Osama bin Laden family members invested $10M in an equity
fund run by former Bechtel unit. May 5, 2003: 2:17 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Bush administration launched a war on terror because
of the alleged acts of Osama bin Laden. Ironically, one of the companies the administration
has picked to rebuild Iraq after the latest phase of that war has ties to bin Laden's
family, according to a published report.
Bechtel Corp., a private construction firm based in San Francisco, recently was
awarded a State Department contract, potentially worth more than $600 million, to
help rebuild Iraq's infrastructure after the recent U.S.-led war there.
The Bush administration pushed for that war, in part, because it said the regime
of Saddam Hussein, former leader of Iraq, had ties to the al Qaeda terror network,
headed by bin Laden, the group allegedly responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks in the United States.
According to an article in the May 5 issue of New Yorker magazine, several
bin Laden family members -- part of a large, Saudi Arabian family that made a fortune
in the construction business -- invested about $10 million in a private equity fund
operated by former subsidiary of Bechtel before Sept. 11.
Fremont Group, a San Francisco-based private investment firm, once was a unit of
Bechtel, and its board still includes Bechtel CEO Riley P. Bechtel and former U.S.
Secretary of State and former Bechtel President George P. Shultz, along with several
current Bechtel directors.
Bechtel could not be reached for comment.
Fremont spokeswoman Pat Harden confirmed bin Laden's family had invested $10 million
in a Fremont fund, but she said the family had no ownership stake in Fremont and
its investment was made "well before the events of Sept. 11."
"Our concern is that it be clear they're investors, like many, in one of our many
private equity funds," Harden said, noting that the Patriot Act of 2001 requires
such investors to be screened for connections to terrorism. "This is all totally
legal and above-board."
Harden didn't know exactly when bin Laden's family invested in the equity fund.
Fremont general counsel Rick Kopf told the New Yorker bin Laden's family
had invested nothing in Fremont since Sept. 11.
None of bin Laden's family members has been charged with any crimes, and the family
denounced Osama bin Laden in the mid-1990s. Some family members also have publicly
denounced the Sept. 11 attacks.
Saying they feared for their safety, about two dozen family members living in the
United States left the country as soon as airports re-opened after Sept. 11.
Back when Americans were still debating whether there was just cause for a
preëmptive strike against Iraq, few arguments were scrutinized more closely
than the Bush Administration’s contention that there were covert links between
Al Qaeda and Iraq. At the C.I.A., analysts pored over aerial satellite
photographs. At the Treasury Department, experts sifted through financial
records. At the National Security Agency, Arab-speaking linguists eavesdropped
on phone conversations. But, even after Secretary of State Colin Powell put
his credibility on the line, in a damning, dot-connecting speech before the
United Nations last February, questions persisted about the solidity of the
alleged links between Saddam and Osama.
Now there is a new and demonstrable connection, but it is not the kind that
the Bush Administration had in mind. In fact, it is more likely to fuel the
speculations of conspiracy theorists than it is to put their fears to rest. It
turns out that a money trail runs—albeit rather circuitously—from the
lucrative business of rebuilding Iraq to the fortune behind Osama bin Laden.
Bin Laden’s estranged family, a sprawling, extraordinarily wealthy Saudi
Arabian dynasty, is a substantial investor in a private equity firm founded by
the Bechtel Group of San Francisco. Bechtel is also the global construction
and engineering company to which the U.S. government recently awarded the
first major multimillion-dollar contract to reconstruct war-ravaged Iraq. In a
closed competitive bidding process, the United States Agency for International
Development chose Bechtel to rebuild the major elements of Iraq’s
infrastructure, including its roads, railroads, airports, hospitals, and
schools, and its water and electrical systems. In the first phase of the
contract, the U.S. government will pay Bechtel nearly thirty-five million
dollars, but experts say that the cost is likely to reach six hundred and
eighty million during the next year and a half.
When the contract was awarded, two weeks ago, the Administration did not
mention that the bin Laden family has an ongoing relationship with Bechtel.
The bin Ladens have a ten-million-dollar stake in the Fremont Group, a San
Francisco-based company formerly called Bechtel Investments, which was until
1986 a subsidiary of Bechtel. The Fremont Group’s Web site, which makes no
mention of the bin Ladens, notes that “though now independent, Fremont enjoys
a close relationship with Bechtel.” A spokeswoman for the company confirmed
that Fremont’s “majority ownership is the Bechtel family.” And a list of the
corporate board of directors shows substantial overlap. Five of Fremont’s
eight directors are also directors of Bechtel. One Fremont director, Riley
Bechtel, is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Bechtel Group, and
is a member of the Bush Administration: he was appointed this year to serve on
the President’s Export Council. In addition, George Shultz, the Secretary of
State in the Reagan Administration, serves as a director both of Fremont and
of the Bechtel Group, where he once was president and still is listed as
senior counsellor.
Rick Kopf, the general counsel of the Fremont Group, which manages some
eleven billion dollars in assets, confirms that the bin Laden family invested
about ten million dollars in one of Fremont’s private funds before September
11, 2001. He noted that the bin Laden family has not enlarged its stake since
then, but he declined to provide additional details about its association with
the firm. He also chose not to discuss the origin or the nature of the
relationship between the bin Laden and Bechtel families, both of which made
fortunes in huge construction projects in the Arab world. The Fremont Group
evidently does not go in for connecting the dots. As Kopf said, “Ownership is
private and is not disclosed.”
The burial of Nathaniel greenan son of Attorney James greenan who
represented Contra Costa County, in the matter of Contra Costa County
versus Chevron where are the County dumps Millions.
Nate was in Vinny's Bar in Concord in March of 2012 just days before I
was arrested and jailed where Chief Wenzel formerly of Danville was
commander of the jail
The Mormon news is the people standing in this picture of Mormon, the
chief of Danville is Mormon the Mormons controlled DEA Mark Peterson
convicted o perjury, the connection between Michael Peterson and his
Russian connections likely lead to Pavolo Lazerenko defended by Daniel
Horowitz, who wants to send it attorney William McCann in connection to
the 500 La Gonda way legal dispute with developer Sid Correy.
This dispute brings in Bill Tauscher, Ellen Tauscher friends of Hillary
Clinton, Blackhawk Network's, Safeway CEO Steve Burd who knows attorney
Rick Kopf from when they work totogether add Southern Pacific which
makes Steve burd privy to Bennett versus Southern Pacific where my
witness was murdered.
Anything out of Safeway's mouth from this point forward is a lie and
that extends to Fremont Group in San Francisco desperately pedaling
backwards to overturn the past.
This is my karaoke friend her name is Sarah Hoda she was burned alive in
the Ghost Ship fire or died of smoke inhalation what a coincidence that
my beautiful friend who would stop and listen to me play music in the
streets of Walnut Creek Harrison of fire across the street from the
transaction control by CB Richard Ellis.
They are filing murder charges on the wrong people and I intend to raise
that at an Oakland city council meeting in the near future.
I'm in arson victim and I can sniff out scams because I also know about
Real Estate Investment Trust, shopping centers, tenant improvement work,
and unfortunately for the money make people I also know them.
After well-over one hundred police reports where police officers known
for me have been arrested indicted and convicted from everything from
abusive Authority Under color of Law and murder it's time for me to
speak out.
I found a great way to stay alive after appearing on CNN, ABC, NBC and
PBS, after and during poison and bacteria, assault and battery and arson
why not speak up we actually through the people that were trying to kill
me off my tail to their lawyer's office seeking a way to stay out of
jail.
for those reading this veteran public office, DEA investigators, police
officers in multiple cities and Country Costa and surrounding counties
this is your wake-up call, keep yourself from being dragged into the
conspiracy and getting f*****, smarten up fess up and tell me who tried
to kill me in 2004, who put the bacteria or poison in my food, and where
did the iodine-131 come from.
Former location of main frame designs cabinets and fixtures a vendor to
Chevron, Safeway, Fresh Choice, Wendy's and Contra Costa County College
District
The matter of Bennett vs Southern Pacific created a situation where
operatives coming from Southern Pacific Police Department, Southern
Pacific, and the assets of Southern Pacific pipeline partners that part
indelibly linked Enron Corporation which leads to the sale of Enron
assets to Kinder Morgan, we're in 2004 in Walnut Creek California a
pipeline exploded killing five.
Each person shown is well known to me with beginnings in 1980. Over
time each became part of the fabric of my allegations, incidents and
frauds traveling with me for decades.
Mormons Murders - An East Bay History Lesson
A Series of Cases
Bennett v. Southern Pacific (Floyd Brown Jr)
Pittsburg Safeway 1988
Murder: Cynthia Kempf
Murder: Nate Greenan
Murder: Clint Eul / Laci Peterson (Delta Deaths)
Key: Bennett v. Southern Pacific
Key: Safeway Stores
Murder: Cynthia Kempf
Murder: Nate Greenan son of Safeway Attorney James S. Greenan
Murder: Clint Eull found near Moth-Ball Fleet
Laci Peterson (Delta Deaths)
Pitching for Bin Laden
Back when Americans were still debating whether there was just cause for a
pre-emptive strike against Iraq, few arguments were scrutinized more
closely than the Bush Administration’s contention that there were covert
links between Al Qaeda and Iraq. At the C.I.A., analysts pored over aerial
satellite photographs. At the Treasury Department, experts sifted through
financial records. At the National Security Agency, Arab-speaking
linguists eavesdropped on phone conversations. But, even after Secretary
of State Colin Powell put his credibility on the line, in a damning,
dot-connecting speech before the United Nations last February, questions
persisted about the solidity of the alleged links between Saddam and
Osama.
Now there is a new and demonstrable connection, but it is not the kind
that the Bush Administration had in mind. In fact, it is more likely to
fuel the speculations of conspiracy theorists than it is to put their
fears to rest. It turns out that a money trail runs—albeit rather
circuitously—from the lucrative business of rebuilding Iraq to the fortune
behind Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden’s estranged family, a sprawling,
extraordinarily wealthy Saudi Arabian dynasty, is a substantial investor
in a private equity firm founded by the Bechtel Group of San Francisco.
Bechtel is also the global construction and engineering company to which
the U.S. government recently awarded the first major multimillion-dollar
contract to reconstruct war-ravaged Iraq. In a closed competitive bidding
process, the United States Agency for International Development chose
Bechtel to rebuild the major elements of Iraq’s infrastructure, including
its roads, railroads, airports, hospitals, and schools, and its water and
electrical systems. In the first phase of the contract, the U.S.
government will pay Bechtel nearly thirty-five million dollars, but
experts say that the cost is likely to reach six hundred and eighty
million during the next year and a half.
Clint Eul Walnut Creek
Employment: Service Manager Walnut Creek
Last known Location: Martinez near Marina
MPD: Unofficial Reports, suffered head injury, fell into creek,
swept to bay/delta/river (tide dependant)
Similar Cases
Location: Moth Ball Fleet in the Delta
COD: Blunt Force Trauma
Date: Similar to Seeno Foundation Contractor
Connection: Repaired Bennett's vehicles
Connection: Common Friends
Connection: Same Local Clubs
Connection: Work Location off Main Street, near long historical
list of arson cases
Surviving on the street while being owned thousands upon thousands
connected to Senator Fienstein's extensive network.
The Real Story on the San Bruno is it's a murder story
Fast Facts
Date: Septemeber 9th 2010
Incident: San Bruno CA Explosion
Category: Domestic Terrorism
Fremont Group, Essex Property Trust and Blackrock
The Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs)
When the contract was awarded, two weeks ago, the Administration did not
mention that the bin Laden family has an ongoing relationship with
Bechtel. The bin Ladens have a ten-million-dollar stake in the Fremont
Group, a San Francisco-based company formerly called Bechtel
Investments, which was until 1986 a subsidiary of Bechtel. The Fremont
Group’s Web site, which makes no mention of the bin Ladens, notes that
"though now independent, Fremont enjoys a close relationship with
Bechtel." A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that Fremont’s
"majority ownership is the Bechtel family." And a list of the corporate
board of directors shows substantial overlap. Five of Fremont’s eight
directors are also directors of Bechtel. One Fremont director, Riley
Bechtel, is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Bechtel
Group, and is a member of the Bush Administration: he was appointed this
year to serve on the President’s Export Council. In addition, George
Shultz, the Secretary of State in the Reagan Administration, serves as a
director both of Fremont and of the Bechtel Group, where he once was
president and still is listed as senior counsellor.
Rick Kopf, the general counsel of the Fremont Group, which manages some
eleven billion dollars in assets, confirms that the bin Laden family
invested about ten million dollars in one of Fremont’s private funds
before September 11, 2001. He noted that the bin Laden family has not
enlarged its stake since then, but he declined to provide additional
details about its association with the firm. He also chose not to
discuss the origin or the nature of the relationship between the bin
Laden and Bechtel families, both of which made fortunes in huge
construction projects in the Arab world. The Fremont Group evidently
does not go in for connecting the dots. As Kopf said, "Ownership is
private and is not disclosed."
The Jonestown Blood Money
The revelation sitting in the FBI Vault
I Followed Accenture's Money to Senator Feintsein, Richard Blum, CB
Richard Ellis, UC Regents to Base Realignment and Closure.
"Students are being murdered in a classic intimidation within a global
landscape" check
FFF
Bennett v. Southern Pacific in 1990 ~ Contra Costa Superior Court
When my case fell apart it on the Court House steps I was deeply in
debt, broke, ticketed, and enduing shootings while my counsel
simultaneously imploded. My legal skills were limited and I
was highly dependent upon counsels expertise. Around ten years
later I was married, the debts paid off but still fighting the credit
setbacks. By then Southern Pacific sold assets to ENRON, had
created Calera Capital, Southern Pacific Pipeline Partners and Safeway
moved to their new distribution center who is famous highly trusted
company
it was Rick Kopf's tactics that cost me part of my hand. I have
all the room to talk about former Safeway CEO Steve Burd on several
levels, my Pittsburg Safeway Manager friend was murdered in 1998 but
then during my research my Safeway contracts were pulled forcing
hardship on my Cabinet Shop, when my trailer flipped those contracts
taken by Mormons from Alamo 1st Alamo CA.
Burd and Kopf were coworkers at Southern Pacific but their fingerprints
are all over other incidents, additionally my bacteria argument has been
on the table for 15 years, the NIMBA was on my SBC Supplied
systems. I know Accenture was working SBC over for revenue and I
know a large GIS project was cancelled without warning.
Today, based on events at SBC, the wide spread damage to AT&Ts
system and how the Exchanges around the globe were crashing a week after
9/11 but the turning point was the WTC 7 controlled demolition, knowing
my friend Alicia was murdered in 2005, then discovering her connection
to another 2004 Explosion in Walnut Creek that killed five and realizing
it lead straight the former ENRON Story and how the 48 Story Building
destroyed the investigation at the SEC which was coincidently WTC
7.
Fremont Investment & Loan
OBAMA: Good evening. On Wednesday, 14 Americans were
killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays. They were taken
from family and friends who loved them deeply. They were white and
black, Latino and Asian, immigrants, and American born, moms and dads,
daughters and sons. Each of them served their fellow citizens. All of
them were part of our American family.
Tonight I want to talk with you about this tragedy, the broader
threat of terrorism and how we can keep our country safe. The FBI is
still gathering the facts about what happened in San Bernardino, but
here’s what we know. The victims were brutally murdered and injured by
one of their co-workers and his wife. So far, we have no evidence that
the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas or that
they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home. But it is clear
that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization,
embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against
America and the West. They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition,
and pipe bombs.
So this was an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people. Our
nation has been at war with terrorists since Al Qaeda killed nearly
3,000 Americans on 9/11. In the process, we’ve hardened our defenses,
from airports, to financial centers, to other critical infrastructure.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots
here and overseas and worked around the clock to keep us safe.
Our military and counterterrorism professionals have relentlessly
pursued terrorist networks overseas, disrupting safe havens in several
different countries, killing Osama Bin Laden, and decimating Al Qaeda’s
leadership.
Over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved
into a new phase. As we’ve become better at preventing complex
multifaceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turn to less complicated acts
of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our
society. It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009, in
Chattanooga earlier this year, and now in San Bernardino.
And as groups like ISIL grew stronger amidst the chaos of war in Iraq
and then Syria, and as the Internet erases the distance between
countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of
people like the Boston Marathon bombers and the San Bernardino killers.
For seven years, I’ve confronted this evolving threat each and every
morning in my intelligence briefing, and since the day I took this
office, I have authorized U.S. forces to take out terrorists abroad
precisely because I know how real the danger is.
As commander in chief, I have no greater responsibility than the security of the American people.
As a father to two young daughters who are the most precious part of
my life, I know that we see ourselves with friends and co-workers at a
holiday party like the one in San Bernardino. I know we see our kids in
the faces of the young people killed in Paris.
And I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure.
Well, here’s what I want you to know. The threat from terrorism is
real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other
organization that tries to harm us. Our success won’t depend on tough
talk, or abandoning our values or giving into fear. That’s what groups
like ISIL are hoping for. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and
smart, resilient and relentless. And by drawing upon every aspect of
American power.
Here’s how. First, our military will continue to hunt down terrorist
plotters in any country where it is necessary. In Iraq and Syria, air
strikes are taking out ISIL leaders, heavy weapons, oil tankers,
infrastructure.
And since attacks in Paris, our closest allies, including France,
Germany, and the United Kingdom, have ramped up their contributions to
our military campaign which will help us accelerate our effort to
destroy ISIL.
Second, we will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of
thousands of Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground so
that we take away their safe havens.
In both countries, we’re deploying special operations forces who can
accelerate that offensive. We’ve stepped up this effort since the
attacks in Paris, and will continue to invest more in approaches that
are working on the ground.
Third, we’re working with friends and allies to stop ISIL’s
operations, to disrupt plots, cut off their financing, and prevent them
from recruiting more fighters.
Since the attacks in Paris, we’ve surged merged intelligence sharing
with our European allies. We’re working with Turkey to seal its border
with Syria, and we are cooperating with Muslim majority countries, and
with our Muslim communities here at home, to counter the vicious
ideology that ISIL promotes online.
Fourth, with American leadership, the international community has
begun to establish a process and timeline to pursue cease-fires and a
political resolution to the Syrian war.
Doing so will allow the Syrian people and every country, including
our allies, but also countries like Russia, to focus on the common goal
of destroying ISIL, a group that threatens us all.
This is our strategy to destroy ISIL. It is designed and supported by
our military commanders and counterterrorism experts, together with 65
countries that have joined an American-led coalition. And we constantly
examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to
get the job done.
That’s why I’ve ordered the Departments of State and Homeland
Security to review the visa waiver program under which the female
terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country. And that’s
why I will urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder
for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.
Now, here at home, we have to work together to address the challenge.
There are several steps that Congress should take right away. To begin
with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no- fly list is able
to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a
terrorist suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon? This is a matter of
national security.
We also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault
weapons, like the ones that were used in San Bernardino. I know there
are some who reject any gun-safety measures, but the fact is that our
intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, no matter how effective they
are, cannot identify every would-be mass shooter, whether that
individual was motivated by ISIL or some other hateful ideology.
What we can do, and must do, is make it harder for them to kill.
Next, we should put in place stronger screening for those who come to
America without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether
they’ve traveled to war zones. And we’re working with members of both
parties in Congress to do exactly that.
Finally, if Congress believes, as I do, that we are at war with ISIL,
it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military
force against these terrorists.
For over a year, I have ordered our military to take thousands of air
strikes against ISIL targets. I think it’s time for Congress to vote to
demonstrate that the American people are united and committed to this
fight.
My fellow Americans, these are the steps that we can take together to defeat the terrorist threat.
Let me now say a word about what we should not do. We should not be
drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in Iraq or Syria.
That’s what groups like ISIL want. They know they can’t defeat us on the
battlefield. ISIL fighters were part of the insurgency that we faced in
Iraq. But they also know that if we occupy foreign lands, they can
maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of our troops and
draining our resources, and using our presence to draw new recruits.
The strategy that we are using now — air strikes, special forces, and
working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their
own country — that is how we’ll achieve a more sustainable victory, and
it won’t require us sending a new generation of Americans overseas to
fight and die for another decade on foreign soil.
Here’s what else we cannot do. We cannot turn against one another by
letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. That,
too, is what groups like ISIL want.
ISIL does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a
cult of death. And they account for a tiny fraction of a more than a
billion Muslims around the world, including millions of patriotic
Muslim-Americans who reject their hateful ideology.
Moreover, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are Muslim.
If we’re to succeed in defeating terrorism, we must enlist Muslim
communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away
through suspicion and hate.
That does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has
spread within some Muslim communities. It’s a real problem that Muslims
must confront without excuse.
Muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working
with us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that
groups like ISIL and Al Qaeda promote, to speak out against not just
acts of violence, but also those interpretations of Islam that are
incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and
human dignity.
But just as it is the responsibility of Muslims around the world to
root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the
responsibility of all Americans, of every faith, to reject
discrimination. It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on
who we admit into this country. It’s our responsibility to reject
proposals that Muslim-Americans should somehow be treated differently.
Because when we travel down that road, we lose. That kind of
divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups
like ISIL.
Muslim-Americans are our friends and our neighbors, our co- workers,
our sports heroes. And, yes, they are our men and women in uniform who
are willing to die in defense of our country. We have to remember that.
My fellow Americans, I am confident we will succeed in this mission
because we are on the right side of history. We were founded upon a
belief in human dignity that no matter who you are, or where you come
from, or what you look like or what religion you practice, you are equal
in the eyes of God and equal in the eyes of the law. Even in this
political season, even as we properly debate what steps I and future
presidents must take to keep our country safe. Let’s make sure we never
forget what makes us exceptional. Let’s not forget that freedom is more
powerful than fear. That we have always met challenges, whether war or
depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks, by coming together
around our common ideals as one nation and one people.
So long as we stay true to that tradition, I have no doubt that America will prevail.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
