Bush's "soft on drugs" profile went further. In the Pakistan-Afghanistan theatre, for
example, it was apparent that certain pro-Khomeini formations among the Afghan
guerillas were, like the contras, more interested in trafficking in drugs and guns than in
fighting the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul and the Red Army forces that maintained it in
power. There were reports that such activities on the part of such guerilla groups were
seconded by parts of the Pakistani secret intelligence services, the Inter-Service
Intelligence, and the National Logistics Cell. According to these reports, Bush's visit to
Pakistan's President Gen. Zia ul-Haq in May, 1984 was conducted in full awareness of
these phenomnena. Nevertheless, Bush chose to praise the alleged successes of the Zia
government's anti-narcotics program which, Bush intoned, was a matter of great
"personal interest" to him. Among those present at the banquet where Bush made these
remarks were, reportedly, several of the officials most responsible for the narcotics
trafficking in Pakistan. [fn 2] But there is an even more flagrant aspect of Bush's conduct
which can be said to demolish once and for all the myth of the "war on drugs" and
replace it with a reality so sinister that it goes beyond the imagination of most citizens.
Those who follow Bush's frenetic sports activities on television are doubtless familiar
with Bush's speedboat, in which he is accustomed to cavort in the waters off his estate at
Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine. [fn 3] The craft in question is the Fidelity, a
powerboat capable of operating on the high seas. Fidelity is a class of boat marketed
under the brand name of "Cigarette," a high-priced speedboat dubbed "the Ferrari of the
high seas." This detail should awaken our interest, since Bush's profile as an Anglo-
Saxon aristocrat would normally include a genteel predeliction for sailing, rather than a
preference for a vulgar hotrod like Fidelity, which evokes the ethos of rum-runners and
smugglers.
The Cigarette boat Fidelity was purchased by George Bush from a certain Don Aronow.
Bush reportedly met Aronow at a boat show in 1974, and decided to buy one of the
Cigarette boats Aronow manufactured. Aronow was one of the most celebrated and
successful powerboat racers of the 1960's, and had then turned his hand to designing and
building these boats. But according to at least one published account, there is compelling
evidence to conclude that Aronow was a drug smuggler and suspected drug-money
launderer linked to the Genovese Purple Gang of New York City within the more general
framework of the Meyer Lansky organized crime syndicate. Aronow's role in marijuana
smuggling was reportedly confirmed by Bill Norris, head of the Major Narcotics Unit at
the Miami US Attorney's office and thus the top federal drug prosecution official in south
Florida. [fn 4]
Aronow numbered among his friends and acquaintances not just Bush, but many
international public figures and celebrities, many of whom had purchased the boats he
built. Aronow's wife was said to be a former girlfriend of King Hussein of Jordan.
Aronow was in touch with King Juan Carlos of Spain, Lord Lucan (Billy Shand-Kydd, a
relative of Princess Diana's mother), Sir Max Aitken (the son of British press baron Lord
Beaverbrook), Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Eastern Airlines chairman
and former astronaut Frank Bormann, Kimberly-Clark heir Jim Kimberley, Alvin Malnik
(one of the reputed heirs to Meyer Lansky) and Charles Keating, later the protagonist of