Prologue

John O'Neill, the former director of the FBI's anti-terror forces, believed that the Bush and Clinton Administrations thought that oil diplomacy was more important than fighting terrorism. As a result in August of 2001, he resigned from the FBI and took a job as director of security at the World Trade Center, where he died in the September 11 attack.

Foreword

Presidential candidate Bush JR appeared to not understand international politics; however, his administration's staff has international experience. The administration's lack of understanding of Afghanistan may have lead to the 9-11 attack.

Chapter One: Laili Helms: Lobbyist for the Taliban

During the Clinton Administration, Laili Helms was only one of many public relations experts the Taliban hired to improve its image. After Clinton and Bush JR knew that Osama bin Laden was connected to terrorist attacks, they continued negotiating with the Taliban because both administrations wanted control of the oil in the Caspian Sea Basin. When Bush JR came to power, Helm's contacts within the Bush Administration enhanced her public relations efforts for the Taliban.

Chapter Two: The State Department: Sponsor of the Taliban

The United States oil companies wanted to build a pipeline through Afghanistan to transport oil from the oil fields in Turkmenistan to Pakistan. So they could build the pipeline, the United States oil companies, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia had an interest in installing a stable government in Afghanistan.

Chapter Three: A Pipeline for the Taliban

In 1996, the Saudi Arabian Government provided Omar's Taliban financial support to take power. This was the result of Unocal Corporation of California and Delta Oil signing an agreement with Turkmenistan to build a pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. The United States stood by and said nothing about the Saudi financed Pakistani secret service (the ISI) arming the Taliban. After the Taliban came to power, the US State Department welcomed the Taliban.

Chapter Four: Mullah Omar: A Troublesome Ally

The Clinton Administration's original support of the Taliban did not last long. Osama bin Laden's Sunni fundamentalism of Saudi origins had identified the United Sates as the main enemy and condemned the Saudi Royal Family for being a puppet of the US. In 1996, the Clinton Administration became fully aware of Osama bin Laden's terrorist activities after Deputy Secretary of Defense John White requested a report by General Downing. The report connected bin Laden to the 1993 World Trade Center and the 1996 US military residents in Saudi Arabia bombings.

Chapter Five: Negotiating at All Costs

Despite Hillary Clinton's attack and the Clinton Administration's sanctions against the Taliban, President Clinton continued to negotiate with its leaders. In 1999, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott visited Islamabad and showed Taliban representatives evidence that bin Laden and Al Qaeda were involved in the bombing of the US Embassies in Africa. Talbott hinted there would be economic rewards for extraditing bin Laden; however, the Taliban would be held responsible for future attacks.

Chapter Six: Chronicle of a Forbidden Negotiation (February 5, 2001--- August 2, 2001)

After the Bush Administration took office in 2001, United States relations with the Taliban improved. Then, they degenerated, which culminated in the September 11 attack.

Chapter Seven: The Impossible Investigation

Restrictions inside and outside of the United States hindered the United States'investigation into bin Laden's terrorist network.

Chapter Eight: Of Oil and Koran

Since ancient times, Saudi Arabia has been an Islamic country. Today, it has formed close relationships with the US Government and US oil companies, which has cause friction within Saudi Arabia.

Chapter Nine: Saudi Fundamentalism Network

The Saudi Royal Family built an Islamic fundamentalist network to control religion in the Arabian world. Osama bin Laden is only a part of this network. It is very unlikely it will disappear after he is gone. The network consists of Islamic charities, banks, non-profit organizations, and companies.

Chapter Ten: Libya 1994: A Terrorist Is Born

In 1998 two years after the Dharan US military installation attack, the Clinton Administration was not pursuing Osama bin Laden---even though its staff knew he was the principle suspect. Also, they knew that bin Laden had called for a fatwa against the US and was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

Chapter Eleven: Family Support

The bin Laden Family have close ties to the Saudi Royal Family, the US defense industry, and the Bush Family. Even though Saudi Arabia expelled Osama bin Laden in 1991, he has maintained contact with his family and received their support. For example, his brother-in-law Muhammad Jamal Khalifa funneled millions of dollars into Osama's Al Qaeda organization.

Chapter Twelve: The Banker of Terror

Khalid bin Mahfouz felicitated the financing of many terrorist organizations associated with Osama bin Laden. After the bombing of the US Embassies in Africa, investigators discovered massive transfers of funds from Mahfouz's Middle East Banking Corporation (MBC) to the Osama bin Laden network. Until then, the Saudi Royal Family accommodated bin Mahfouz--- if not collaborated with him. However in 1999, Saudi Arabia stripped bin Mahfouz of his power and diluted his assets in MBC to 10%. Saudi officials hospitalized him and were still holding him as of 2002. The Osama bin Laden support network is made up of companies and charities with close ties to the bin Mahfouz Family, bin Laden Family, BCCI, and Investcorp. This network is not an accident and will not go away when bin Laden and bin Mahfouz are gone.

Afterword

In 1998, FBI agent John O'Neill found a memo written by Al Qaeda leader Mohammed Atef. In the memo, he revealed that Osama bin Laden's organization had in-depth knowledge about US and Taliban oil pipeline negotiations. The Taliban was willing to negotiating with United States; however, the Taliban had no intentions of letting the US build the pipeline across Afghanistan. The memo also revealed that Atef thought the US wanted to take control of any region which has huge quantities of oil reserves. Given the amount of information Al Qaeda knew, it is reasonable to deduce that they knew that US representatives had threatened military action against the Taliban in July of 2001. This threat may have caused bin Laden to order an earlier attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

An In-depth Summary of Forbidden Truth: US---Taliban Secret Oil Diplomacy and the Failed Hunt for bin Laden By Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie [French terrorism researchers], Translated by Lucy Rounds, Summary by Leo Tanner

Introduction by Joseph Trento Author of the Secret History of the CIA

The Forbidden Truth is about how the United States and Saudi Arabia created an extremist Islamic army to defeat the Soviet Union. The Saudis and the US created the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) to finance the army. To raise the army, Saudi Arabia financed a network of Islamic charities. In the early 1990s, the bank collapsed in scandal. After the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989, Osama bin Laden used what was left of the BCCI and the charity network to form his modern terrorist organization's core.

The Bushes have been connected to Saudi Arabia for a long time. It helped Prescott Bush (George SR's father) and his sons grow rich and powerful. In return as CIA Director, Bush SR created BCCI to fight the Soviets. To help the US in the Afghanistan War, then Vice President Bush SR introduced the bin Laden Family to CIA Director Casey. As President, Bush SR turned Saddam Hussein from a friend into a foe to protect Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti oil interests. The Saudis returned the favor by rescuing George Bush JR's failing Harken Energy Company.

Close relationships like these have hindered serious investigations of Saudi financed terrorist attacks. After 9-11, Vice President Cheney ask Majority Leader Tom Daschle not to hold a serious investigation into the attack, where 3,000 people lost their lives. The truth is that there can be no in-depth investigation into 9-11 because it will reveal that George Bush SR created the network and that bankers, politicians, and business people supported Al Qaeda. It will "reveal that money and oil were more important" then Saudi Arabia's or the United State's security.

Introduction by Wayne Madsen (May 2002)

In Brisard's and Desquie's first edition of Forbidden Truth, they revealed who knew what and when. FBI Director Robert Mueller knew that Zacarias Moussaoui was affiliated with radical fundamentalist groups connected to Osama bin Laden. Almost one month before 9-11 on August 17, 2001, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Minnesota arrested Moussaoui. Earlier, French intelligence had warned the FBI about his terrorist connections. FBI Minneapolis Chief Division Counsel Coleen Rowley's letter to Mueller confirms that he knew about the French intelligence service's warning. However, the Washington bureaucracy refused to authorize a full investigation. In addition, intelligence and police agencies from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, India, Israel, Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Canada, Cayman Islands, and Italy had offered similar evidence to senior US law enforcement and intelligence officials.

Former FBI agent John O'Neill revealed cover-ups for Osama bin Laden that reached high up into the political power structure in Washington, Saudi Arabia, and oil corporations. O'Neill described his frustration in dealing with an uncooperative [Clinton Administration] US Ambassador to Yemen, CIA, and State Department--- who were more interested in Saudi and American oil interests than stopping Al Qaeda. O'Neill eventually resigned from the FBI because the George Bush JR Administration's oil company interests were blocking FBI investigations.

The authors revel close economic ties between the Bush and Clinton Administrations, big oil corporations, the Taliban, and their Saudi patrons. The authors follow the money trail, which connects George Bush JR and SR to the Saudis through the Carlyle Group. The authors expose the links between the Saudi Royal Family, Pakistani intelligence (ISI), Saudi bankers, Islamic charities, and oil executives.

Preface to the American Edition

In October 2000, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance were considering a peace process. After the United States Presidential Election, the negotiations broke down. Russian called for harder sanctions against the Taliban. Russian and the US proposed to stop weapon sales to the Taliban and continued sales to the Northern Alliance. In December, the UN passed a new resolution for economic sanctions and froze part of the Taliban's financial aid. This was Clinton's last action before the Bush Administration took power, which instigated a sudden change in policy.

Chapter Six: Chronicle of a Forbidden Negotiation (February 5, 2001--- August 2, 2001)

After the Bush Administration took office in 2001, United States relations with the Taliban improved. Then, they degenerated, which culminated in the September 11. attack

When George Bush JR took office, public relations expert Laili Helms arranged a trip to Washington for Afghanistan Ambassador Sayed Hashimi. The new administration's and Taliban's interest in negotiations was probably related to the Bush Administration's close ties to the oil industry and the oil and gas pipeline agreements Russia and China were creating.

In May 2001, Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca (a former CIA agent) began secret negotiations with Jamaat-I-Islami, one of the terrorist groups that had merged efforts with bin Laden and had given him logistical support for the bombing of the US Embassies in Africa.

In March and July of 2001 after the Bush JR Administration revived the 6+2 group, two more rounds of meetings took place. The meetings focused on creating a unified Taliban and Northern Alliance government and the extradition of Osama bin Laden. The US gave the incentive that there would be billions of dollars after the pipeline project was in progress.

However before the July 2001 meetings, negotiations broke down, and the Taliban did not attend. In the meetings, a US delegate proposed bombing the Taliban. This was partly because the US delegation had solid evidence that bin Laden was involved in the USS Cole attack. The Pakistani delegation relayed the message to the Pakistani secret service, which probably informed Al Qaeda and the Taliban. In addition, the Bush Administration was holding negotiations with former Afghani King Zahir Shah. The US's talk of bombing and a replacement government may have prompted bin Laden's 9-11 attack.

However, the attack would have taken place eventually because bin Laden had clearly planned the attack years in advance. In addition since the Taliban was under the control of bin Laden, it was unlikely they would have extradited him.

Chapter Seven: The Impossible Investigation

Internal and external restrictions hindered the United States' investigation into bin Laden's terrorist network.

President Clinton signed a counter terrorist bill in April of 1996 to combat bin Laden's Al Qaeda Network and other terrorist networks; however, the United States did not want to offend the Saudis or the Taliban. So, security became secondary to promoting good relations. The US downplayed the threat of bin Laden. The US spread the story that bin Laden was isolated, had little Arabian support, and had no relationships with his family. The US limited investigations of him, which would have connected him to Saudi government, corporate, and banking officials.

In one case in 1996, the FBI canceled an investigation into the Virginia based World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) because of the fears of offending Saudi Arabia. The FBI suspected that the Islamic charity had ties to the Al Qaeda Network. At the time, the charity's president was Osama bin Laden's relative, and Saudi religious taxes financed it. It turned out that four of the 9-11 hijackers lived a couple of blocks from the WAMY office in Virginia.

In another incident, a Saudi dissident offered the FBI 14,000 documents that indicated Saudis were financing terrorism. The FBI refused the documents.

In a third case between 1996 and 2000, Sudan made several offers to control the bin Laden Network. Sudanese President Bashir offered to extradite Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia or seize his assets in Sudan. United States officials refused the offer. The Sudan Government made offers again in 1997 and 1998. The Sudan's intelligence offered to give the US an investigation file on bin Laden. Finally, they made another offer in July 2000 after the USS Cole attack in Yemen. The US Government turned down all these offers.

In a fourth case on August 17, 2001, the INS arrested a member of the 9-11 terrorist group for visa violations. The CIA had a file on him, and the FBI knew that he had attended flight school in the US. They also knew he had contacts with the Al Qaeda Network, and that he had been trained in an Al Qaeda camp in 1998. When agents requested permission for surveillance of the Al Qaeda suspect, FBI bureaucrats refused the request.

In December of 2001 after the 9-11 Al Qaeda attacks, the Bush Administration froze some of the assets of the Osama bin Laden Network of charities and companies--- one of which was financing Hamas. Starting in 1998, Israel had refused to charter the Al Aqsa Islamic Bank because of its ties to Hamas. In the beginning of 2001, Israel sent authorities to Citibank's headquarters (Al Aqsa's partner in the US) to warn the bank. According to Israeli authorities, the money originated from the US based Holy Land Foundation for Reform and Development, which the Bush Administration had frozen their assets after the 9-11 attack.

Many of the charities the Bush JR Administration linked to the terrorist network are controlled by a network of Saudi Royal Family members and their advisers: the bin Laden Family, banker Khalid bin Mahfouz, the Al Rajhi Family, and Prince Turki Abdulaziz Al Saud. According to former FBI terrorist investigator John O'Neill, all the answers regarding the Osama bin Laden terrorist organization lie in Saudi Arabia.

Chapter Eight: Of Oil and Koran

Since ancient times, Saudi Arabia has been an Islamic country. Today it has formed close relationships with the US Government and US oil companies, which has cause friction within Saudi Arabia.

In 569 A.D. at Mecca, Muhammad was born. At the age of 40 years old, he received a revelation from the Angle Gabriel, who dictated the words of the Koran, the Islamic scriptures.

In 1745 at Dir'yyah, Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab founded the Wahhab sect of Islam, a strict religion that represses women and is intolerant of other religions. The Saud Family, who ruled Dir'yyah converted to Wahhabism and then spread the sect by using military conquest. The Wahhab family handled the religion, and the Saud family handled the government. The Saud/Wahhab empire spread into Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait. In the nineteenth century in battles against the Ottoman Empire, the Saud kingdom rose and fell. Finally in 1880, it came under the joint control of Turkey and Great Britain.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, Abd al-Aziz conquered Saudi Arabia. The Al Saud/Wahhabs destroyed the tombs of the Hashemites, the descendents of Muhammad. Abd al-Aziz stopped his conquest at the British determined boundaries. He was an absolute ruler, where he was the government and no political parties existed. However, he left the religious administration to Abd al-Wahhab's descendents.

In 1938, California Arabian Standard Oil Company discovered oil near Damman. In 1944, the company changed its name to ARAMCO: which controlled Standard Oil of California, Texaco, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, and Socony-Vaccumm (all of these corporation were connected to the John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Syndicate). The US Standard Oil companies became the US Government's representative to Saudi Arabia. In 1945 with the FDR and Abd al-Aziz signing of the Quincy Accords, the United States gained a monopoly on Arabian oil. ARAMCO controlled 95% of the Saudi oil, and oil represented 75% of the country's income. The oil revenues continued to grow from $57 million in 1950 to $119 Billion in 1981.

After King Abd al-Aziz died and the royal family deposed his incompetent son Saud, another son Prince Faisal became king in 1964. The Faisal government was based on tribal government, where he spread the leadership more than his brother and took advice only from a small circle of ministers and family members. In the Faisal Government, the Saudi Royal Family represented all aspects of the government and corporate leadership. The descendents of Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab continued to control Saudi religious matters until the Great Mufti Abdel Aziz bin Baz died in 1999.

Saudi Arabia took a low profile in the Arabian world. They refused to participate in the 1967 and 1973 conflicts with Israel. However, the Saudis did participate in OPEC and the 1973 oil embargo. In 1988, US Standard Oil companies left Saudi Arabia when Saudi Arabia bought the last shares of ARAMCO. However, executives from these US oil companies continued to sit on ARAMCO's board of directors; and therefore, Standard Oil continued to influence ARAMCO.

Because of the influence of large international corporations in the Arabian world, nationalism sentiments had begun to arise. In 1951, Iran nationalizes its oil wells. In 1961, Iraq renationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company. In the 1970s, the perceived decline in values and rapid modernization renews Arabian nationalism. In 1979, Muslims stormed the Great Mosque in Mecca and called for the overthrow of the Al Saud Dynasty. Hundreds of the demonstrators were killed in the uprising. In conflicts among Islamic nations, Saudi Arabia played a key role. In the 1960s, the Saudis distrustfully watched Iraq and Jordan, where the Hashemites had fled. In the Iran/Iraq War, the Saudis supported Iraq. However in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Saudis backed the US by opening Saudi military bases and paid the $55 billion bill. The war created friction in Saudi Arabia.

The landing of 540,000 non-Muslim solders caused friction in the Saudi Kingdom, and Sheikh bin Baz had to find a justification in the Koranic law. In 1991, seven hundred dissidents signed a petition calling for the return to pure Wahhabism and criticized the regime's conduct. Several opposition movements were formed in the 1990s: Osama Bin Laden's Committee for Advice and Reform was one. The royal family was divided, and it supported Islamic fundamentalist movements left, right, and center. There was additional division within the Saudi Kingdom.

In 1995, King Fahd went ahead with a major ministerial reorganization. However, it had little effect because members of the royal family still held the most influential positions. This move still affected the pocketbooks of many Saudi Royal Family members. Then, King Fahd suffered a stroke and handed over power to Prince Abdallah. In 1995, a car bomb exploded at the US mission to the Saudi National Guard in Riyadh. In 1996, Islamic terrorists exploded a second bomb after the Saudi Arabian Government executed the four Islamic terrorists that were responsible for the 1995 bombing.

Chapter Nine: Saudi Fundamentalism Network

The Saudi Royal Family built an Islamic fundamentalist network to control religion in the Arabian world. Osama bin Laden is only a part of this network. It is very unlikely it will disappear after he is gone. The network consists of Islamic charities, banks, non-profit organizations, and companies.

In 1978, the Saudi Minister of Security Prince Turki Al-Faisal commissioned Saudi secret service agent Osama bin Laden to create the Islamic Legion to export combatant Islam to Afghanistan. In 1979 when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, the Saudis expanded the network to recruit Muslims to fight the war in Afghanistan. At that time, Saudi Arabia and the United States were supporting Osama bin Laden.

After the war, Saudi Arabia continued to support the spread of radical Sunni Islam by expanding the network worldwide: Europe, Middle East, United States, Africa, and Philippines. The network's central organizations are Islamic charities that are partially funded by Saudi religious taxes. They include the Muslim World League (ARAMCO is one of the financiers), Organization of the Islamic Conference, Faisal Islamic Bank (FIS), Dar al-Mal, Dallah Al-Baraka, and Islamic Development Bank (IDB). This network supported terrorist organizations like Hamas, GIA in Algeria, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Philippines, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, al Muqatila, etc.

Prince Turki Al-Faisal was central to the network, and the Saudi Royal Family and their advisers control the network. This group includes the bin Mahfouz, bin Laden, Al Saud, Sudeiri, and Al Ibrahim clans. Many of these clan members are part of the Saudi Royal Family or related by marriage. Members of the group were involved in the BCCI scandal and the Saudi and French armament scandal (Sawari-2). The group's support of Osama bin Laden continued up to the September 11 attack. The Saudi Arabian Government has not fully cooperated with the US Government's fight against terrorism. The Saudis have hindered investigations into bin Laden's terrorist network activities and would not let the US use Saudi air bases to invade Afghanistan.

The Saudi network extends into the United States and controls part of the US media, real estate, etc. Notably, Middle East Broadcasting (MBC) owns United Press International. One of its owners Saleh Abdullah Kamel was suspected of being part of the Osama bin Laden Network. UPI provides international news stories for the United States' newspapers and broadcast companies. In addition, wealthy Saudi businessman Youssef Abdelatif is a major shareholder in Sony Corporation. [This ownership of the US media could affect news coverage of Islamic terrorist attacks.]

Chapter Ten: Libya 1994: A Terrorist Is Born

In 1998 two years after the Dharan US military installation attack, the Clinton Administration was not pursuing Osama bin Laden---even though its staff knew he was the principle suspect. Also, they knew that bin Laden had called for a fatwa against the US and was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

The first Interpol arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden was issued on April 15, 1998, for the March 1994 killing of two German secret service agent, who were in charge of missions in Africa and antiterrorist efforts. Colonel Qaddhafi's Libyan Government requested the warrant because bin Laden was a leader of al-Muqatila, a group that tried to assassinate Qaddafi. It was a joint operation between Britain's M15 Secret Service and al-Muqatila, former Mujahedeen warriors, who had returned from Afghanistan after the Soviets left in 1989. After the war, they formed a radical movement with the intentions of establishing themselves in Libya. After Saudi Arabia expelled bin Laden, he had lived for a while in Libya and gave financial support to al Muqatila.

2001: San Jose State University: Postal Clerk.

Delivered and sorted mail and set-up bulk mailings.