Neil Bush of Saudi Arabia

Neil Bush of Saudi Arabia

By Bill Berkowitz

Created Mar 29 2007 - 9:22am

During recent visit, President's brother describes the country as a 'kind of

tribal democracy'

In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri

Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the

capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years,

showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported

that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial

and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview

with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country

as "a kind of tribal democracy."

Neil Mallon Bush, the son of President George H. W. Bush and the brother of

President George W. Bush, attended the forum to renew old family friendships

and to drum up a little business for his educational software company. "The

Jeddah Economic Forum has been very productive," Bush told Arab News. "I

have been to this conference four times since 2002. I have seen it develop

from the very beginning. There was less participation in the past, now there

is more international participation."

These days, Neil Bush is the chairman and CEO of Ignite Learning, a company

devoted to developing technology-assisted curriculum. Ignite calls it COW:

"Curriculum on Wheels." In an interview with Arab News' Siraj Wahab, Bush

talked enthusiastically about his company's mission: "We are building a

model in the United States for developing curriculum that is engaging to

grade-school kids, and our model is to deploy this engaging content through

a device. So it is easy for any teacher to use our device through projectors

and speakers. The curriculum is loaded on the device. We use animation and

video and those kinds of things to light up learning in classrooms for kids.

It helps teachers connect with their kids. We are planning to develop an

Arabic version of that model."

According to Wikipedia, Ignite was founded in 1999 and has "raised $23

million from U.S. investors, including his parents... as well as businessmen

from Taiwan , Japan , Kuwait , the British Virgin Islands and the United

Arab Emirates , according to documents filed with the Securities and

Exchange Commission. Russian billionaire expatriate Boris Berezovsky (and

Berezovsky's partner Badri Patarkatsishvili), Kuwaiti company head Mohammed

Al Saddah, and Chinese computer executive Winston Wong are documented

investors."

The blog Media Mindfulness recently looked into a COW lesson relating to

habeus corpus and found that "the lesson [was] in dire need of some media

literacy. It's curious how it repeatedly justifies the suspension of the

law":

If you go to Ignite Learning's Web site and click on the 'easy-to-use'

button, what you see is a completely closed system. I think 'cow' is an

appropriate name. Make your students go 'Moo'! Making education more like

television, which this system seems to emulate, is not the answer. It would

appear that in the case of COW the teacher is merely a manager of the

curriculum, not an engaged, free thinking agent. There is something terribly

frightening about making kids watch lessons in TV-like packages and then

train them to repeat what they see. My hope is that kids are savvy and smart

enough to see through this crap and reject it outright. I hate to say this

but this is one situation when truancy might be the best educational

strategy.

The Ignite! video makes clear the enervating, rote approach to learning

taken by the Bush family. While this may not be an advance in actual

education, it does serve to enrich Neil Bush and commodify teachers. In

concept it is much like Channel One, whereby Chris Whittle enriched himself

forcing millions of primary school students to watch repackaged TV News

sandwiched between corporate advertising.

Responding to a question from the Arab News reporter about the "people who

tell him they are not happy with his brother's foreign policy," Bush said:

"Don't forget, I am the son of a president who I deeply respect and admire

and who is admired a lot in this region. I think my dad has demonstrated in

his policy how sensitive he is to culture, how bringing people together and

how dialogue and conversation can lead to peace... And even when there is

aggression you know you can deal with it in a way that is wise and

judicious."

As to the sitting president, Bush said that he thought "people need to be

fair about the position my brother is in. My brother is president at a time

in history that we have never seen before as Americans. Our country was

attacked viciously, and I think everybody in the world recognizes that. The

reaction he has had to it in part reflects the deep hurt of the tragedy that

struck us on Sept. 11, 2001. He is doing what he thinks is right."

Bush also pointed out that he tries to not get into his brother's political

business. "I have a personal policy similar to my dad's policy and that is I

don't discuss politics with my brother," Bush said. "He is an elected

president. He never appointed me to be his secretary of state. I love my

brother as a brother. He has two children; I have six now, so we talk about

life in general. We have a lot in common. But he doesn't talk about my

business and I don't talk about his. When he retires we will have plenty of

good chats."

If you didn't know Neil Bush's back-story, the Arab News interview would be

of little help. A few key points: As a member of the board of directors,

Bush was involved in the bilking of Silverado Savings and Loan during the

1980s savings and loan crisis; in July 1999, Bush made at least $798,000 on

three stock trades in a single day of the Taunton, Massachusetts-based Kopin

Corporation, a company where he had been employed as a consultant; in 2002,

Bush signed a consulting contract that paid $2 million dollars in stock over

five years to work for Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., a firm

backed by Jiang Mianheng, the son of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin,

plus $10,000 for every board meeting he attends; in 2005, Bush accompanied

the Rev. Sun Myung Moon (another family patron) on part of his world tour

promoting Moon's idea for a Universal Peace Federation.

Then there were the sex romps: Revelations garnered from Bush's divorce

deposition became fodder for gossipers across the country when he admitted

to sexual encounters with high-priced escorts in Thailand and Hong Kong, who

mysteriously appeared at the doors of his hotel rooms.

The Saudi connection

Neil Bush, like others in the Bush Family, has cultivated a very close

relationship with the Saudi Royal Family. As Kevin Phillips wrote in his

book "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in

the House of Bush" (2004): "Also shaping Middle Eastern relations was the

fact that the [bush] family had cemented unique business and personal ties

to the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the emirates. After he

left the White House in 1993, George H. W. Bush made a number of visits. His

relationships with the Saudis, in particular, remained so close that the

Saudi ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar, and his wife considered the

Bushes 'almost family.'"

As a member of the Carlyle Group's Asian Advisory Board, the senior Bush

"made highly compensated speeches and trips on its behalf -- most frequently

to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf -- and helped the group procure

well-heeled investors." According to Phillips, "Twelve rich Saudi

individuals and families signed up (including the bin Laden family prior to

9/11), as well as the investment offices of Kuwait and Abu Dhabi."

About the time of Neil Bush's first visit to the Jeddah Economic Forum in

February 2002 the Washington Post reported that "Saudis close to Prince

Sultan, the Saudi defense minister, were encouraged to put money into

Carlyle as a favor to the elder Bush." According to Phillips, "By some

accounts, Carlyle acted as a gatekeeper for would-be U.S. investors in Saudi

Arabia."

In February 2006 the Associated Press reported that donors to President

George H. W. Bush's presidential library located at Texas A&M University in

College Station, Texas, included a sheik from the United Arab Emirates, who

contributed at least $1 million, the state of Kuwait, the Bandar bin Sultan

family, the Sultanate of Oman, and King Hassan II of Morocco.

In 2001, after George W. Bush took the White House, he appointed Texas

lawyer Robert Jordan as the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Phillips noted

that Jordan "defended" Bush "in the 1990 probe of possible insider trading

in the sale of his Harken [Energy] stock, as well as a partner in Baker and

Botts, the attorneys for the Carlyle Group."

Phillips observed that in January 2002, Neil Bush "made his fourth trip to

the Middle East since" George W. had become president: "Besides meeting with

members of the Saudi royal family, he pursued joint ventures with computer

software firms in Dubai and contracts with the United Arab Emirates'

Ministry of Education."

Over time, Neil Bush has become a big Saudi booster. Asked by Arab News'

Siraj Wahab about the so-called "clash of civilizations," Bush said that he

"get frustrated when I talk to my American friends about the region in

general and particularly about Saudi Arabia. There is this common

misperception of the Arab people, of the Muslim faith, about the

relationship with Saudi Arabia. I think there needs to be leadership on both

sides to help bridge the gap of misunderstanding. A lot of my American

friends, a lot of Americans in general, have common misunderstandings and

the basic myths that they have in their minds about this region."

Bush explained how he describes the situation in Saudi Arabia to folks back

home: "I can explain it very well, but people won't believe me unless and

until they come and see it for themselves. For example, I am bringing a

delegation today that talks of water-desalination technology -- very amazing

technology. They have never been to Saudi Arabia. Obviously they can't help

but be impressed by the hospitality and the warmth of the reception and the

response of the people that they met regarding their project. They just

loved this place. The terrain is interesting to them. You know, romantic and

kind of exciting. So there is a lot to be said about coming here and seeing

it for yourself."

Bush said it is important to gain "a more balanced perspective" on Saudi

Arabia: "If I go by the images of Saudi Arabia portrayed in movies, that of

gun-toting mullahs, then I think I will have a very different impression of

Saudi Arabia than the one that is balanced and based on reason and facts."

Finally, Bush pointed out that Saudi Arabia is "a kind of tribal democracy

that people don't talk about very much," he said. "So it hurts me quite a

bit and causes me anguish over the ignorance outside about Saudi Arabia."

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

stake."

-Thomas Jefferson