Some dots are now connected

Ronald Reagan · #1 10-20-2004, 03:11 PM

It was odd that the Carlyle group denied charges that didn't exist last week. However, it now seems they were contacted for comment around that time. A pre-emptive strike, I suppose.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i...01&s=klein

Anyway, to sum up, James Baker (as a US envoy) decided to stick the US taxpayers with $30 bil of Iraq's debt so he could get a cut. Got to love the Rep's! There's also red meat on the dem's. Unforutunately, I'm afraid this stuff is far less of an abberation, than most may believe.

Ronald Reagan · #2 10-20-2004, 03:36 PM

For the actuaries who won't do the math:

Carlyle & Baker were ready to stick it to you for $200 each, so they could have $10-20 of that for themselves.

Irony: Shekky just saved himself $200 in taxes, thanks to a Nation writer. Say thanks, Shek.

krank · #3 10-20-2004, 04:08 PM

That is truly depressing, thanks for posting.

2pac Shakur · #4 10-20-2004, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2pac Shakur

Quote:

Well, ho ho ho! It's an early Christmas for James Baker III.

All year the elves at his law firm, Baker Botts of Texas, have been
working day and night to prevent the families of the victims of the
September 11 attack from seeking information from Saudi Arabia on the
Kingdom's funding of Al Qaeda fronts.

It's tough work, but this week came the payoff when President Bush
appointed Baker, the firm's senior partner, to "restructure" the debts of
the nation of Iraq.

And who will net the big bucks under Jim Baker's plan? Answer: his
client, Saudi Arabia, which claims $30.7 billion due from Iraq plus $12
billion in reparations from the First Gulf war.

PUPPET STRINGS

Let's ponder what's going on here.

We are talking about something called "sovereign debt." And unless
George Bush has finally 'fessed up and named himself Pasha of Iraq, he is
not their sovereign. Mr. Bush has no authority to seize control of
that nation's assets nor its debts.

But our President is not going to let something as trivial as
international law stand in the way of a quick buck for Mr. Baker. To get around
the wee issue that Bush has no legal authority to mess with Iraq's
debt, the White House has crafted a neat little subterfuge. The official
press release says the President has not appointed Mr. Baker. Rather
Mr. Bush is "responding to a request from the Iraqi Governing Council."
That is, Bush is acting on the authority of the puppet government he
imposed on Iraqis at gunpoint.

I will grant the Iraqi 'government' has some knowledge of international
finance; its key member, Ahmed Chalabi, is a convicted bank swindler.

The Bush team must see the other advantage in having the rump rulers of
Iraq pretend to choose Mr. Baker; the US Senate will not have to review
or confirm the appointment. If you remember, Henry Kissinger ran away
from the September 11 commission with his consulting firm tucked between
his legs after the Senate demanded he reveal his client list. In the
case of Jim Baker, who will be acting as a de facto US Treasury
secretary for international affairs, our elected Congress will have no chance
to ask him who is paying his firm.… nor even require him to get off
conflicting payrolls.

This takes the Bush administration' Conflicts-R-Us appointments process
to a new low.

Or maybe there's no conflict at all. If you see Jim Baker's new job
as working not to protect a new Iraqi democracy but to protect the loot
of the old theocracy of Saudi Arabia, the conflict disappears.

Iraq's debt totals something on the order of $120 billion to $150
billion, depending on who's counting. And who's counting is VERY important.

Much of the so-called debt to Saudi Arabia was given to Saddam Hussein
to fight a proxy war for the Saudis against their hated foe, the Shi'ia
of Iran. And as disclosed by a former Saudi diplomat, the kingdom's
sheiks handed about $7 billion to Saddam under the table in the 1980's to
build an "Islamic bomb."

Should Iraqis today and those not yet born have to be put in a debtor's
prison to pay off the secret payouts to Saddam?

James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, says 'No!' Wolfensohn
has never been on my Christmas card list, but in this case he's got it
right: Iraq should simply cancel $120 billion in debt.

Normally, the World Bank is in charge of post-war debt restructuring.
That's why the official name of the World Bank is "International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development." This is the Bank's expertise.
Bush has rushed Baker in to pre-empt the debt write-off the World Bank
would certainly promote.

"I FIXED FLORIDA"

Why is our President so concerned with the wishes of Mr. Baker's
clientele? What does Bush owe Baker? Let me count the ways, beginning with
the 2000 election.

Just last week Baker said, "I fixed the election in Florida for George
Bush." That was the substance of his remarks last week to an audience
of Russian big wigs as reported to me by my somewhat astonished
colleagues at BBC television.

It was Baker, as consiglieri to the Bush family, who came up with the
strategy of maneuvering the 2000 Florida vote count into a Supreme Court
packed with politicos.

Baker's claim to have fixed the election was not a confession; it was a
boast. He meant to dazzle current and potential clients about his Big
In with the Big Boy in the White House. Baker's firm is already a top
player in the Great Game of seizing Caspian Sea oil. (An executive of
Exxon-Mobil, one of Baker Botts's clients, has been charged with evading
taxes on bribes paid in Kazakhstan.)

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Over the years, Jim Baker has taken responsibility for putting bread on
the Bush family table. As Senior Counsel to Carlyle, the arms-dealing
investment group, Baker arranged for the firm to hire both President
Bush 41 after he was booted from the White House and President Bush 43
while his daddy was still in office.

Come to think of it, maybe I'm being a bit too dismissive of the Iraqi
make-believe government. After all, it's not as if George Bush were
elected by voters either. It would be more accurate to say that TWO
puppet governments have agreed to let the man who has always pulled the
strings come out from behind the curtain, take a bow, take charge -- then
take the money and run.

***
Hear Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, today on
Amy Goodman's Democracy Now. And listen to "WEAPON OF MASS INSTRUCTION
- PALAST LIVE AND UNCENSORED," the CD from Alternative Tentacles,
available this week only at www.GregPalast.com.

http://actuary.ca/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=397118#397118

Ronald Reagan · #5 10-20-2004, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krank

That is truly depressing, thanks for posting.

Sorry, that it's a downer. However, this stuff only ends when it's exposed. Then, the cockroaches have to hide further under their rocks when doing such deals. So, on the upside, it's progress that it's coming out, however depressing it really is.

Edited to add:

If you haven't yet guessed, the deals off the table.

I'm still waiting for Fallout, EB, and Shekky to write a thank you to the Nation...

krank · #6 10-20-2004, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronald Reagan

Quote:

Originally Posted by krank

That is truly depressing, thanks for posting.

Sorry, that it's a downer. However, this stuff only ends when it's exposed. Then, the cockroaches have to hide further under their rocks when doing such deals. So, on the upside, it's progress that it's coming out, however depressing it really is.

Edited to add:

If you haven't yet guessed, the deals off the table.

I'm still waiting for Fallout, EB, and Shekky to write a thank you to the Nation...

So many cockroaches though and from all parts of the political spectrum. Ah the power of the mighty $ unites us all.

Ronald Reagan · #7 10-20-2004, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krank

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronald Reagan

Quote:

Originally Posted by krank

That is truly depressing, thanks for posting.

Sorry, that it's a downer. However, this stuff only ends when it's exposed. Then, the cockroaches have to hide further under their rocks when doing such deals. So, on the upside, it's progress that it's coming out, however depressing it really is.

Edited to add:

If you haven't yet guessed, the deals off the table.

I'm still waiting for Fallout, EB, and Shekky to write a thank you to the Nation...

So many cockroaches though and from all parts of the political spectrum. Ah the power of the mighty $ unites us all.

As I've said before, when it comes to foreign policy, we have only one party.

fallout · #8 10-20-2004, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronald Reagan

Quote:

Originally Posted by krank

That is truly depressing, thanks for posting.

Sorry, that it's a downer. However, this stuff only ends when it's exposed. Then, the cockroaches have to hide further under their rocks when doing such deals. So, on the upside, it's progress that it's coming out, however depressing it really is.

Edited to add:

If you haven't yet guessed, the deals off the table.

I'm still waiting for Fallout, EB, and Shekky to write a thank you to the Nation...

I haven't read your link, but I thank anyone that contributes to government spending and my taxes going down. So thank you whoever you are, for whatever you did, if the result was this.

Wally · #9 10-21-2004, 10:55 AM

Fallout wrote:

Quote:

I haven't read your link, but I thank anyone that contributes to government spending and my taxes going down. So thank you whoever you are, for whatever you did, if the result was this.

With apologies for changing the subject, Fallout, you may need to pay closer attention to current Republican economic policy. There is no longer any connection between government spending & tax rates. As our VP so elequently stated, "deficts don't matter."

#10 10-21-2004, 01:03 PM

I'm so glad no one involved with this war has any conflict of interest.

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