1988 (B):ÊPrior to this year, George Bush Jr. is a failed oil man. Three times friends and investors have bailed him out to keep him from going bankrupt. But in this year, the same year his father becomes President, some Saudis buy a portion of his small company, Harken, which has never worked outside of Texas.ÊLater in the year, Harken wins a contract in the Persian Gulf and starts doing well financially.ÊThese transactions seem so suspicious that the Wall Street Journal in 1991 states it "raises the question of ... an effort to cozy up to a presidential son."ÊTwo major investors in Bush's company during this time are Salem bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's father, and Khaled bin Mahfouz. [Salon, 11/19/01, Intelligence Newsletter, 3/2/00] Khaled bin Mahfouz is a Saudi banker with a 20% stake in BCCI, a bank that will go bankrupt a few years later in the biggest corruption scandal in banking history (see July 5, 1991).ÊIn 1999 Mahfouz will be placed under house arrest in Saudi Arabia for contributions he gave to welfare organizations closely linked to bin Laden (see April 1999). Mahfouz's sister is married to Osama bin Laden. [Washington Post, 2/17/02]