analyzing GWB's misconduct in isolation is a mistake. prescott bush was a director at brown brothers harriman, which through union banking corporation financed nazi germany's industrial buildup. u.s. authorities seized those assets in 1942 under the trading with the enemy act because the bank was tied to fritz thyssen, hitler's primary corporate backer.

in the late 1970s george w. bush's arbusto energy got a $50,000 investment from james bath, the north american representative for salem bin laden (osama's older brother) + khalid bin mahfouz, a major player in the bank of credit & commerce international (bcci).

the carlyle group became the central intersection: george h.w. bush was a senior advisor + investor, while the bin laden family maintained a stake in the defense firm. that stake was reportedly sold days after 9/11.

LEAKED FBI DOCUMENTS REVEALED intelligence agencies were told to “back off” investigating bin laden family members in the u.s. after bush took office. the former head of the american visa bureau in jeddah said he was repeatedly ordered to approve visas for unqualified applicants, noting “what i was doing was giving visas to terrorists, recruited by the cia + osama bin laden,” during the afghan war in the 1980s.

while all commercial flights were grounded after 9/11, private planes evacuated roughly 142 saudis, including 24 bin laden relatives before the airspace fully reopened. fbi agents who had been tracking relatives in falls church, virginia (blocks from where four hijackers listed their address) were pulled off the case.

bush + bin laden family members sat together on the carlyle group board while the attacks were being planned. it even came up in fahrenheit 9/11 (not fond of moore but I guess compared to hitlers he is alright)

to look at how the global war on terror was constructed from these foundations, see this mronline piece.