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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Friday, February 15, 2008

Holy Crap!

I'm sure the threats weren't as explicit as this article suggests, but still..... Holy Crap!
Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.

It has Prince Bandar's (aka Bandar Bush's) fingerprints all over it.
He (Prince Bandar) faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.....

But a paper trail set out in court showed that days after Bandar flew to London to lobby the government, Blair had written to the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, and the SFO was pressed to halt its investigation.

Wow.

9 Comments:

  • It was Blair who stopped the investigation. I wonder if we'll see him in court?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:06 PM  

  • I don't know. I know the bones of the BAE thing, but not all the twists and turns.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 9:27 PM  

  • I imagine he'll be pretty well protected as long as Labor is in power. More's the pity.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:00 AM  

  • It will take a generation of historians to untie this knot of corporate, political, and dynastic corruption... if ever. As long as you have the current balance of weak, strong and corrupt politicians and international robber barons, there won't be sufficient will to bring the truth to light.

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:09 AM  

  • PRobably. I think the bigger scandal is that the Saudis, our "allies" are using the threat of non-cooperation on terrorism to extort what they want.

    How many of the 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi? How many Saudi banks have been accused of money laundering for Al Qaeda?

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:09 AM  

  • Mike --
    I'll take your outrage to the next step. The biggest scandal is that we don't say f-u when the Saudis (or anyone) pulls this shit. That, one could argue, is treasonous.

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:21 AM  

  • And, it's important to note, this took place well before the Bush admin pushed so hard for the $20 billion arms deal for the Saudis.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:27 AM  

  • Agreed. This is systemic. The actions of the watchmakers of international commerce and control. It is beyond the mere political and beyond the mere national.

    By Blogger -epm, at 6:24 PM  

  • and just think -- if there were no huge need in the west for their oil exports, these anachronistic autocrats would have hardly any leverage at all.

    if there were ever an argument for alternative energy research...

    By Blogger r8r, at 12:26 AM  

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