[lit-ideas] Re: Rumsfeld the Iconoclast
- From: Eric <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:24:36 -0500
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/security/article_2128425.shtml
"For the 11th-largest defense contractor in the
United States, wartime is boom time. No one knows
that better than the Carlyle Group, which less
than a month after U.S. troops began bombing
Afghanistan filed to take public its crown jewel
of defense, United Defense, a company it has owned
for nearly a decade. That this company is even
able to go public is testament to the Carlyle
Group's pull in Washington.
"United Defense makes the controversial Crusader,
a 42-ton, self-propelled howitzer that moves and
operates much like a tank and can lob ten 155-mm
shells per minute as far as 40 kilometers. The
Crusader has been in the sights of Pentagon budget
cutters since the Clinton administration, which
argued that it was a relic of the cold war
era--too heavy and slow for today's warfare.
"Even the Pentagon had recommended the program be
discontinued. But remarkably, the $11 billion
contract for the Crusader is still alive, thanks
largely to the Carlyle Group."
"Mr. Bush Sr. and Mr. Major have been to Saudi
Arabia on behalf of Carlyle as recently as last
year, and according to reports, the Federal Bureau
of Investigation is currently looking into the
flow of money from the bin Laden family. Carlyle
officials declined to answer any questions
regarding their activities in Saudi Arabia."
So how does the Muslim UAE – US ports deal play
into the Group? There are those doing their
research as I type. God bless them, every one.
After all, in the end, it's our hide.
As Joe Costello puts it: "So forget Abramoff and
Duke Cunningham. The bipartisan influence peddling
that gets DC contracts in the billions is best and
most loathsomely represented by the Carlyle Group.
They make nothing. They sell influence.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
