Okay lets file this

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Okay, let’s file this one away under the heading of things that don’t have any clear significance to the present circumstance but are nonetheless so utterly bizarre that they are sure to kick up at least a few conspiracy theories.

You may remember from that presidential election we had a while back that President Bush once had an ill-fated oil company called Arbusto. Lotsa sweatheart deals, etc.

Well it turns out one of Bush’s big investors was Osama bin Laden’s elder brother Salem.

Hey … listen, I kid you not, as my dad would say.

The story was first floated in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera and then yesterday in Britain’s Daily Mail. I read the Daily Mail piece on Nexis but I can’t get a link for it. It’s summarized, though, in this article from the India Times.

According to the articles, the White House declined comment.

Could this be story be all smoke? Maybe, but it’s been printed in several reputable papers outside the United States. There are some further details in this article from last week in the SF Weekly.

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