JAMES HATFIELD

July 3, 2001

Plus : An update on the environment Hitler and whassup with Daschle and the other Democrats?

There may be fireworks in Genoa, Italy, this month, too.

A plot by Saudi master terrorist, Osama bin Laden, to assassinate Dubya during the July 20 economic summit of world leaders, was uncovered after dozens of suspected Islamic militants linked to bin Laden's international terror network were arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, and Milan, Italy, in April.

German intelligence services have stated that bin Laden is covertly financing neo-Nazi skinhead groups throughout Europe to launch another terrorist attack at a high-profile American target—his first since the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen last October.

According to counter-terrorism experts quoted in Germany's largest newspaper, the attack on Dubya might be a James Bond-like aerial strike in the form of remote-controlled airplanes packed with plastic explosives.

Why would Osama bi Laden want to kill, Dubya, his former business partner?

I knew that bombshell would whip your heads around. So here's the straight scoop, folks.

In June 1977, Dubya formed his own drilling company, Arbusto Energy ("arbusto" means "bush" in Spanish), in Midland, Texas. Like his father before him, Dubya founded his oil business with the financial backing of investors, including James R. Bath, a Houston businessman whom Dubya apparently first met when they were in the same Texas Air National Guard unit. (Interestingly, both Dubya and Bath were both suspended from flying in August and September 1972, respectively, for "failure to accomplish annual medical examination.")

Tax documents and other financial records show that Bath, an aircraft broker with controversial ties to Saudi Arabia sheiks, had invested $50,000 in Arbusto, granting him a 5 percent interest in two limited partnerships controlled by Dubya.

Time magazine described Bath in 1991 as "a deal broker whose alleged associations run from the CIA to a major shareholder and director of the Bank of Credit & Commerce." BCCI, as it was more commonly known, closed its doors in July 1991 amid charges of multibillion-dollar fraud and global news reports that the financial institution had been heavily involved in drug money laundering, arms brokering, covert intelligence work, bribery of government officials and—here's the kicker—aid to terrorists.

Bath was never directly implicated in the BCCI scandal, but according to The Outlaw Bank, an award-winning 1993 book by Time correspondents, Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne, Bath originally "made his fortune by investing money for [Sheikh Kalid bin] Mahfouz and another BCCI-connected Saudi, Sheikh bin Laden," reportedly the father of none other than Osama bin Laden, the man accused by the U.S. government of masterminding the August 1998 terrorist bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed more than 250 people.

According to court documents, Bath swore that in 1977 he represented four prominent and wealthy Saudi Arabians as a trustee and used his name on their investments in the United States. In return, he received a 5 percent interest in their deals. Time reporters Beaty and Gwynne suggest in their book that the $50,000 Bath invested in Dubya's Arbusto Energy drilling company may have belonged to Bath's Saudi clients since the Houston businessman "had no substantial money of his own at the time."

The FBI and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network later investigated Bath after allegations were made by one of his American business partners that the Saudis were using Bath and their giant piggy bank to influence U.S. policy. (Dubya's father had been appointed by President Ford to head the CIA from 1976–77.)

So, folks, the Middle Eastern oil money used to underwrite the first business venture of our future president of the United States, may have been derived at least in part from the family fortune of Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden, who is now being accused of masterminding his assassination.

From the what-it's-worth-department : I think Dubya's handlers have fed disinformation through the CIA and other backdoor channels to German and Italian intelligence agencies about a possible hit on Dubya by the fugitive terrorist to gain public sympathy and concern for a U.S. president who has taken a nose-dive in the opinion polls.

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll showed Dubya's approval rating fell to 53 percent from 57 percent a few weeks ago, its lowest since he took office. Only 50 percent of those polled approved of his handling of the economy, while 47 percent approved of his foreign policy performances. Some 44 percent felt Dubya was not respected by foreign leaders, a mere 39 percent agreed with his policies on the environment, and a whopping 61 percent of Americans believed the new prez was not addressing the issues they care most about.

Obviously, the pollsters didn't call Dubya's sugar daddies—the oil and gas companies. Because he damn sure is taking care of their interests.

An update on the environmental Hitler : Interior Secretary Gail Norton recently appointed the head of a group campaigning for oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and an Alaska lawmaker who promoted North Slope oil development to key positions at the Department of Interior.

Norton said she was naming Cam Toohey as her special assistant for Alaska and state Sen. Drue Pearce as a senior adviser on Alaska issues. Since 1996, Toohey has been executive director of Arctic Power, an Anchorage-based lobbying group with the campaign for ANWR drilling as its sole purpose. He will be based in Anchorage, overseeing the Interior Department's Alaska operations.

Pearce, an Anchorage Republican who served two terms as president of the state Senate, will be based in Washington.

Norton claimed oil from the refuge's coastal plane "needs to be considered in any debate" about a national energy policy and added, "It's such a large resource that it cannot be ignored."

Environmentalists and Alaska native tribes oppose drilling and say the narrow coastal plain, wedged between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean, is critical to the ecosystem of the Arctic region. Energy exploration would also threaten the calving ground for a heard of 130,000 caribou.

"Today we've seen a hostile takeover of the Interior Department by the oil industry," said Sara Callaghan Chapell, of the Sierra Club. Instead of appointing stewards for Alaska resources, Norton has "chosen cheerleaders for Big Oil," she said.

In other words, we've now got 2 foxes in charge of overseeing the hen house.

Vice President Cheney, International Man of Mystery: Congressional investigators are demanding that the White House turn over records on closed-door meetings of Cheney's energy task force, which drafted Dubya's energy plan this spring.

A letter from the General Accounting Office (Congress' watchdog agency) and two congressmen, Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), are alleging that Cheney met secretly with GOP campaign donors from the oil, electricity and nuclear power industries but excluded some groups critical of Dubya's emphasis on energy production.

David Walker, comptroller of the non-partisan GAO, is demanding that the vice president tell the public who was on the task force and what was said. He recently sent Cheney a letter asserting that he was legally obligated to come clean, but the White House still refuses to divulge the names of the outside consultants it relied on, so the accounting office is threatening to issue a "demand letter." It may even go to court to force compliance in the public's interest.

So far, Cheney has rejected the request and a senior White House official accused the GAO of overstepping its authority and claimed its investigation would compromise Dubya's ability to solicit honest advice from outside experts.

"The vice president should stop stonewalling and start cooperating with GAO's investigation," stated Congressman Waxman.

What is Cheney trying to hide? Probably that the task force was nothing more than a sham to make the public believe the administration was actively trying to solve the so-called "energy crisis," when, in fact, the meetings were only convened to hear the demands of the energy industry.

Vice President Cheney is unfit for office: When he disclosed last Friday that he had been experiencing irregular heart rhythms, Cheney should have tendered his resignation as vice president at the same time.

Since the election, Cheney suffered on November 22 what doctors called a "very slight" heart attack—his fourth since 1978. Doctors implanted a wire-scaffolding-like device called a stent to open an artery that was 90 percent blocked. On March 5 of this year, the 60-year-old vice president was taken to George Washington University Hospital after feeling chest pains.

With all due respect to Cheney, he is physically unfit for the office of vice president, which is literally a heartbeat away from the presidency.

In the interest of his country and his own health, he should make a graceful exit.

Now.

Whassup with Daschle and the other Democrats?

New Majority Leader, Tom Daschle, announced that he doesn't see a need to investigate senior presidential adviser and chief dirty trickster, Karl Rove, for meeting with officials of Intel when Rove owned at least $100,000 in the computer-chip-maker's stocks.

Even Stevie Wonder could see that this a prosecutable case of influence peddling by Intel and outright conflicts of interest by Dubya's right-hand man in the White House.

Rove, who held between $100,000 and $250,000 of Intel stock, met in March with the company's CEO and 2 lobbyists as they sought federal approval of a corporate merger and a Dutch company.

Surprise, surprise, surprise! The administration gave its okay to the deal less than two months later, coincidentally around the time that Rove sold all of his stocks, a diverse portfolio of holdings in defense, high-tech, banking and energy companies valued at between $1 million and $2.5 million.

Democrats have complained that Republicans were too quick to launch investigations of the Clinton White House, and Daschle indicated a change of course since they took control of the Senate. "We're not going to get into vendettas. We're not going to go after individuals," he stated.

This isn't about revenge or paybacks, Senator. To borrow a quote Superman, we're talking about "truth, justice and the American way." Rove clearly broke the law and there needs to be a congressional investigation. If this happened on Clinton's watch, Rove himself would be the loudest dog barking for a special counsel to probe any wrongdoing.

And Rove's not the only administration official that should be the target of a Capitol Hill investigation.

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil recently completed the sale of $100 million in stock and options in Alcoa Inc., nearly three months after he promised to sell the stock to avoid conflicts of interest.

O'Neill, who was chairman of the aluminum giant until joining Dubya's administration, has made substantial profits on the holdings since he announced on ABC's This Week on March 25 that he had decided to sell the stock so he could "take the issue off the table and get on with my business."

Oh, he got on with his "business" all right. Alcoa's stock has risen 30 percent since O'Neill took his pledge, in part because of the administration's energy policies.

Somehow everything in Dubya's White House always comes full circle to his connection to the oil and gas companies.

I've said it many times, but I'll say it again: He's nothing but a high-priced gigolo, yet as flagrant and shameless as a common streetwalker.

I told you so, part I : I argued weeks ago that Dubya's tax cut plan would be Reagan redux and would eat up the budget surplus and leave us with huge deficits. Now comes word from the Congressional Budget Office that Dubya's newly enacted tax cut has gobbled up three-quarters of the projected federal budget surplus through 2004.

As the surplus shrinks, budget experts from both parties claim Congress and Dubya will have to tap funds reserved for Medicare to pay for the spending increases they want for the fiscal year that begins in October.

The CBO attributes virtually all of the disappearing surplus to the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut that Dubya signed this month. It will lower the surplus by $310 billion through 2004.

You can say adios to the steadily growing surpluses the budget office has reported for the past several years during the Clinton years.

I told you so, part II : I warned that Dubya's stubborn determination to abandon the 1972 ABM treaty and construct his Son of Star Wars missile defense shield would spark a new arms race. Last week, Russia test-fired a huge 26-year-old Stiletto ballistic missile in Kazakhstan, hinting the weapon would gain new life as a "hydra-headed" countermeasure if the U.S. pressed on with Dubya's defense plans.

Putin, who Dubya recently described as "genuine" and a "very sincere guy," claimed no missile defense system would be able to counter multiple warhead rockets for decades. (The Stiletto ballistic missile could be re-equipped to carry up to six warheads.)

I used to be only concerned with Dubya's obvious attempts to rape the earth through his environmental policies. Now I'm as scared as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs that this village idiot wants to incinerate the planet through war.

But when I'm wrong, I'll admit it : In my April 10 column, I applauded Dubya's Republican successor in Texas, Rick Perry, for some of his progressive actions since becoming governor and noted "maybe there is such a creature known as a 'compassionate conservative.'"

Not only have I been eating crow, I've paid for an all-you-can-eat buffet.

On the day that was the deadline for him to pee or get off the pot, veto the bill or let it become law, the Texas guv struck down legislation that would have prohibited the execution of the mentally retarded.

The federal government bars such executions, as do 15 states. Last month, Dubya's brother, Jeb, the governor of Florida signed such legislation after the bill passed the state House of Representatives, 110 to 1.

While Dubya and his clone, Perry, claim Texas has never executed anyone who was mentally retarded, official records indicate that six inmates with IQ's of 70 or below have been put to death since 1990. People with IQ's that low are generally considered retarded.

But, of course, Dubya also alleges that not a single innocent person has ever been executed in Texas, either.

Yeah, right. That's why it seems like almost every day we read or hear on the news about someone who has served years in the Texas prison system and then is released, based upon new DNA evidence.

Nationwide, more than 90 innocent men, a half-dozen on death row, have returned to freedom after analysis of genetic evidence. With 2 million Americans behind bars, mistakes by one in 1,000 juries could leave 2,000 innocent people in prison.

With Dubya's IQ and his history of breaking the law, he better hope he never commits a capital crime in Texas.

We'll do this all again next week, folks, so please come back.

The George W. Butcher of the English Language Award of the Week : "I want to thank you for coming to the White House to give me an opportunity to urge you to work with these five senators and three congressmen, to work hard to get this trade promotion authority moving. The power that be, well most of the power that be, sits right here." — Washington, D.C., June 18, 2001