December 19, 2001

Bartcop,
Imagine my surprise and excitement as I glanced at the cover of Redherring magazine (Jan 1, 2002) - “Spies, Inc.”
Staring at me in white letters on a red background, “The Carlyle Group: The relationship between the
bin Laden family, George Bush Sr., and floundering defense contractors.”

Better still is inside the cover (p.8) - “Carlyle’s way - How George Bush Sr. could benefit from a prolonged war. The Carlyle Group walks the thin line between government access and corruption.” By Dan Briody. I applaud Mr. Briody for the first piece that I’ve seen in a mainstream magazine on the Carlyle Group (especially since Bush Jr. was placed in the Whitehouse).

In brief, it’s a 5-page article (not on the website yet), with the first page dedicated to pictures: Arthur Levitt, Colin Powell,
Fidel Ramos (former Pres of the Philippines), Frank Carlucci, James Baker III, John Major, Park Tae-Joon (former PM of S. Korea), Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal (Saudi Prince), Richard Darman and of course George Bush Sr. - All members, advisors and investors in Carlyle. Can you imagine what this group of people could do?

Mr. Briody makes it clear that the Carlyle Group is in the business of corporate buyouts and compares their kind of investing
to the type in the movie Wall Street - ruthless and spooky. He also correctly points to how Bush Jr. can make budgetary decisions that his father would directly profit from. War is good business for the 11th largest defense contractor in the US.

When it comes to influence peddling, a great example is the Crusader negotiations. Mr. Briody tells us about this antiquated 42-ton howitzer that the Army couldn’t deploy in Kosovo and how Mr. Carlucci - a close friend of Donald Rumsfeld - has kept it alive. Then of course there’s a direct connection with Bush Sr. telling Jr. to make nice with the North Koreans.
Why?
Because the Carlyle Group needs stability for some planned buyouts.

Mr. Briody questions the Group’s dealings with the Saudis and the flow of money. But so far, “Carlyle has stayed clean in the eyes of the law.” (p.65).

The end of the article is what I found the most eye-opening - David Snow, editor of PrivateEquityCentral.net, has the last word, “George Bush’s father does profit when the Carlyle Group profits, but to make the leap that the president would base decisions on that is to say that the president is corrupt.”

Let me say it - Yes, George W. Bush is GUILTY of making decisions that his family and friends profit from and be damned the rest of us. I’ve seen the face of terrorism, George and it’s yours - every time you spout about making war against starving people to build an oil pipeline to having better control over the heroin trade - and another American loses his job, increases his debt. and wonders how the hell did we got in this mess when more of us didn’t vote for you?

Thank you to Mr. Briody for the genuine article.

-Elizabeth.