Exposed: The Carlyle Group and corruption in Republican adminstrations

existenceexistence
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A new Dutch documentary has surfaced on the internet.



http://www.informationclearinghouse....rticle3995.htm



It's 48 minutes long and the first 1:47 are in Dutch. I found it quite interesting, but not suprising.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 45
    akumulatorakumulator Posts: 1,111member
    No comment... for fear of my own government.
  • Reply 2 of 45
    existenceexistence Posts: 991member
    The latest news of the US not contracting companies for Iraq reconstruction outside those that "risked lives" in the war adds a lot to the credibility of this documentary.
  • Reply 3 of 45
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    I tried to watch the video. It played for about 5 minutes and then quit on me. Can you offer a summary? Lemme guess "Carlyle Group is bad because they are a private business that works on defense contracts and lobbies the government like any other major business or labor group."
  • Reply 4 of 45
    rageousrageous Posts: 2,170member
    Here's a summary:



    Republicans are corrupt evil beings. Every single one of them. May they all perish in a conflagration of purification.
  • Reply 5 of 45
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    rageous.



    You're weird.
  • Reply 6 of 45
    rageousrageous Posts: 2,170member
    why's that?
  • Reply 7 of 45
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    Maybe you guys should do a little checking to see who's actually been in the employ of the Carlyle group.



    As well as Haliburton/Brown&Root and Bechtel.
  • Reply 8 of 45
    rageousrageous Posts: 2,170member
    No need, because I already know it's Republicans. And I also know that no Democrat has ever worked for any big company and later used their political position to get handouts for their former employer. So why bother furthering that angle?
  • Reply 9 of 45
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    And apparantly you're ok with that.



    Profiteering from a war... and you don't think that foreign countries look at how in bed this administration is in with the contractors and think it reaks of corruption?



    And it's not just everyday republicans.
  • Reply 10 of 45
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    Bechtel's CEO, Riley P. Bechtel, currently serves on the President's Export Council. [New York Times, 4/18/03; Corpwatch, 4/24/03]Ê



    *\tJack Sheehan, a senior vice-president with Bechtel, serves on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board [Profile]. [Sydney Morning Herald, 4/16/03]



    *\tRoss J. Connelly, a 21-year veteran of Bechtel Group, is the chief operating officer for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). [Corpwatch, 4/24/03] Connelly left Bechtel in 1995. [Bechtel, 4/29/03]



    *\tGeorge Schultz worked for Bechtel for 6 years as the vice-chairman of three of Bechtel?s subsidiaries before becoming president of the company.Ê Shortly after assuming his new position in Bechtel, President Reagan invited him to Washington to be his secretary of state.Ê His friendship with Bechtel has continued to the present day as he currently sits on its board of directors.Ê (Lippman 6-26-1982; Riccio 1989; Montague 2000; Bechtel n.d. Web Site)



    *ÊReagan?s Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinburger was a former Bechtel general counsel.Ê (Lippman 6-26-1982; Riccio 1989; Montague 2000)



    ÊW. Kenneth Davis was a Bechtel vice-president for nuclear development before he was appointed as Reagan?s deputy secretary of Energy and head of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).Ê (Lippman 6-26-1982; Riccio 1989; Montague 2000; Yaron 5-2000)



    *ÊWilliam Casey a former Bechtel consultant served in a number of government positions including chairman of the SEC under Nixon, head of the Export-Import bank under Ford, and director of the CIA under Reagan.Ê .Ê (Riccio 1989; Montague 2000)



    *ÊRichard Helm, who later became a ?consultant? to Bechtel, had earlier been a CIA director under Nixon.Ê .Ê (Riccio 1989; Montague 2000)



    *\tÊPeter Flannigan, a White House political advisor for Nixon later moved on to being a senior partner in the Bechtel-owned investment house Dillon, Read and CompanyÊÊ (Montague 2000)



    *\tÊWilliam Simon, Nixon?s Treasury secretary, was hired by Bechtel as a consultant. (Montague 2000)



    *\tÊSam Ruosso, who had been employed by one of Bechtel?s affiliates, was appointed to the Department of Energy Evaluation Board and oversaw the awarding of a $1 billion construction contract to a consortium led by a subsidiary of Bechtel less than a year after he had been employed by Bechtel.Ê On this occasion however Bechtel lost the contract when the U.S. Court of Claims nullified it because of the obvious conflict of interest.Ê (Riccio 1989)



    *ÊRoss Connelly, former CEO of Bechtel Energy Resources Corporation, was appointed by George Bush in June of 2001 to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) as its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. The OPIC is a U.S. government agency that provides risk insurance and loans to American businesses.Ê (Bechtel n.d. OPIC?s Executive Staff: Ross J. Connelly)



    *ÊStew Burkhammer, a current Bechtel executive, is presently a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration?s (OSHA) Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health.Ê OSHA is the U.S. government agency charged with protecting the interests of workers by enforcing health and safety laws in the workplace.Ê (Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health n.d. Web page)



    *\tJoanne White, vice-president of Bechtel International, Inc. is a board member of the U.S. - Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.Ê Amcham, as it's called, is a "private, non-profit business organization representing the interests of present and potential U.S. investors in Azerbaijan. Established in 1996, Amcham is committed to the principles of ethical business practices, free trade, open markets, private enterprise, and the unrestricted flow of information. During its brief existence, The American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan has established itself as the principal organization representing Western business interests in Azerbaijan." (Amcham n.d. Website)Ê While it may indeed be a 'private organization', it does have close connections to the Bush administration.Ê Richard Armitage, current deputy secretary of state was a former co-Chairman of its board, and the law firm of Bush's close friend James Baker is a long time member of the organization.
  • Reply 11 of 45
    homhom Posts: 1,098member
    Ok, so I just watched the entire thing. Basically it is an expose on what the Carlyle Group is doing, but since the CG is a privately held company there is no real factual evidence. Most of it implies that the CG has some tremendous and unprecedented amount of control over US policy. The CG was responsible for getting an unwanted missile platform passed in the DoD budget, completely overhauling the South Korean foreign investment rules, getting a Congresswomen that spoke up about the conflict of interests booted out of office, Sept. 11, and the Iraqi war.



    Did I miss anything?
  • Reply 12 of 45
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    *\tDick Cheney - He previously served as Halliburton's CEO prior to becoming the U.S. vice president.Ê He is also a former secretary of defense.Ê According to his 2001 financial disclosure statement, Halliburton is obligated to make annual "deferred compensation" payments of "less than $180,000" for the five years following his resignation in 2000. [CorpWatch, 3/20/03; Newsweek, 4/7/03] According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, Cheney was paid $205,298Ê in deferred salary by Halliburton in 2001, and $162,392 in 2002. As of September 2003, Cheney still owned 433,000 Halliburton stock options. The report concluded that these commitments and holdings are "considered among the 'ties' retained in or 'linkages to former employers' that may 'represent a continuing financial interest' in those employers which makes them potential conflicts of interest." [Washington Post, 9/26/03; CNN, 9/25/03]



    *\tRichard Armitage - He was formerly a paid consultant to Halliburton prior to his current position as deputy secretary of state.Ê (Chatterjee 5-2-2002a)



    *\tAdmiral Joe Lopez -The retired four star general and former commander in chief for U.S. forces in Europe is now the hired 'go-between' between Halliburton and the U.S. government.ÊHe was hired on the recommendation Richard Cheney.Ê (Chatterjee 5-2-2002a; Gerth and Van Natta 7-13-2002)



    *\tLawrence Eagleburger - Prior to being a Halliburton director, he had served under Bush Senior as the deputy secretary of defense.



    *\tCharles J. Fiala, a former operations officer for KBR had been with the Department of Defense for 35 years. (Gerth and Van Natta 7-13-2002)
  • Reply 13 of 45
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    http://www.hereinreality.com/carlyle.html
  • Reply 14 of 45
    brbr Posts: 8,395member
    Here's a hint you dopey democrats. Stop playing up the conspiracy theories and instead demand to know where the hell Osama is. That's a slightly better angle with which you can attack bush.
  • Reply 15 of 45
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    Yeah.



    Where the hell is Osama?



    Oh right... hanging out in the only islamic state that has a nuclear weapon.
  • Reply 16 of 45
    pensievepensieve Posts: 661member
    I have a really hard time understanding how people could deny the impropriety we've seen under this administration. No, other administrations were not without fault, but that's a strawman argument that I'm not going to get into.



    This is, without a doubt, the most corrupt US presidency I've ever seen. And the denial is astounding. I HOPE the US populace wakes up to this before it's too late.
  • Reply 17 of 45
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by chu_bakka

    Yeah.



    Where the hell is Osama?



    Oh right... hanging out in the only islamic state that has a nuclear weapon.



    Osama who?



    Wasn´t he caught the other day?
  • Reply 18 of 45
    brbr Posts: 8,395member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    Osama who?



    Wasn´t he caught the other day?



    Yeah. Saddamma Bin Laden was caught the other day. Nothing to see here people, move along. 4 more years.
  • Reply 19 of 45
    chu_bakkachu_bakka Posts: 1,793member
    Right! Saddam bin Laden Hussein was responible for 9/11. Glad we went into Iranq to catch the sombitch.



    There's only one guy right?
  • Reply 20 of 45
    verbal assassinverbal assassin Posts: 74member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rageous

    Here's a summary:



    Republicans are corrupt evil beings. Every single one of them. May they all perish in a conflagration of purification.



    You sir are a dumbass. All politicians are corrupt, the whole United States government is. Crawl in a hole moron democrat.
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