Bush Family

Updated September 5, 2006

The Wall Street Journal quietly reported on September 27, 2001 that the Bin Laden family had invested with The Carlyle Group, a merchant bank that boasts several Reagan-era former government figures including George Bush Sr. among its management. The story received some attention from the alternative media, but even the fact that George W. Bush sat on the firm's board for four years barely raised eyebrows in the mainstream media or among the public.

In fact, the Journal's revelation was the tip of the iceberg. Growing out of their roots in the oil business, the interests, ambitions, and achievements of Bushes, the Bin Ladens, and most importantly the Saudi royal family have been intertwined for a quarter century. What follows is The Dubya Report's brief chronicling of that history.

In 1920 a unit of W.A. Harriman & Co. took effective control of a German shipping line, the Hamburg-Amerika shipping company. The Harriman unit was named American Ship and Commerce Corp., and run by George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, and Prescott Bush's father-in-law, George Herbert Walker. During Hitler's rise to power the U.S. embassy in Berlin expressed concern to Washington at the cost of Hitler's political campaign, and of maintaining the Nazi army of more than 300,000 men, and raised questions about the source of funding.

Background

The Iran-Contra affair is the name given to an elaborate scheme operating during the Reagan Administration through which military aid was given to a Nicaraguan political faction, despite a legislative prohibition against military aid "for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Nicaragua" during that time period. An independent counsel investigation focused on potential criminal activity ranging from violations of that statute, known as the Boland Amendment, to conspiracy to violate tax laws.