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Ecuadoran candidate jokes about Bush's alleged ties to bin Laden clan
AFP
QUITO
Petroleumworld.com 11 24 06
Ecuador's leftist presidential candidate Rafael Correa on Thursday defended his friendship with Venezuela's controversial leader, joking that US President George W. Bush was friendly with Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's family.
"(Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez is my friend. What's the problem with that? Bush is friends with the Osama bin Laden family," Correa said at a news conference three days before the presidential runoff election that pits him against conservative billionaire Alvaro Noboa.
"Everyone is free to chose his friends," he said.
In the controversial documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," filmmaker Michael Moore alleged strong business connections between the Bush family and the family of bin Laden, which runs a huge global construction corporation and has close ties to Saudi Arabia's royal family.
Author Craig Unger also claims in his book "House of Bush, House of Saud" that Salem bin Laden, a relative of the Al-Qaeda leader, invested in a company run by the US president.
Noboa has accused Correa of being a pawn of Chavez, a fierce critic of the US administration, whose plans to expand Venezuela's self-styled revolution have caused controversy in Latin America.
AFP 23 1706 GMT 11 06
Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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