Guest Tom Scully Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 (edited) John, The answer might be Thomas F. Ellis, but I cannot link him directly to Blackwater. Is the answer, Richard DeVos, father-in-law of Erik Prince's sister? The problem is that almost no one cares or concerns themselves with what is so obvious, if one takes even a quick glance. Epperson and his CNP brothet-in-law Edward Atsinger III, own most of the right wing talk radio personalities and townhall.com, and the delivery medium, Salem Comm. : They have a page like this for each state, and they've dominated the republican party for 30 years: http://www.azgop.org/calltalkradio.asp Council for National Policy Executives & MembersAmbassador Holland H. Coors; Mr. Rich De Vos; Mr. Thomas F. Ellis; ... Ann Drexel, Stuart Epperson, Ed Feulner, Foster Friess, Preston Hawkins, Thomas Hess, ... http://www.seekgod.ca/cnpexecutives.htm The article below, from Saturday's The Standard in Hong Kong, links Ed Fuelner and the Heritage Foundation to the Abramoff Scandal. As you may remember from one of my prior posts, I stated that the sociopaths took over the conservative movement in 1974, when Joseph Coors of Coors Beer Company funded the founding of the Heritage Foundation by Ed Fuelner and the Committee for A Free Congress by Paul Weyrich. So it appears now that the sociopaths and the opportunists have merged into what is becoming one of America's biggest scandals. Saturday, January 28, 2006 The Standard in Hong Kong http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_print.a...amp;sid=6399044 The wave of corruption allegations sweeping through Washington's highest echelons has washed into Hong Kong business. Zach Coleman and Chaim Estulin investigate The sign on the door of Suite 401 of the Baskerville House office building in Central has changed. The same folks are believed to be in the office, but a political drama on the other side of the world is disrupting their work. Washington loves a scandal and almost daily revelations about lobbyist Jack Abramoff's influence machine have gripped political mavens worldwide. The troubles of Abramoff, now under indictment, and his close friend, United States Congressman Tom DeLay, who has also been indicted on an unrelated matter and has stepped down as Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives, threaten to swamp the Republican machine in corruption investigations. Less well known is that a substantial tributary of Abramoff's river of influence ran through Hong Kong. Joining the casualty list from the scandal next week will be lobbying firm Alexander Strategy Group, whose only office outside Washington was in Hong Kong. Following Abramoff's guilty plea on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion, Alexander Strategy's activities are now a focus of scrutiny by US government investigators, according to the New York Times. With business as usual impossible, the firm will officially close its doors at the end of the month. Alexander Strategy lies at the center of the web between Abramoff and DeLay. It was founded by former DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham and employed DeLay's wife and other former aides. The firm worked closely and shared clients with Abramoff. A significant avenue of cooperation ran through Hong Kong, where Abramoff's original firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, established its first overseas presence soon after he joined. At the center of the Hong Kong operation was Belle Haven Consultants, which shared space with Alexander in Central. The ties allowed Alexander to reach beyond Capitol Hill to enmesh Asian clients. In the same office was the Heritage Foundation, the US conservative think-tank best known here for naming Hong Kong the freest economy in the world in its annual Index of Economic Freedom. Through the efforts of Alexander Strategy, Abramoff and Heritage, millions of dollars flowed from Asia to Washington. Clients in turn gained access to official Washington, including President George W Bush. Since The Standard first wrote about the subject two years ago, other investigations into the Asian ventures of Alexander Strategy and Heritage Foundation have raised more questions about whether Heritage overstepped the bounds of its nonprofit status in the US and how congressional junkets to the region were accounted for and financed. Today, the Alexander Strategy and Heritage Foundation names are gone from the door of Suite 401. Belle Haven Consultant's name remains in the building and floor lobbies. This little-known firm was formed as a for-profit entity by Edwin Feulner, Heritage's co-founder and president, in 1997 together with Kenneth Sheffer, his chief personal adviser on Asia policy, according to The Washington Post. Feulner's wife, Linda, later took his place as a partner then withdrew in 2001 to serve as a paid senior adviser, the Post reported. She also served as a paid adviser to Alexander Strategy. Alexander Strategy partner Edward Stewart told the Standard in 2004 that Linda Feulner introduced his firm to Belle Haven, which subsequently acted as a subcontractor to Alexander Strategy. Belle Haven, now co-owned by Sheffer and long-time associate Beth Allison Cave, has also been a client of Alexander Strategy's lobbying business. According to US Senate records, Belle Haven has paid Alexander Strategy at least US$620,000 (HK$4.84 million) since September 2001. A review of US Justice Department records by the Washington Post found that the two companies signed a new contract in late 2004 calling for Belle Haven to pay US$840,000 over the subsequent 10 months. For three weeks that year, while Alexander Strategy represented Belle Haven, Standard Chartered Bank financed and directed part of the lobbying activity, according to Senate filings. StanChart has its own long- standing lobbyist in Washington and spokeswoman Gabriel Kwan declined to comment on the episode. It's not clear what Alexander Strategy's shutdown will mean for the Hong Kong base. According to a source, although the firm boasted of dual Washington-Hong Kong offices in a 2002 press release, it largely operated here through Belle Haven, which remains open. Sheffer and Cave operate a second company, Summit International Consultants, from the same premises. Neither Sheffer nor Cave could be reached for comment. Aside from Belle Haven, Alexander Strategy also worked with at least a half a dozen other Asia-related clients but some of the liaisons were brief. Shanghai River Resources, a Hong Kong consulting company run by Apple Daily executive and former Republicans Abroad chairman Mark Simon, hired Alexander Strategy in June 2002 to help promote a US- Taiwan free trade agreement on behalf of Taiwanese business interests but dropped the firm three months later. Simon declined to publicly discuss the fall-out, but the Taiwanese moved their business to a rival lobbying firm two months afterwards. The American Bondholders Foundation, which represents holders of bonds issued by pre-communist China, dropped Alexander Strategy in May 2002 but the filings do not indicate when the relationship started. Another client was never mentioned in Senate filings. In December 1999, Ed Buckham traveled to the Pacific island of Saipan with Michael Scanlon, another former DeLay aide, to lobby members of the local legislature there to support Benigno Fitial, a former executive of an affiliate of Hong Kong- listed Luen Thai Holdings, to be House speaker. The cash-strapped local government had suspended its pricey lobbying contract with Abramoff and Fitial supported its reinstatement. Though he came from the minority party, Fitial won the speaker's post after two legislators switched their votes. The US Congress subsequently approved funding for special projects in the two legislators' districts and the local government reinstated Abramoff's contract. Though Saipan yielded no official client for Alexander Strategy, the owners of Luen Thai and other island garment makers donated about US$500,000 to an organization called the US Family Network, which in turn paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Alexander Strategy, according to a Post investigation of the group. A similar dynamic may have been at work in Malaysia. In October 2000, Abramoff drew up a proposal on behalf of Preston Gates to assist the Malaysian government to repair an image damaged by political repression, anti- Western and anti-Semitic remarks by then-prime minister Mahathir Mohammed and the jailing of former deputy Anwar Ibrahim. The plans included a public relations campaign, the organization of pro- government interest groups in the US and exchange trips by Malaysian and American officials. Abramoff left Preston Gates soon after writing the memo, which is posted on The New Republic's Web site. By the end of 2001, Belle Haven had hired Alexander Strategy for help "promoting and advocating Malaysia's positive investment climate and business opportunities" in connection with a company called PK Baru Energy. A new group called the US-Malaysia Exchange Association also hired Alexander Strategy for support "enhancing the bilateral relationship between Malaysia and the US." Virtually all of the money Alexander Strategy reported receiving from Belle Haven related to the Malaysian advocacy. Malaysia Exchange directly paid Alexander Strategy less than US$20,000 a year, according to Senate records. Belle Haven also hired three other Washington lobbying firms, including one run by Heritage senior fellow and former US Senator Malcolm Wallop, around the same time to support its Malaysian campaign, paying them a total of US$780,000. The Standard's earlier investigation reported that two of the firms indicated that Belle Haven retained their services on behalf of Malaysia Exchange. The US Lobbying Disclosure Act requires consultants hiring lobbyists to provide the identity of their real client, according to Jan Witold Baran, a Washington lawyer specializing in lobbying law. A report by private investigators found PK Baru to be an inactive company run in part by Megat Junid bin Megat Ayob, a ruling party official and close ally of Mahathir who is also the chairman of Malaysia Exchange. Megat Junid said in a 2004 interview with the Standard that he organized Malaysia Exchange after talks with Ed Feulner, whose deputy, Sheffer, served as a director. Wallop was deputy chair. "We felt strongly when Bush won the presidency it was time to establish closer economic and social connections between the two countries," Megat Junid said. Sheffer told the Post, "These guys wanted to hire some people to figure out how can we start to improve our relationship with the US." The new group generated fast results. In 2001, DeLay and three other congressmen traveled to Malaysia with their spouses on a trip officially sponsored by Heritage. Wallop, who went on the trip, told Time magazine that Belle Haven's financial involvement was more important to the trip than Heritage's. In the following months, more congressmen made their way to Kuala Lumpur and senior Malaysian officials began beating a path to Washington, an interchange that climaxed with Mahathir visiting the White House in May 2002, his first state visit in eight years. "We did a good job to create a good atmosphere between the two leaders," said Megat Junid, who was part of the delegation. During Mahathir's visit, two House members who had recently traveled to his country launched an official Malaysia Trade, Security and Economic Cooperation Caucus. Though in past years Heritage had been publicly critical of Mahathir, Feulner hosted a dinner reception to honor the prime minister. The Post, citing a former Heritage official, said Feulner that year pushed his staff to boost Malaysia's ranking in the Index of Economic Freedom, but the group denied such intervention. Abramoff may have earned a return from coming up with the Malaysia action plan. A US Senate committee last year released an invoice for US$300,000 sent to the Malaysian Embassy in Washington by the American International Center in 2001. Two former Abramoff associates told the Post that the center was "a front created in part to hide Abramoff's representation of Malaysia." The National Journal reported recently that the Malaysian government sent nearly US$1 million to the center in 2001 and 2002 and that the center in turn paid Greenberg Traurig, the firm Abramoff joined in January 2001 after leaving Preston Gates, US$1.5 million. Intriguingly, a firm set up by close Abramoff ally Grover Norquist was retained to lobby on behalf of Anwar, the then-imprisoned former Mahathir aide whose cause celebre was cited in Abramoff's 2000 memo as a key justification for the government to commence its Washington drive. Alexander Strategy's other big Asian client was the Korea-US Exchange Council, augmented by Universal Bearings, a company owned by the Hanwha Group of council chairman Kim Seung-youn. Kim formed the council and hired Alexander Strategy to establish himself "as the leading Korean business statesman in US-Korean relations," according to a strategy document obtained by Time. Feulner was on the council's board and Sheffer served as an adviser. The Exchange Council and Universal Bearings have together paid Alexander Strategy close to US$1 million since 2001. Kim made key headway on his goal, hosting or traveling to Washington to meet DeLay, Vice-President Dick Cheney, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and then- Attorney General John Ashcroft, among others. The junkets have come under scrutiny in part because House rules forbid members from accepting trips paid by the registered agents of foreign interests. The council registered as a foreign agent in 2001. ...I received a $15,000 grant from the Robert M Schuchman Memorial Foundation to write the book. Schuchman, while a student at Yale University Law School, was the first National Chairman of Young American for Freedom. He died at an early age while studying under Professor Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago. As to how Gerald Ford came about to endorse the book: (1) When Ford was serving as Vice President under Nixon, he sent me an unsolicited personal letter on his VP letterhead in 1974 complimenting me on "The Hundred Million Dollar Payoff." (2) On the day he became President, after Nixon resigned, the Washington Star interviewed Ford. He said in reply to a question as to what book he was currently reading, that he every night before he went to bed he spent 15 minutes reading from my book, The Hundred Million Dollar Payoff, which he described as “a very serious study on the tremendous amount of political clout organized labor has.” (3) I was invited to be the principal speaker on my book and on the political role of organized labor at an officially sanctioned luncheon sponsored by the 1976 Republican Convention in Kansas City. Before I was invited, someone in the White House telephoned me for material to support my statement that President Ford, who was to be nominated at the Convention, had praised my book. I sent that person in the White House the letter I had received from VP Ford and the Washington Star article. Once those were received, my invitation to speak was confirmed and officially announced. The University of Oregon Library Archives in Eugene, Oregon contain my personal and professional papers, which include a ticket to the luncheon bearing the sponsorship by the Republican National Convention as well as the original letter from VP Ford to me and a copy of his interview that appeared in the Washington Star. Elsewhere in the Forum I have described the moment when the Right Went Wrong. This occurred at a 1974 meeting of the Schuchman Foundation’s Board of Directors when Joseph Coors, President of Coors Beer, told the directors that they must follow his orders and those of his lackeys, Ed Fuelner and Paul Weyrich, or face retaliation. The Board refused to buckle to Coors’ demands. Subsequently Fuelner founded the Heritage Foundation and Weyrich founded the Committee for a Free Congress – both funded by Coors. These two organizations brought about the emergence of the Radical Right, which has been a calamity of the entire world and the driving force to curtail individual liberty and impose a police state. Only a few weeks ago President George W. Bush delivered a major address at the Heritage Foundation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_DeVosRichard DeVos, Sr., (born March 4, 1926, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.), educated at Calvin College, is an American billionaire and co-founder of Amway (restructured as Alticor in 2000). In 2009, Forbes magazine listed him as the 91st wealthiest person in the United States with an estimate net worth of USD$ 4.4 billion. In 2009, Forbes ranked him as the 119th richest person in the world. [1] (at one point he was in the top 10 of wealthiest Americans). DeVos is a heart transplant recipient and is the owner of the National Basketball Association's franchise basketball team, the Orlando Magic. DeVos, Sr., sat on the board of trustees of Northwood University and has sat as president on the Council for National Policy. ... ...His son, Dick DeVos, was the Republican Party nominee for governor of Michigan in 2006, but was defeated by the incumbent governor, Jennifer Granholm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_DeVos Dick DeVos (born Richard DeVos, Jr., October 21, 1955) is a businessman and Republican politician from Michigan. The son of billionaire Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, he served as CEO of the multi-level marketing consumer goods distribution company from 1993-2002. In 2005, DeVos launched the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in the history of Michigan, totaling more than $41 million.[1] Ultimately, DeVos lost on November 7, 2006, to Democratic incumbent Jennifer Granholm.[2][3][4] ....His wife, Betsy DeVos, is the sister of Blackwater Worldwide (now Xe) president Erik Prince and she is the former chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party.[7] These extremely wealthy/right wing, religious zealots have taken over the republican party, the party of the military/intelligence community. They are waging war against islam in the name of christ. Edited December 4, 2009 by Tom Scully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Richards Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 (edited) Tom beat me to the punch. Cheers, James Edited December 4, 2009 by James Richards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 I haven't read this entire thread, so appologies if someone has already posted this, from Frog. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature...ackwater-201001 Excellent Vanity Fair update on Blackwater, now called Xe, as in Xenon gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Andrews Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 (edited) That triangle of Reformed Church conservatism angled among Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Holland, MI (the latter the home of the Prince fortune and upbringing) is really something estimable, though strong liberal traditions exist in Holland. During my time there I really ought to have calculated better the correlation between the Calvinist branch of the Reformed Church (Kalamazoo-Grand Rapids) and conservatism, and taken Holland's lefty quotient with a bit of salt. Any other watchers of that neck of the woods? Edited December 4, 2009 by David Andrews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Scully Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I haven't read this entire thread, so appologies if someone has already posted this, from Frog. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature...ackwater-201001 Excellent Vanity Fair update on Blackwater, now called Xe, as in Xenon gas. http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/12/...cting-graymail/Scahill: Prince Is Conducting Graymail By: emptywheel Friday December 4, 2009 Jeremy Scahill expands the explanation he gave Rachel Maddow last night about what Erik Prince was doing with the Vanity Fair article admitting his role in the CIA (primarily) operations. "...that Prince appeared to give the story’s author, former CIA lawyer Adam Ciralsky, unprecedented access to information about sensitive, classified and lethal operations... ....While the story appears to be simply a profile of Prince, it might actually be the world’s most famous mercenary’s insurance policy against future criminal prosecution. The term of art for what Prince appears to be doing in the VF interview is graymail: a legal tactic that has been used for years by intelligence operatives or assets who are facing prosecution or fear they soon will be. In short, these operatives or assets threaten to reveal details of sensitive or classified operations in order to ward off indictments or criminal charges, based on the belief that the government would not want these details revealed." I’m most interested, though, in what Scahill says about the JSOC side of this. "...As The Nation reported, Blackwater has for years been working on a classified contract with the Joint Special Operations Command in a drone bombing campaign in Pakistan, as well as planning snatch-and-grab missions and targeted assassinations. Part of what may be happening behind closed doors is that the CIA is, to an extent, cutting Blackwater and Prince off. But, as sources have told The Nation, the company remains a central player in US Special Forces operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan...." But what I’m most interested in is who the target of this threat is: yes, Blackwater’s role is scandalous (and might make Leon Panetta regret revealing Blackwater to Congress). But there are a whole lot of people who are more worried about what Prince would have to say than Panetta.,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bevilaqua Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 John,The answer might be Thomas F. Ellis, but I cannot link him directly to Blackwater. Is the answer, Richard DeVos, father-in-law of Erik Prince's sister? The problem is that almost no one cares or concerns themselves with what is so obvious, if one takes even a quick glance. Epperson and his CNP brothet-in-law Edward Atsinger III, own most of the right wing talk radio personalities and townhall.com, and the delivery medium, Salem Comm. : They have a page like this for each state, and they've dominated the republican party for 30 years: http://www.azgop.org/calltalkradio.asp Council for National Policy Executives & MembersAmbassador Holland H. Coors; Mr. Rich De Vos; Mr. Thomas F. Ellis; ... Ann Drexel, Stuart Epperson, Ed Feulner, Foster Friess, Preston Hawkins, Thomas Hess, ... http://www.seekgod.ca/cnpexecutives.htm The article below, from Saturday's The Standard in Hong Kong, links Ed Fuelner and the Heritage Foundation to the Abramoff Scandal. As you may remember from one of my prior posts, I stated that the sociopaths took over the conservative movement in 1974, when Joseph Coors of Coors Beer Company funded the founding of the Heritage Foundation by Ed Fuelner and the Committee for A Free Congress by Paul Weyrich. So it appears now that the sociopaths and the opportunists have merged into what is becoming one of America's biggest scandals. Saturday, January 28, 2006 The Standard in Hong Kong http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_print.a...amp;sid=6399044 The wave of corruption allegations sweeping through Washington's highest echelons has washed into Hong Kong business. Zach Coleman and Chaim Estulin investigate The sign on the door of Suite 401 of the Baskerville House office building in Central has changed. The same folks are believed to be in the office, but a political drama on the other side of the world is disrupting their work. Washington loves a scandal and almost daily revelations about lobbyist Jack Abramoff's influence machine have gripped political mavens worldwide. The troubles of Abramoff, now under indictment, and his close friend, United States Congressman Tom DeLay, who has also been indicted on an unrelated matter and has stepped down as Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives, threaten to swamp the Republican machine in corruption investigations. Less well known is that a substantial tributary of Abramoff's river of influence ran through Hong Kong. Joining the casualty list from the scandal next week will be lobbying firm Alexander Strategy Group, whose only office outside Washington was in Hong Kong. Following Abramoff's guilty plea on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion, Alexander Strategy's activities are now a focus of scrutiny by US government investigators, according to the New York Times. With business as usual impossible, the firm will officially close its doors at the end of the month. Alexander Strategy lies at the center of the web between Abramoff and DeLay. It was founded by former DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham and employed DeLay's wife and other former aides. The firm worked closely and shared clients with Abramoff. A significant avenue of cooperation ran through Hong Kong, where Abramoff's original firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, established its first overseas presence soon after he joined. At the center of the Hong Kong operation was Belle Haven Consultants, which shared space with Alexander in Central. The ties allowed Alexander to reach beyond Capitol Hill to enmesh Asian clients. In the same office was the Heritage Foundation, the US conservative think-tank best known here for naming Hong Kong the freest economy in the world in its annual Index of Economic Freedom. Through the efforts of Alexander Strategy, Abramoff and Heritage, millions of dollars flowed from Asia to Washington. Clients in turn gained access to official Washington, including President George W Bush. Since The Standard first wrote about the subject two years ago, other investigations into the Asian ventures of Alexander Strategy and Heritage Foundation have raised more questions about whether Heritage overstepped the bounds of its nonprofit status in the US and how congressional junkets to the region were accounted for and financed. Today, the Alexander Strategy and Heritage Foundation names are gone from the door of Suite 401. Belle Haven Consultant's name remains in the building and floor lobbies. This little-known firm was formed as a for-profit entity by Edwin Feulner, Heritage's co-founder and president, in 1997 together with Kenneth Sheffer, his chief personal adviser on Asia policy, according to The Washington Post. Feulner's wife, Linda, later took his place as a partner then withdrew in 2001 to serve as a paid senior adviser, the Post reported. She also served as a paid adviser to Alexander Strategy. Alexander Strategy partner Edward Stewart told the Standard in 2004 that Linda Feulner introduced his firm to Belle Haven, which subsequently acted as a subcontractor to Alexander Strategy. Belle Haven, now co-owned by Sheffer and long-time associate Beth Allison Cave, has also been a client of Alexander Strategy's lobbying business. According to US Senate records, Belle Haven has paid Alexander Strategy at least US$620,000 (HK$4.84 million) since September 2001. A review of US Justice Department records by the Washington Post found that the two companies signed a new contract in late 2004 calling for Belle Haven to pay US$840,000 over the subsequent 10 months. For three weeks that year, while Alexander Strategy represented Belle Haven, Standard Chartered Bank financed and directed part of the lobbying activity, according to Senate filings. StanChart has its own long- standing lobbyist in Washington and spokeswoman Gabriel Kwan declined to comment on the episode. It's not clear what Alexander Strategy's shutdown will mean for the Hong Kong base. According to a source, although the firm boasted of dual Washington-Hong Kong offices in a 2002 press release, it largely operated here through Belle Haven, which remains open. Sheffer and Cave operate a second company, Summit International Consultants, from the same premises. Neither Sheffer nor Cave could be reached for comment. Aside from Belle Haven, Alexander Strategy also worked with at least a half a dozen other Asia-related clients but some of the liaisons were brief. Shanghai River Resources, a Hong Kong consulting company run by Apple Daily executive and former Republicans Abroad chairman Mark Simon, hired Alexander Strategy in June 2002 to help promote a US- Taiwan free trade agreement on behalf of Taiwanese business interests but dropped the firm three months later. Simon declined to publicly discuss the fall-out, but the Taiwanese moved their business to a rival lobbying firm two months afterwards. The American Bondholders Foundation, which represents holders of bonds issued by pre-communist China, dropped Alexander Strategy in May 2002 but the filings do not indicate when the relationship started. Another client was never mentioned in Senate filings. In December 1999, Ed Buckham traveled to the Pacific island of Saipan with Michael Scanlon, another former DeLay aide, to lobby members of the local legislature there to support Benigno Fitial, a former executive of an affiliate of Hong Kong- listed Luen Thai Holdings, to be House speaker. The cash-strapped local government had suspended its pricey lobbying contract with Abramoff and Fitial supported its reinstatement. Though he came from the minority party, Fitial won the speaker's post after two legislators switched their votes. The US Congress subsequently approved funding for special projects in the two legislators' districts and the local government reinstated Abramoff's contract. Though Saipan yielded no official client for Alexander Strategy, the owners of Luen Thai and other island garment makers donated about US$500,000 to an organization called the US Family Network, which in turn paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Alexander Strategy, according to a Post investigation of the group. A similar dynamic may have been at work in Malaysia. In October 2000, Abramoff drew up a proposal on behalf of Preston Gates to assist the Malaysian government to repair an image damaged by political repression, anti- Western and anti-Semitic remarks by then-prime minister Mahathir Mohammed and the jailing of former deputy Anwar Ibrahim. The plans included a public relations campaign, the organization of pro- government interest groups in the US and exchange trips by Malaysian and American officials. Abramoff left Preston Gates soon after writing the memo, which is posted on The New Republic's Web site. By the end of 2001, Belle Haven had hired Alexander Strategy for help "promoting and advocating Malaysia's positive investment climate and business opportunities" in connection with a company called PK Baru Energy. A new group called the US-Malaysia Exchange Association also hired Alexander Strategy for support "enhancing the bilateral relationship between Malaysia and the US." Virtually all of the money Alexander Strategy reported receiving from Belle Haven related to the Malaysian advocacy. Malaysia Exchange directly paid Alexander Strategy less than US$20,000 a year, according to Senate records. Belle Haven also hired three other Washington lobbying firms, including one run by Heritage senior fellow and former US Senator Malcolm Wallop, around the same time to support its Malaysian campaign, paying them a total of US$780,000. The Standard's earlier investigation reported that two of the firms indicated that Belle Haven retained their services on behalf of Malaysia Exchange. The US Lobbying Disclosure Act requires consultants hiring lobbyists to provide the identity of their real client, according to Jan Witold Baran, a Washington lawyer specializing in lobbying law. A report by private investigators found PK Baru to be an inactive company run in part by Megat Junid bin Megat Ayob, a ruling party official and close ally of Mahathir who is also the chairman of Malaysia Exchange. Megat Junid said in a 2004 interview with the Standard that he organized Malaysia Exchange after talks with Ed Feulner, whose deputy, Sheffer, served as a director. Wallop was deputy chair. "We felt strongly when Bush won the presidency it was time to establish closer economic and social connections between the two countries," Megat Junid said. Sheffer told the Post, "These guys wanted to hire some people to figure out how can we start to improve our relationship with the US." The new group generated fast results. In 2001, DeLay and three other congressmen traveled to Malaysia with their spouses on a trip officially sponsored by Heritage. Wallop, who went on the trip, told Time magazine that Belle Haven's financial involvement was more important to the trip than Heritage's. In the following months, more congressmen made their way to Kuala Lumpur and senior Malaysian officials began beating a path to Washington, an interchange that climaxed with Mahathir visiting the White House in May 2002, his first state visit in eight years. "We did a good job to create a good atmosphere between the two leaders," said Megat Junid, who was part of the delegation. During Mahathir's visit, two House members who had recently traveled to his country launched an official Malaysia Trade, Security and Economic Cooperation Caucus. Though in past years Heritage had been publicly critical of Mahathir, Feulner hosted a dinner reception to honor the prime minister. The Post, citing a former Heritage official, said Feulner that year pushed his staff to boost Malaysia's ranking in the Index of Economic Freedom, but the group denied such intervention. Abramoff may have earned a return from coming up with the Malaysia action plan. A US Senate committee last year released an invoice for US$300,000 sent to the Malaysian Embassy in Washington by the American International Center in 2001. Two former Abramoff associates told the Post that the center was "a front created in part to hide Abramoff's representation of Malaysia." The National Journal reported recently that the Malaysian government sent nearly US$1 million to the center in 2001 and 2002 and that the center in turn paid Greenberg Traurig, the firm Abramoff joined in January 2001 after leaving Preston Gates, US$1.5 million. Intriguingly, a firm set up by close Abramoff ally Grover Norquist was retained to lobby on behalf of Anwar, the then-imprisoned former Mahathir aide whose cause celebre was cited in Abramoff's 2000 memo as a key justification for the government to commence its Washington drive. Alexander Strategy's other big Asian client was the Korea-US Exchange Council, augmented by Universal Bearings, a company owned by the Hanwha Group of council chairman Kim Seung-youn. Kim formed the council and hired Alexander Strategy to establish himself "as the leading Korean business statesman in US-Korean relations," according to a strategy document obtained by Time. Feulner was on the council's board and Sheffer served as an adviser. The Exchange Council and Universal Bearings have together paid Alexander Strategy close to US$1 million since 2001. Kim made key headway on his goal, hosting or traveling to Washington to meet DeLay, Vice-President Dick Cheney, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and then- Attorney General John Ashcroft, among others. The junkets have come under scrutiny in part because House rules forbid members from accepting trips paid by the registered agents of foreign interests. The council registered as a foreign agent in 2001. ...I received a $15,000 grant from the Robert M Schuchman Memorial Foundation to write the book. Schuchman, while a student at Yale University Law School, was the first National Chairman of Young American for Freedom. He died at an early age while studying under Professor Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago. As to how Gerald Ford came about to endorse the book: (1) When Ford was serving as Vice President under Nixon, he sent me an unsolicited personal letter on his VP letterhead in 1974 complimenting me on "The Hundred Million Dollar Payoff." (2) On the day he became President, after Nixon resigned, the Washington Star interviewed Ford. He said in reply to a question as to what book he was currently reading, that he every night before he went to bed he spent 15 minutes reading from my book, The Hundred Million Dollar Payoff, which he described as “a very serious study on the tremendous amount of political clout organized labor has.” (3) I was invited to be the principal speaker on my book and on the political role of organized labor at an officially sanctioned luncheon sponsored by the 1976 Republican Convention in Kansas City. Before I was invited, someone in the White House telephoned me for material to support my statement that President Ford, who was to be nominated at the Convention, had praised my book. I sent that person in the White House the letter I had received from VP Ford and the Washington Star article. Once those were received, my invitation to speak was confirmed and officially announced. The University of Oregon Library Archives in Eugene, Oregon contain my personal and professional papers, which include a ticket to the luncheon bearing the sponsorship by the Republican National Convention as well as the original letter from VP Ford to me and a copy of his interview that appeared in the Washington Star. Elsewhere in the Forum I have described the moment when the Right Went Wrong. This occurred at a 1974 meeting of the Schuchman Foundation’s Board of Directors when Joseph Coors, President of Coors Beer, told the directors that they must follow his orders and those of his lackeys, Ed Fuelner and Paul Weyrich, or face retaliation. The Board refused to buckle to Coors’ demands. Subsequently Fuelner founded the Heritage Foundation and Weyrich founded the Committee for a Free Congress – both funded by Coors. These two organizations brought about the emergence of the Radical Right, which has been a calamity of the entire world and the driving force to curtail individual liberty and impose a police state. Only a few weeks ago President George W. Bush delivered a major address at the Heritage Foundation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_DeVosRichard DeVos, Sr., (born March 4, 1926, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.), educated at Calvin College, is an American billionaire and co-founder of Amway (restructured as Alticor in 2000). In 2009, Forbes magazine listed him as the 91st wealthiest person in the United States with an estimate net worth of USD$ 4.4 billion. In 2009, Forbes ranked him as the 119th richest person in the world. [1] (at one point he was in the top 10 of wealthiest Americans). DeVos is a heart transplant recipient and is the owner of the National Basketball Association's franchise basketball team, the Orlando Magic. DeVos, Sr., sat on the board of trustees of Northwood University and has sat as president on the Council for National Policy. ... ...His son, Dick DeVos, was the Republican Party nominee for governor of Michigan in 2006, but was defeated by the incumbent governor, Jennifer Granholm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_DeVos Dick DeVos (born Richard DeVos, Jr., October 21, 1955) is a businessman and Republican politician from Michigan. The son of billionaire Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, he served as CEO of the multi-level marketing consumer goods distribution company from 1993-2002. In 2005, DeVos launched the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in the history of Michigan, totaling more than $41 million.[1] Ultimately, DeVos lost on November 7, 2006, to Democratic incumbent Jennifer Granholm.[2][3][4] ....His wife, Betsy DeVos, is the sister of Blackwater Worldwide (now Xe) president Erik Prince and she is the former chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party.[7] These extremely wealthy/right wing, religious zealots have taken over the republican party, the party of the military/intelligence community. They are waging war against islam in the name of christ. DeVos apparently is more visibly and obviously involved with Blackwater and is also a former head of CNP, along with Tim La Haye, Joseph Coors, Pat Robertson, Edwin Meese III, Alton Ochsner, Jr. and others like Nelson Bunker Hunt but the correct answer was indeed Thomas Ellis also from North Carolina where Blackwater is still headquartered. I am now thinking that Blackwater is just the mercenary military police force of The Council for National Policy. http://www.seekgod.ca is the best site on the CNP I think. When you look at all the JFK principals on the CNP membership list, you can not help but think that they were major contributors to the events before, during and after the hit. Here is a citation from a web site: Excerpt from "Exposing the Neocon Matrix" by Muada Shakur Blackwater USA mercenaries & AMWAY? Blackwater USA is a group of murder for hire mercenaries contracted out by the government who's services were also used in New Orleans against our people. Now hired for murder in Iraq. Blackwater founded and made up of former Navy SEALS and BATS (Bodyguard and Tactical Security) and Israeli security firms. Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., was founded by the son of a billionaire, Erik Prince at the age of 27 a former SEAL himself, his father was Edgar Prince who made his money in automotive products. Edgar prince was a financier of the Christian right-wing Council on National Policy, often described as secretive and dangerous, was its v.p. in 1988. They are self described as the Christian conservative answer to the Council on Foreign Relations. CNP was founded in 1981 by Tim LaHaye, they meet only 3 times a year and have approximately 500 members by invitation only. LaHaye also produces the “Left Behind” movie series. Recently exposed crook Tom Delay of the Republican party is a member. They are headquarterd in Virginia. Erik Prince’s sister Betsy married into the Devos family, co-founders of Amway, of whom Richard Devos was CNP executive committee board of governors. These are the real heads of the GOP who prefer not to be in the media and their agenda has been very successfully accomplished. Amway, itself a very cult like Christian based business, is a heavy financier of the GOP which stands for Grand Old Party. Amway gave 2.5 million to the GOP in 1994, the largest single donation to a party on record. Amway also made the second largest donation of $1,138,500 in 2000 being outdone this time by Reynolds Tobacco. Devos Sr. also donates out of pocket to the Bush administration. He and his wife Helen wrote two $500,000 checks from their personal accounts on April 2, 1997. Devos is former finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. Betsy Devos, Princes sister, raised $100,000 for the Bush/Chaney campaign in 2000. Dick and Betsy Devos treated the bigwigs of the 2004 Republican National convention in New York with a ride on their private yacht. (Detroit Free Press 9/2/04) Tom Ellis former CNP Pres. in 1982 once served as director of the Pioneer Fund which sought to prove Blacks were genetically inferior. Erik Prince continued his father’s philanthropy in the republican right-wing cause campaigning for Bucchannan in 1992 and interning for Daddy Bush at the White House. Excerpt from "Exposing the Neocon Matrix" by Muada Shakur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bevilaqua Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 CNP profile of Tom Ellis Thomas F. Ellis - CNP President 1982-83, Executive Committee 1984-85; 1988, member 1996, 1998. Succeeded Tim LaHaye in 1982 as president of the CNP. Ellis was chairman of the National Congressional Club; principal stock-holder and a board member of the tax-exempt, non-profit Educational Support Foundation that in turn owns Jefferson Marketing. He appointed the officers and directors of Jefferson Marketing; was a "founder" of Fairness in Media, and chairman of the Coalition for Freedom, a tax-exempt foundation whose goal is to finance conservative-oriented television programs. Jefferson Marketing has absorbed most of the staff from the National Congressional Club and it has taken over such key activities as direct mail, staffed phone banks, automated telemarketing and the production and placement of commercials. 4. Former Director of Pioneer Fund. The Pioneer Fund served as a small part of "a multimillion dollar political empire of corporations, foundations, political action committees and ad hoc groups" active in 1980s (Washington Post, March 31, 1985, p. 1; A16) developed by Tom Ellis, Harry Weyher, Marion Parrott, Carter Wrenn and Jesse Helms. The Fund has served as a nexus between academic theory and practical political ideology. It's leadership, especially, Harry Weyher, Thomas F. Ellis and Marion A. Parrott are part of an interlocking set of directorates and associates linking the Pioneer Fund to Jesse Helms' high-tech political machine. Ellis, for example, simultaneously served as Chairman of the National Congressional Club and the Coalition for Freedom, co-founder of Fairness in Media, a board member of the Educational Support Foundation and Director of the Pioneer Fund. Harry Weyher, president of the Pioneer Fund served as lead counsel for Fairness in Media. 5 Recipients of Pioneer grants have included most of the leading Anglo-American academic race-scientists of the last several decades have been funded by the Pioneer, including William Shockley, Hans J. Eysenck, Arthur Jensen, Roger Pearson, Richard Lynn, J. Philippe Rushton, R. Travis Osborne, Linda Gottfredson, Robert A. Gordon, Daniel R. Vining, Jr., Michael Levin, and Seymour Itzkoff - all cited in The Bell Curve. (1)" 6 Founder of the Pioneer Fund, "Colonel Draper, as he was often called by his friends and admirers was a man searching for a way to restore an older order. Draper believed geneticists could scientifically prove the inferiority of Negros.... Under his direction, the Pioneer Fund's original charter outlined a commitment to "improve the character of the American people" by encouraging the procreation of descendants of the original white colonial stock." Draper turned more and more to academic irredentists still dedicated to white supremacy and eugenics. Most prominent among these early recruits was Henry Garrett, Chair of Psychology at Columbia University from 1941-1955. A Virginia born segregationist, Garrett was a key witness in defending segregation...Garrett helped to distribute grants for Draper and was one of the founders of the International Association for the Advancement of Eugenics and Ethnology (IAAEE) in 1959. The IAAEE brought together academic defenders of segregation in the U.S. and apartheid in South Africa. The Pioneer Fund supported the IAAEE and other institutions working to legitimising race science, including the IAAEE's journal, Mankind Quarterly..." 7 The Pioneer Fund has changed little since its inception. An article in the New York Times on December 11, 1977 characterized it as having "supported highly controversial research by a dozen scientists who believe that blacks are genetically less intelligent than whites." In the 1960s Nobel Laureate William Shockley (1910-1989), a physicist at Stanford University best known for his "voluntary sterilization bonus plan" received an estimated $188,710 from the Pioneer Fund between 1971 and 1978. Arthur Jensen, an educational psychologist, garnered more than a million dollars in Pioneer grants over the past three decades. Three years after being recruited by Shockely, Jensen published his now famous attack on Head Start in the prestigious Harvard Education Review. Jensen claimed the problem with black children was that they had an average IQ of only 85 and that no amount of social engineering would improve their performance. Jensen urged "eugenic foresight" as the only solution. (7)" 8 Roger Pearson, whose Institute for the Study of Man has been one of the top Pioneer beneficiaries over the past twenty years ($870,000 from 1981-1996) is the clearest example of the extremist ideology of the Fund's leadership...Taking account of all groups linked to Pearson, Pioneer support between 1975-1996 exceeds one million dollars - nearly ten percent of the total Pioneer grants for that period. 9 "For an overview on 'race and intelligence,' Murray and Herrnstein recommend two books by three Pioneer Fund recipients: Audrey Shuey, Frank C. J. McGurk, and R. Travis Osborne. McGurk is the main authority they cite to 'prove' that IQ tests are not racially biased. He was one of the 'scientific' mainstays of the segregationist movement in the southern US. In 1959 McGurk and Shuey became leading members of the International Association for the Advancement of Ethnology and Eugenics, first publisher of Mankind Quarterly 10 Other members included Senator Jesse Helms and the oil billionaire Hunt brothers. Arch-racists in the South introduced Shuey's book in court during the 1960s to argue for continuing school segregation and denying the vote to black people. University of Georgia professor Osborne also testified in court against school integration. Osborne was still, in 1992, trying to prove the long-discarded theory that brain size is somehow related to intelligence." 11 Much of The Bell Curve's racist drivel comes from Mankind Quarterly, whose principle is that the "Negroid" race is inferior to all others, and from professors funded by the pro-Nazi Pioneer Fund (PF). Behind this fascist gang stand important members of the US ruling class. Seventeen authors cited in The Bell Curve are Mankind Quarterly (MQ) contributors. Ten are former or present editors or members of its editorial advisory board. MQ's avowed purpose is to counter "Communist" and "egalitarian" influences in anthropology. From its start in 1960, its founders and funders believed that white people were genetically superior. Robert Gayre was the founder of MQ and its editor-in-chief until 1978. As a champion of South African apartheid and a member of the ultra-right Candour League of white-ruled Rhodesia, he testified in court in 1968 that black people as a group are "worthless." Other MQ contributors have included Henry Garrett of Columbia University, who wrote pamphlets for the pro-segregation White Citizens Councils; Corrado Gini, the leader of fascist Italy's eugenics movement; and Ottmar von Verschner, a leading Nazi race-scientist and academic mentor of the concentration camp butcher Joseph Mengele. The key figure in the PF network is Roger Pearson, who is close to Jesse Helms. Sam Crutchfield, a lawyer for Helms, has been the lawyer for Pearson's Institute for the Study of Man. The PF has given Pearson over $787,400, mostly for editing Mankind Quarterly and The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies. The last publishes articles by PF recipients, notably Arthur Jensen, Michael Levin, and Richard Lynn. Thomas Ellis, a PF director, is a long-time friend and campaign manager for Helms. 12 In 1958, Pearson, living in London, led the Northern League. This white-power organization included former Nazi SS officials. Willis Carto, founder of the anti-black and anti-semitic Liberty Lobby, arranged a 1959 U.S. speaking tour for him. Pearson soon moved to the U.S. to edit the neo-Nazi publication Western Destiny. In Eugenics and Race he asserted: "If a nation with a more advanced, more specialized, or in any way superior set of genes mingles with, instead of exterminating, an inferior tribe, then it commits racial suicide. " This track record won Pearson influence in Washington, DC. In 1975 he became editor of the journal of the American Security Council...Pearson also headed the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). In 1977 he became the international chair of this nest of fascist vipers. He organized its 1978 convention, which featured two U.S. Senators as keynote speakers. Then he was exposed as having recruited open neo-Nazis to WACL, and was forced to resign. Four years later,[1982] President Reagan personally thanked Pearson for his "substantial contributions to promoting and upholding those ideals and principles that we value at home and abroad." 13 "Pearson eventually replaced Gayre as editor of The Mankind Quarterly. Pearson, more than most, saw the potential in manipulating genetics for political goals when, in 1959, he wrote Eugenics and Race. He argued that the white race is endangered by inferior genetic stock, but with proper use of modern biological technology "a new super-generation" descended from "only the fittest" of the previous generation can be produced. Whoever adopted such a scientific breeding program "would dominate the rest of the world". Moving to the United States Pearson quickly became involved in far-right politics, first editing Western Destiny and later the short-lived The New Patriot, a magazine designed to conduct "a responsible but penetrating inquiry into every aspect of the Jewish Question". It included articles such as "Zionists and the Plot Against South Africa", "Early Jews and the Rise of Jewish Money Power", and "Swindlers of the Crematoria". Despite his fascist connections, Pearson became increasingly well connected with the Republican Party and the right-wing think-tank, The Heritage Foundation. 14 "Henry Garrett, Chair of Psychology at Columbia University from 1941 to 1955. A Virginia born segregationist, Garrett was a key witness defending segregation in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. During the 1950s and 1960s, Garrett helped to distribute grants for the Pioneer Fund and was one of the founders of the International Association for the Advancement of Eugenics and Ethnology (IAAEE) in 1959. The IAAEE brought together academic defenders of segregation in the USA and apartheid in South Africa. The Pioneer Fund supported the IAAEE and other institutions working to legitimise race-science, including the IAAEE's journal, The Mankind Quarterly." 15 Roger Pearson was a writer and organizer for the Nazi Northern League of northern Europe, who in 1977 joined the editorial board of Policy Review, the monthly Heritage Foundation publication. William Shockley, Arthur Jensen and Roger Pearson, who has written that "inferior races" should be "exterminated" were funded while Tom Ellis was director on the Pioneer board. At that same time, Ellis served on the CNP's thirteen-member executive committee with Holly Coors, Paul Weyrich, and Heritage Foundation president, Edwin Feulner until June 1989. Oliver North and Reed Larson also joined the executive committee. Recall that in order to be a CNP member, a biography/resume must be submitted by a CNP member and the executive must have a unanimous vote in order for an individual to be asked to be a member. CNP's Gary North writes of the formation years of the CNP including himself with Timothy LaHaye, Terry J. Jeffers and Terry Dolan, in the article Gary North on the CNP In the United States, WACL's first chairman was Roger Pearson, a white supremacist, eugenicist and neo-Nazi. Pearson was the editor of Willis Carto's anti-Semitic rag, Western Destiny, the forerunner of the Liberty Lobby's Spotlight tabloid. By the mid 1970s, Pearson served on the editorial boards of both the Heritage Foundation 15a and the American Security Council. Pearson, who has described himself as a "mainstream conservative," boasted to an associate about his alleged role in hiding Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death" who directed Nazi "medical experiments" at the Auschwitz extermination camp. With degrees in anthropology and economics, Pearson is the author several books on eugenics. His most "popular" are Eugenics and Race and Race and Civilization. He credits Professor Hans F. K. Gunther, a Nazi racial theoretician, as the inspiration behind the latter volume. Under Pearson's tutelage, WACL added Western European chapters that were drawn from the ranks of Nazi war criminals, Third Reich collaborators, neo-Nazis and right-wing terrorists. Western European affiliates included the racist British League of Rights and Italy's Italian Social Movement (MSI). Pino Rauti, the founder of the outlawed group, Ordine Nuovo was a key WACL Western European contact.... Rauti and countless other Italian fascists including the war criminal, June Valerio "Black Prince" Borghese, and key members of the Italian general staff, were "rehabilitated" Nazi collaborators recruited by the CIA into NATO's "stay behind" anti-communist terror network, also known as "Gladio."... 15b The National Congressional Club was Jesse Helms' PAC based in Raleigh and directed by Helms' senior advisor, attorney Tom Ellis. National Congressional Club, raised $9.8 million in the 1982 election cycle. In the 1984 cycle, the club raised $5.7 million while Helms campaign committee raised $13.99 million, 16 The Club dissolved in the 1990's, with many staffers absorbed into other campaigns. The Congressional Club began after the 1972 Senate campaign, when Ellis retained Richard Viguerie (CNP) to help pay off the Helms campaign debt. Ellis and Viguerie built the Congressional Club mailing list to more than 300,000 regular contributors -- a constituency for Helms and a major financial resource within the conservative movement... Besides Viguerie, Phillips [Howard Phillips], and Dolan [ John T. (Terry) Dolan] connections, Helms is actively represented in Weyrich's [Paul Weyrich] coordinating groups. 17. Footnotes 4-17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bevilaqua Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Former CNP head and Pioneer Fund BoD Member has leadership role in Blackwater....This one should not be too hard to figure out. Who is the former Council for National Policy president and Pioneer Fund BoD Member who has a current leadership role in Blackwater....? Free order of Taco Bell to go for the first person who can identify him. Identify the year he was head of the CNP! Identify the year he was on the Board of Directors of The Pioneer Fund! How did Richard Condon refer to him in The Manchurian Candidate? (this one may be more difficult) It was NOT Wickliffe Draper, either, of course cause he was crumbling into dust and worm infested by 1972-73. Let's see who gets this one first. My guess is either Tom Scully, Greg Parker, John Simkin or James Richards... Taco Bell Gift Certificate is awaiting the winner. And as for The Manchurian Candidate reference which used to be on Google Books in full-text search mode, but it was removed for some unknown reason: "Tell him it's Ellie Iselin, he'll know." Ellis or his father, also wrote an intro to "White America" by Earnest Sevier (The Savior) Cox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bevilaqua Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 From Chip Berlet on PRA Blackwater Worldwide: CEO PRA's Right Web neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site. Erik Prince is the founder and CEO of Blackwater Worldwide, a controversial private security firm whose activities in Iraq and elsewhere have led some observers to term it a modern-day “mercenary army.” 1 A major contributor to the Republican Party, Prince is also a prominent backer of numerous conservative causes and rightist groups. In February 2007, after a string of setbacks—including the December 2008 indictment of several former Blackwater guards for their role in the shooting of civilians in Iraq and announcements in early 2009 by both Iraqi officials and the U.S. State Department that they were terminating their work with Blackwater in Iraq—the company announced that it was renaming itself Xe (pronounced “z”). 2 The name change also coincided with an effort by the company to diversify its offerings, which according to Wired magazine includes “making custom rifles, marketing spy blimps, assembling a fleet of light attack aicraft, and billing itself as experts in everything from cargo handling to dog training to construction management.” 3 Prince was born into a prominent conservative family in Michigan. He served as an intern in 1992 in the White House of President George H.W. Bush and, later, for Gary Bauer’s Family Research Council, an influential Religious Right organization that his father, Edgar Prince, helped found. 4 He found his experience at the White House not altogether positive, saying later, "I saw a lot of things I didn't agree with—homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kinds of bills." 5 In 1990, Prince worked at Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s (R-CA) office, where he met and worked with future Blackwater lobbyist Paul Behrends. 6 A Naval Academy dropout, Prince eventually graduated from the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. In 1993, shortly after graduating, Prince “landed a spot with the Navy SEALs, performing secret missions in Haiti and Bosnia.” 7 Blackwater Shortly after Edgar’s death in 1995, the Prince family sold its lucrative automotive business for $1.3 billion, providing Erik with capital to found Blackwater, which he did in 1997 with Al Clark, another ex-SEAL. Clark and Prince “developed plans for a training center for police and military personnel. Prince later said the idea sprang from the lack of adequate facilities he experienced during his SEAL training. The men settled on a now-7,000-acre facility along swampland in North Carolina,” according to the Detroit Free Press. 8 Prince recalled in 2007, “At that time … the special operations community had been using private facilities since the late ’70s, you know, individual shooting experts, schools, and no one had really done it on a grand scale. At the same time, there were a lot of government facilities that were maybe not the best maintained and not the most user-friendly. And so I started something like an individual shooting school, very relevant for operators, for SWAT teams, for military units on a much bigger scale, in close proximity to one of the largest concentrations of the military right there in the Norfolk, Virginia area.” 9 Business was initially slow, but the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole “led the Navy to look for someone to train sailors to identify and respond to terrorist threats. Blackwater won a contract. But business really soared after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks—from about $200,000 in federal contracts in 2000 to $25 million in 2003 to nearly $600 million” in 2006. 10 By late 2007, Blackwater had received $1 billion in federal contracts. 11 The U.S. government outsourced jobs previously done by the army, and Blackwater began taking on contracts to protect diplomats in Iraq, among other things. Prince told Charlie Rose that, “We got into the security business because we had excellent trainers, we had a great curriculum, and we had big facilities that we could do large amounts of personnel that needed to be trained to a very high standard to do high-end security. So when the government demand came for a lot of extra security, especially after 9/11, in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, we competed for a lot of those. We were called, ‘Can you do this, can you do this fast?’ And we answered the call and we got it done.” 12 In fall 2007, Prince’s company came under intense scrutiny after its employees opened fire on and killed 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians who were apparently trying to flee the scene of a car bombing. The Blackwater guards were under a State Department contract. In the outcry that followed, the House of Representatives held a hearing on Blackwater and the privatization of military work. In his prepared statement, Prince insisted that though any loss of innocent life was tragic, “based on everything we currently know, the Blackwater team acted appropriately.” 13 In the aftermath of the killings, Blackwater claimed it had immunity from prosecution. 14 Some government officials, however, took a different view. "In my mind, the fundamental question that remains unanswered is this: Why have we come to rely on private contractors to provide combat or combat-related security training for our forces?" Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in a July 10, 2008, memo to the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen. "Further, are we comfortable with this practice, and do we fully understand the implications in terms of quality, responsiveness and sustainability?" 15 In December 2008, the Justice Department announced the indictments of six former Blackwater contractors for their roles in the 2007 killings. Responding to the indictments, Prince tried to describe his company’s work as patriotic, writing in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, “Last week the Department of Justice announced charges against six Blackwater security guards for a shooting incident in Baghdad in September 2007. But before the histories are written, it is crucial to understand the often mischaracterized role of security contractors in this unique war. … While some of our critics seize upon inaccurate labels, I doubt they have ever known one of our contractors personally or been protected by them. Our teams are not cooking meals or moving supplies. They are taking bullets. They are military veterans who have chosen to serve their country once again. Very few people know someone who would voluntarily go into a war zone to protect a person he has never met. I know 1,000 of them, and I am proud that they are part of our team.” 16 In July 2008, several months before the indictments and the company’s rechristening as Xe, Blackwater announced that it would pull back from the security business. The Associated Press (AP) reported, “Blackwater executives say they have unfairly become a symbol for all contractors in Iraq and thus the company is a target for those opposed to the war. It will continue guarding U.S. officials in Iraq but its future will be focused on training, aviation and logistics.” Prince told the AP, "The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk." 17 The AP reported that Blackwater ”has expanded its aviation division, which provides airplane and helicopter maintenance and also drops supplies into hard-to-reach military bases. A 6,000-foot runway is under construction and a large map in the company's hangar shows units based across the world, from Africa to the Middle East to Australia.” 18 Commenting on Blackwater’s announcement, Josh Marshall of the Talking Points Memo blog wrote, “Come to think of it, 'training, aviation, and logistics' sounds a lot like military contracting. But who knows. Eric Kleefeld suggests another possibility. As a partisan Republican mercenary outfit, they may rightly anticipate slackening sales under a Democratic president.” 19 [For more on Blackwater, see Ali Gharib, “Blackwater: The Real 'Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy'?” Right Web, July 18, 2008.] Political Connections, Family, and the Religious Right In a 2007 exposé on Blackwater, Ben Van Heuvelen reported that Prince “is no slouch when it comes to giving to Republicans and cultivating relationships with important conservatives.” 20 Prince has donated more than $230,000 to the Republican Party since 1986; in 1989, at age 19, he gave $15,000. 21 The politicians he has funded include George W. Bush, the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), Oliver North, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), Rep. Dick Chrysler (R-MI), Rep. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA). 22 Observers have speculated that Blackwater’s success could be linked to Prince’s political connections. “[O]ne of Blackwater's earliest contracts in the national arena was a no-bid $5.4 million deal to provide security guards in Afghanistan, which came after Prince made a call to then CIA executive director Buzzy Krongard. What's more, Harper's Ken Silverstein has reported that Prince has a security pass for CIA headquarters and ‘meets with senior people’ inside the CIA. But Prince's most important benefactor was fellow conservative Roman Catholic convert L. Paul Bremer, former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the American occupation government in Iraq. In August 2003, Blackwater won a $27.7 million contract to provide personal security for Bremer.” 23 Prince, who converted to Roman Catholicism from the Calvinist Dutch Reform Church in 1992, 24 supports rightist Christian groups via the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, where he is vice president. 25 In fiscal 2006, the nonprofit foundation contributed nearly $8 million in grants to predominantly, if not exclusively, socially conservative groups, including $510,000 to the Family Research Council; $500,000 to the international proselytizing group Haggai Institute; $1,000,000 to the Alliance Defense Fund; and more than $1 million to the Christian Calvin College in Michigan. 26 Prince’s own nonprofit, the Freiheit Foundation, which he ran with his first wife Joan, funded a smaller but similar roster of conservative groups, including the Acton Institute, the Education Freedom Fund (where Prince’s sister, Betsy DeVos, is a board member), and Christian Freedom International. 27 In 2000 Prince’s Freiheit Foundation gave $500,000 to Prison Fellowship Ministries, a group run by Nixon official Charles Colson, and contributed $30,000 to the American Enterprise Institute. 28 The Freiheit Foundation appears to have stopped operating after Joan’s death in 2003. Prince served on the board of Christian Freedom International, which reporter Robert Weitzel described as “a crusading missionary organization operating in the overwhelmingly Islamic countries of Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.” 29 Prince’s family (late father Edgar, mother Elsa, and sister Betsy) have all been deeply involved in conservative politics. 30 Edgar, who founded the family automotive business, was a major backer of right-wing political and Christian groups, and was eulogized by Gary Bauer, who referred to him as his "mentor." 31 Betsy married into a powerful Michigan Republican Party family, the DeVoses, and Elsa (now Elsa Prince Broekhuizen after remarrying) has served on the boards of right-wing groups including the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. 32 In a 2006 study on funders of anti-samesex marriage groups, scholar Sue O’Connell wrote that Elsa Prince Broekhuizen was the top individual contributor in Michigan to causes supporting amendments to limit same-sex marriage in 2004, giving $75,000 to Citizens for the Protection of Marriage. 33 O’Connell further explained Elsa’s familial and political ties: “Broekhuizen is the mother of Betsy DeVos, who was serving as chairman of the Michigan Republican Party in 2004. Betsy DeVos is married to Dick DeVos, currently a Republican candidate for governor of Michigan. Dick DeVos’ father is Amway co-founder Richard DeVos Sr., who gave $20,000 to the committee [Citizens for the Protection of Marriage]. Two other DeVos family members gave a combined $30,000.” 34 The Prince family also has strong ties to the Council for National Policy, a secretive right-wing nationalist group whose membership has included a number of high-profile conservatives, including Gary Bauer, Jeffrey Bell, Edwin Feulner, Jack Kemp, Edwin Meese, Tommy Thompson, and Paul Weyrich. Edgar Prince was a longtime board member; Prince Broekhuizen served as president for several years; and Erik Prince’s Freiheit Foundation has donated money to the group. 35 print email share boomark Affiliations Freiheit Foundation: President Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation: Vice President Family Research Council: Former Intern Christian Freedom International: Former Board Member Government Service U.S. Navy: 1992-1996 White House: Intern, 1992 Office of Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA): Intern, 1990 Private Sector Blackwater Worldwide: Founder and CEO Prince Group, LLC: Chairman Education Hillsdale College Date of Birth June 6, 1969 Additional Resources The Right Web Mission Right Web tracks militarists’ efforts to influence U.S. foreign policy. Sources 1. See, for example, Ali Gharib, “Blackwater: The Real “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy”? Right Web, July 18, 2008, http://rightweb.irc-online.org/rw/4934.html; see also, Mike Baker, “Blackwater dumps tarnished brand name,” Associated Press, February 13, 2009. 2. Mike Baker, “Blackwater dumps tarnished brand name,” Associated Press, February 13, 2009; Blackwater, “Blackwater Statement on Indictments of Former Contractors,” December 8, 2008, http://blackwatermediacenter.com/pdf/12-08...sour-Square.pdf. 3. Noah Schactman, “Blackwater's New Business: Training Pro Athletes,” Wired, February 9, 2009. 4. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2007), p. 12. 5. Jim Schaefer, M.L. Elrick And Todd Spangler, “Ready for Battle,” Detroit Free Press, October 7, 2007. 6. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2007), p. 148. 7. Jim Schaefer, M.L. Elrick And Todd Spangler, “Ready for Battle,” Detroit Free Press, October 7, 2007. 8. Jim Schaefer, M.L. Elrick And Todd Spangler, “Ready for Battle,” Detroit Free Press, October 7, 2007. 9. “A Conversation with the CEO and Chairman of Blackwater, Erik Prince,” Charlie Rose Show, October 15, 2007. 10. Jim Schaefer, M.L. Elrick And Todd Spangler, “Ready for Battle,” Detroit Free Press, October 7, 2007. 11. Dana Milbank, “The Man from Blackwater, Shooting from the Lip,” Washington Post, October 3, 2007, p. A2. 12. “A Conversation with the CEO and Chairman of Blackwater, Erik Prince,” Charlie Rose Show, October 15, 2007. 13. Statement of Erik D. Prince, House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Hearing on Blackwater USA, October 2, 2007, http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20071003153621.pdf. 14. Ali Gharib, “Blackwater: The Real “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy”? Right Web, July 18, 2008, http://rightweb.irc-online.org/rw/4934.html. 15. Matt Apuzzo and Mike Baker, “Blackwater Plans Shift from Security Business,” Associated Press, July 21, 2008. 16. Eric Prince, "How Blackwater Serves America,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2008. 17. Matt Apuzzo and Mike Baker, “Blackwater Plans Shift from Security Business,” Associated Press, July 21, 2008. 18. Matt Apuzzo and Mike Baker, “Blackwater Plans Shift from Security Business,” Associated Press, July 21, 2008. 19. Josh Marshall, "Dry Goods?" Talking Points Memo, July 21, 2008. 20. Ben Van Heuvelen, “The Bush Administration's Ties to Blackwater,” Salon.com, October 2, 2007. 21. See, “Erik Prince’s Federal Campaign Contribution Report,” Newsmeat.com (as of July 24, 2008), http://newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Erik_Prince.php. 22. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2007), p. 13; “Erik Prince’s Federal Campaign Contribution Report,” Newsmeat.com (as of July 24, 2008), http://newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Erik_Prince.php. 23. Ben Van Heuvelen, “The Bush Administration's Ties to Blackwater,” Salon.com, October 2, 2007. 24. Evan Thomas and Mark Hosenball, “The Man Behind Blackwater,” Newsweek, October 22, 2007, http://www.newsweek.com/id/43361. 25. “Holland’s Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation Major Local and National Supporter of the Religious Right,” Grand Rapids Independent Media, Media Mouse, http://www.mediamouse.org/features/022707holla.php. 26. 2006 IRS Form 990-PF for the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, 27. 2000 IRS Form 990-PF for the Freiheit Foundation; “Blackwater Founder and West Michigan Native Funds Right-wing through Foundation,” Grand Rapids Independent Media, Media Mouse, http://www.mediamouse.org/features/092706black.php; Education Freedom Fund, Board of Directors, http://www.educationfreedomfund.org/. 28. 2000 IRS Form 990-PF for the Freiheit Foundation; Ben Van Heuvelen, “The Bush Administration's Ties to Blackwater,” Salon.com, October 2, 2007. 29. Robert Weitzel, “US Military’s Middle East Crusade for Christ,” CommonDreams.org, June 9, 2008. 30. For detailed accounts of the Prince family connections and donations to right-wing political groups, see the following reports from Media Mouse, a Michigan-based independent media group that has published a number of reports on the subject: “Holland's Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation Major Local and National Supporter of the Religious Right,” http://www.mediamouse.org/features/022707holla.php; “The Far Right in West Michigan: Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation,” http://www.mediamouse.org/resources/right.php?foundId=7; and “The Far Right in West Michigan: Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation,” http://www.mediamouse.org/resources/right.php?foundId=5. 31. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2007), p. 11. 32. “Person Profile: Elsa Prince Broekhuizen,” Mediatransparency.com, http://www.mediatransparency.org/personpro...p?personID=1178. 33. Sue O’Connell, “The Money behind the Marriage Amendments,” Institute on Money in State Politics, January 27, 2006. 34. Sue O’Connell, “The Money behind the Marriage Amendments,” Institute on Money in State Politics, January 27, 2006. 35. 2000 IRS Form 990-PF for the Freiheit Foundation; “Person Profile: Elsa Prince Broekhuizen,” Mediatransparency.com, http://www.mediatransparency.org/personpro...p?personID=1178. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bevilaqua Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Blackwater Must Go - Democracies can not survive this onslaught... Blackwater: The Real “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy”? By Ali Gharib | Posted: July 17, 2008 Businessmen with ties to the GOP and right-wing ideologies and pedigrees are not uncommon. What makes Erik Prince special is the confluence of his core beliefs—militarism, right-wing Christianity, and privatization—in his controversial mercenary business, Blackwater Worldwide. At the center of a heated scandal over abuses committed by private military contractors in Iraq and elsewhere, Blackwater has begun to expand its business into intelligence gathering and a host of other security-related services. Its success is helping fill the coffers of some of the country’s most influential conservative political figures and prompting some observers to call it the “future of war.” When Hillary Clinton coined the phrase “vast right-wing conspiracy” during her husband’s presidency, she was referring only to the attacks against her husband—not to a rapidly expanding business of mercenaries and private spies whose largesse is helping fill the coffers of some of the country’s most influential right-wing politicians. But such a phrase comes to mind when one considers Blackwater Worldwide and its founder and CEO, Erik Prince. The company and its leader are tied together in a dizzying mix of right-wing ideologies ranging from privatization and enthusiasm for an unchecked free market, to aggressive nationalistic militarism, the Christian Right, and the broad executive power they rely on for patronage. Although already at the center of a heated controversy over the use of private military forces in Iraq and elsewhere, Blackwater has begun to expand its business into the realm of intelligence, as ardent Blackwater-watcher and journalist Jeremy Scahill reported last month in the Nation. The zealous privatization agenda of military-tied programs and the creation of what Scahill called “a structure paralleling the U.S. national security apparatus” converge in the new “private spy” mission of Total Intelligence Solutions—Blackwater’s espionage subsidiary. 1 Total Intelligence promises to bring “CIA-style” intelligence work to the boardrooms of mega-corporations and executive offices of foreign governments—probably among the few entities that can afford the heavy price tags associated with Blackwater services. In exchange for its massive fees, Total Intelligence Solutions delivers, according to its website, "surveillance and countersurveillance, deployed intelligence collection, and rapid safeguarding of employees or other key assets." 2 At the helm of Total Intelligence Solutions are two former CIA heavyweights—Cofer Black, a former counterterrorism specialist, and Robert Richer, a former executive in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where he ran clandestine activities in the Middle East and beyond. 3 But the outfit, like all of Blackwater, is under the purview of its secretive founder and head honcho, Prince. Conservative Origins and Connections Prince was born into right-wing politics with an ideological bent. His father, Edgar Prince, was the head of a Michigan auto-parts company that, after his death in 1996, was sold for more than $1 billion. Edgar Prince, like his son after him, supported a bevy of right-wing causes, bankrolling the nation’s most powerful Christian Right organizations and pouring money into the Republican Party. The hard right surrounded young Prince nearly all his life. The area he grew up in Michigan was known for another massively rich corporate family with a record of funding right-wing causes and candidates: the DeVos family, which made its considerable fortune from its Amway empire (which, despite a Federal Trade Commission ruling stating otherwise, is still called a glorified pyramid scheme by detractors). The ties between the two like-minded clans were solidified when Erik Prince’s sister, Betsy, married into the family of the other local right-wing patrons. The DeVos family, she declared in 1997 in the Roll Call daily, “is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party.” In his book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, Scahill noted that Amway “would rise to become one of the greatest corporate contributors in the U.S. electoral process in the 1990s, mostly to Republican candidates and causes.” 4 Edgar Prince, who, according to Religious Right luminary and friend Gary Bauer, committed himself to Jesus Christ after a heart attack in the 1970s, set the standard for right wing philanthropy for the family. 5 Edgar was instrumental in helping Bauer set up the Christian Right think tank and lobby group Family Research Council (FRC). The Princes also have close ties to James Dobson, who was on the founding board of FRC. Dobson, a child psychologist and perhaps the most powerful figure of the Christian Right today, runs Focus on the Family, which has benefited from the Princes’ lavish spending. Even after Edgar’s death in 1995—at his funeral, both Bauer and Dobson eulogized him—the family held tight to the two organizations. Edgar’s wife, Elsa, has served on both boards. She runs (and Erik serves as vice president for) the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, which gave at least $670,000 to FRC and $500,00 to Focus on the Family from 2003 to 2006, according to Salon.com. 6 FRC and Focus on the Family both support President George W. Bush, giving him unmitigated support and receiving high levels of access in return. As Scahill pointedly says in his book, “If there was one lesson Edgar Prince was poised to impart on his children, it was how to build and maintain an empire based on strict Christian values, right-wing politics, and free-market economics.” 7 In the last 20 years, Erik Prince has given more than $230,000 dollars to GOP candidates and conservative political action committees. 8 The list of candidates to whom he has donated reads like a who’s who of the far right of Washington elites: George W. Bush, Pat Buchanan, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), and former Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX). Through his Freiheit Foundation, he gave $500,000 to Prison Fellowship Ministries, 9 which was founded by Nixon’s chief counsel Chuck Colson, who spent time in prison for crimes related to the Watergate scandal and converted to Evangelical Christianity while behind bars. In 2000, Prince also gave $30,000 to the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank that pushed for the invasion of Iraq and, via a revolving door with government, has unprecedented access to the Bush administration. 10 But more than just money, Prince has also given his time to right-wing causes and came of age within and among them. He had initially gone to the Naval Academy to earn his undergraduate degree, but he transferred to Hillsdale College in Michigan, a Christian-oriented school that Newsweek called “an institution with an almost Ayn Rand-like faith in free markets.” 11 Though Prince liked the Navy, one of his professors at Hillsdale said that Prince had found the academy “insufficiently tough and conservative,” in the words of Newsweek (Prince denied the comments). Prince interned at both FCR (becoming one of their first college interns) 12 and at the George H.W. Bush White House, where he did a six-month stint. 13 His burgeoning right-wing worldview was revealed in an interview he gave about the experience at the White House shortly after leaving, telling the Grand Rapids Press that he saw things there he didn’t agree with, such as gay groups being invited into the White House, a budget agreement that raised taxes, and the passage of the Clean Air Act, which regulated pollution and cost businesses money. 14 The Mercenary Business But businessmen with ties to the GOP and conservative ideologies and pedigrees are not uncommon. What makes Prince special is the confluence of his ideologies in his business—Blackwater. The two most readily discernable right-wing ideologies behind Prince and Blackwater are clearly militarism and privatization; it is, after all, a private military company. As far as privatization goes, Blackwater depends on government outfits like the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) to fall by the wayside so that the North Carolina-based mercenary outfit can pick up State contracts to do DSS’s old job—guard U.S. diplomats abroad. Protecting U.S. interests, notably people in war zones, is how Blackwater built its business. As of late 2007, the company had lost none of its protected charges in either Iraq or Afghanistan, both places where they have a heavy presence (Blackwater’s force in Iraq is two-thirds of what DSS has in total around the globe). 15 But its services have not been without controversy. Last September, Blackwater mercenaries gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians when a Blackwater-protected State convoy ran into traffic at Nisour Square in Baghdad. In a stark and troubling sign of Blackwater’s usurpation of government responsibilities, it was reported that a Blackwater employee was allowed to write the initial State Department report on the incident, which—contradicting later reports, most notably the Iraqi government’s—cited gunfire from the crowd as having set off the melee. 16 An official with knowledge of the investigation subsequently told the New York Times that the incident had been characterized by chaos and confusion, including infighting between Blackwater employees when one of them did not heed a ceasefire call. 17 Though the incident was neither the first nor last of reported Blackwater abuses, it was the first that garnered the attention of Congress. A hearing was called, and Prince, in line with Blackwater’s previous statements, denied any wrongdoing. Absurdly, he even denied that Blackwater had shot and killed innocent civilians. 18 None of the abuses, however, have been prosecuted either in Iraq—where U.S. contractors enjoy immunity—or in the United States. That immunity, however, is proving severely problematic as the Bush administration attempts to heal strained relations with it Iraqi allies, who remain outraged over the Nisour Square incident and other abuses committed by private security contractors. Contractor immunity, in fact, was one of the major holdups in U.S.-Iraqi negotiations for a controversial security agreement to replace the current U.N. mandate. 19 But given the hard-fought resistance to giving up contractor immunity—and the failure to prosecute alleged crimes upon return to the United States—some observers have begun to wonder if the private contractors haven’t overtaken the U.S. military in the Iraq pecking order. Pointing to a telling incident in which U.S. Army and Blackwater vehicles collided and Blackwater guards subsequently disarmed military personnel, researcher Madhavi Bhasin wrote, “The Iraqi Government has come to realize that the U.S. is attempting to run the Iraqi state through private contractors who cannot be held accountable for their misdeeds.” 20 Ideological Hodgepodge Blackwater’s tentacles into the world of right-wing ideology go well beyond the basics of militarism and privatization. Blackwater’s chief operating officer Joseph Schmitz, for example, was involved in several controversies during his time as inspector general (IG) of the Defense Department. One of them, bizarrely, was his obsession with a Prussian Army officer who was a hero in the American Revolutionary War and whose motto—“Always Under the Protection of the Almighty”—Schmitz spent months working into a new logo for the IG’s office, 21 with questionable disregard for the separation of church and state. Schmitz, as the Pentagon’s IG, was responsible for defense contracts. His watch saw the largest increase in military contracting ever—certainly a boon to Blackwater’s business. But in 2005, Schmitz resigned from the IG under pressure for malfeasance in his oversight—including questionably exonerating Iraq war architect Richard Perle for peddling his influence within the Pentagon. 22 Though he may have lacked oversight, Schmitz was certainly not shortsighted. His Catholicism, ideological politics, and doling out of contracts to Blackwater surely helped his chances of getting a gig with Prince’s outfit, which is where he landed the month after he resigned. Another Blackwater figure with ideological underpinnings is Cofer Black, the head of Total Intelligence Solutions and former head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. While at the CIA (where he worked until 2002), Black oversaw one of the Bush administration’s forays into expanding the powers of the executive; many of those overreaches have been criticized for putting the executive branch above the law and beyond oversight. The program that Black was responsible for was no exception. According to Dana Priest of the Washington Post, under Black’s watch the Counterterrorism Center ran the “extraordinary rendition” program in which suspects were kidnapped by the CIA, taken to secret “black sites,” and interrogated with harsh methods that have given rise to accusations of torture. 23 After 9/11, Black had famously told Congress that, “the gloves came off.” 24 Perhaps, indeed, the gloves came off. And in addition to possibly conducting torture, those bare hands apparently also dialed up Blackwater—just two weeks after the attacks, Prince told Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, “The phone is ringing off the hook.” 25 A constant enemy of the aggressive economic right is taxation, and Blackwater Worldwide is no exception. In October 2007, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent a letter to Prince notifying him that there was evidence that “Blackwater may have engaged in significant tax evasion.” 26 The question arose from Blackwater’s classification of its armed guards as “independent contractors,” for which the company is not responsible for taxes like Social Security and Medicare, “for which it is legally responsible.” Waxman’s letter noted that Blackwater’s modus operandi was different than the two other military contractors doing private security for the State Department in Iraq, and that in at least one case, the Internal Revenue Service had deemed the independent contractor status as “without merit.” But that’s not the only way Prince and Blackwater have apparently sought to shortchange the government, even as their cups runneth over with taxpayer money in the form of contracts. Scahill reports that Prince registered Greystone Limited, a new division of Blackwater, with the government in 2004. But unlike other Blackwater subsidiaries, Greystone was not incorporated in Virginia, North Carolina, or even the domestic tax haven of Delaware. Instead, wrote Scahill, “Greystone was registered offshore in the Caribbean island-nation of Barbados. It was duly classified by the U.S. government as a ‘tax-exempt’ ‘corporate entity.’” 27 Though the offshore incorporation of Greystone happened in 2004, it was not until late 2007, just as the Nisour Square scandal broke, that Blackwater changed its name to reflect its global base and outreach, tweaking “Blackwater USA” to “Blackwater Worldwide”—a subtle change, but a meaningful one in light of Blackwater’s increasing enterprises and growing scope. Bill Sizemore of the Virginian-Pilot reported that the name change coincided with significant expansions, citing Blackwater’s desire for or recent foray into “a role providing private armed forces in support of international peacekeeping and nation-building operations,” acquisition of “an oceangoing ship for training and potential paramilitary use,” and a share of a federal “five-year federal counter narcotics contract that could be worth up to $15 billion.” 28 Sizemore also noted that Blackwater is expanding into the time-honored right-wing enterprise of traditional defense contractors—not training and private mercenary work, but rather weapons and equipment development, manufacturing, and sales. National Public Radio’s Corey Flintoff reported last fall that Blackwater now provides everything “from bomb-sniffing dogs to drone reconnaissance aircraft.” 29 Newsweek also reported that Blackwater “has a prototype of a spy blimp—an unmanned dirigible that could hover for days,” and that Prince’s “focus seems to be more on developing the latest high-tech gadgetry to sell to the government.” 30 “The Future of War”? But Blackwater is going global in other new and troubling ways. Scahill devotes a whole chapter of his new book to “Blackwater’s Man in Chile.” This is the “real” vast right-wing conspiracy going international. Through extensive interviews with Blackwater’s Latin-American recruiter himself, Scahill documents the relationship between Blackwater and Jose Miguel Pizarro Ovalle, the Chilean responsible for placing nearly 1,000 of his countrymen in Iraq under the employ of Blackwater. Pizarro is a passionate apologist for brutal right-wing Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, the general who in 1973 led a CIA-, U.S. government-, and multinational corporation–backed coup d’état to overthrow Chile’s democratically elected socialist president, Salvador Allende. In the congressional hearings last October, Prince tried to deflect accusations that his group is indeed a mercenary outfit. “People call us mercenaries,” he told the committee. “We have Americans working for America protecting Americans,” he said—omitting the fact that Blackwater employs non-Americans as well. 31 A New York Times blog noted that Prince’s answer is “in stark contrast to the Oxford English Dictionary definition: ‘A professional soldier working for a foreign government.’ But that’s the second definition in The American Heritage Dictionary. Here’s the first: ‘Motivated solely by a desire for monetary or material gain.’” 32 That is the essence of the problem with Blackwater. Scahill, an undisputed expert on Blackwater who has been called before Congress to testify about the mercenary group, quotes Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights: “The increasing use of contractors, private forces or as some would say ‘mercenaries’ makes wars easier to begin and to fight—it just takes money and not the citizenry.” 33 In a time when the Right misled the people of America into a war in Iraq that appears to be based on neoconservative ideology and aggressive nationalist economic interest in oil, this is a particularly potent criticism of Prince’s right-wing principles. As Scahill writes, the saga of Prince and Blackwater is “the living embodiment of the changes wrought by the revolution in military affairs and the privatization agenda radically expanded by the Bush administration under the guise of the war on terror. But more fundamentally, it is a story about the future of war, democracy, and governance.” 34 Ali Gharib is a Washington, D.C.-based reporter. He contributes to PRA’s Right Web (http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/) and is also a writer for the Inter Press Service. Sources: 1. Jeremy Scahill, “Blackwater’s Private Spies,” Nation, June 5, 2008. 2. Total Intelligence Solutions, “About Total Intelligence Solutions,” http://www.totalintel.com/dsp_aboutus.php. 3. Jeremy Scahill, “Blackwater’s Private Spies,” Nation, June 5, 2008. 4. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2008), pp. 71. 5. Ibid., pp. 69. 6. Ben Van Heuvelen, “The Bush Administration’s Ties to Blackwater,” Salon.com, October 2, 2007, http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/...bush/print.html. 7. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2008), pp. 66. 8. See, “Erik Prince’s Federal Campaign Contribution Report,” Newsmeat.com (as of July 16, 2008), http://newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Erik_Prince.php. 9. Mediamouse.org,Grand Rapids Independent Media, “The Far Right in West Michigan: Freiheit Foundation,” http://www.mediamouse.org/resources/right.php?foundId=9. 10. Grand Rapids Independent Media, “The Far Right in West Michigan: Freiheit Foundation,” http://www.mediamouse.org/resources/right.php?foundId=9. 11. Evan Thomas and Mark Hosenball, “The Man Behind Blackwater,” Newsweek, October 22, 2007, http://www.newsweek.com/id/43361. 12. Letter from Family Research Council president Gary Bauer, April 13, 1995, as cited by Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2008), pp. 76. 13. Evan Thomas and Mark Hosenball, “The Man Behind Blackwater,” Newsweek, October 22, 2007, http://www.newsweek.com/id/43361. 14. Evan Thomas and Mark Hosenball, “The Man Behind Blackwater,” Newsweek, October 22, 2007, http://www.newsweek.com/id/43361. 15. Jeremy Scahill, “The War Business is Doing Well,” Star Tribune, June 19, 2008. 16. Jeremy Scahill, “Iraqis Sue Blackwater for Baghdad Killings,” Nation, October 11, 2007. 17. James Glanz and Sabrina Tavernise, “Blackwater Shooting Scence Was Chaotic,” The New York Times, September 28, 2007. 18. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), “Hearing on Private Security Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan,” October 2, 2007, pp. 86 of transcript at http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20071127131151.pdf. 19. Patrick Cockburn, “Security Firms Lose Immunity In Iraq Deal,” The Independent, July 10, 2008. 20. Madhavi Bhasin, “Maliki and the Timetable: It's All About Blackwater,” Informed Comment, July 11, 2008, http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/bhasin-mal...le-its-all.html. 21. T. Christian Miller, “The Scrutinizer Finds Himself Under Scrutiny,” Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2005. 22. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2008), pp. 365 – 388. 23. Dana Priest, “Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake,” The Washington Post, December 4, 2005. 24. Dana Priest and Barton Gellman, “U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations,” The Washington Post, December 26, 2002. 25. Evan Thomas and Mark Hosenball, “The Man Behind Blackwater,” Newsweek, October 22, 2007, http://www.newsweek.com/id/43361. 26. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), “Letter to Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince.” See http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20071022094624.pdf 27. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2008), pp. 59. 28. Bill Sizemore, “Blackwater, Prince Looking Ahead After Media Blitz,” The Virginian-Pilot, October 19, 2007. 29. Corey Flintoff, “Blackwater’s Prince Has GOP, Christian Group Ties,” National Public Radio, September 25, 2007, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=14659780. 30. Evan Thomas and Mark Hosenball, “The Man Behind Blackwater,” Newsweek, October 22, 2007, http://www.newsweek.com/id/43361. 31. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), “Hearing on Private Security Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan,” October 2, 2007, pp. 134 of transcript at http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20071127131151.pdf. 32. Mike Nizza, “Blackwater Chief’s Testimony, Minute-by-Minute,” The Lede (blog), The New York Times, October 2, 2007, see http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/0...kwater-hearing/. 33. Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2008), pp. 60. 34. Ibid., pp. 63. print email share boomark New Profiles Center for Security Policy Parroting rightwing media talking points, CSP recently questioned whether the Obama administration was really on the side of the United States. Committee on the Present Danger At a recent CPD roundtable promoting U.S. missile defenses, participants were presented a video pushing discredited threats, like terrorists employing nuclear-armed ballistic missiles or knocking out the nation's infrastructure using EMP weapons... Rubin, Michael This AEI scholar argues the U.S. should consider assassinating Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claims Obama is eroding human rights, and has been accused of providing misleading translations of quotes from Iranian officials to push his anti-Iran agenda... Adelson, Sheldon An important financial backer of rightist causes in Israel and the United States, in the last two years Adelson has seen his personal fortune plummet by $19 billion... Woolsey, James Woolsey, a former CIA director who calls the "war on terror" the "Long War," lambastes the Obama administration’s efforts to halt Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank as tantamount to accepting that Palestinians will kill Jews... The Right Web Mission Right Web tracks militarists’ efforts to influence U.S. foreign policy. December 05 2009 About Right Web Profiles Individuals Government Organizations Businesses Feature Stories From the Wires Right Web News GroupWatch Archive Feedback Ali Gharib, “Blackwater: The Real “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy”?,” Right Web (Somerville, MA: PRA, 2008). Web location: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/rw/4934.html Production Information: Author(s): Right Web Editor(s): Right Web Production: Political Research Associates 1310 Broadway, #201, Somerville, MA 02144 | pra@publiceye.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bevilaqua Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Tom beat me to the punch.Cheers, James James, Didn't you once have a source (either named or unnamed) who was able to corroborate the links to Blackwater from Thomas Ellis, as I vaguely recall? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bevilaqua Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 That triangle of Reformed Church conservatism angled among Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Holland, MI (the latter the home of the Prince fortune and upbringing) is really something estimable, though strong liberal traditions exist in Holland. During my time there I really ought to have calculated better the correlation between the Calvinist branch of the Reformed Church (Kalamazoo-Grand Rapids) and conservatism, and taken Holland's lefty quotient with a bit of salt. Any other watchers of that neck of the woods? You know I hate to use that previously censored or verboten phrase: "Killing Commies for Christ", but doesn't "Killing Muslims for Christ" seem to be equally applicable here? The more I dug into the Shickshinny Knights of Malta, the more I realized that those guys would do ANYTHING, just about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING in order to protect and defend the Mother Church against attacks from either Communism, the Muslims or the Martians for that matter. I used to think of the Knights of Malta as just a bunch of retired, old codgers, ex-military men, dressed up in bright red Praetorian Guard uniforms, with clanging sabers at their sides, and overdone Gold Epaulets on their shoulders gold buttons on their cloaks, and those Napolean styled hats with the frilly feathers, but then one of them showed me that the saber was very real, that it was very sharp and that he also carried a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver beneath his cape whenever the Bishop or an Archbishop made an appearance at ANY public church events. And then I became a believer. Hey, if the Secret Service took their jobs as seriously as the Knights of Malta did then JFK would have never been assassinated. Never. Now I re-discovered that both Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton, Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby, Lt. Col. Philip J. Corso, Sir Barry Domville, Brig. Gen. Bonner Fellers and Lt. Gen. Pedro A. del Valle, all Nazis to the core were 6 of the main members of the Shickshinny Knights of Malta. And 4 of them have been on my JFK plotters list for over 15 years, while Willoughby and Fellers show up in The Manchurian Candidate, Fellers was linked to Draper Eugenicist Carleton S. Coon in Cairo, Egypt and James Angleton also in Man Cand, as a spy for Edwin Rommel, the Nazi General and Desert Fox, and Lt. Gen. Pedro A. del Valle is later identified by that Rutgers Professor who wrote about Scientific Racism as a 25 year correspondent of Draper's. So my top 4 Nazi Generals from Shickshinny Knights (Willoughby, Fellers, del Valle and Corso) are either Draperites or ManCand-ites. And who funded Shickshinny Knights from California? Patrick J. Frawley, Jr. of INCA fame who hired Robert J. Morris, yet another ManCand nominee at Technicolor and Schick Safety Razor. Corso worked for J. Strom Thurmond after retirement and Senator J. Strom Thurmond shows up as Senator Thomas Jordan on almost a letter for letter basis as an anagram. Go figure! Coincidence? Of course not! Conspiracy? Of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bevilaqua Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/?personID=1178 Answer: The same bastidges who went after Clinton! THE MONEY BEHIND THE MOVEMENT Who's funding the Conservative Movement? KOCH FOUNDATIONS: David H. Koch Charitable Foundation Charles G. Koch Foundation Claude R. Lambe Foundation SCAIFE FOUNDATIONS: Sarah Scaife Foundation The Carthage Foundation Allegheny Foundation BIG OIL: Exxon Mobil WAL-MART: Wal-Mart See the previous Media Transparency site. All People Funders Recipients Person or Organization's Name Year Financials Thomas S. Monaghan T. Kenneth Cribb James Piereson Edwin Ed Meese Chester E. Finn Charles G. Koch Richard H. Fink Michael S. Joyce Robert P. George Paul R. Roney Vonda Holliman Richard M. Scaife Peter M. Flanigan Edwin J. Feulner Leonard P. Liggio Walton Family Foundation Ave Maria Foundation John M. Olin Foundation Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation Sarah Scaife Foundation F.M. Kirby Foundation Smith Richardson Foundation Gilder Foundation Carthage Foundation Earhart Foundation David H. Koch Charitable Foundation Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation Exxon Mobil Corporation Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation Allegheny Foundation The Heritage Foundation National Rifle Association American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research US Chamber of Commerce Young America's Foundation Cato Institute The Fund for American Studies Leadership Institute WashingtonLegal Foundation Intercollegiate Studies Institute Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Hudson Institute Institute for Justice Pacific Legal Foundation Capital Research Center Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now