And then there's Marc Rich. Rich, a whipping boy of the right known for his last-minute pardon by Bill Clinton is actually close to influential figures on both sides of the aisle. Rich's lawyer, dating back to the 1980s was none other than recently indicted Cheney aide Irving "Scooter" Libby, who received over $2 million dollars in legal fees from Rich over the course of their relationship.It looks like the French connection in this case was only a red herring.
Rich -- through various French front-companies he established for the purpose -- not only lifted over eight million barrels of oil (paying around $1.5 million in bribes), but his companies financed over $430 million dollars in oil sales.
Reference: AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Quiet Oil-for-Food Scandal
The $30 Billion Dollar Carlyle Group (the only large private equity firm located in Washington, DC., not New York. Corporate headquarters are on Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between the White House and the Capitol building) has two companies involved.
Carlyle Group, whose board used to include "W" and still retains Daddy Bush and Colin Powell -- and on the other side of the aisle, George Soros, had subsidiaries with contracts under the program and paid kickbacks to Sadaam's regime.
And don't forget Halliburton. Don't ever forget Haliburton!
James Baker III, the former United States Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush, Staff member under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, is not only Carlyle's Senior Counselor, he's also represents the Saudi Royals and, of course, he's Halliburton's consigliere.
At least one Halliburton firm, Oil Tools International, is listed in the latest report as having made sales of spare parts under the program and paying kickbacks to the regime.You know America, we really deserve this catastrophe of a presidency for not simply doing out homework and instead, buying the hype.
That's in addition to the $73 million in business Halliburton did with Iraq during the sanctions regime under Cheney's leadership, as previously reported by the Washington Post.
Dick Cheney has a history of lobbying to lift sanctions in countries where Halliburton was doing, or hoped to do, business. Those countries include Burma (he signed an amicus brief against the Massachusetts Burma Law), Libya, Iran and Azerbaijan. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he acknowledged that Halliburton -- through off-shore subsidiaries -- did business in those countries but insisted "Iraq's different."