AMERICA BETRAYED - Brain & Mind

America Betrayedand Geneva (23).The Bin Laden group, although primarily a construction concern,also has holdings in agriculture, steel production and distribution,auto-manufacturing, and petro-pharmaecuticals. It was also amajor investor in the Carlyle group (24) as well as in businesses ownedor run by the Bush family (15).After his father’s death, Osama bin Laden moved to Beirut wheresome say he lived like a spoiled playboy. There are reports of heavydrinking and womanizing, and occasional fights with other spoiledplayboys, over some small slight, or because of a woman (25).However, he also studied engineering in college, an indicationthat he intended to take an active role in the family company.In the late 1970s, he was given the opportunity to take a majorrole in the joint Saudi-CIA mission to recruit, equip and train Afghanfreedom fighters.Osama was chosen for several reasons, such as his family’s veryclose relationship with the Saudi Royal family. Indeed, ‘the relationshipbetween the bin Ladens and the Saudi royal family is quite exceptionalin that its not simply one of business ties: it is also a relationshipof trust, of friendship and of shared secrets. The ties of friendshipbinding bin Laden family members to King Faud and his brothersmake them prime confidantes and advisors” (23).And then there was another factor: The business relationshipthat had been established between the bin Ladens and the Bush family(15,24). As observed by PBS Frontline (24), there is evidence of “along-standing connection of highly illegal behavior between the Bushand bin Laden families.”In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Osama bin Ladenwas used as a recruiter, spymaster, and paymaster, buying “friends”and establishing relationships with a wide variety of Muslim groupsthroughout the world. Osama bin Laden apparently channeled hundredsof millions of dollars’ worth of US/CIA and Saudi funds to theAfghan “freedom fighters” and other groups.In 1988, the year George H.W. Bush was elected president,Osama used his international connections to establish al-Qaeda (thebase).In 1990, however, following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, Osamabin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. Osama wished to be part of any386