I'm still not sure how to assess the latest update from Daniel Hopsicker, but I nevertheless urge everyone to read what he has to say. As an appetizer, he connects Wally Hilliard, the ultra-mysterious "flight school" owner linked to Mohammed Atta, with Adnan Khashoggi.

Hopsicker goes on to report that Khoshoggi has a large stake in at least one company used to count the votes. And that's where matters get really interesting.

Khashoggi's name, as most of you will know, comes up often in parapolitical research -- see the Wikipedia article here, to get just the barest taste of it. Any number of news reports have tied Khashoggi to Iran-contra, to "Poppy" Bush, to BCCI -- and even to a cadre of high-level escorts servicing the world's richest men. (Never underestimate the "hooker factor" in cementing American relations with the Saudi royal family.)

Khashoggi also has a notable preference for naming his companies "Triad."

Was Adnan Khashoggi a principal in a company which has been counting the votes of American servicemen overseas? Answer: highly likely.

Both Election.com, and Triad, the election company cited for causing most of the problems in Ohio, should receive close scrutiny for evidence of Khashoggi involvement.

While there has been no suggestion of it anywhere in the media, the name "Triad" was used extensively by Khashoggi at exactly the same time (the early 80's) and in exactly the same place (Palm Beach, Florida) as the "Triad Governmental Systems" involved in Ohio's current election "difficulties."

Khashoggi owned a number of companies named "Triad."

Khashoggi owned "Triad International Marketing."

Northrop, the Los Angeles-based aircraft and electronics manufacturer, owes Triad International Marketing, S.A., a Liechtenstein corporation controlled by Khashoggi, $31 million in commissions on sales to the Saudi air force," reported the L.A. Times on August 29, 1987.

Khashoggi owned "Triad America."

Hopsicker goes on and on in this vein, listing Triad after Triad under Khashoggi control. (Triad is also mentioned in the Wikipedia article.)

You may be particularly struck to learn of Khashoggi's ownership of Triad Farms in Kentucky, which played a prominent role in the massive drug ring described in a book called "The Blue Grass Conspiracy." Although that volume was one of the best works on true crime to hit the bookstores during the last couple of decades, it did not go far enough. The same crime ring (which seems to have had high level protection) had ties to the China Lake naval weapons station, not to mention the murder of a judge by Charles Harrelson. (Yes, I am talking about the convicted father of actor Woody Harrelson -- where do you think Woody got that maniacal gleam in his eye? -- and yes, this is the same Charles Harrelson who once claimed to have participated in the JFK assassination.)

Hopsicker also uncovers a 1988 election incident in which Triad employees behaved in a fashion suspiciously similar to that which we observed more recently in Ohio.

According to Jackie Beville, a former employee of the Supervisor of Elections in Hillsborough County, Triad workers adjusted the software to clear up a ballot-counting problem shortly before the election, and the machinery should then have been recertified following the work.

When questioned, she was told that Triad workers were just fixing problems caused by a lightning strike.

Beville disputes that the weather had anything to do with the repair work

Hmm. Does that fortuitous "lightning strike" remind anyone of a certain "bad battery" incident in Ohio?

One thing Hopsicker does not mention is that this is not the first time Adnan Khoshoggi's name has cropped in connection with a dubious Dubya election. Back in the year 2000, Slate published a piece by Timothy Noah titled "Did Adnan Khashoggi Throw the Election to Dubya?" Noah's piece, written for Slate's "Chatterbox" column, is, for the most part, written in a humorous and even snide vein. Still, he does note the verifiable fact that Theresa LaPore -- remember her? -- was a Khashoggi employee before she played a role in the Florida election scandal.

"And not just Triad," says Hopsicker -- who goes on to make a few further points that I cannot help quoting:

Election.com should be examined for the invisible hand of the Saudi financier and CIA “fixer.”

News reports stated Election.com was owned by an offshore Saudi front company in Bermuda consisting of five unnamed Saudi billionaires, until scrutiny forced a sale to Accenture, the remnants of the disgraced and disbanded Arthur Anderson, the accounting firm which made Enron possible.

Many have expressed mixed feelings about Hopsicker's work in the past, but the Khashoggi-Triad connection is one that we should be able to firm up. And once we do -- well, the election controversy rockets to a whole new level.

Incidentally, you can hear an interview with Hopsicker here. The interview is far more discursive and amorphous than the afore-cited article -- frankly, it sounds like the sort of thing you might hear from a couple of old conspiracy buffs kicking back brewskis -- but it is still worth a listen.

As I said, I'm still unsure what to make of all this. But I encourage readers to check and double-check Hopsicker's work. If you can take his argument further, great. If you want to knock his work down, great. But let's get a discussion going!