The Center for Empowered Learning and Living or the CELL is the first museum dedicated specifically to the subject of terrorism. The CELL opened in downtown Denver on September 11, 2008. The CELL encourages participants to shed their preconceived notions on the ideologies and aims of international terrorism. Its   exhibit, “Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: Understanding the Threat of Terrorism”, features gruesome images of dead women and children, along with a fictionalized portrayal of Denver being attacked by terrorists. The CELL features consultants and donors like former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. The CELL uses rhetoric and imagery to convey a political ideology, encouraging support for legislation like the PATRIOT Act and the FISA legislation.

The CELL is primarily funded by wealthy real estate magnate Larry Mizel of MDC Holdings, Inc, one of the nations largest real estate developers. Mizel has gained a reputation as a key fundraiser and political power broker on both a state and national level. Mizel was investigated for his role in creating fraudulent contracts to launder political contributions to Denver Mayor Fredrico Pena as a kickback for the development of Denver International Airport [1].He came under scruitny for his relationships to “Junk Bond King” Michael Milken, power lobbyist Norman Brownstein, Charles Keating’s Lincoln Savings and Loans, and most notably Neil Bush’s Silverado Savings and Loans, for which Mizel was intimately involved[2]. Mizel is also a founding contributor to the Simon Wiezenthal Center, which in a presentation to the House, listed Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, a scientific body studying the collapse of the World Trade Center, as affiliated with radical jihadist as an example of a domestic terror organization.

Larry Mizel’s associates and past actions certainly deserve close scrutiny when establishing his intent in creating the Center for Empowered Living and Learning. The network of culprits surrounding the S&L crisis robbed millions of investors and tax payers alike, and many of the key players in this scandal were left unaccountable. Norman Brownstein has played a key role in this network as a partner in the firm Brownstein Farber Hyatt and Schreck, which has as many as two employees affiliated with the CELL. A former board member at Mizel’s MDC, author Peter Brewton has described Brownstein as, “one of the most influential political fundraisers in Colorado,” who “has worked with the junk bond industry, including many companies which issued bonds through Drexel Burhnam”[3].  Drexel Burhnam’s CEO Michael Milken was the first non-MAFIA affiliated organization to be prosecuted under the federal RICO statues.

Historian Webster Tarpley terms the network surrounding Keating, Mizel, and Milken as the “Leveraged Buy-Out (LBO) Mob”, for a its role in a string of hostile takeovers orchestrated through financing from S&L’s and junk bonds. A close examination of the LBO Mob yields stunning results when considering a related financial scandal the BCCI, also known as “The Drug Bank” . Many of the key players from BCCI- including Roger Tamraz, Tolat Othman, Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, Abbas Gokal, and Adnan Khashoggi- had intimate financial ties to characters within the LBO Mob, including Charles Keating and Michael Milken[4]. In fact, Iran-figure, arms and drug trafficker. and Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi came under the scrutiny of the SEC for failing to make margin calls to the company of Milken’s former office manager[5]. Charles Keating also had ties to BCCI figures as he was a co-defendant in a law suit with Iran-Contra figure Abbas Gokal[6].

BCCI has been exhaustedly studied by many researchers, who have produced uncanny connections between the money laundering empire of BCCI and the phenomenon of international terror. French authors Brisard and Dasquie have concluded that, “after dominating the financial news through the 1990s, the BCCI is now at the center of the financial network put in place by Osama bin Laden’s main supporters”[7]. Author Peter Dale Scott, has thoroughly documented the BCCI’s role  the primary cut-out between the CIA and the financing of the Afghan War in the 70’s and 80’s, the international drug trade, and the Iran-Contra Scandal [8].

Given these revelations and the interlocking nature between intelligence, finance, drug trafficking, and terrorism, Mizel, Brownstein, and others should certainly be challenged on their motives for financing the six million dollar terror museum.  The CELL uses fear-based imagery and disinformation to prompt support of police state measures and a revamped cold war mindset among policy makers. Clearly Mizel and his network of cronies were tied into a larger network who actually created terrorism. The question remains, however--who are the real terrorists?


Notes
[1]  Beaty, Jonathan. “Rush for Gold: How Silverado Operated” TIME Magazine. August 13, 1990.
[2] Dowbenko, Uri. “Inside the Bush Crime Family”. Media Bypass Magazine.December, 1999.
[3] Brewton, Peter. The MAFIA, CIA, and George Bush. S.P.I. Books: New York. 1992.
[4] Freudenhiem, Milt. “Federal Jury Orders Keating to Pay Investors $3.3 Billion” The New York Times. July 11, 1992.
[5] http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2007/34-55527.pdf
[6] http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=2nd&navby=case&no=967290
[7] Brisard, J. and Dasquie, G. The Forbidden Truth: U.S.-Taliban Secret Oil Diplomacy, Saudi Arabia and the Failed Search for bin Laden. Nation Books: Paris. 2002.
[8] Scott, Peter Dale. The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire and the Future of America. UC Press: Berkley. 2007.