More Bu$h & Republican war profiteering

[Bob]

I wish America would just wake up and realize what's going on. Read this...

The BAE Axis into Riggs, Carlyle and BushIncrease DecreaseJuly 4, 2007 (LPAC)--Covert billions that the British poured into American bank accounts of former Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, originating with the BAE Systems-Saudi Arabia Al-Yamamah deal went through Washington DC-based Riggs Bank, as recent headline coverage in the British press on the BAE scandal has revealed. Our investigation is now bringing to light a nexus of action and an institutional interlock between Riggs Bank, the host of the BAE slush funds; the Bush-family-tied Carlyle Group, which is the U.S.-based corporate partner of BAE; and the Bush networks in government.John Carter Beese, Jr. , a veteran of the Bush-connected Baltimore investment bank Alexander Brown & Sons over most of a 20-year span, was a pivotal figure in the founding of the merger-and-acquisition giant private equity fund, Carlyle Group.Beese's contacts with the Bush networks go back at least as far as 1980, when he was the financial co-chairman of George Herbert Walker Bush's failed Presidential bid. It was at that time that Beese is said to have met Bush's Texas friend Joe Allbritton , just when Allbritton was buying into Riggs Bank. Bush had previously become director of Allbritton's Houston Interstate Bank after leaving his post as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1976. Allbritton would eventually control 41% of Riggs' stock, and Beese would become a Riggs executive in 1998.Beese, who committed suicide earlier this year, began his career with Alexander Brown in 1978, directly after graduating from Rollins College in Florida, where he had befriended Dubya's brother Marvin. Beese evidently became the protege of Alexander Brown's chief executive A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard , and by 1987, at the age of 30, Beese had become a principal of the Brown firm.That same year, 1987, Beese became a founding director of the Carlyle Group, along with a small handful of people closely aligned with then-Vice President George H. W. Bush.Beese was central in arranging the funding for Carlyle, which likely ran through Alexander Brown, and, reportedly, Mellon networks.After helping to create Carlyle, Beese then shifted into the federal government, taking a George H.W. Bush appointment in 1990 as the director of the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC), an office which directs government aid to U.S. corporations doing business abroad.In 1992, Beese became a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he was "a strong voice for 'market-based solutions' to securities regulatory issues."In other words, he sought to essentially abolish the organization he was working for. In 1994, with this experience under his belt, Beese went back to Alexander Brown.In 1998, after having previously carrying out a bond sale for them through Alexander Brown, Beese joined Riggs Bank directly. Beese convinced his old friend Joe Allbritton to set up a $100-million venture capital division called Riggs Capital Partners, which Beese then chaired. While not much is known about this division's activities, this is just after Riggs had absorbed J. Bush & Co., the private banking business of Dubya's uncle (George H.W. Bush's brother) Jonathan Bush. Jonathan Bush had founded his business in 1970, with the explicit intent of "provid[ing] discreet banking services for the Washington D.C. embassies."Investigators would later report that it was in 1998 that overseers first began to note irregularities in Riggs' activities.In 2001, Beese became a director of Riggs, with specific responsibility for compliance issues--in other words, keeping the bank clear of regulatory oversight.

Now read this...

McConnell marks funds for contractorFIRM UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR BRIBERYBy John ChevesJCHEVES@HERALD-LEADER.COM Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and suspected by American diplomats of a "longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations."McConnell tucked money for three weapons projects for BAE Systems into the defense appropriations bill, which the Senate approved Oct. 3. The Defense Department failed to include the money in its own budget request, which required McConnell to intercede, said BAE spokeswoman Susan Lenover.BAE is based in Great Britain but has worldwide operations, including a Louisville facility that makes naval guns and employs 322. McConnell has taken at least $53,000 in campaign donations from BAE's political action committees and employees since his 2002 re-election. United Defense Industries, which BAE purchased two years ago, pledged $500,000 to a political-science foundation the senator created, the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville.In June, BAE confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating possible corruption in its Saudi Arabian deals. According to British media reports, BAE set up a slush fund with hundreds of millions of dollars in a Washington, D.C., bank to bribe Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan in order to win weapons contracts. Bandar, who heads the Saudi National Security Council, has denied the allegation.BAE cannot discuss the allegation, Lenover said."We can't really comment on it because it's an ongoing investigation," Lenover said. "We're continuing to cooperate."Since BAE publicly disclosed the federal investigation, causing its stock to drop nearly 8 percent, its chief executive officer has announced his retirement earlier than expected and the company retained Britain's former lord chief justice to lead an internal ethics review.Although the current controversy focuses on Saudi Arabia, internal records from the U.S. State Department reveal that diplomats also have worried about how BAE won weapons contracts in South Africa, Austria, Tanzania and Qatar.In a 2002 briefing memo, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Janice Bay told a colleague to "ask what the British government has done to investigate allegations of bribery by BAE, not only in connection with recent projects, but in connection with older contracts for which bribe payments may still be ongoing.""This volume of allegations about one company would have triggered a Department of Justice Criminal Division long ago," Bay wrote. Bay's memo, and other State Department documents related to BAE, are posted on the Web site of the British newspaper The Guardian.The British Serious Fraud Office later opened its own investigation of BAE's Saudi deals. But Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered the case closed last year, citing potential damage to British-Saudi relations and possible disclosure of military secrets.Justice Department spokeswoman Jaclyn Lesch said she could not comment on, or confirm, her agency's investigation. In 2002, BAE and another defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, agreed to pay the Justice Department $6.2 million to settle a False Claims Act case involving defective equipment they sold to the Navy.McConnell spokesman Don Stewart did not respond to repeated requests for comment.Ethics watchdogs say they're surprised McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, would continue to give earmarks and take donations from a corporation in hot water with his own government. McConnell should keep his distance, said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."Most politicians decide that a scandal is a good time to stop doing business with a company, at least until the scandal is over," Sloan said. "Particularly when we're talking about a criminal investigation over bribery. You would think that a member of Congress would want to steer clear of anyone accused of bribery."Even without the scandal, it looks bad for a senator to earmark federal money for a corporation, as compared to a public university or a local government in his state, said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center in Washington."Why did they need special favors from Senator McConnell instead of going through the usual open competition and budgeting process at the Pentagon?" Boehm asked.Nor should McConnell take donations from a company to which he steers federal funds, said Boehm, a former Republican congressional aide."Contributions from entities that directly benefit from earmarks are a bad idea," he said. "There's a big difference between a company that just likes your general ideas and a company that stands to benefit from one or more transactions that you're making on their behalf using public money."McConnell's earmarks include $12.2 million for five-inch Naval gun mount overhauls; $8 million for Naval destroyer weapons modernization; and $4.8 million for ammunition pallets for Naval ships.The defense appropriations bill awaits action by a Senate-House conference committee that will iron out differences between bills from the two chambers before sending one bill to President Bush for his signature. Members of the conference have not been chosen, but McConnell sits on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that controls defense spending.

McConnell is one of the worst scums in Congress. He is right up there with Larry Craig and Joe Lieberman. They are kiss ass Senators that sell their soul for the devil (Bu$h). The Bu$h family and their war profiteering friends just keep ringing the cash register. On the other hand, I still wish Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would grow a spine.

[Pennyworth]

Bob,

I know that its hard to show spine when one or two are outnumbered by scum Look what happened to the JFK Assassination the last 44 years...time will tell what will happen...

[Bruce Patrick Brychek]

Wednesday09.18.20196:33 p.m.,Chicago, Illinois time:Dear JFK Murder Solved Forum Members and Readers:06.27.2007 - Mr. Bob Fox, our Outstanding Moderator and Member who is also and Original Member of the JFK Murder Solved Forum, Originally Posted this Powerful Headline and Analytical, Connective,Probative Material.09.19.2019 - Fast Forward to Today. How many of the names, organizations, The Military IndustrialCorporationS, Saudi Arabia, etc., are PRECISELY RELEVANT TODAY AS WE DEAL WITH INCREASING ISSUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST ?A FEW NAMES HAVE CHANGED, BUT THE THEME REMAINS THE SAME.REMEMBER - THERE IS NO PROFIT IN PEACE !JFK knew that, yet sought to change that.JFK is still dead !We still have Wars and/or The Threat of New Wars daily - literally.As always, I strongly recommend that you first read, research, and study material completely yourself about a Subject Matter, and then formulate your own Opinions and Theories.Any additional analyses, interviews, investigations, readings, research, studies, thoughts, or writings on any aspect of this Subject Matter ?Bear in mind that we are trying to attract and educate a Whole New Generation of JFK Researchers who may not be as well versed as you.Comments ?Respectfully,BB.