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JERUSALEM-The Obama administration's reported pick for a top intelligence post has financial ties to the infamous bin Laden family-including dealings after Sept. 11, 2001.Charles "Chas" Freeman, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War, is slated to head the National Intelligence Council, according to multiple reports. Freeman has come under fire in the Israeli media and on some pro-Israel blogs for his sharp criticism of the Jewish state. He also reportedly heavily criticized American anti-terrorism policy.Now Ashley Rinsdberg, a Jerusalem-based researcher and blogger for the Daily Beast website has dug up another issue that may cause even bigger worry for the likely Obama appointee – he had business ties to Osama bin Laden's family and strongly defended the connections after 9/11.Rindsberg documented how as chairman of Projects International, Inc., a company that develops worldwide business deals, Freeman declared in an Associated Press interview just after the 9/11 attacks he was still "discussing proposals with the Bin Laden Group – and that won't change." The Bin Laden Group is a multinational construction conglomerate and holding company for the assets owned by the bin Laden family. It was founded in 1950 by Sheik Mohammed bin Laden, father of the terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.Freeman told the AP companies that have "had very long and profitable relationships are now running for public relations cover."He said bin Laden remains "a very honored name" in the Saudi kingdom.In a separate interview Sept. 28, 2001, Freeman told the Wall Street Journal he spoke at the time to two of Osama bin Laden's brothers following the mega terrorist attacks. He said they told him the FBI had been "remarkably sensitive, tactful and protective" of the family during the current crisis.The Journal noted Freeman's ties to the bin Laden family went beyond admiration and business. He served as president of the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington-based Saudi backed nonprofit that at time was receiving tens of thousands of dollars a year from the bin Laden family.Freeman maintained to the Journal that the bin Laden family company was closely aligned with American interests and that the group was part of the "establishment that Osama's trying to overthrow."Osama bin Laden worked briefly in his family business and is reported to have inherited as much as $50 million from his father in cash and stock. The Saudi Bin Laden Group has invested in the Carlyle Group, a global private equity investment firm to which former President George H. W. Bush served as adviser. Former President George W. Bush sat on the board.Rindsberg noted several investigations by U.S. intelligence agencies and journalists of the bin Laden family's ties to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, raising questions about the authenticity of the family's claim of distance from the terrorist chieftain.Vincent Cannistro, a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist, for example, asserts that some bin Laden factions have not disowned Osama.Also, Carmen bin Laden, a sister-in-law of Osama, told the German magazine Der Spiegel that the "Bin Ladens never disowned Osama; in this family, a brother remains a brother, no matter what he has done."By Aaron Klein
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