Political Friendster - Rate Connection - Arbusto connected to George W. Bush
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| Rate the Arbusto - George W. Bush connection |
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| Founder and CEO | | Submitted by mlwadd01 | 2004-03-30 10:08:58 | Bush founded Arbusto. It was his first adventure in the world of business. Under Bush's steady hand, Arbusto went belly-up. (He was rescued by political connections, of course.)
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| Arbusto was the name of George W Bush's first company. | | Submitted by kdal2005 | 2005-05-28 04:02:25 | The information below was taken directly from the book AmIraqa and the New American Century (www.amiraqa.com)
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In 1978, Bush started his own oil and gas company called Arbusto with the help of his uncle, Wall Street financier Jonathan Bush. George entered a limited partnership with a Houston aircraft broker and close family friend, James Bath, and future PNAC-member Lewis Lehrman (Arbusto partner, 1979), among others. It was the same James Bath missing from Air National Guard duty alongside Bush and implicated in the BCCI scandal. Bath initiated Bush into the Arabian world of seemingly endless cash flow and financial assistance for those who might somehow affect the future of American foreign policy. The connection between George Bush and Salem bin Laden (as well as other prominent Saudis) proved to be very beneficial in Bush’s business dealings but also later proved to be a political liability when his Saudi friend’s brother, Osama bin Laden, used his CIA training and assistance to kill 3,000 innocent Americans on September 11, 2001.
James Bath was, at the time, the US business representative for Salem bin Laden of the wealthy Saudi Arabian bin Laden family. Salem was one of the numerous heirs to the BinLadin Group’s corporate empire and is one of Osama bin Laden’s countless siblings. James Bath invested, in his name, $100,000 of Salem bin Laden’s money in George W Bush’s first oil company, Arbusto.
Both James Bath and Salem bin Laden had close ties to the scandalous Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI), which during the 1980s had defrauded depositors of over $10 billion in what was the “largest bank fraud in world financial history.” Bush had at least two very shady dealings with representatives of the BCCI, the first being James Bath’s investment in Arbusto, the second in 1986 while working for the oil company Harken Energy.
Investors in Bush’s early oil ventures included drug store magnate (Rite Aid) and PNAC-member Lewis Lehrman, George L. Ball (head of EF Hutton Inc), George L. Ohrstrom, venture capitalist William H. Draper III, John D. Macomber (CEO of Celanese Corp), Russell E. Reynolds, Salem bin Laden, James Baker III (who held many positions for both Reagan and Bush Sr), Philip Uzielli, Stephen Kass, and Khalid bin Mahfouz of the BCCI (identified as a defendant in the 9/11 families’ lawsuit against the financiers of 9/11), among others. Draper and Macomber both held the position of head of the Export Import Bank (Eximbank) during both the Reagan and Bush administrations, the Eximbank being essential in the arming of Iraq.
In all, roughly $4.67 million went into Arbusto with almost nothing in return aside from very little oil and a handy tax shelter. George W Bush changed Arbusto’s name to Bush Exploration Oil Company in 1982. The only thing that kept Bush Exploration Oil Company afloat is an investment from James Baker III’s Princeton buddy, Philip Uzielli. Uzielli bought 10% of the company for $1 million when the entire company was valued at under $400,000. Not a very wise investment on the part of Uzielli who later described his business dealings with Bush as, “fun.”
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