Daily Kos: Baker Key to Dubai Ports Mess

[Coastie for Truth]

Baker Key to Dubai Ports Mess
by Anacher Forester
Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 12:09:34 PM PDT

Former Reagan Chief-of-Staff, ex-Treasury Secretary, ex-Secretary of State, ex-NSC Council Member, ex-GWB chief legal advisor, etc, and recent US Special Envoy for Iraq debt is the invisible man in the middle of this mess.

James A. Baker is Senior Partner of Baker Botts, a legal firm very active in Middle East affairs perhaps never more visibly than as legal representation for the Saudi Royal family in the lawsuits brought by the families of 9/11 victims. Baker Botts happens to include Halliburton among its many clients and is active in Egypt, Kuwait and Dubai, too.

According to Baker Botts, on April 15, 2005: "the firm expanded its presence in the region by opening a Middle East regional office in Dubai to complement our existing office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." Why? "Baker Botts' Dubai office provides service to clients in a number of sectors in the energy industry, including oil and gas exploration and development, oil field services, electric power, LNG, petrochemicals, pipelines, and gas-to-liquids." I bet they do. Clearly Baker Botts has a vested interest in the Bush Administration's push toward a "free" trade agreement with the UAE. I'll return to the Dubai office later.

We've only just glimpsed the tip of the proverbial Bakerberg. James A. Baker also serves as Senior Counsel to the secretive Carlyle Group where The Guardian has reported his equity stake at an estimated $180 million US. The Carlyle Group has made hundreds of millions of dollars in the "war on terror" as owner or part owner of defense contractors: The Aerostructures Corporation, Combined Tactical Systems, Inc., DHS Technologies, Landmark Aviation, Stellex Aerostructures, Inc., Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc., Canada's Standard Aero Holdings, Inc., Italy's Avio SpA, US/Brit split Firth Rixson Limited and Britain's NP Aerospace & recently privatized QinetiQ. Due to increased scrutiny of their war profiteering (brought on primarily due to Baker's role as Iraq debt envoy), Carlyle has within the past two years "exited" their long-time investments in United Defense (CG's very first defense contractor acquisition in 1997) as well as United States Marine Repair, Aviall and Indigo Systems.

<<<snip>>>



Goes on and on and on -- the ties between Carlyle and Bush I and Dubai Ports World

Beyond :puke: to :cry:

[bostonbabs]

1. kick

[Dunvegan]

2. Explosive. I actually fear for Anacher Forester's safety after this diary.

He just ripped the joker's mask off Dubai, Dubya, his Daddy, Baker, and Carlyle and tied them to the train track of their heinous port deal.

Heinous not because it involves an Arabic country-run business, but because of the breadth and depth of the Bush family corruption.

This even ties in Katherine Armstrong, she of the quail hunting ranch who was "vetted" by the Veep to break the Whittington shooting incident. It ties in the hijacking of two elections. It explains Powell's unreasonable silence and support of this administration.

This port deal literally "covers the waterfront" of all the corruption down to K-Street and Brewster Jennings' betrayal. Here is the key to the madness we shall all pay for, and why our country and we as citizens are being brutalized into powerlessness and silence.

I just fell back into my chair utterly stunned.

This is diary is the one of the best pieces of investigative journalism I've read at ANY news source since the turn of the millennium.

If you read nothing else all week, please...please...READ THIS.

Blinding in it's illumination.

[SoFlaJet]

5. and why am I not

in the least bit surprised by this revelation?I suspected all along that there was big money for Poppy and his crew to make-certainly it wasn't in the best interest of the USA-that would go against everything they believe in.

[MADem]

3. And guess who has signed on to do Public Relations for those despots??

Why, none other than BOB DOLE!!!! I can hear him now "Bob Dole doesn't give a shit about national security....Bob Dole needs another facelift....Bob Dole has to pay for caseloads of Viagra!!"

Gee, anyone wonder how LIDDY's gonna vote on this issue? Oh, the tension! What way WILL she vote???

[leftstreet]

4. LOL!

[seafan]

6. I heard he withdrew his name as lobbyist after the outrage exploded.

Now he says he will just *talk* (like "visit with") members of the administration only.

[MADem]

9. His job is to wrassle CONGRESS

He will visit all the Senators, and try to twist their arms on behalf of the Monkey. That's his PR role. See, Frist waffled and can't be relied on to keep them in line; and Trent is out for revenge and opposes the deal--plus, he is PISSED at the absolute lack of consultation. So they had to pull him in as a contract player...."Bob Dole will do anything for a buck!!! Bob Dole is a whore of the first order!!!!"

[lapfog_1]

10. Viagra

for god's sake... why??? Surely not to have sex with the senator...

[MADem]

13. Why do you think she RAN for the Senate????

She RAN to North Carolina, bought mama's house for one dollar, and RAN for the Senate!!!

She was RUNNING FROM that old facelifted clown with the boner!

DOWN BOY, indeed!

[Dunvegan]

7. Try and check out the comments thread at Kos, also.

There is a wealth of supporting evidence there also that weaves the whole cloth of this breathtaking betrayal of the American people.

No wonder they want to shut down the forums and the blogs, destroy our educational system, and keep us powerless from unmasking this world-class historic fraud.

They've made a few mistakes, and they know they aren't out of the woods yet. They couldn't let this get out.

Well, it's out now. What are we going to do about it?

[MsKandice01]

8. Same James Baker whose brother-in-law Dick Cheney just shot?

[stillcool]

15. Whittington is related to Baker?....

please spill....:nuke:

[htuttle]

17. Yup, he's married to James Baker's sister

Her name is Mercedes Baker Whittington.

Small world...

[stillcool]

20. it's amazing.....thanks....small world indeed...

for some.

[rodeodance]

21. the clans of Tx

[Scout1071]

11. So many of the key Baker Botts players were with Cheney at the

Armstrong ranch. Coincidence? I think not.

[htuttle]

18. The Armstrong Ranch, also known as the 'Bada Bing West'

[Coexist]

12. This part is EXTREMELY interesting:

"The secret deal involves a complex transaction to transfer ownership of as much as $57 billion in unpaid Iraqi debts. The debts, now owed to the government of Kuwait, would be assigned to a foundation created and controlled by a consortium in which the key players are the Carlyle Group, the Albright Group (headed by another former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright) and several other well-connected firms. Under the deal, the government of Kuwait would also give the consortium $2 billion up front to invest in a private equity fund devised by the consortium, with half of it going to Carlyle. ...The consortium's proposal spells out the threat: Not only is Kuwait unlikely to see any of its $30 billion from Iraq in sovereign debt, but the $27 billion in war reparations that Iraq owes to Kuwait from Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion 'may well be a casualty of this U.S. effort.'"

[htuttle]

19. $57 billion is one big heist

And that's only ONE of the scams they're running here.

[glitch]

25. Yep - only ONE of their scams, and probably one of the minor ones. nt

[rodeodance]

23. my head swirls-with teh billions and billions and billions at stake.

[arikara]

14. Excellent

k&r

[newscott]

16. Baker is the Bush Family Darth Vader

[grasswire]

22. does Lou Dobbs dare to expose the Baker tie?

I wonder. I hope he has the information.

[Old and In the Way]

24. The New World Order

Bush-Baker-Big Oil

[Miss Authoritiva]

26. Baker, not Cheney, is Bush's puppetmaster

Suffice to say that when Baker and Daddy both say "frog", W jumps.

I've long believed that James Baker has the complete, nonscrubbed set of Bush's Texas Air National Guard Records plus some other handy leverage. Not that Dubya would find the Dubai deal an affront to his soul (if he had one), but the threat of exposure ensures that Bush rides out the controversy.