disputes with federal prosecutors and with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in recent years he has been in litigation in Thailand and Los Angeles, among other places, concerning allegations of stock manipulation and fraud. During the Reagan Administration, Khashoggi was one of the middlemen between Oliver North, in the White House, and the mullahs in Iran in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal. Khashoggi subsequently claimed that he lost ten million dollars that he had put up to obtain embargoed weapons for Iran which were to be bartered (with Presidential approval) for American hostages. The scandals of those times seemed to feed off each other: a congressional investigation revealed that Khashoggi had borrowed much of the money for the weapons from the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (B.C.C.I.), whose collapse, in 1991, defrauded thousands of depositors and led to years of inquiry and litigation.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030317fa_fact

[realFedUp]

7. Ms. Butterfly Ballot was a stewardess on his private plane

Ms. LePore. Small world ain't it.

[tinanator]

8. that blows me away

as it did him Im sure

[bobthedrummer]

10. Yep.

:argh:

[wryter2000]

11. I do

A bit fuzzy on details. He was one of the operatives working on arms for hostages during Raygun.

[mitchum]

12. Dirtbag Saudi arms dealer

[seemslikeadream]

13. Pardoned by George Bush Sr.

n/t

[dogtag]

16. He's got a mighty

fine compound on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. Very impressive. The beach and private marina are heavily guarded. In fact, a lot of very 'interesting' extremely rich folks have proptery on the lake.

[seemslikeadream]

23. Bush the Elder’s Scheme to Sell Pardons and Get a Payoff

Bush the Elder’s Scheme to Sell Pardons and Get a Payoff – Where is the Outrage Over a 10 Billion Dollar Taxpayer Ripoff?

February 26, 2001

By Jock Gill for Democrats.com



Bill Clinton wasn’t being either bold or creative in his use of the presidential pardon power. Compared to George Bush Senior’s incredible pardon fiasco, Clinton’s pardon scandal is boring.

In his last days as President, Bush Sr. sold U.S. government asset worth $10 billion to a friend for a mere $10 thousand dollars, pardoned his business colleagues, and then went on the company’s payroll for seven years.

At the very end of his presidency Papa Bush gave a sweetheart deal to the Canadian company Barrick Goldstrike. They got the rights to US land worth $10 billion in return for a nominal payment to the treasury of $10,000. But that does not seem to be all they got, or all they paid for either.

The money behind Barrick is from Saudi arms dealer and Bush family friend Adnan Khashoggi, who was identified as conduit in the Iran-Contra conspiracy. In 1986 he was arrested and charged with fraud but failed to be convicted. In one of his last acts as president Bush pardoned Khashoggi's alleged co-conspirators, who were key members of Bush's own cabinet. As a result, no case could be made against Khashoggi – or against Bush himself.

To express its gratitude for these favors Barrick Goldstrike hired Papa right after he left office and donated $148,000 to the Republican Party, at least that is the amount that can be traced. As reported by Gregory Palast this is hugely more consequential for justice than anything presidential pardon before or since, so slowly once again let’s connect the dots:
http://www.penfield-gill.com/presentations/bush_the_elder.htm

Poppy Strikes Gold
July 9, 2003
By Greg Palast

This excerpt is taken from Greg Palast's book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy available from www.gregpalast.com

George W. could not have amassed this pile if his surname were Jones or Smith. While other candidates begged, pleaded and wheedled for donations, the Bushes added a creative, lucrative new twist to the money chase that contenders couldn't imitate: "Poppy" Bush's post–White House work. It laid the foundation for Dubya's campaign kitty corpulence and, not incidentally, raised the family's net worth by several hundred percent.

In 1998, for example, the former president and famed Desert Stormtrooper-in-Chief wrote to the oil minister of Kuwait on behalf of Chevron Oil Corporation. Bush says, honestly, that he "had no stake in the Chevron operation." True, but following this selfless use of his influence, the oil company put $657,000 into the Republican Party coffers.

That year Bush père created a storm in Argentina when he lobbied his close political ally, President Carlos Menem, to grant a gambling license to Mirage Casino Corporation. Once again, the senior Bush wrote that he had no personal interest in the deal. However, Bush fils made out quite nicely: After the casino fiap, Mirage dropped $449,000 into the Republican Party war chest.

Much of Bush's loot, reports the Center for Responsive Politics, came in the form of "bundled" and "soft" money. That's the squishy stuff corporations use to ooze around U.S. law, which prohibits any direct donations from corporations.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/07/09_gold.html

[Nashyra]

27. I've seen it while out in a boat

We got to close to the cove not knowing who's it was when we first moved here and out of nowhere came this HUGE black helecopter. It came up right behind us, we skidaddled out of there real quick and when we were far away enough it turned around and went back. Scared the erver loving shit out of my mother in law, hell out of all of us. We told a few people aout what happened and they told us who's compound it was.

[democratreformed]

14. Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi businessman/billionaire/arms dealer

Very intriguing. Still looking up info

[democratreformed]

18. More info:

To express its gratitude for these favors Barrick Goldstrike hired Papa right after he left office and donated $148,000 to the Republican Party, at least that is the amount that can be traced. As reported by Gregory Palast this is hugely more consequential for justice than anything presidential pardon before or since, so slowly once again let’s connect the dots:

1] Iran Contra blows up – Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh makes good progress at revealing the players and their deeds.

2] Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi’s role at the center of it all is at risk of being exposed.

3] Bush "sells" $10B in gold rights for $10K to foreigners! -- why would a president accept such a bad deal for his country? This should be dramatic red flag! This incredible amount makes the sellout of the U.S. by some of our spies look like chump change.

4] Bush pardons key players as part of a cover up -- protecting Adnan Khashoggi and others. The obvious question is what was the quid pro quo?

5] Adnan Khashoggi arranges for his puppet, Peter Munk, founder of Barrick Goldstrike, to repay the favor with a lucrative "job" for George Bush.


Link to whole article: http://www.penfield-gill.com/presentations/bush_the_elder.htm

[democratreformed]

25. Tied to the Al-Fayed's also:

The connection to the Saudi royal family is through Dodi's mother, the sister of Adnan Khashoggi.
And irony of ironies, much of the money that has built the Mohamed Fayed empire and that however indirectly contributed to the death of the Princess of Wales, so known in recent days for her anti-land-mines and humanitarian efforts, began as commissions and profits from arms sales.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

15. Not only do I know who

but I know where he lives.
He has a house in Los Gatos California down the street from Peggy Fleming.

[bo44]

17. Arms dealer glamourized by the Reagan press for the ostentatious spending

of his blood money.

[frylock]

19. he's tight with manucher ghorbanifar..

funny how these BCCI/Iran Contra players are making a comeback. I love the 80s!!!

[seemslikeadream]

24. funny how that name comes up in the TREASON story of today

n/t

[seemslikeadream]

20. Some interesting reading here

BFEE Factbook: GW Bush, James R Bath & House of bin Laden
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=991298
The Bush-Saudi Connection Scandal - documented
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1256051
Terror Flight School Owners flew Saudis on "unsupervised flights" over USA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1526859
BBV:Teresa LaPore-created butterfly ballot, defends defective touchscreen
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=951723
Why was Richard Perle meeting with Adnan Khashoggi?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=350494
BFEE: 9-11 Saudi Connection is Off Limits …
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=116624
George W Bush connection to the BCCI scandal ?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=157573
The Bush Organized Crime Family
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=875102

I could go on, maybe I will

[democratreformed]

21. The important question:

Where is he now and what is he up to?

[democratreformed]

22. 1992

At last report (March 1992), Khashoggi sold his yacht and creditors impounded his jet. He lives mostly in Spain, is still fighting his legal battles, and was down to his last $54 million.

[tinanator]

28. yeah and GHWB's net worth is about $2 million...

My faultable recollection is Adnan's faithful servant served up a very lucrative US mining concession for a laughable amount to a "Canadian based" interest of Adnan's through his channels of influence. I believe this was a story covered by Palast that was quite a hot one for him.

[seemslikeadream]

29. post #23

They could well afford it. In the final days of the Bush (Senior) administration, the Interior Department made an extraordinary but little noticed change in procedures under the 1872 Mining Law, the gold rush–era act that permitted those whiskered small-time prospectors with their tin pans and mules to stake claims on their tiny plots. The department initiated an expedited procedure for mining companies that allowed Barrick to swiftly lay claim to the largest gold find in America. In the terminology of the law, Barrick could "perfect its patent" on the estimated $10 billion in ore—for which Barrick paid the U.S. Treasury a little under $10,000. Eureka!

Barrick, of course, had to put up cash for the initial property rights and the cost of digging out the booty (and the cost of donations, in smaller amounts, to support Nevada's Democratic senator, Harry Reid). Still, the shift in rules paid off big time: According to experts at the Mineral Policy Center of Washington, DC, Barrick saved—and the U.S. taxpayer lost—a cool billion or so. Upon taking office, Bill Clinton's new interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt, called Barrick's claim the "biggest gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy." Nevertheless, because the company followed the fast-track process laid out for them under Bush, this corporate Goldfinger had Babbitt by the legal nuggets. Clinton had no choice but to give them the gold mine while the public got the shaft.

Barrick says it had no contact whatsoever with the president at the time of the rules change.<1> There was always a place in Barrick's heart for the older Bush—and a place on its payroll. In 1995, Barrick hired the former president as Honorary Senior Advisor to the Toronto company's International Advisory Board. Bush joined at the suggestion of former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, who, like Bush, had been ignominiously booted from office. I was a bit surprised that the president had signed on. When Bush was voted out of the White House, he vowed never to lobby or join a corporate board. The chairman of Barrick openly boasts that granting the title "Senior Advisor" was a sly maneuver to help Bush tiptoe around this promise.

I was curious: What does one do with a used president? Barrick vehemently denies that it appointed Bush "in order to procure him to make contact with other world leaders whom he knows, or who could be of considerable assistance" to the company. Yet, in September 1996, Bush wrote a letter to help convince Indonesian dictator Suharto to give Barrick a new, hot gold-mining concession.

[kestrel91316]

26. BCCI?

[Octafish]

31. Adnan's dirty, even by BFEE standards.

From the Iran-Contra through BCCI to PNAC. A fine fellah, by Bush International Crime Syndicate standards.

Did Adnan Khashoggi Throw the Election to Dubya?
By Timothy Noah

http://slate.msn.com/id/1006609/


More Six Degrees of Adnan Khashoggi
By Timothy Noah

http://slate.msn.com/id/1007141/