American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
"Now what I get a sense of from all of this -- and then topped obviously by spending all the money in 2000 to basically buy the election -- is that this is not a family that has a particularly strong commitment to American democracy. Its sense of how to win elections comes out of a CIA manual, not out of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution." -- Kevin Phillips

9/11: The Big Lie by Thierry Meyssan
Although widely criticized when it first appeared in March of this year, Thierry Meyssan’s 11 Septembre: L’Effroyable Imposture, nevertheless went on France’s bestseller list in its second week and became the highest-grossing book in a single week in Europe ever. As Alan Riding noted in the European edition of The New York Times, it is a book that has taken on a life of its own. Now, American readers have their own opportunity to evaluate the merit of the author’s arguments. Just published by USA Books are the English-language editions of the original title and a companion volume, Pentagate. As a former student of theology as well as of political science, M. Meyssan brings to his work a sincere desire to provide an explanation of the tragedy in the context of his left-of-center philosophy. His books are focused primarily on what he believes are serious inconsistencies between observations of the damage to the Pentagon and the official explanation of what happened there. In September 11: The Big Lie, he also discusses similar discrepancies surrounding the destruction of the World Trade Center towers. The evidence that supports the author’s arguments includes eyewitness accounts and commentary by a military authority on explosives. However, most of the narrative consists of the author’s own analyses of the reports by politicians and journalists as well as of film footage of the sites. Photos are included. According to the author, interest in these books in the U.S. is already very strong.Speaking as head of a think tank called the Voltaire Network, he notes, Two-thirds of the hits on our Web site come from the United States. For students of history and political science, as well as all concerned citizens, these are important books to be aware of. While some may be offended by the author’s conclusions, his beliefs clearly hold an appeal for many outside the United States.
The Shadow Government: 9-11 and State Terror by Len Bracken, Andrew Smith, Kenn Thomas
Bracken attempts to explain, in prose by turns elegant and overwrought, why Bush White House and Pentagon officials plotted to kill thousands in an "indirect defense attack" on September 11—and how they plan to profit off such monstrous self-sabotage: a potential $15 billion in insider stock trades (the SEC, Bracken notes, has refused to reveal the names of those who made windfalls on that Tuesday); the expected construction of a lucrative, Houston-sponsored pipeline across Afghanistan; and the passage of pro-policing bills like the USA Patriot Act, among other nefarious objectives.
Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President by J. H. Hatfield, Greg Palast
If you want to find out more about public officials, start with the books they don't want you to read. Fortunate Son, James Hatfield's swan song, amasses the singlemost informative and chilling overview of Bush the Younger, a man of wealth, privilege, and arrogance nearing Shakespearean proportions. In the wake of its destruction by its original publisher, subsequent revival by Soft Skull Press, as well as the tragic suicide of its author, this book has undergone several revisions. This third revision, featuring a new forward by Greg Palast and Mark Crispin Miller, is as outstanding as they come, the antithesis to all of the Neoconservative-sanctioned Bush books flooding the market.
Wealth and Democracy : A Political History of the American Rich by Kevin Phillips


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Morality & Ethics
A case study of the Carlyle Group

By Lester Michaels

The Carlyle Group was the brainchild of two virtually unknown businessmen, established in 1987 by David Rubenstein, a Washington lawyer and former policy assistant to Jimmy Carter, and Stephan Norris, a former executive for the Marriott Hotels Group. The two men were able to find a tax loophole that saved Marriott a considerable amount of money, and the Carlyle Group was born.

Since then the Carlyle Group has evolved into the world's largest private equity firm with 18 billion dollars under management, and having large stakes in an extensive list of the world's most exclusive big money industries, including real estate, aerospace and defense contracting, telecom and media, energy and power, automotive and trans, tech and business Svs, and various other industries. So how did this small investment firm come to be such a force in so many sectors of the marketplace? It did not happen right away, at first the company was far from successful, with a series of business failures marked by backing a management led buyout of Caterair and appointing George W. Bush to the board of directors. Norris, who presided over the deal left the company soon there after, and Dubya soon followed as well.

The company experienced a rebirth when it appointed Frank Carlucci (former Secretary of Defense, and deputy director of the CIA) to the board. Frank Carlucci came to the company bringing his rolodex of big time government contacts and connections. The move to hire Carlucci proved to be the right move for the company, which was looking to get into weapons and defense.

The Carlyle Group led by Carlucci bought out BDM, a defense contracting giant with a vast network of connections thanks to CEO Earle Williams, a long time defense industry man who was friends with Carlucci through their previous dealings when Carlucci was secretary of defense. Carlyle made a killing, defense contracts were being slashed as the cold war ended and cheap buyout opportunities were everywhere.

One of the companies Carlyle had its eye on was Vinnell. A little known company that started out building airstrips, but by the 1970s was training Saudi Soldiers to protect oil fields. Vinnell was one of the few companies that did not vacate the Middle East during the first Gulf war, and by the time Carlyle managed to acquire it in 1992, Vinnell had built the Saudi National Guard from 26,000 troops to 70,000 troops. It is said the reason Osama Bin Laden turned against the US is because after spending a decade fighting the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, he came home only to find the US erecting military bases on his soil and US companies training his country's army.

Perhaps the most notable acquisition in Carlyle's short yet "explosive" rise to prominence was the purchase of United Defense in 1997. United Defense had developed a 40 ton howitzer called the Crusader, which despite strong opposition from the Army, was commissioned by the Pentagon at a whopping 665 million dollars. Even though just months later the Crusader project was scrapped (not before going public, enticing prospective investors, and raking in 224 million dollars the day Carlyle floated it on the market), United Defense was given a new contract to build a lighter weapon.

Around the same time, information leaked about the Bin Laden family having a large stake in the Carlyle fund that owned United Defense. Carlyle experienced severe backlash. They went as far as to hire an outside PR firm for damage control, but the company was taking flack on all fronts for its business association with the Bin Ladens. In a courageous move, Democratic Representative Cynthia Mckinney cited the Carlyle Group as a prime example of an organization "close to this administration poised to make huge profits off America's new war." Soon after, the Bin Ladens sold their shares in the company. A spokesperson for Carlyle said that their investment was 'only' around 2 million dollars, though there is some speculation that they had much more invested in the company in the past.

On a side note: Cynthia McKinney was consequently rubbed out by forces in the republican party who are connected to the Carlyle Group. A republican woman posing as a democrat was sent into her district to run against her in the primary, and 47,000 registered republicans were urged to re-register as democrats and vote for the republican impostor (who conveniently is also a black woman) and against McKinney. Cynthia McKinney was maliciously supplanted for her outspoken opposition to the Carlyle Group and its too close for comfort ties to the Bush administration.

After 9/11 came fear of anthrax attacks. One company who benefited was the Pittsburgh based IT Group, which conveniently won a number of contracts to clean up anthrax infected buildings, including the Hart Senate office building. Carlyle owns 25% of this company which they subsequently sold off at huge profit. Interestingly enough, Carlyle owned a company called US Investigation Services, a company that specializes in checking the back round of employees. Immediately after the Patriot Act was past in the Senate and the House, US Investigative Services' stocks rose dramatically.

Other Carlyle companies who have benefited from the 9/11 attacks that have prompted 2 wars are: EC&G, which makes x-ray scanners. Composite Structures, a maker of metal bond structures in fighter jets and missiles, Lier Siegler Services Inc, a major military contractor that provides logistics support, and CSX Lines, an ocean currier that specializes in shipping heavy equipment, which was bought by Carlyle only a month before the invasion of Iraq.

Carlyle currently has some of the most high profile and elite political figures on their payroll: George Bush Sr (former president and vice president, ex CIA director). James Baker III (former secretary of state and secretary of the treasury), Frank Carlucci (former secretary of defense and deputy director of the CIA), John Major (former British prime minister), Richard Darman (former white house budget advisor under both Clinton and bush). From Saudi royals to Asian dictators, it is very difficult to know who is on their payroll at any given time. A lot of these shadowy figures are never officially hired and paid in very ambiguous ways, perhaps off investments made for them through the Carlyle Group, perhaps on the money they raise, nobody really knows. This is the gray area that makes the Carlyle Group the most secretive companies in the world.

Carlyle publicly denies that they have benefited from the September 11th attacks and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Co-Founder William Conway went on record as saying "Nobody wants to a beneficiary of 9/11." Yet despite Conway's denial, the Carlyle Group has reaped tremendous benefits from "the war on terror." There is no disputing this fact.

To say that the Carlyle Group is unethical would be the understatement of the century. The Carlyle group is a collection of Washington insiders and ex high-level government officials, who use their contacts, connections, and knowledge of government as a means to further their own personal political and economic agendas. One can only imagine the path one must take to reach the pinnacle of corruption.

Their scam works like this: The Carlyle group is nothing but a revolving door for top level government officials, they rotate in and out of public office, setting or influencing policies while they're in office and then exploiting those policies once they've left and have gone back to Carlyle.

This is a precedent setting conflict of interest. The Carlyle group currently has no official code of ethics. Instead, they have a mission statement: "Our mission is to be the premier global private equity firm, leveraging the insight of Carlyle's team of investment professionals to generate extraordinary returns across a range of investment choices, while maintaining our good name and the good name of our investors."

The Carlyle Group has blurred the lines of ethical behavior to the point of obliteration. The collusion between Carlyle and the government is a staggering violation of ethics and morality in business, in government, and in life. From the sale of out of date cold war hardware, to the manufacturing of hi-tech weapons that they know will not work, to angering fundamentalists in the Middle East who have now taken blood oaths to destroy the Western World. These are intentionally fraudulent and dangerous business and political practices that have not only cost the American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, but it also has cost the lives of many innocent people.

It would appear that from their "mission statement" that they are an honest ethical company. That could not be further from the truth. They are the masters of extortion and manipulation.

Carlyle is in desperate need of an official code of ethics. A good place to start would be not allowing any former government officials to get a job in an industry that they had a hand in regulating. This is the underlying theme of the Carlyle Group. At the core, this is how they are able to get away with their shady dealings and ambiguous business associations.

Another example of the Carlyle Group's total disregard for ethics and morality is Sequoia Systems, Inc. Sequoia is a major manufacturer of the new touch-screen-voting-machines that have been stirring controversy in the United States. Opponents claim that the American election process has been sold off to private companies like Sequoia Systems, which is yet another subsidiary of the Carlyle Group.

How ethical is it to have the father of the President of the United States spearheading a company that owns another company that manufactures machines that count votes? To any objective person this would appear like another gross conflict of interest.

The Carlyle Group has seemingly taken corruption to the next level. They are the inevitable manifestation of the marriage of big business, the military industrial complex, and politics. A hybrid entity controlled by the few, the rich, the elite. I'd like to officially refer to this as "polynomics." This new breed of company operates in total autonomy. It is immune to responsibility, and immune to prosecution. Before we had companies that did horrible things for profit, and continue to do horrible things for profit, but none of them had the influence and backing that Carlyle currently has. For how can they ever be held accountable for their brazen indiscretions when they both make and break the laws simultaneously?


Is Carlyle ethical towards its competitors? Well, nobody can really answer this question because Carlyle has no competition. They are a global monopoly, an unrivaled power in the global economy. This in and of itself is highly unethical.

Does Carlyle defraud the government/public? This is an interesting question because for all intents and purposes, Carlyle is a quasi government agency, a private firm that drifts dangerously deep into politics, and because Carlyle is comprised of ex top level government officials, they are able to defraud the public in a way that breaks new ground.


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