About that Bush Family Ranch in Paraguay...

[donsu]

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/truthista/2007/jan/10/about_that_bush_family_ranch_in_paraguay


A government office forbidden by law from disseminating information domestically was the mouthpiece of choice for the administration to deny rumors that the Bush family purchased thousands of acres in a remote portion of northern Paraguay.

According to CNN, the State Department's USINFO Counter-Disinformation/Misinformation Team, led by Todd Leventhal, "helps U.S. embassies identify and rebut other nations' disinformation, most often fabrications about the United States planted in foreign newspapers or television shows and, these days, on the Internet."

The State Department's response is posted on the USINFO website in its "media archives." Curiously, the official denial (below) was not issued separately but was appended to an earlier statement responding to equally persistent rumors of a U.S. military base in Paraguay.
-----

Alleged Bush ranch in Paraguay

In October 2006, newspapers in Paraguay, the Cuban news service Prensa Latina and others circulated allegations falsely claiming, variously, that:

* Former President George H.W. Bush owns 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) in the Chaco region of Paraguay, or

* Current President George W. Bush owns 40,000 hectares (98,842 acres) in the same region, or

* Timothy Towell, former U.S. ambassador to Paraguay from 1988 to 1991, administers the 70,000 hectare ranch on behalf of former President Bush.

These supposed land acquisitions were often claimed to be associated with alleged U.S. designs on the Guarani aquifer or the Mariscal Estigarribia air base.

There is no truth to any of these allegations:

* The White House has stated that the rumors about President Bush are not true.

* The office of former President George H.W. Bush has confirmed that the allegations about former President Bush are not true.

* Ambassador Towell has confirmed that he does not administer any land in Paraguay on behalf of either former President George H.W. Bush or current President George W. Bush.

(excerpt from "United States Has No Plans for Military Base in Paraguay," U.S. State Dept.)
--------

Note that, while Timothy Towell's response apparently came directly from him, the responses of the President and former President were issued by anonymous persons in the "White House" and the "office" of George H.W. Bush. This is a classic method for creating plausible deniability. If the allegation is not true, why not issue the denial directly rather than through an obscure web page?

In the same document, the State Department describes as "myth" reports that the U.S. plans to "intervene" in regions of Paraguay including the tri-border region and Ciudad del Este.

-snip-

The State Department's claim is questionable. If U.S. involvement is primarily for commercial development, then why was Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, heading up talks with Paraguay in August, 2005?

-snip-

The emphasis on "security" and the involvement of Secretary Rumsfeld strongly suggest some sort of planned military involvement. Were the U.S. truly concerned only about improved governance and commercial development, one would expect the meeting with Castiglioni to have been headed by the Secretary of State, perhaps including a representative of the Department of Commerce.

The administration itself gave credibility to claims of planned US intervention in the triple- border area and Ciudad del Este when it gave notice in December that it was freezing U.S. assets of individuals and businesses in those areas, allegedly because the funds would be used to support Hezbollah activities.

-snip-

Paraguay denied the accusations, no doubt fearing the Bush administration might use the alleged terror connection as an excuse to invade. And, well they might worry, because days after 9/11, administration officials circulated a memo recommending military action in Paraguay as part of the "war on terror."

-snip-

Clearly, the Bush administration is not coming clean about plans for Paraguay, whatever they may be. But, mainstream news media have shown little interest in the subject, leaving the public to guess at the truth until it becomes too obvious for even the MSM to ignore.
-------------------------------


I keep wondering who sold them the land? whose land was it? names, we need names.

Hezbollah in Paraguay?

[Olney Blue]

1. If WH denies, it must be true.....

[sodenoue]

3. that logic works well!

take the inverse of what bush says, and you get the truth!

[redqueen]

2. These people lie and lie and lie...

* The White House has stated that the rumors about President Bush are not true.

* The office of former President George H.W. Bush has confirmed that the allegations about former President Bush are not true.

* Ambassador Towell has confirmed that he does not administer any land in Paraguay on behalf of either former President George H.W. Bush or current President George W. Bush.

But STILL act as if we could reasonably be expected to take them at their word?

Laughable.

[Ganja Ninja]

4. It's probably all true.

They don't own the land in their names. The have some holding corporation fronting for them.

[Double T]

5. It takes a lot of palletized funds to build and secure a sanctuary ranch.........

in the middle of NOWHERE.

[kestrel91316]

7. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?? There's a shitload of cash

missing from Iraq. Wonder if that money wound up going into some multilayered corporate pocket and then went to buy the land in Paraguay............

[earth mom]

9. Bingo! nt

[happydreams]

12. Yea, and its held by proxy....

and Bush flees there while news comes out that "The President's plane is missing"....bwaaaaaah! :tinfoilhat:

:hi:

[Peace Patriot]

6. Well, first think of the billlions if not trillions stolen from the U.S. treasury,

in typical "banana republic" style (with us as the "banana republic"), and socked away in Cayman Island accounts (or deeper), by Bushites and Bushite entities like Hallirburton and Blackwater. And the $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars (over several years) to Colombian "drug war" military and paramilitary use. And unknown millions through USAID and other U.S. entities to rightwing politicos in South America (some of which we know about--some of it has gone to Venezuelan fascists to try to unseat Hugo Chavez--with military coup, then oil professionals' strike, then recall election, and in several regular elections).

Then think of Paraguay as the launching pad for a private corporate resource war--oil, gas, minerals, and other riches--against the Andean democracies--Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela--which are into sharing the benefits of their natural resources with the poor.

And Rumsfeld's in need of a job, don't you know?

The Bushite Cartel purchase in Paraguay is all over South America as a rumor. But I don't know any more than that--except that Jenna was down there in Paraguay, visiting the president. (He's rightwing but with a weak gov't. The Catholic bishop of Paraguay--a leftist--has resigned his post as bishop to run for president. He's VERY popular.)

[donsu]

8. good news about the bishop, hope he has good security

nt

[Mojorabbit]

10. Have a look at the map

posted in this thread from last night
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x143865

[formercia]

11. Moon has lots of land there

share the wealth.....

[GETPLANING]

13. Why have all the web articles been scrubbed?

[Initech]

14. Probably so they have a place to flee to avoid being prosecuted for war crimes.