Allah's Last Laugh
By Michael C. Ruppert
8-21-2
Saudi Arabia:
The Sarajevo of the 21st Century
Is Iraq a Diversion from the Real Invasion or Will Bush Try to Occupy
Both Countries at Once?
(FTW) -- The global horrors of the First World War - the war to end
all wars - began with the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand
in Sarajevo in 1914. The apocalyptic war of the 21st century may have
begun with a $1 trillion lawsuit filed in the United States by 9-11
victim families against Saudi Arabian banks and members of the Saudi
royal family. In what may be the opening salvos of a financial and
energy apocalypse, the Financial Times reported yesterday that
wealthy Saudi investors had begun a run on their U.S. banking
deposits that may have taken as much as $200 billion out of U.S.
banks. These massive withdrawals - out of an estimated $750 billion
in Saudi U.S. investments - occurred within days of the August 15
filing of the suit. Ironically, the principal attorneys in the suit
are all political insiders and, in one case, a member of the Council
on Foreign Relations. You might think they would have thought of this
beforehand.
There are two basic questions to ask about Saudi Arabia. Why was
Saudi Arabia not a focus of U.S. action and serious media attention
in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 even though there were so many
obvious connections? And why now is Saudi Arabia so prominently a
focus of what is apparently government-approved U.S. animosity? One
thing is obvious. On the eve of a U.S. invasion of Iraq the
deployment of U.S. military personnel in the region is also a
convenient placement of resources for what may be a one-two punch to
take over a tottering kingdom that owns 25 percent of all the oil on
the planet at the same time that Saddam Hussein is removed from power
in a country that controls another 11 percent. Together, the two
countries -- which have not yet peaked in production capacity -- and
which are the only two nations capable of an immediate increase in
output possess 36 percent of the world's known oil.
The Saudi situation is complicated by the fact that much of Saudi
Arabia's wealth is invested in U.S. financial markets and its sudden
loss could devastate the U.S. economy. But Bush brinksmanship -- an
understatement -- is making possible a scenario where Saudis long-
loyal to the U.S. markets cut off their own arm in a coyote-like
effort to free themselves from a trap that threatens the stability
both of their kingdom and the global economy.
Osama Bin Laden is a Saudi. Fifteen of the 9-11 hijackers were Saudi.
There has been an obvious and clear financial trail showing Saudi
support for the Al Qaeda. In fact, as has recently been noted by
French author and former intelligence officer Jean Charles Brisard in
his book, "The Forbidden Truth," the financial support network of Al
Qaeda is a virtual cut-and-paste reincarnation of BCCI, a Pakistani
bank known for terrorist, drug, and CIA connections in the 1980s. One
of BCCI's former executives, Khaled bin Mafouz, remains the banker
for the Saudi royal family today and both he and Saudi Arabia's
former intelligence chief, Prince Turki (removed just before the 9-11
attacks after 25 years of liaison with bin Laden), have been
discussed repeatedly, if obliquely, in both mainstream and
independent press stories since the attacks took place.
After months of strenuous and repeated assertions by the Bush
Administration that Saudi Arabia was a key ally in the war on terror,
that they were loyal and trusted partners in U.S.-led efforts,
someone has suddenly turned on the tap for anti-Saudi propaganda and
the mainstream media are eating it up.
On June 20 the Jang group of newspapers in Dubai reported that Al
Qaeda networks were active in Saudi Arabia. This followed a June 18
announcement that a group linked to Al Qaeda had been arrested inside
the kingdom and charged with planning attacks on Saudi government
installations.
On July 18 the BBC reported that Saudi Prince Nayef Bin Sultan Bin
Fawwaz Al-Shaalan had been indicted by a Miami court on charges of
having smuggled 1,980 kilos of cocaine on his private jet in 1999.
On July 28, Britain's The Observer released a story that quickly
spread around the world. It was headlined, "Britons left in jail amid
fears that Saudi Arabia could fall to al-Q'aeda." The lead paragraphs
read, "Saudi Arabia is teetering on the brink of collapse, fuelling
foreign office fears of an extremist takeover of one of the West's
key allies in the war on terror.
"Anti-government demonstrations have swept the desert kingdom in the
past months in protest at the pro-American stance of the de facto
ruler, Prince Abdullah.
"At the same time, Whitehall officials are concerned that Abdullah
could face a palace coup from elements within the royal family
sympathetic to al-Q'aeda.
"Saudi sources said the Pentagon had recently sponsored a secret
conference to look at options if the royal family fell"
The story later mentioned, "Anti-Abdullah elements within the Saudi
government are also thought to have colluded in a wave of bomb
attacks on Western targets by Islamic terrorists."
After finally mentioning the apparently unimportant subject of the
headline -- the fact that several Britons had been jailed on
bootlegging charges -- the story concluded by stating that feuding
between factions in the Saudi court was going to increase with the
death of King Fahd who was unstable in a Swiss hospital.
The story ended by quoting Saudi dissident Dr. Saad al-Fagih who
declared, "'There is now an undeclared war between the factions in
the Saudi royal family.'"
On the same day a lengthy essay on Saudi Arabia in The Asia Times by
Ehsan Ahrari observed, "It is interesting to note that [Prince]
Sultan is believed to be a preferred U.S. candidate for the Saudi
throne." Abdullah is the crown prince, not Sultan.
On July 29 Stratfor, a global intelligence reporting and analysis
service, reported that a feud was brewing between Saudi Arabia and
neighboring Qatar over Qatar's willingness to openly support the U.S.
invasion of Iraq. Qatar is nearly sinking under the weight of pre-
deployed military equipment and has a brand new state-of-the-art U.S.
Air Force Base. [See story this issue.]
On July 30, the suggestions that internecine warfare had erupted in
Saudi Arabia were given credence by an Agence France Presse report
describing the recent deaths of three Saudi princes in eight days.
Prince Fahd bin Turki died of thirst in the desert on July 30. Prince
Sultan bin Faisal died in a car crash on July 23, and Prince Ahmed
bin Salman died the day before of a heart attack.
On Aug. 1, The World Tribune reported that Saudi Arabia, which has
been acquiring long range ballistic missiles had also been, according
to reports confirmed by U.S. officials, attempting to acquire nuclear
weapons from Pakistan which has been well-documented to have heavy
concentrations of Al Qaeda supporters within all parts of its
government.
On that same day, Saudi dissident Dr. al-Fagih appeared on the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation program "Lateline" and offered
some startling revelations:
"Prince Abdullah who is supposed to be the next in charge, the next
King would not accept to appoint Prince Sultan as Crown Prince and
Prince Sultan insists that he should be the next in line for Abdullah
to be [king]."
Al-Fagih predicted the imminent death of the ailing King Fahd and
noted, "That's why probably the foreign office have [sic] expected
some major thing happening in the next few weeks.
"I mean, Prince Abdullah is in charge of the national guard and
Prince Sultan is in charge of the army, and either one will use his
own force to fight the other to fight for power. Now they will use
all elements of the population, of the society [including a large
portion of the population that supports al-Q'aeda and radical Islamic
fundamentalism].
Al-Fagih said that there was a psychological barrier in the country
because all information is so thoroughly controlled and the regime
maintains the appearance of complete control. Almost all Saudis
dislike the corrupt regime for a multitude of differing reasons. But,
said the medical doctor who once served with Osama bin Laden in the
Afghan war against Soviet occupation, "Once this psychological
barrier is broken, either by a dispute of the royal family, or by a
financial collapse, you would expect a major act by the people
against the regime."
Al-Fagih also noted that in general the dislike of the Saudi people
for the U.S. was intense because of its unremitting support of Israel
and also because the U.S. had maintained a military presence on Saudi
soil long after the end of the Gulf War.
Just five days later on Aug. 6 the Washington Post reported that a
month earlier on July 10, a top Pentagon advisory group had received
a briefing from Rand Corp. analyst Laurent Murawiec describing Saudi
Arabia as an enemy of the U.S. and threatening seizure of its oil
fields and financial assets if it did not stop supporting terrorism.
The Pentagon group which received the briefing, the Defense Policy
Board, is headed by renowned hawk Richard Perle. Although high-level
Bush administration figures like Colin Powell downplayed the
briefing's significance, it received heavy-handed media play for
several days. Subsequent reports stated that Vice President Dick
Cheney's staff had "embraced" the report.
On Aug. 7 Saudi Arabia made clear and unequivocal public
pronouncements that it would not allow its soil to be used for an
invasion of Iraq.
On Aug. 14, Reuters reported that King Fahd, who had just been moved
to Spain was in failing health and possibly near death.
On Aug. 15 amidst massive daylong publicity, a 15-count, $1 trillion
lawsuit was filed against various Saudi interests for liability in
the 9-11 attacks. Included among the defendants were the Saudi Bin
Laden Group of companies (previously connected through the Carlyle
Group to Bush family finances), three Saudi princes, seven banks,
eight Islamic foundations, a number of charities and the government
of Sudan.
The three Saudi princes are Turki Faisal al Saud (see above), Prince
Sultan bin Abdul Aziz (same as above), and Prince Mohamed al-Faisal.
This new suit eclipsed three earlier suits, largely ignored by the
major media, filed by victim families charging various degrees of
liability and/or complicity by the U.S. government. The key lawyers
in the case have a history of close affiliation with the Republican
Party, the Bush family and/or the Council on Foreign Relations. Media
coverage of the suits continued through the weekend ending Aug. 18.
What gives?
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
The instability in Saudi Arabia may well be just the end result of
internal decay and rot. But the consequences and implications of
Saudi Arabia's current crisis are far deeper once one examines the
financial threat that Saudi chaos might unleash.
Like the United States, the Saudi economy is in tatters. Like the
U.S. economy it needs only one thing to keep it afloat -- cash.
The Saudi government rightly fears a quickly successful U.S. invasion
of Iraq. A first inevitable consequence would be serious anti-
American protests from the Saudi population. The second inevitable
consequence would be an almost immediate increase in Iraqi oil
production, which would result in a price reduction that might break
the back of OPEC and dramatically reduce oil income. Seeing that the
U.S. economy is on the brink of collapse, the Bush Administration,
facing congressional elections in November and a potentially
disastrous 2004 presidential election, must do whatever it takes to
keep itself in power. For this administration, so hugely populated by
oil men (and woman), cheap oil is the obvious first choice.
Saudi Arabia seems to have seen this coming for some time. In April,
the Saudi government announced that it was considering privatizing
parts of Aramco, the Saudi national oil company, and selling off some
of Aramco's operations to Exxon, BP-Amoco, Shell and other major
companies. Though little has been disclosed since the early
announcements, this move would benefit the Saudis in two big ways.
First, it would give Western companies an equity stake in the
stability of the monarchy, making it difficult for the U.S. to
consider bombing or embargoing operations owned by western companies.
Secondly, it would generate large amounts of cash to offset declining
economic growth, rising unemployment and declining per capita income,
according to Stratfor on April 29.
The oil-based Mexican standoff is mirrored by what is effectively a
much more successful financial deterrent -- the Saudis ability to
wreck the U.S. financial markets should they see their situation
become utterly desperate.
OWNING THE AMERICAN DREAM
It is impossible to quantify the exact amount of Saudi holdings in
the U.S. economy. But anecdotal evidence is utterly compelling.
The New York Times reported on Aug. 11, "An adviser to the Saudi
royal family made a telling point about Saudi elites. He said an
estimated $600 billion to $700 billion in Saudi money was invested
outside the kingdom, a vast majority of it in the United States or in
United States-related investments." The BBC has estimated Saudi U.S.
investment at $750 billion.
Adnan Khashoggi, perhaps the best-known Saudi billionaire, controls
his investments through Ultimate Holdings Ltd. and in Genesis
Intermedia, which was reported to have been connected to suspicious
stock trades around the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. (No linkage has
been made between these trades and the attacks themselves). The rest
of his private U.S. holdings are administered through his daughter's
name from offices in Tampa, Fla., not far from where many of the
hijackers received flight training at both private and U.S. military
installations.
Khashoggi is a longtime financial player, deeply connected to the
Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s and also to BCCI. But Khashoggi
doesn't even make the Forbes list of the richest people in the world.
One Saudi who does is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, who ranks as the
11th richest man on the planet with an estimated net worth of $20
billion.
Some of Alwaleed's holdings and recent acquisitions include:
- The single largest shareholder in Citigroup, the teetering
U.S. financial giant, which is reported to have a derivatives bubble
of more than $12 trillion and has reportedly sought recent emergency
assistance from the Federal Reserve. On July 18 Alwaleed made an
additional $500 million purchase of Citigroup stock, raising his
estimated shareholding to $10 billion.
- Alwaleed also owns, according to an August 9 story in The
Guardian, three percent of the total shares of Newscorp (Fox), making
him the second-largest shareholder behind Rupert Murdoch.
- Alwaleed's other significant holdings include Apple Computer,
Priceline, The Four Seasons Hotels, Planet Hollywood, Saks and Euro
Disney.
- Alwaleed also sits on the board of directors of the infamous
(post-9-11) Carlyle Group.
Alwaleed alone is in a position to pull the plug on the U.S. economy.
But, of course, he would cost himself billions to do it and this is
not a likely scenario because he has long been a pro-democratic U.S.
supporter. The remaining investments of the Saudi family, taken as a
whole, would undoubtedly paint an even grimmer risk assessment. All
of this assumes, of course, the stability of the Saudi monarchy -- an
apparent prerequisite for the preservation of their continued
financial empire, the stability of the U.S. economy making it the
most profitable place for Saudi investment, and the absence of a
major and protracted regional conflict. But if the U.S. economy
fails?...
The Bush Administration's unilateral and illegal commitment to an
Iraqi invasion brings all three essentials into question.
The August 20 report from the Financial Times suggests that the
Saudis are, at minimum, firing a clear warning shot across the bow of
the U.S.S. Bush.
ALLAH'S LAST LAUGH
In his appearance on Australian television Dr. al-Fagih discussed the
likelihood of a Balkanization of Saudi Arabia by dividing the kingdom
into three separate states and separating the eastern oil provinces
from the holy sites in the west. Such a shot-term solution might
delay what seems to be an inevitable final conflict.
But there is another telling factor that has not been discussed in
the major media.
There are signs that major financial power houses are looking into
gold hedges, especially mining and actual possession of gold in
anticipation of a large gold "bust-out." The head of the California
Personnel Employee Retirement System (CALPERS), the largest pension
fund in the country, recently announced his resignation to go into
the gold sector of the financial markets.
Recent reports starting in 1998 indicate that Saudi Arabia contains
enormous quantities of gold. A 1997 Saudi embassy press announcement
revealed 800 locations where gold had been discovered. A Nov. 8
report from Ohio State University -- based upon new Global Imaging
System technologies, confirmed "2,100 known occurrences of gold,
silver, copper, and other metals in the western third of the Saudi
peninsula." Saudi Arabia appears to be sitting atop one of the
largest gold stores on the planet.
But there is something else in the western third of the country --
the two holiest cities in all of Islam -- Mecca and Medina. And a
gold bust-out might well signal the end of the U.S. dollar's reign as
the dominant currency in world commerce -- the means by which the
U.S. has policed its global financial empire. And Iran has just
signaled that it is considering pricing its oil in Euros.
Yet the Bush Administration seems willing to risk everything for a
roll of the dice in Iraq and a lawsuit in New York -- moves it may
have already committed itself to take and cannot reverse. And still
the American people try to ignore the fact that the administration
knew about, and could have prevented, the attacks of September 11th.
Copyright 2002, From The Wilderness Publications, www.copvcia.com.
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