he US military has awarded an $80 million contract to a prominent Saudi financier who has been indicted by the US Justice Department. The contract to supply jet fuel to American bases in Afghanistan was awarded to the Attock Refinery Ltd, a Pakistani-based refinery owned by Gaith Pharaon. Pharaon is wanted in connection with his alleged role at the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and the CenTrust savings and loan scandal, which cost US tax payers $1.7 billion.
The Saudi businessman was also named in a 2002 French parliamentary report as having links to informal money transfer networks called hawala, known to be used by traders and terrorists, including Al Qaeda.
Interestingly, Pharaon was also an investor in President George W. Bush’s first business venture, Arbusto Energy.
It never stops.
El Cid
They came to Washington to change the tone.
Dreggas
Yep….
scarshapedstar
Ted
Oh, I’m sure the entire Bush family would rather anyone NOT look into anything having to do with them and any Saudis at all. It’s never pretty.
But at some point, historians are going to have to document the fact that the Bush family is about the most intertwined American family with Saudi interests in the history of public figures of any kind.
Wilfred
Whatever else, how about a little bit of critical reading of the text, beginning with:
This is like saying that bank transfers are used by Midwestern housewives and inner city crack dealers. The fact that he and al Qaeda both used hawala is about as loose, and useless, association you can possibly make. They are used because they avoid riba (interest or more technically ‘increase’) on the use of money.
Now it’s a new word to play with.
Dennis - SGMM
The Bush administration is less a government than it is a circle jerk.
Just Some Fuckhead
Have you really documented 923,783 instances of this sort of behavior or did you make that number up?
Jay B.
Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and the CenTrust savings and loan scandal, which cost US tax payers $1.7 billion.
…
Interestingly, Pharaon was also an investor in President George W. Bush’s first business venture, Arbusto Energy.
BCCI — check. S&L crook — check. Bush ties — check. Sweetheart Pentagon deal — check.
The administration is nearly flawless when it comes to doing everything wrong.
JL
Somehow the only thing that Saudi Arabia could do for Bush, that I would agree with, is imprison him in one of their cells. Maybe that would be to kind.
Zifnab
Our goal is to drown it, right?
Jay B.
The odds are that they would have stumbled on the right thing once or twice, but no. I think their record of mendacity, evil and incompetence is unblemished. It’s really amazing.
JL
And to think that Bush still has time to do more damage.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
Thank you for making that point.
Incidentally, this is also part of why the sharia-based Investment Portfolios are making out like gangbusters, right now.
Royston Vasey
Talking of fuel….Oil prices are zooming up. Again.
Before this latest rise on the oil markets the average cost of a US gallon of regular unleaded gas was US$3.98
Obviously this is set to rise.
You think thats high?
Look at these prices then:
Regular Unleaded, Gallon
United Kingdom = US$8.72
New Zealand = US$7.57
Diesel, Gallon
United Kingdom = US$9.69
New Zealand = US$6.55
Gulp!
b-psycho
Royston: Lately I’ve been wondering how high the price has to go before we stop laughing about those little hybrid/electric cars. Saw something on the news (I think it was MSNBC…I think) about a compact hybrid car that was so efficient you could drive from LA to New York on one tank. Looked kinda like a spaceship, to be honest.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m gettin a kawasaki eliminator 125 this weekend just for my commute. 110 miles a gallon.
Conservatively Liberal
Nothing like having the Shrub income system in your back pocket. I guess Bu$h figures that if he can hand over our treasury to his criminal cronies here in the good ol’ US of A, why not send some love to his buddies in the middle east?
Nothing new here, but I can”t wait for Bu$h to become history.
OT Alert!
Obama has chosen to retain Dean to head the DNC, and based on everything that has followed since Tuesday, I have sent my first $50.00 donation in to the DNC.
Time to belly up to the bar and show the DNC that backing Obama was the right move.
Put your money where your vote is. ;)
Just Some Fuckhead
I think I’m going to wait until Obama actually wins the nomination. It’s still June and anything can happen in June and I wouldn’t want to feel like I just took $50 and blew it away.
Perry Como
Yes, well, no, not really. Pharaon has already been involved in two massive bank scandals, one of which funded terrorists. To say that Pharaon is just using hawala ignores his history with BCCI and the S&L collapse. It’s like saying Adnan Khashoggi just likes his guns…
Hana
Thanks, Wilfred. I was about to make that point myself. Depressing to know that hawala is going to become yet another buzzword.
Conservatively Liberal
I thought the same thing, but I thought it would be a good show for people to put up a donation or two and make it clear that any future cash is contingent on things staying on the up and up. The DNC is hurting, and a show of ‘faith’ by Obama supporters could show some good will towards Howard Dean. My thought is that we give Dean some cards (cash) that he can keep up his sleeve.
If the party people see cash rolling in, they are going to want to keep the gravy train rolling. I quit the party in ’92, and I am not going to rush out and start sending them everything when nothing is firm and solid yet. But I think Obama crossed a point (benchmark) where a donation or two to the DNC would be seen as a positive development by the DNC.
Just some thoughts from the peanut gallery. ;)
Evilbeard
Dreggas can you provide a link to this quote anywhere? My MIL is a very rapid Prager fan and I wonder what her reaction to this quote would be.
Just Some Fuckhead
Quick, Dreggas, a link!
Just Some Fuckhead
For my money, Dean coulda done a better job slapping down HRC during the bullshit phase* of her campaign. He could have come out on any number of occasions and said she couldn’t renege on her Florida and Michigan promises, and pointed out that her popular vote math was bogus and irrelevant.
*Campaign phases
Launch-Feb 5th: Inevitability Tour
Feb 6th-Feb 19th: You Fuckers Don’t Matter Anyway Campaign
Feb 20th-June 3rd: Beer, Bullets and Bullshit Finale
Conservatively Liberal
Do you think Hillary would have listened to him? He probably knew her supporters would view this as “The Man” keeping “Their Girl” down. That was the big problem for Dean and the DNC. The Clinton/DLC machine was still a threat to the DNC, and there is no way anyone could have delivered a smackdown to Hillary that would have any effect. She has a tin ear (ears actually), as John has pointed out.
Once Obama passed the delegate threshold and there was little doubt that he had won, the DNC moved to Obama and Obama validated Dean and the DNC. Party members are doing likewise, and right now a small infusion of cash (with the caveat that more will follow as long as everything stays legit) would go a long way in helping Dean point at the growing cash kitty and say “What did I tell ya, eh?!
If the party people see a slow trickling inflow of money, and the names of the people are ones who have donated to Obama, they know that if they knock over the gravy train then they are going to pay the price.
In vocalizing his support for Dean, Obama has already declared that the DNC will not accept lobbyist money.
From a diary at Kos about how much Obama got done Thursday in DC, the poster points out that Obama:
I think a token cash donation is not out of line, and believe me I would not send the DNC a penny if I had not read this diary. Obama is in charge, he is not taking a well deserved break after winning the nod. He is moving to consolidate control of the DNC, and we can help to strengthen his hand.
Like I said, this is just my opinion. YMMV ;)
jo6pac
The best part is a contractor is in charge of watching over the contractors. Sorry I couldn’t find the link but this office has been contracted out. It’s all about Foxes watching ___________________?
jo6pac
Tsulagi
Don’t forget the honor and integrity!
Especially that of many true patriots in this country like David Brooks, CEO of DHB Industries. Past contributions to Bush, many other Republicans, and their causes alone proves he’s no Nazi appeaser.
Which helped when prime subsidiary, Point Blank, began getting notices at the start of OIF that lots of their Interceptor body armor worn by soldiers and Marines were being failed because the OTVs couldn’t even stop 9mm. Brooks knew the right deciders to call. When he told them the vests were fine after having the lots tested privately, well, there was only one conclusion…Army’s testing procedures were faulty. Yeah, they pulled the trigger wrong.
The vests got waivers and were issued. Later they were recalled from the field. And Patriot Brooks, whose $180+ million personal compensation one year from defense contracting indicating his love of country? He and others at Point Blank late last year were indicted for fraud and a bunch of other charges. Must be overzealous prosecutors on the verge of appeasing Nazis.
horatius
Alright bitches!!!!
What does it take to impeach that lying fuck John Cole voted for once?
Funkula
Pharaon is totally a supervillain name. Not so sure about the “Gaith” though.
Alex
That’s ridiculous. Hawala has nothing to do with the avoidance of riba. The prohibition on interest is incidental to the practice of transfering debt, and not necessarily observed by your average hawaladar. Historically, hawala is an important predecesor to modern international trade and banking.
Today it is primarily used because it avoids the legal entanglements of the formal banking system. This is beneficial not only for organized criminals and terrorists, but also for those whose countries place restrictions or taxes on remittances, or those who lack legal status and proper identification in their place of residence, and those who are sending money to or from regions where the formal banking system simply does not exist, or those looking for a bargain over the fees charged for essentially the same service by Western Union. (Many, many Western Union agents worldwide also act as hawaladars on the side.)
As has been pointed out, it’s not exactly like BCCI, Independence Bank of LA, or National Bank of Georgia were known for there sharia compliant assets.
Just Some Fuckhead
That wouldn’t have been the point.
The point would have been to signal to the media and country that HRC doesn’t get to make up the rules as she goes along, that the rules were in place before the race and she agreed to them.
The point would have been to make clear to the media and country that caucuses do matter, that states get to choose one of around five different ways to sponsor a nominating contest and HRC doesn’t get to shit on the ones that don’t go her way.
The point would have been to say to the media and the country that no one demographic or constituency group is more important than another and HRC doesn’t get to implicitly suggest that white people in Appalachia matter more than all of the Americans who cast a ballot for a Democratic nominee.
The point would have been to say to the media and the country, our contests are for pledged delegates and superdelegates and there are no other criteria for determining the nominee: not most contests won, not biggest states won, not most critical swing states won.
Each time these ugly and divisive tactics were trotted out by the HRC campaign, Dean or another high-profile Democratic official should have been on the news immediately pushing back, if necessary reading chapter and verse from the fucking rule book.
There has to be a higher authority willing and eager to assert the primacy of the process over the will and aspirations of the candidates. It just has to be this way and Dean was pretty much AWOL through this campaign.
Even when he made appearances it was to only suggest mysteriously that conversations were going-on and people were being told stuff behind the scenes. However, it isn’t the candidates or surrogates who needed to be told anything, it was the voters who were being manipulated by cynical operatives.
I hold Dean most responsible, outside of the Clintons, for the divisive situation we now find ourselves in with low-information voters convinced something has been stolen from them. It didn’t have to be this way, with a little more backbone and public leadership from the DNC.
Rome Again
BCCI? Wasn’t that the Keating scandal?
Oh, nevermind, his friend John McCain is running for president, this guy Pharaon is safe.
Conservatively Liberal
JSF, the media would have set it up as a fight between Dean/DNC and Clinton/DNC with gold like that handed to them. As it was they tried to play that angle up for everything it was worth, but it was without the help of Dean and the DNC. As it was, there were DNC people stepping out at times to say that the delegate count is all that matters, that it is ‘the currency of the realm’ as Nancy Pelosi said just a short time ago.
I do blame the DNC for letting the DLC get the upper hand in regards to power, but that happened long before Dean came on the scene. Dean has been quietly changing things up to this point because the DLC and Clinton still carried a lot of power over party people. No need in pissing them off and making it a all out fight by giving the media fodder that they would have played up to ‘show’ the divisiveness of the party.
As it is, the hard core Clinton supporters are bitching about the DNC turning on Hillary. At least Dean did not give them the ammo, Hillary, her supporters and the media did. It defangs the issue a bit, IMO.
But as they say, to each their own! :) I have made a good faith contribution to the DNC because of Obama, and if he stays in and solidifies his position then I will send more.
We have Republican ass to kick this fall, and I want the party to be in a position to do so. If donations start coming in to the DNC now, it will give them more ‘weapons’ to work with.
Like I said, JMO & YMMV, so do as you feel the need to. Still, I think this is a good move right now. The DNC needs a glimpse of the cash that Obama has tapped, and I view it as a donation towards Obama leading the party.
Just Some Fuckhead
C’mon CL. Dean ran to be leader of the free world a couple years back. In the process of doing so he never shied away from confrontation or unpleasantness, never missed an opportunity to launch a full-blown media storm, never passed up the chance to tell the media what was really going on with Republicans or his opponents.
This has nothing to do with fear of unfavorable press and everything to do with basic failure to lead by asserting primacy of the process.
Because Dean slept our job now of dispelling the myths that HRC propagated, of shutting down the bullshit notions of an unfair or stolen primary is that much harder.
empty
The US military may not have much of a choice. If you search for refineries in Pakistan it seems the closest facilities to the Pakistan/Afghanistan border belong to Attock Refineries. It would have been nice if the journalists at ABC had actually said something about why the US military chose to go with ARL. But that would have required, well, journalism.
OriGuy
No, Keating was Lincoln Savings and Loan. That was part of the 1980’s big shitpile.
Rome Again
Ah! You’re right, apologies. I get all of these GOP scandals all mixed up!
So BCCI was Neil Bush then?
TenguPhule
A video of Rice giving him a hummer.
gex
No matter the logistics of the contract, you will never convince me that funneling our tax dollars to terrorist financiers is the way to wage a war on terrorism. If that’s your only good choice, you’ve f-ed up badly.
Perry Como
Neil Bush was Silverado S&L. BCCI was headed by James Bath, long time Bush family friend and part owner of Arbusto Energy. Bath was representing Osama bin Laden’s brother, Salem bin Laden, when Salem bin Laden made an investement in Arbusto Energy. James Bath was also in the Texas Air National Guard with Bush.
You can’t throw a rock without finding some fucked up connections in this group.
empty
If you read Wilfred above you will notice that his “links” to terrorism are somewhat questionable. Seems more like a white collar criminal, in other words a standard crook.
OriGuy
Wilfred’s point was that using or running a halawa doesn’t prove anything. That’s common among observant Muslims. But BCCI was laundering money for a lot of bad guys, including Abu Nidal, Manual Noriega, and Saddam Hussein. They were the grease for the Axis of Evil. (OK,that’s exaggeration, but I couldn’t resist the metaphor.)