Doing Business With The Enemy

Made in the USA, Part III: The Dishonor Roll

In 1983, Rumsfeld, then a private citizen, traveled to Baghdad to meet with the Iraqi dictator. Rumsfeld delivered President Ronald Reagan’s personal message of support to Hussein, who was already three years into his eventual eight-year war with Iran. The American envoy also discussed a proposed joint-venture oil pipeline with the Iraqi leader. That project, also championed by the San Francisco–based Bechtel Group, never materialized, but Rumsfeld’s mission underscored the reality that for more than 30 years the economic interests of American industry were firmly embedded into the geopolitical goals of U.S. policymakers.

Prosecutor: Prescott Bush continued to support Hitler after the U.S. entered WWII

“They should have been tried for treason, because they continued to support Hitler after the US entered the war. As a former prosecutor, I could have made that case. They shipped gold through axis countries after the US entered the war. That certainly was treason, because it gave aid and comfort to the enemy and assisted them economically.”

White House report cites record opium cultivation

The report said the area in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation last year set a new record of 206,700 hectares, more than triple the figure for 2003.

The Afghan narcotics situation, “represents an enormous threat to world stability, said the report, issued Friday.

It listed opium production at 4,950 metric tons, 17 times more than second place Myanmar.

Opium poppy is the raw material for heroin. READ MORE

Documents: Bush's Grandfather Directed Bank Tied to Man Who Funded Hitler

Wall Street Journal: Bush Sr. In Business With Bin Laden Family Through Carlyle Group

How the Bush family made its fortune from the Nazis

Bush-Nazi Link Confirmed

Three Generations of Treason

The Best Enemies Money Can Buy

The Bush-Laden Network

911 cover-up commission and business ties

U.S. v. John G. Rowland

Who are the Left Gatekeepers and how are they paid off?

United Defense (Carlyle Group?) Receives Two Bradley Contracts Totaling $68 Million

United Defense announced that it has received two separate contracts for the Bradley program. The change order, not-to-exceed $54 million, from the U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) is a contract to provide 120 Bradley A3 vehicles instead of 131 Bradley Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) variants awarded in June. The change order calls for 120 vehicles to be equipped with all the features of the A3 configuration with the exception of the Commander's Independent Viewer, and is initially funded at $27 million. Under the order, United Defense will provide 80 Bradley M2A3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, 29 Bradley M3A3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicles and 11 Bradley A3 Fire Support Vehicles (A3 B-FIST) to the Army. Work on the contract will be done at United Defense facilities in Aiken, SC and York and Fayette County, Pa. Vehicle delivery is scheduled to begin in mid 2006. The second contract is a $14.2 million modification, initially funded at $7.1 million, from TACOM to convert Bradley air defense variants to an infantry fighting vehicle configuration. Under the contract modification, United Defense will remove the Stinger air defense equipment from 88 Bradleys and convert the vehicles to standard M2A2 ODS infantry fighting vehicles. This effort runs through June 2006. Work will be completed at United Defense facilities in York, Pa., Santa Clara, Calif. and Aiken, SC.

United Defense, Carnegie Mellon (For Peace?) Selected to Provide Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicles for U.S. Marine Corps

United Defense and Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Consortium (NREC) announced that they have been awarded a $26.4 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Program Office for Robotic Systems to design, develop and produce tactical unmanned ground vehicles (TUGV) for the U.S. Marine Corps.

BAE Buys United Defense (a “Former” Carlye Group Co.) for $3.97 Bln

Europe's biggest defense company, BAE Systems (BA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , agreed to buy U.S. firm United Defense Industries (UDI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for $3.974 billion in cash on Monday, bolstering its land systems business and its foothold in the United States.

BAE said it would pay $75 a share for the maker of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, a premium of 29 percent over United Defense's close of $58.26 on Friday. READ MORE

FROM THE CARLYLE GROUP (Bush, Bin Laden, Queen Liz) WEBSITE:

United Defense Industries

Carlyle Partners II portfolio company United Defense Industries, Inc. is a leader in the design, development, and production of combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers, and precision munitions and is America’s largest non-nuclear ship repair and modernization company.

United Defense is a leading prime contractor for a number of combat vehicles, artillery and weapons delivery systems, and other defense systems, including the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the linchpin of the Army’s mechanized forces.

United Defense was formed when Carlyle acquired the partnership interests of FMC Corporation and Harsco Corporation for $850 million in October 1997. Following a leveraged recapitalization during the summer of 2001, United Defense went public in an initial public offering completed in December 2001. “United Defense has been a successful investment due to great execution,” says Carlyle’s Allan Holt. “The management team has faced an ever changing defense environment and reacted quickly and appropriately. They have consolidated facilities, cut costs and delivered technologically advanced systems on time, on budget, and on specifications. That has translated into strong profits and cash flows and increased shareholder value.” Carlyle has supported the management team of United Defense in the completion of a number of acquisitions to complement and expand its existing business base and in the pursuit of numerous international opportunities.

Carlyle completely exited this investment in April 2004. (Oh really?)

United Defense Industries, L.P. (Windfalls of War!)

In 1997, United Defense was purchased by the Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C., investment partnership formed in 1987 by David Rubenstein, a former aide to President Jimmy Carter; Daniel A. D'Aniello, former vice president of Finance for Marriott Inc.; and William Conway, former CFO for MCI Communications. The Group now manages more than $16 billion in investments through some 300 employees in 12 offices around the world. Investors include the government of Singapore, Kuwait Investment Authority and state pension funds of California and Florida.

Though the group's portfolio includes investments in industries like real estate and health care, much of its success resulted from the purchase of defense companies neglected by investors after the Cold War's end.

In 1994, United Defense signed a contract with the Defense Department potentially worth $1.1 billion to develop a new howitzer weapon system called the Crusader. READ MORE

FLASHBACK: Army Prepares Armed 'Robo-Soldier' for Iraq

It was a joint development process between the Army and Foster-Miller, a robotics firm bought in November by QinetiQ Group PLC, which is a partnership between the British Ministry of Defence and the Washington holding company The Carlyle Group. READ MORE

The creature walks among us (What are robo soldiers up to?)

Doctor Frankenstein's frightful creature was assembled from the limbs of corpses collected in the dead of night.

The Pentagon, with a steady supply of perfectly good severed limbs and heads from all its bombing runs, has decided the good Doctor's approach to the ideal soldier has certain public-relations liabilities. Jerky, stitched-together bodies in uniform with putrid blue-green skin would not make good photo-ops. So the Pentagon has taken the high-tech approach, informing us recently that they are not many years away from putting the finishing touches to a robot soldier. READ MORE

SO WHY IS THE CARLYLE GROUP IN BUSINESS WITH THE UK?

Timeline to Global Governance

Bronfman Group Buys Time Warner Music

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc. (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it would sell its Warner Music business to a group led by media mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr. for $2.6 billion, in a move to trim the media group's debts and signaling a return of the former Seagram chairman to the music business.

Pentagon bankers may bail out Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black

…which means the Daily Telegraph may very well turn into a Pentagon/Carlyle Group propaganda media outlet

A powerful banking group with close links to the Pentagon, which has also invested money on behalf of the Bin Laden family, is in talks to bail out beleaguered Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black. The Carlyle Group, known as the Ex-Presidents Club because of the number of former world leaders it employs, is considering taking a stake in Hollinger International, which owns the Telegraph titles, the Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times, according to those close to the firm.

The Connection - Arrested Russian Businessman Is Bush’s Carlyle Group Adviser

…he also funneled all his Yukos shares to Jacob Rothschild, who now controls the voting rights on a stake in the Russian Oil Giant worth almost $13.5 billion

The arrest of two of Russia's top businessmen in recent months was more than a distant headline for Washington's well-connected private equity firm, Carlyle Group.

FLASHBACK: THE BUSH FAMILY IN BUSINESS WITH THE BIN LADEN FAMILY THROUGH CARLYLE GROUP

If There's a Cause, There's a Caucus

(Translation: Where there is a need to complete an Agenda, there are Players to make it so.)

From the Caucus for Sugar Reform to the Zero Capital Gains Tax Caucus, members of Congress have a slew of issue coalitions they can join that seem to cover every occasion or concern a politician may want to talk about.

Caucuses have no official legislative responsibilities but can rally members behind a cause or position, or at a minimum show their constituents they care

READ MORE

Venezuela and Argentina: A Tale of Two Coups - 2004 Project Censored Award

The big business-led coup in Venezuela failed, where international finance's coup in Argentina has succeeded. Greg Palast gives us the inside track on two very different power-grabs.

Confessions of Economic Hit Man: Jack Blood interviews John Perkins

SURFACE WARSHIPS: The Mysterious Chinese Maritime Security Agency

Great Lakes Ports Get Less Cash To Implement Security

Dead Saudi Major Related To 9-11 'Terrorists'?

An Open Letter to the Heads of State and Government
Of the European Union and NATO / By your friends at the P.N.A.C.

In the wake of the horrific crime in Beslan, President Putin has announced plans to further centralize power and to push through measures that will take Russia a step closer to authoritarian regime.