Bush and Blow

Before Fortunate Son was published in the fall of 1999, James Howard Hatfield spent a year researching and writing his biography on George W. Bush, which he titled "Lone Star Rising." Most political junkies knew that Bush and his father were plotting a return to power, and a massive money machine had been constructed in Texas for that purpose.

By 1998, Hatfield had been out of prison for four years and transformed his life. He'd fulfilled a childhood dream and become a published author, writing celebrity biographies and an encyclopedia on the X-Files. Now he wanted his agent to find a publishing house for the Bush book. St. Martin's Press signed a contract a few months later and told Hatfield the title would have to change. Eventually, they agreed on Fortunate Son, taken from a Creedence Clearwater Revival song.

By 1998, I'd spent a year living in Houston, attempting to investigate the Bush family. The Bush Presidential Library had just opened. I rented a cheap apartment and found a job writing for the alternative weekly The Public News.

I went to Houston hoping to uncover the truth behind President George H.W. Bush's last-minute pardon of Islam P. Adam, a Pakistani national who was caught smuggling $1.5 million worth of heroin. Why would President Bush pardon Adam on Jan. 18, 1993, two days before leaving office? The story received little press at the time. Unfortunately, the Bush Library did not have a copy of the pardon or any paperwork regarding Adam.

In Houston, there are contacts everywhere. The most fascinating source I met, Mr. Fly, had known the Bush family since 1962. Mr. Fly, a fighter pilot in World War II, was drafted into the Office of Strategic Services, and later became a CIA agent.

"The reason President Bush pardoned that heroin dealer was because he was dealing for the CIA. The drug cartels, the banks and these oil companies all back the Bush family. Look what happened in Texas since little Georgie took over. Any teenager in Texas can get all the hard drugs they want. They have this campaign in their back pocket. The real election is in the shadows of those sky-rise offices downtown."

Mr. Fly was referring to oil row, downtown Houston, were all the "big boys," Exxon, Mobil and Enron, the flashy new kid on the block, hold their board meetings. "You'll see, ain't nothing gonna stop them this time. These oil companies want to run everything. They're worse than the Nazis." The oil companies, Mr. Fly explained, rose to power on the toil and destruction of World Wars I and II, and with the help of the CIA, killed Kennedy and forced Johnson into Vietnam. What is so special about the Bush family? "It's the family network of power: Wall Street, the big banks and the CIA."

Mr. Fly met and socialized with George Herbert Walker Bush from 1962 until 1964. The reason corporate America backed Bush Sr. is because "he'll do whatever the big boys want. And so will his son."

"Infiltration is only one way to expose them," Mr. Fly informed me. "They'll only spill their guts if they trust you."

I thought about Mr. Fly's suggestion. After a few days of contemplation, I decided to give it a shot. I decided to pose as a Republican sympathizer. My father was active in the Republican Party since 1964, a Wall Street attorney and a financial backer of Reagan/Bush in 1980.

I called the office of former President Bush in Houston and requested an interview. His chief of staff, Michael Dannenhauer, called me back to give me the bad news.

"I'm sorry, President Bush will not be available for an interview," he told me.

"That's OK, to be honest I'm just floating until I find a better job. I moved to Texas because I thought it was so conservative, but the paper I got my job at might as well be the Village Voice," I replied." "They want me to find out why your boss pardoned some guy from Pakistan 48 hours before he left office. I'm sure it's all easily explained, but they see some scandal. Is there anyway you could look into it so I can get it off the table?"