Thanks for this; there's a book just recently reviewed widely, on this very subject. One of my favorite "bits" about this sort of connection comes from the mid-1990's, up until I don't know when. Osama Bin Laden's Uncle, I believe, held a large minority stake in the second largest airport in the Houston area for some time. Edmund Burke spoke about "the students of Machievell" in the 1780's. "To such as these," he said, "periods of peace are merely interludes, in which to gather forces and plot the next war, which is their method for maintaining power over their peoples."