In Search of Universal Love
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Facts: The war against Iraq is not an U.N. authorized war, nor has war been declared against Iraq by the U.S. Congress, as is required under the U.S. Constitution. The war drives originates with people in high positions who have been alleged to have personal financial interests in the operation of war, apart from their ideological roots in the fascist dogmas that Adolf Hitler grew out of.
[Source: The Center for Public Integrity, 3/29 - ] A REPORT ON THE CORRUPTION IN THE DEFENSE POLICY BOARD WAS COVERED ON BILL MOYERS PBS SHOW "NOW", AND IN ALL THE PRESS. Chuck Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity reviewed the report released yesterday called: "Advisors of Influence: Nine Members of the Defense Policy Board Have Ties to Defense Contractors." The nine, including Richard Perle, who resigned as Chairman but is clinging to his position on the Board, are board members or executives, or lobbyists for, companies which received $76 billion in defense contracts for 2001-02. Lewis pointed out on the Moyer show that the members of this unpaid, but highly influential Chickenhawk nest in the Defense Department, must file disclosure forms with the Pentagon's Standards of Conduct Office, but they are secret, and apparently ignored. Beside the Perle scandals, which are growing by the day and will not go away with his ducking out as Chairman, the CPI reports: *Ret. Adm David Jeremiah, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is on the board of five corporations, including DigitalNet with Perle, with $10 billion in contracts; *Ret. Gen. Jack Sheehan, former NATO Supreme Commander, is now senior VP at Bechtel, George Schultz's outfit, which is the favored company to get the contract to rebuild Iraq; *James Woolsey, former CIA director and leading utopian, VP of Booz Allen Hamilton, with over $1 billion in defense contracts over 2001-02; *Chris Williams, former advisor to Rumsfeld and Trent Lott, now a lobbyist for Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and TRW, nearly $50 billion in contracts; *Ret. Adm. William Owens, described as the architect of the "Revolution in Military Afairs" fantasies at Defense, and sits on the board of numerous tech companies that profit from that shift in U.S. military policy; *Ret. Gen. Ronald Fogleman, former Air Force Chief of Staff, now on the board of eight companies with nearly $3 billion in defense contracts over the last two years; Philip Merril (John Hopkins), Harold Brown (RAND and Philip Morris), and James Schlesinger (Mitre). March 14 (EIRNS) - CHENEY IS EXPOSED TOO: RICHARD PERLE HAS BECOME A LIABILITY WITH THE EXPOSE OF TRIREME'S DEALINGS IN PARIS AND MARSEILLES to get $100 million in Saudi money. As reported in Seymour Hersh's {New Yorker} article March 17, Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar (who has been the Ambassador for the last two decades) said that Perle's approach came off as an attempt of "blackmail" to end the attacks (fueled by Perle's cronies and think tanks) on the Saudis. In a discussion with associates today, Lyndon LaRouche said that there are some who want to bring down Perle as the way to bring down the Iraq war policy, which has been Perle's obsession since Desert Storm, and his 1996 authorship of the "Clean Break" paper for Netanyahu. Perle was working the Saudi operation on Cheney's behalf, but now Perle has become a liability. Perle's questionable business operations have a parallel in Cheney's connection to Halliburton, which presents an even greater show of conflict of interest. According to Pacifica Radio's report in January 2003, Halliburton -- the company which was headed by Cheney until the Presidential election in 2000 -- gave him a $20 million golden parachute, and is making {billions} of dollars from the war on terrorism and the drive for war on Iraq. Halliburton is one of the major American companies bidding on contracts for "post-war" reconstruction of Iraq. So far, $900 million in contracts are on the line, and the figures are expected to soar into the billions if Iraq is attacked by American military "shock and awe" methods. There's one small additional detail: Halliburton is currently paying Cheney $1 million a year in deferred fees (part of his $20 million). According to news accounts in the London {Guardian} and elsewhere, a division of Halliburton called KBR, also known by the name Kellogg Brown & Root, is doing U.S. defense and anti-terror government work "building cells for detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It feeds American troops in Uzbekistan. And near the Turkish/Iraqi border, Halliburton helps run three military bases." In July, reported Pacifica, the {New York Times} wrote "that Halliburton is the only company that has a contract with the Army that has an unlimited budget." The {Times} said that "KBR is the exclusive logistics supplier for both the Navy and the Army, providing services like cooking, construction, power generation, and fuel transportation. The contract recently won from the Army is for 10 years and has no lid on costs." But Halliburton is also up to its ears in shady dealings with Enron, and with charges that it overbilled the U.S. government. It has already paid $2 million in fines.
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21 (EIRNS)- EIR'S BILL JONES CONFRONTED PERLE WITH HIS `CONFLICT OF INTEREST' PROBLEM. ``I realize that your new buddy, Laurent Murawiec, has run to your defense on this issue, but isn't it really a major problem with your involvement in the Trireme company, which may very well profit off the Iraq reconstruction operations? Given the obvious impropriety in that, aren't you prepared to either resign from Trireme Group or leave your position with the Defense Policy Board in order to avoid a conflict of interest?'' The generally unflappable Perle was a bit taken aback at the question from an audience which he probably thought would contain only ``friendlies.'' ``Given the obscure reference for those who don't have the taste for Sy Hersh that you obviously have, no, there is no conflict at all between my involvement in an investment fund and my service on the Defense Policy Board. Almost everyone who serves on a government advisory board in an unpaid position has a private business life. There are rules that govern life under these circumstances. I subscribe to those rules. I implement those rules. And any suggestion to the contrary is simply false.''
[source: Newsweek, Michael Hirsh, 3/29] NEWSWEEK REVEALED THAT CHENEY'S HALLIBURTON IS TRYING TO HIDE, BY DROPPING OUT OF THE RUNNING FOR THE SUPER IRAQI RECONSTRUCTION CONTRACT. Announced as one of the five companies bidding for the $600 million-plus contract, which was to be decided this past week but has been delayed, Halliburton is now ducking out of the public bid, worried about its rapidly collapsing image, including especially in the Mideast. Of course, it is Cheney who is being protected, as with the Perle resignation. Haliburton will nonetheless get in on the spoils of war as a subcontractor. Newsweek points out that the granting of a contract last week to Halliburton subsidiary KBR, to restore oil infrastructure in southern Iraq, was granted without any other company being allowed to bid -- which is being investigated by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). An even bigger fight is brewing over the U.S. refusal to allow bids for any of the contracts from foreign companies. Even the British were cut out of the port contract for Umm Qasr, despite the fact that the British military is playing a leading role there. WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21 (EIRNS) EIR'S BILL JONES CONFRONTED PERLE WITH HIS `CONFLICT OF INTEREST' PROBLEM. ``I realize that your new buddy, Laurent Murawiec, has run to your defense on this issue, but isn't it really a major problem with your involvement in the Trireme company, which may very well profit off the Iraq reconstruction operations? Given the obvious impropriety in that, aren't you prepared to either resign from Trireme Group or leave your position with the Defense Policy Board in order to avoid a conflict of interest?'' The generally unflappable Perle was a bit taken aback at the question from an audience which he probably thought would contain only ``friendlies.'' ``Given the obscure reference for those who don't have the taste for Sy Hersh that you obviously have, no, there is no conflict at all between my involvement in an investment fund and my service on the Defense Policy Board. Almost everyone who serves on a government advisory board in an unpaid position has a private business life. There are rules that govern life under these circumstances. I subscribe to those rules. I implement those rules. And any suggestion to the contrary is simply false.'' WASHINGTON, DC, March 27 (EIRNS) -- PERLE IS THINKING ABOUT QUITTING THE DEFENSE POLICY BOARD, ANNOUNCED REPORTER SY HERSH THURSDAY AFTERNOON, at a Middle East forum opposing the Iraq war at Georgetown University, which was attended by EIR. Hours later it was officially announced, Perle had resigned as chairman of the Defense Policy Board -- and Rumsfeld accepted the resignation, but asked him to stay on as a member. On March 17, Hersh's article ``Lunch with the Chairman,'' revealed the first piece of a corruption scandal about Perle's creation of ``Trireme,'' a company that profits off of wars, and security threats, especially following the 9/11 attacks. On March 21, the cover story of {EIR} exposing both Perle, and his godfather, Dick Cheney, called for Perle to be ousted -- as well as Cheney. In the last two weeks, other pieces of the file on Perle's alleged profiteering began to spill out in a tidal wave of investigation reports: a $725,000 payment from Global Crossing telecommunications giant; a private briefing to Goldman Sachs about the wars in Iraq AND North Korea, the defense contracts of a British firm, Autonomy. As one Washington source, who strongly opposes the neo-cons, put it, on hearing the news, ``This is just the beginning. As Lyn said, get the rest of the rascals out of there.''
LEESBURG, March 27 (EIRNS)-- AL JAZEERA NETWORK INTERVIEWED EIR'S JEFF STEINBERG ABOUT THE RESIGNATION OF RICHARD PERLE, this evening by telephone. The questions were, first, about the conflict between Perle and the U.S. uniformed military, and secondly, about the allegations of corruption against Perle, and whether Perle's motivation for pushing the war was financial. |