A FLOCK OF FLYING ELEPHANTS: The Catbird Spots Republicans!

A Flock of Flying Elephants

To see where Money and Politicians meet,
climb into the Catbird Seat

The Catbird Spots Republicans

~o~

Andrew H. Card, Jr. - White House Chief of Staff.

Card was General Motors’ chief lobbyist before leaving to work in the Bush administration. He was also CEO of the now-defunct American Automobile Manufacturers Association, which lobbied against stricter fuel emissions standards and fought over trade issues with Japan.

Card testified before Congress on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Lobbying Group against the “Passenger’s Bill of Rights.” He personally contributed $1,000 each to the losing campaigns of John Ashcroft and Spencer Abraham.

Ann Veneman - Bush’s U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Like may in the Bush cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has a long career within Republican administrations. She worked for both Ronald Reagan and Poppy Bush and then served as director of California’s Food and Agriculture Department under Governor Pete Wilson.

In California she encouraged policies that have helped giant corporate farms squeeze out family-owned farms – so that now, for example, a mere four companies process 80 percent of American-produced beef.

One of the least wealthy of the cabinet members (worth a mere $680,000), Veneman supplemented her income by serving on the board of Calgene – the first company to market genetically engineered foods to stores.

Calgene was bought out by Monsanto, the nation’s leading biotech company. Monsanto was then bought by Pharmacia.

Monsanto, which gave $12,000 to Bush’s presidential campaign, is trying to block legislation that would require food labels to identify biotech ingredients.

Veneman has also served on the International Policy Council on Agriculture, Food and Trade, a group funded by major food manufacturers such as Nestlé and Archer Daniels Midland.

For more on Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland, GO TO > > > The Biotech Birds

Colin Powell - U.S. Secretary of State.

When not fighting wars, Powell sat on the boards of Gulfstream Aerospace and AOL. Gulfstream makes jets for both Hollywood honchos and foreign governments like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

During his time at AOL, the company merged with Time Warner, and Powell’s stock rose in value by $4 million. At the time, Colin’s son, Michael Powell, had been the only Federal Communications Commission (FCC) member who advocated that the AOL/Time Warner merger go through without question.

Powell’s son has since been named chairman of the FCC by George W. Bush; part of his job is to oversee the activities of AOL/Time Warner.

He will also oversee any regulation of AOL’s monopolistic “instant messaging” technology.

Dan Burton - U.S. Representative (R) from Indiana. Chairman of the Committee for Campaign Finance Reform.

From Rediff on the Net, 1997:

US CONGRESSMEN RECEIVED ILLEGAL
CONTRIBUTION FROM KHALISTANI GROUPS

Republican Congressman Dan Burton and others who champion the cause of Khalistan in the US Congress have received campaign contributions from the Council of Khalistan -- a Washington-based organisation established 10 years ago by some militant Sikhs.

The council has funneled at least $ 65,000 to the Republican Party and several congressional candidates, including Burton, in an apparent violation of federal tax laws because the money was collected by a charitable non-profit group, says the weekly newspaper, Hill.

An investigation by the Hill has also revealed that Burton, who is heading the house investigation into campaign finance abuses, has received illegal campaign contributions directly from at least two Sikh temples.

The newspaper quotes Burton's personal attorney Joseph Digenova as saying that Burton ''does not personally review each and every cheque and if there is any problem with a cheque, it will be returned.''

Other members of Congress who have benefitted from the Sikh contributions include Gary Condit (Democrat-California) Gerald Solomon (Republican-New York), Dana Rohrabacher (Republican-California), Vic Fazio (Democrat-California), Amo Houghton (Republican-New York), Edolphus Towns (Democrat-New York), Senator Bob Torricelli (Democrat-New Jersey) and former senator Bob Dole, who unsuccessfully ran against Bill Clinton in the last presidential election.

However, the largest recipient of funds was the Republican Party, whose various campaign committees received more than $22,000 in contributions bundled by the Council of Khalistan.

Most of the recipients of this money have been allies of Burton in pro-Khalistan causes, says the newspaper.

Over the past decade, Burton has been the chief congressional proponent of the Council of Khalistan, the group whose campaign donations has helped generate growing support in Congress for a separate Sikh homeland in India.

The Hill also reveals that Burton, at the behest of the council, urged the state department to revise the extradition treaty with India, which would have the effect of making it more difficult to extradite to India terrorists arrested in the US.

It recalls that Burton's crusade grew from his personal ties to Dr Gurmit Singh Aulakh, a gregarious and persistent Sikh lobbyist whom he met in 1986.

Dr Aulakh was appointed by militant separatists the following year to be president of the Khalistan government in exile. He draws a salary of $59,000 as president of the council, a $250,000-a-year-operation, according to the newspaper.

It says at least five of Dr Aulakh's 10 co-founders, many of whom have since been killed in clashes with the Indian police, represented some of India's most notorious terrorist groups. They have been blamed for killing of hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians, and helped foment widespread violence by police and Sikh militants that led to the more than 100,000 deaths.

Dr Aulakh received contributions from Sikhs and, on behalf of the council, handed them to congressional campaigns.

This point is significant because the council is operationally indistinguishable from the International Sikh Organisation, a registered religious charity, which is prohibited by federal law from engaging in partisan activities. And taking money from such organisations is an offence.

* * *

PAKISTAN LOBBYIST’S MEMO ALLEGES
SHAKEDOWN BY HOUSE PROBE LEADER

By Charles R. Babcock, Washington Post Staff Writer, March 19 1997

An American lobbyist for the government of Pakistan complained to his client last summer that he had been "shaken down" for campaign contributions by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who now is heading a House probe of alleged Democratic campaign fund-raising abuses.

Mark A. Siegel, then a lobbyist for the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said he was approached by Burton early last year to raise "at least $5,000" for Burton's reelection campaign. When he was unable to do so, Siegel said, the congressman complained to the ambassador for the Bhutto government here and later threatened to make sure "none of his friends or colleagues" would meet with Siegel or his associates.

"I should tell you," Siegel wrote on July 25, in a two-page memo to a Bhutto aide in Islamabad, "that I worked in Washington for over 25 years and have never been shaken down by anyone before like Dan Burton's threats. No one has ever dared to threaten me into contributing money, and no one has ever followed through on such threats by contacting one of my clients.

"Despite what you may see in the movies," Siegel wrote, "this isn't the way most U.S. politicians conduct themselves."

The memo was made available to The Washington Post by a Democratic source in Congress. Siegel, a longtime Democratic activist, confirmed its authenticity in an interview yesterday.

Burton declined to be interviewed yesterday.

Kevin Binger, a top aide, said the congressman asked Siegel in early 1995 if he could raise $5,000 in campaign funds from Pakistani Americans and confirmed that Burton had mentioned Siegel's failure to do so to the Pakistani ambassador last year. But Binger said the memo "is full of egregious exaggerations and untruths," and he took issue with most of the quotes attributed to Burton.

The disclosure of Burton's complaints last year to Siegel and the Pakistani ambassador comes at an awkward time, as the congressman is taking the spotlight as chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, which is investigating alleged fund-raising abuses in last year's election campaigns.

Siegel's unusual memo was written in response to a faxed message from a top Bhutto aide, Zafar Hilaly, earlier that same day. Hilaly wrote that "we were distressed to know from the embassy that Congressman Dan Burton says that you were unable to keep certain promises regarding fundraising for his reelection campaign and that you were also very unhelpful in other matters. So much so that you are no longer `persona grata' in his office. This is most upsetting as he is good friend of Pakistan."

Rifaat Hussain, minister of information at the Pakistani Embassy here, said yesterday that senior officials at the embassy had no knowledge of the communications between Hilaly and Siegel and no record of Burton contacting the embassy about campaign donations. After Bhutto was removed from office late last year, following a corruption scandal, the ambassador involved, Maleeha Lodhi, returned to Pakistan.

Burton is a longtime member of the House International Relations Committee who co-chairs an informal caucus on U.S.-Pakistani relations. The congressman has regularly backed causes of importance to Pakistan and is a longtime recipient of campaign donations from the Sikh community. He was a key supporter of a bill that would have blocked $25 million in U.S. aid to India because of its refusal to allow human rights investigations of alleged atrocities in Punjab state, where Sikh separatists seeking a homeland they call Khalistan have battled New Delhi's security forces. Two years ago, Burton also backed an effort to lift a long-standing ban on aid to Pakistan that cleared the way for delivery of $368 million worth of U.S. missiles and other military equipment for which it already had paid.

According to Siegel's memo, in conversations last year about fund-raising efforts, Burton said that he was "owed support" and that "he had been there for Pakistan and he expected me to be there for him."

Siegel, who represented the Bhutto government in Washington for several years until her government fell, was paid $452,941 for his services for the year ending July 1995, according to his filing at the Justice Department as a registered foreign agent. A longtime Democrat, Siegel was executive director of the Democratic National Committee in the 1970s and served as a political aide in the Carter White House.

According to the memo, Siegel told Burton he "would do [his] best to try to identify Republican Pakistani-Americans who might contribute to his campaign." But it soon became clear, the memo continues, "that it was impossible to raise the funds he was asking for without the congressman's attendance at an event. When I informed him of this, he said he wouldn't attend an event for less than $10,000, and added that if I `were smart' I'd put together that much or more for him."

Siegel said he tried to organize a fund-raising event for Burton on July 15, but the plans fell through. "When I informed Congressman Burton of this he became extremely agitated and in fact abusive," Siegel's memo states. "He said if `I knew what was good for me' I'd deliver the money."

Burton contacted Lodhi directly last year, according to Siegel, to voice his complaints about the lobbyist's failure to raise money for his reelection campaign. The congressman told the ambassador, according to Siegel's memo, "that I wouldn't support his campaign . . . and she twice warned me that he was `really hot' and going after me."

Burton, through his aide, denied making any of the threats quoted in the Siegel memo or that he had "shaken down" the lobbyist. The congressman did tell Siegel, his aide said, that "if you make a commitment you should keep it."

Siegel said in an interview yesterday that he was surprised that Burton solicited him because of his background in Democratic politics. "I don't usually get fund-raising solicitations from Republican members of Congress," he said.

Asked if he would have written a similar memo about a Democratic member of Congress, Siegel said, "Yes, and I would have said, `Cool it.' "

Burton called several times early last year to check on his fund-raising efforts in the Pakistani American community, Siegel recalled in the interview, adding that "it got rough and tumble" after he told the congressman he couldn't raise the money.

Kevin Sailer, an associate of Siegel's, confirmed last night that Burton told him –– as the Pakistani aide's message suggests –– that Siegel was "persona non gratis" in the congressman's office and that "none of his friends or colleagues" would meet with Siegel or his aides. "It was an unfortunate and extraordinary circumstance," Sailer said of the confrontation with Burton.

Binger, the Burton aide, took exception yesterday to the timing of the disclosure of the congressman's conversations with Siegel and the Pakistani ambassador. "I really think this demonstrates how far people on the other side are willing to go to call into question Dan Burton's integrity because he is the chairman of the committee doing this investigation," Binger said. "It's probably not a coincidence that this came to you a couple of days before our budget is voted on."

For more, GO TO > > > WHO’s Guarding the Hen House?

Dick Cheney - Vice President of the United States of America. Former Secretary of Defense under George Bush, 1989-1993. Bloke-in-Charge of finding a running mate for George W. Bush, Jr. - who got himself selected instead.

As Private Gomer Pyle might say, Surprise! Surprise!

* * *

Quote: “The vice president is always in a very difficult position, in any circumstances ... if he challenges the president in policy meetings ... he’s viewed as disloyal.” — Dick Cheney, 1987, then vice chairman of the House committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair.

* * *

Los Angeles Times: Cheney Far Ahead of Bush on Income . . . President Bush and first lady Laura Bush reported a net taxable income of $755,682 for the year 2000, and paid $240,342 in federal income taxes, White House figures released yesterday show.

Those numbers were dwarfed by income figures released for Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, which showed the couple had an adjusted gross income of $36 million last year and paid more than $14 million in federal taxes....

Cheney’s wage and salary income included $806,332 in salary and $4,333,500 in deferred compensation and bonuses from Halliburton Co., the energy services firm where Cheney served as chief executive officer until he resigned on Aug. 16 to become Bush’s running mate.

According to the vice president’s office, Cheney also received a cash bonues of $1,451,398 from Halliburton in January. That payment will be included in his 2001 tax return.

The overwhelming balance of the remaining wage and salary income on Cheney’s tax return was from the exercise of stock options and from the sale of restricted Halliburton stock that he received as compensation, according to the White House.

The vice president also reported $1,943, 948 in short-term capitol [sic...or Freudian slip] losses, the bulk of which was incurred by the stock he and Mrs. Cheney sold to avoid conflicts of interest. The couple also reported $823,509 in long-term capital gains, the White House said.

In addition to the $41,646 that the Cheneys gave to charity, they donated the benefit of all their remaining stock options, with an estimated value of $7.8 million, to three organizations, the White House said.

The beneficiaries were identified as Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.-area educational assistance program for low-income youths; the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates; and the University of Wyoming.

Bush and Cheney would both get sizable tax cuts if Bush’s proposed $1.6 trillion tax-cut becomes law.

* * *

From The Center for Public Integrity (8/2/00): CHENEY LED HALLIBURTON TO FEAST AT FEDERAL TROUGH

State Department Questioned Deal With Firm Linked to Russian Mob

Under the guidance of Richard Cheney ... Halliburton Company over the past 5 years has emerged as a corporate welfare hog, benefitting from at least $3.8 BILLION in federal contracts and taxpayer-insured loans.

One of those loans was approved in April by the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

It guaranteed $489 MILLION in credits to a Russian oil company whose roots are imbedded in a legacy of KGB and Communist Party corruption, as well as drug trafficking and organized crime funds, according to Russian and U.S. sources and documents. . . .

High-level access

Wall Street analysts praise Cheney’s stewardship of the company and attribute his ability to attract government contracts and grants to his high-level access to the corridors of power that stems from his days as defense secretary under President George Bush. “If he becomes vice president,” according to a Halliburton official who admires Cheney but asked to remain anonymous, “the company’s government contracts would obviously go through the roof.”

If Halliburton has benefitted from government generosity, it also has reciprocated with substantial political contributions, largely to Republicans. During Cheney’s five years at the helm, the company has donated $1,212,000 in soft and hard money to candidates and parties...

As with Halliburton’s campaign donations, the company’s lobbying expenditures increased under Cheney’s watch. In 1996, the company spent $280,000 on lobbying. In 1997, the company increased those expenditures to $360,000, to $540,000 in 1998, and to $600,000 in 1999. That upward trend parallels the increasing success Halliburton has had in winning government contracts, loans, and guarantees under Cheney’s direction. . . .

* * *

CHENEY AS VP FACES A SERIOUS CUT IN PAY

By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY

Dick and Lynne Cheney could be in for some belt-tightening.

Should Dick Cheney become vice president after the November election, he'll earn an annual salary of $181,400, plus $10,000 for expenses. Of course, there's free limo service, Air Force Two, a house and 24/7 security, not to mention the other perks.

Lynne Cheney's 1999 director compensation packages:

American Express/IDS Funds, $95,000

Lockheed-Martin, $120,000

Reader's Digest, $50,000

Union Pacific Resources Group, $40,000

Dick Cheney's 1999 director compensation packages:

Procter & Gamble, $110,000

Electronic Data Systems, $112,500

Union Pacific, $60,000

But that pales compared with his $26.4 million compensation package last year as CEO of energy services giant Halliburton. That included $1.3 million in pay, $5.6 million in stock, and stock options valued at up to $18.9 million. Cheney also holds Halliburton shares worth $46 million at Tuesday's market close.

Lynne Cheney earned more than $300,000 last year in retainers and stock compensation as a director at defense contractor Lockheed-Martin, publisher Reader's Digest Association , energy services firm Union Pacific Resources Group and AmEx/IDS, the mutual fund arm of financial services behemoth American Express. Although federal elections and ethics office officials say there are no laws precluding Cheney from retaining her directors' posts, she'd likely resign to avoid potential conflicts of interest, says Pat McGurn, a corporate governance expert with Institutional Shareholder Services.

There is a precedent. Hillary Clinton resigned from Arkansas-based yogurt franchiser TCBY Enterprises' board after Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992. "There are inherent conflicts, but I can't remember anything like this coming up with the spouse of a vice president before," McGurn says. As vice president, Dick Cheney would be required to give up his corporate roles.

Lynne Cheney, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank, didn't return calls. Her board seat at Union Pacific Resources Group ended this month after a merger with Anadarko Petroleum.

Combined with Dick Cheney's directorships at consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, Union Pacific railroad and Electronic Data Systems, few power couples share as many directorships.

Washington powerbroker Vernon Jordan and his wife, Ann Dibble Jordan, held more than a dozen directorships in 1999, pulling in more than $1 million in board retainers. Former Trade representative Carla Hills and her husband, Rod Hills, a former Securities and Exchange Commission member, held seven seats.

Ex-politicians and government appointees are popular choices for corporate boards for their contacts, expertise and celebrity status....

* * *

Acting President/ “Vice President” – Dick Cheney

I’m not sure yet where the “compassionate” part of “compassionate conservatism” comes from, but I do know where the conservatism resides.

For six terms Dick Cheney was a congressman representing Wyoming, and he had one of the most conservative voting records of all 435 members of Congress. Cheney voted against the Equal Rights Amendment, against funding the Head Start program, against a House resolution calling for South Africa to release Nelson Mandela from prison, and against federal funding for abortions even in cases of rape or incest.

And the record doesn’t stop there. Cheney has had his hand in all of the recent Republican administrations, including that of Richard Nixon, when he was deputy White House counsel under Don “Rummy” Rumsfeld. He replaced Rumsfeld as President Ford’s chief of staff. Under George Bush I, Cheney was defense secretary, leading the country in two of the largest military campaigns in recent history: the invasion of Panama and the war against Iraq.

In between Bush regimes, Cheney was CEO of Halliburton Industries, an oil services company that has dealings with repressive governments like Burma and Iraq.

During the 2000 campaign, Cheney denied that Halliburton had a business relationship with Saddam Hussein. Then, in June 2001, the Washington Post revealed that in fact two Halliburton subsidiaries were doing business with Iraq.... Halliburton has a major construction deal in the development of Mexico’s Cantarell offshore oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

When nominated for the vice presidency, Cheney hemmed and hawed about divesting himself of his Halliburton stock. I guess he knew that good times were still to come....

For more on Halliburton, GO TO > > > The Sinking of the Ehime Maru

Don Evans - Bush’s Secretary of Commerce.

Before coming to the Bush administration, Evans was chairman and CEO of Tom Brown, Inc., a $1.2 billion oil and gas company. Evans also sat on the board of TMBR/Sharp Drilling.

As finance chair for Bush’s campaign, he set a fund-raising record of more than $190 million.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – which controls the country’s coastlines – falls within this oil man’s domain.

Donald Rumsfeld - U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Don Rumsfeld is an old-school Republican hawk. He was White House counsel to Richard Nixon, where he worked alongside Dick Cheney.

While serving as President Ford’s secretary of defense and then as Ford’s chief of staff, Rumsfeld was able, almost single-handedly, to kill the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union. He has consistently opposed any arms control, calling the ABM treaty “ancient history” during his 2001 confirmation hearing.

A longtime supporter of the “Star Wars” defense schemes, Rumsfeld oversaw a 1998 commission that measured the ballistic missile threat to the United States. Rumsfeld, aka Chicken Little, claimed that the United States would feel such threats from rogue nations within five years (half the amount of time the CIA predicted).

When not pushing B-1 bombs or MX missiles, Rumsfeld has been CEO of the G.D. Searle pharmaceutical company (now owned by Pharmacia) and General Instrument (now owned by Mororola).

Before joining the Bush administration, he sat on several boards, including Kellogg’s, Sears, Allstate and the Tribune Company (which publishes the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times and owns a chain of TV stations, including New York’s Channel 11).

For much more, GO TO > > > Nests in the Pentagon

Elaine Chao - Bush’s Secretary of Labor.

Chao has worked primarily in the nonprofit sector with United Way and the Peace Corps, but has also sat on the boards of Dole Food, Clorox, and health care companies C.R. Bard (who pleaded guilty in the 1990s to manufacturing faulty heart catheters and conducting illegal experiments on the devices) and the behemoth Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). She also sat on the board of Northwest Airlines.

She is married to conservative Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos - In February 1986, Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda fled the Philippines. They took with them billions of dollars stolen from the Philippine people.

It took the Swiss banks thirteen years to return some of this stolen loot. The vast bulk of it is still missing.

* * *

From marcosbillions.com:

CRIMES OF FERDINAND MARCOS

Ferdinand E. Marcos was President of the Republic of the Philippines from Nov 1965 until his flight from the Republic in Feb 1986. In an act of infamy, on 21 Sept 1972, Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines and then imposed an unjust dictatorship.

Ferdinand Marcos’ corrupt activities commenced while he was a congressman and head of the import control board, which allowed him to gather large bribes in return for approving import licenses.

As congressman, Marcos soon became a millionaire largely based on his 10% cut from government deals. When Marcos became President, he acquired an epic appetite for bribery. What distinguished Ferdinand Marcos from other Filipino corrupt politicians was the scale of his corruption. He was not bound by the “socially acceptable” norms of plunder.

The Marcos rule was economically disastrous for the Philippines. The causes of this are varied, and were greatly facilitated by the abuses of the Marcoses and their cronies....

~ ~ ~

MARCOS’ FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO U.S. POLITICIANS

Sensitive documents allegedly detailing Marcos’ political payments were seized in 1986 by U.S. Customs, but were never disclosed to the American public.

Monies from the Philippines Intelligence Funds were channeled through cut-out companies for election campaigns of several Presidential candidates and various Californian politicians.

Sources suggest that Marcos also blackmailed U.S. politicians by deliberately transmitting US-aid money back to their election war chests.

In May 1987 while in exile in Hawaii, Marcos was secretly tape recorded by Richard Hirschfeld, a Virginia-based lawyer. Investigative journalist Malone referred to these tapes in a seminal article:

“What made US officials even more nervous, however, were Marcos’ tape recorded claims of continuing influence over several high-ranking US officials at the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House. Marcos, according to sources, had even talked about having made illegal campaign contributions to President Reagan himself.” . . .

“When Hirschfeld’s tapes fell into the hands of Congressman Stephen Solarz of New York, the chairman of the House foreign affairs sub-committee, he was asked by Frank Carlucci, who was then Reagan’s national security adviser, to postpone a planned hearing for reasons of ‘national security.’

After one postponement Solarz decided to go ahead with the hearings, but he agreed to delete what he later characterized as ‘scurrilous segments about Reagan and other government officials’.”

Even today no comprehensive investigation has been carried out into the allegations of Marcos’ secret financial contributions to U.S. politicians.

~ ~ ~

IMELDA MARCOS’ NEW YORK TRIAL - On 21 Oct 1988 Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda Marcos, arms billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and several accomplices were indicted by a US grand jury in New York on federal racketeering charges. Ferdinand died before trial while Imelda and her accomplices were acquitted of all charges.

The failure of this prosecution represented a huge blow to the Philippines government which believed that a US-based conviction could be used to recover Marcos assets in England, Hong Kong, Cayman Islands, Switzerland and Singapore.

This was no ordinary prosecution and was undermined by political obstacles, including the following:

> > The Reagan administration’s instructions to Rudolph W. Giuliani, the US attorney initially in charge of the case and also a member of the Republican party, to cancel a planned investigative trip to Switzerland to gather evidence on Marcos’ Swiss transactions, on the grounds of “national security.”

>> The actual indictment was narrowed in scope to include “less sensitive” charges such as bank fraud, real estate fraud, fraudulent conveyance of property and obstruction of justice. Charges which were potentially damaging to the Republican administration and which would have shocked an American jury — such as misuse of US economic and military aid to the Philippines, theft of multimillion dollar loans from US banks to the Philippines treasury, laundering of gold through US financial institutions and illegal contributions to US politicians — were removed from the original indictment.

>> The US Justice Department imposed a requirement that the indictment of Marcos must be approved in advance by the US State Department and the White House. This led to a delay in the approval of the indictment which only occurred after an exchange of letters between President Reagan and Marcos on 20 Oct 1988, a day before the actual indictments were filed. By this time it was clear that Ferdinand Marcos would never actually face trail because he was terminally ill.

After the lengthy trial and the production of thousands of documents, the New York jury unanimously acquitted Imelda and her associates. . . .

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. - Frahrenkopf served as Chairman of the Republican Party during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. He is currently the President and CEO of the American Gaming Association, and co-chairs the Commission on Presidential Debates.

From PBS Frontline:

EASY MONEY-Interview with Frank Fahrenkopf

Frontline: Tell me about the Arthur Anderson Job Study. What did it tell you?

Fahrenkopf: One of the arguments that anti-gaming activists have made for years, is that gambling tends to be ... cannibalistic. That when it comes into a community, it doesn’t create any new wealth ... it just takes money away from other business. ... Arthur Anderson did a macro economic study of the United States ... and found that is not the case. ... the disposable of the income of the American people has gone up dramatically, and gaming is only taking a very, very small part of that. ... And, in fact, what it has done ... it has actually helped other businesses. Now, that’s not to say, that if a casino comes into a community and opens up and it has wonderful restaurants that, you know, some guy who’s had a family restaurant down the road for a hundred years, hasn’t been able to compete. ... But that’s no different than if a new mall comes into a community. ... When that new mall comes into a community, that old theater that was once there; the old shoe store; the old restaurant are likewise going to suffer. I mean, it happens to be a free market, capitalist system....

Frontline: Critics who have looked at that study say, “Arthur Anderson— that’s the same firm these guys have been using for years. Those are made-up numbers because they were paid to make the study.”

Fahrenkopf: Of course they’re going to say that. What we say is, fine— take a look at the Arthur Anderson numbers. If you think they’re wrong, show where they’re wrong. ... For a long time, the opponents used economic models that were created by a couple of university professors that ... led to the conclusion that the social costs of gaming exceeded the economic benefit. You don’t need to rely on economic models anymore. Go to where the rubber meets the road, where we’ve had gaming in some of these jurisdictions. . . .

Frontline: [Las Vegas] was always called Sin City for a reason. They were all the sins that you could do in one single place. . . .

Fahrenkopf: But, you know, I’ve lived in a couple places around the country. There are prostitutes in New York. There are prostitutes in Orlando. There are prostitutes in Miami. There are prostitutes in a lot of places. Ant that’s also an industry that’s been around a long, long time. And, as to whether or not it’s more attractive to places where there’s gambling, inherently, than there where are other— I mean, many military bases there’s not a lot of gambling going on, but you’ll find a lot of prostitutes around military bases where you have large numbers of men. . . .

Frontline: Tom Grey says, “You people are predators. You’re predators.” Are you predatory?

Fahrenkopf: That’s part of the cannibalization argument that he’s constantly making. I always say to Tom, “Tom, it’s easy to say that, but put your money where your mouth is — from the standpoint, what evidence do you have? Let’s put it up. ... But, again, the anti-gaming people represented by Frank Wolfe and the Tom Greys of the world ... it’s primarily moralistic. Now, they changed their tune. They learned, about three or four years ago, that arguing that it’s unmoral to gamble— that wasn’t selling with the American people. Most American’s resent other religious leaders or other— trying to tell them what they should or should not do. . . .

I’m a Knight of Malta in the Catholic church. I mean, I don’t need Tom Grey or some other people in religion telling me what’s right or wrong. You know? ...

For more, GO TO > > > The Game Birds

Gale Norton - Bush’s Secretary of the Interior.

Gale Norton is already following in the footsteps of her mentor and predecessor, James Watt. She started her legal career with the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative environmental think tank funded by oil companies and founded by Watt. Working closely with this group, Norton helped the state of Alaska challenge an Interior Department fisheries law. She has declared the Endangered Species Act unconstitutional and written legal opinions against the National Environmental Protection Act.

As a lawyer with Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber, Norton represented Delta Petroleum and lobbied for NL Industries (formerly known as National Lead) while it defended itself in lawsuits over children’s exposure to lead paint.

She was also national chairwoman of the Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates, a group funded by Ford Motor Company and BP Amoco.

For more, GO TO > > > Heavens and Earth; Thorns in the Rose Garden; U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs

George Bush - The 41^st President of the United States of America (1988-1992).

From The Laundrymen:

During George Bush’s presidency, the CIA went into the coke-smuggling business.

Using a cutout in Venezuela, in 1990, the agency adroitly smuggled a ton of pure cocaine into the United States. The idea was to use it to snare traffickers. Instead, it wound up being sold on the streets, a fact that came to light only three years later, thanks to the investigative skill of the CBS television program “60 Minutes.” . . .

* * *

From COMPROMISED - Clinton, Bush and The CIA: A Date with Death: . . .

Barry Seal had become the most important informant in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration and had tied the Sandinista government together with the Medellin Cartel.

As a result of leaks from Oliver North and the White House, the cartel had put a $500,000 price on Seal’s head. In addition, Seal had handed the DEA three of the best drug cases it had ever had, testifying as the government’s chief witness.

The DEA was winning plaudits from the White House over the Sandinista “sting,” but Seal had been left twisting in the wind. While he was undeniably a major asset for the DEA ... he was now a major liability for the CIA and George Bush because of the knowledge he had confided to Terry Reed about Bush’s sons. . . .

~ ~ ~

Feb. 19, 1986, turned out to be the last day of Barry Seal’s life. His blood, along with pieces of flesh and bone, were splattered all over the interior of his car. The Baton Rouge police report, in cold official language, described what happened to him that day: “Autopsy determined the cause of Seal’s death to be multiple gunshot wounds fired by an automatic weapon,” the crime report said. “Three rounds entered Seal’s upper torso, and four entered the left head. Some fifteen rounds were recovered at the murder scene.” . . .

~ ~ ~

Since the Air America reunion at Marr’s house two months earlier, the “over-the-hill gang” was getting their act together. ... On Sept 13, 1986, they had managed to put five planes in the air simultaneously and, on one night alone, 10,000 pounds of supplies had been dropped deep into Nicaragua into the hands of “freedom fighters” . . .

Bob Dutton, who was reporting to Oliver North from the field, said that more than 180,000 pounds of supplies had been dropped successfully. But in the Reagan administration’s rush to accomplish the aerial delivery effort, there were lapses in security that would soon impact on the Reeds and compromise the Enterprise’s operations. Their lifestyle in Mararitaville would literally come to a crashing halt.

Oct 5, 1986, was a cool night on the north shore of Lake Chapala, and the Reed family was just preparing for a sweater-weather barbecue when the claxon rang at the compound’s front gate. It was a strangely sober, and somber, Mitch Marr standing outside the iron gate. “I guess you heard the news? ... ‘

A confused Terry just stared at him, wondering what on earth was going on.. “What’s the matter, Mitch?” . . .

“His name is Hasenfus. He was ‘the kicker’ on the plane— you don’t know, do you? ... I forgot, you don’t have satellite TV . . . COOPER’S DEAD! He got shot down.”

After a long pause, Marr sighed and continued. “Some commie shit put a heat-seeker up his ass and his 123 went down in flames. . . .”

After another pause, Marr turned to a briefing mode.

“But I guess this guy Hasenfus survived the crash, and the commies got him. . . .”

Though Terry didn’t know it at that moment, words like Iran-Contra and Irangate were being written by newspaper editors everywhere. As Hasenfus was being pulled out of the jungle on a leash by a Sandinista soldier, political shockwaves were beginning to reverberate around the world.

Back in the White House, damage control was already under way.

There would be a flurry of questions about why a C-123 military cargo plane registered to a CIA proprietary in Miami had been shot down that day in Nicaragua with gringos and guns aboard.

There were, of course, responses from Washington:

President Ronald Reagan said, “There is no connection with that (between the U.S. and the shootdown) at all. He lied.

Vice President George Bush said, “This man (Hasenfus) is never— is not working for the United States government. He lied.

Assistant Secretary of State Elliot Abrams said, “Let me repeat flatly that there was no U.S. government involvement in this . . . direct, indirect, provision of material financing, whatever you want to call it . . . none.” He lied.

Eugene Hasenfus, the survivor and now a prisoner in Managua, told it somewhat differently. “I worked for the CIA, who did most of the coordination of these flights.” He had a rope around his neck. He told the truth.

The covert supply operation had turned overt, and Oliver North was heading for the shredder. . . .

* * *

From The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider, by Al Martin:

INSIDER STOCK SWINDLE FOR “THE CAUSE”

I’d like to interject at this point the infamous case of the Peruvian Gold Certificate Scam, engineered in 1988 by George Bush, Sr.

George, himself, was involved, and so was his counsel C. Boyden Gray. Helping in this fraud was George’s personal friend and very loyal Republican scamskateer, then Nevada Secretary of State, Frankie Sue DelPapa. . . .