Posted on 06/20/2006 6:46:51 PM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
In addition to the folks involved in Safavian's and Abramoff's doings such ast the ACLU, Harry Reid, Dick Gephardt, Tom Daschle and just about anyone else interested in promoting the gambling scene, another curious name pops up:
Who else do we know was - and is - a foreign agent of that obscure one-time uranium producing country in Africa known as Gabon?
Hint : She relates to another set of scandals.
Hint hint: She's one of the spouses of a certain Kerry staffer, the former ambassador to Gabon Joseph Wilson of Nigerflap / CIA leak fame.
Gabon has also maintained a three-year-old relationship with Jacqueline Wilson, the ex-spouse of a senior US diplomat. According to her filings, Wilson receives tens of thousands of dollars for special projects and reports to President Omar Bongo's daughter, Pascaline Mferri Bongo. In her latest filing, Wilson reported that she was paid 60,000 dollars between August and November 2000 to ''support action of president of Gabon to fight AIDS pandemic (and) develop a strategy.'' As to work performed, she reported sending ''letters to the office of National AIDS policy at the White House.''-------- http://tinyurl.com/creso
There is significance to the Abramoff and Janus-Merritt references there: a firm called Janus Partners/Partner is listed in Federal Election Commission forms (for contributors to Congressman Christopher Cannon) as associated with Mark J. Robertson, president of Williams Mullen Strategies, a lobbying firm that has worked for both COTECNA (of Oil-for-Food fame) and Gabon.
Robertson previously had arranged a US visit for Gabonese President Omar Bongo at the same time Bongo hired as lobbyists Pierre Salinger and Jacqueline Wilson (then in the process of divorcing Joseph--recently back from organizing Clinton's trip to Africa--but curiously listed in records as having a phone number at the $735,000 house Joseph and Valerie Plame purchased at that time, while Joseph was living separately in Valerie's apartment; over the next four years, Jacqueline would receive at least $712,000 from Gabon for her lobbying services).
Robertson has more recently worked with USAID and Iraq's Minister of Infrastructure and Water to establish their respective roles in the Iraq Reconstruction efforts.
(As an aside of possible interest, Abramoff, Robertson, and Janus-Merritt Strategies have all contributed to Congressman Cannon, on whose staff David Safavian has worked. Another contributor to Cannon was Coastal Corp., the company of Oil-for-Food figure Oscar Wyatt.) 163 posted on 10/17/2005 11:47:56 AM PDT by Fedora | To 162
Ouch. And what else does this relate to?:
Everyone knows that Gaullist Presidential campaigns over the last thirty years have benefited greatly from donations from Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire and the two Congo states (Kinshasa and Brazzaville). It will doubtless be the same in 2002 - which is why Chirac receives Robert Mugabe in such splendour at the Elysee, conscious that Zimbabwe's 14,000 troops in the Congo make him a key player in such marchandise. Not that France has a monopoly on playing Machiavelli in Africa:
Herman Cohen, Clinton's assistant secretary of state for Africa, who was so busy in Rwanda in 1994, today has a multi-million contract to tart up the image of Mugabe. Cohen has also had contracts to promote Zaire's Mobutu, Gabon's Omar Bongo (whose government the state department reports is guilty of a routine use of torture), and Liberia's Charles Taylor - an adept in the use of child soldiers and the lopping off of hands, legs, ears and lips. -------------------- "Disturbing article about Rwanda, France, UN, Belgium, Annan, and Clinton ," by RW Johnson, UCSB , Thursday June 24, 2001
General Services Administration. They basically do for the federal government (minus most of the military) what the purchasing and facilities departments do at most companies.
A British Telegraph journalist in Niger recently reported that the former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Herman Cohen, had told Niger’s president to stay quiet on the uranium issue. Diatta is quick to address the potentially damaging media report, pointing out that Cohen is also a lobbyist for the Nigerien government and frequently travels to Niger to brief the government on his work in Washington.
“I know [former] Ambassador Cohen very well,” Diatta said. “Ambassador Cohen went as a private person, not as an official of the U.S. government. It is normal for him to go to Niger and speak about his job with my government.”
The former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, Joseph Wilson, is another key player who helped [* should be 'failed to'] debunk the claim that Niger sold uranium to Iraq....
“I know [Wilson] very well also,” said Diatta. “And you know, something very strange—when he went to Niger in February 2002, I was myself in Niger and we had a meeting in my house and we spoke about this matter. So, it was not a secret mission. Everyone spoke about this secret CIA mission. I don’t understand why there is so much noise about this visit to Niger.
“Ambassador Wilson was requested by the CIA [* My note: his wife] to go to Niger, yes, but he accomplished this for his government without any problem. He told everyone that he was sent by the U.S. government on the uranium issue, without any secrecy,” Diatta said.
117 posted on 10/31/2005 6:47:14 AM PST by kcvl | To 115
Great posts..... a French connection???? No wonder the French promised old Saddam they could save him.
According to the OMB organization chart, he reports to the Deputy Director for Management, who reports to the Director, who theoretically reports to the President-- but in fact deals more with his chief of staff and other "real" Presidential aides, as well as Congressional committees.
The Senate approves 4,000 such jobs each term, the vast majority of which are second and third tier bureaucrats like this man, and most of whom are unknown to the President. Quite possibly he has never met Mr. Bush; in fact, it seems plausible to me that his boss has never met the President.
-ccm
As such, he was in charge of buying paper, pencile, staples, and paper clips....
Well, if this were still WJC's administration, we wouldn't have to be asking that question.
Thanks!
I knew that MSNBC headline was bogus. My gut never lies to me. :-P
Typical of the media, their bush hate compells them to bring bush into the picture whenever they can.
Let's see if he gets the same disposition as Bill Clinton did.
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