Carlyle: A Nice Scottish NameAn OCNS Editorial of sorts
What do John Major and Tiger Woods have in common? Their women make as much news as they do. Tiger has a new girl friend (Elin Nordegrin), who is lovely to look at, and has a twin sister (Josephin) besides, and John Major's old girlfriend causes us to look at Major's relationship with the Carlyle Group.
Ten years ago, one of the London tabloids floated a rumor that John Major was having an affair. Major denied any such affair and went after him, and wiped him out, and his newspaper too. Then the other day, Edwina Currie, Major's afairee went public and confirmed the original "rumor" as the headline story it has now become. While Mr. Major can survive Edwina's waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop attentions, the inconvenience, embarrassment and shame to his family , and the "squad of photographers just beyond the hedge" for the next few days, Madam Currie's disclosure also brought a kind of attention to Major that neither he nor the Carlyle Group needed in the wake of 911, and particularly after Tony Blair caved into Washington's war on Saddam, leaving the whole wide world to wonder why? Is Blair being promised by the Carlyle Group a future package similar to that delivered to Major? Entry-level positions at Carlyle for ex-Prime Ministers start at a half million pounds. It's downright eerie that the bin Laden family invested in the Carlyle Group, an equity firm with large defence industry holdings for which George HW is a senior adviser. The Carlyle Group was founded in 1987 by David Rubenstein, a policy assistant in Jimmy Carter's administration; few have paid it much attention. For 14 years now, with almost no publicity, the company has been signing up an impressive list of former politicians - including George HW and his secretary of state, James Baker, and ex-budget chief Richard Darman, as well as former Bundesbank president Karl Otto Pohl, and Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the SEC, the US stock market regulator, George Schultz, secretary of state during the Reagan administration, and the firm's chairman is Frank Carlucci - Ronald Reagan's defence secretary and a former deputy director of the CIA - all using their contacts and influence to promote the group. Last year, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, the Carlyle Group decided to float one of its divisions, the armored vehicle and howitzer manufacturer United Defense, on the New York Stock Exchange via an initial public offering. The timing of the offering drew criticism that the Group was cashing in on terrorism. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Carlucci have been buddies since they went to Princeton University together. Recently Judicial Watch, under the Freedom of Information Act, obtained copies of correspondence in which the two men discussed ways to restructure the US Department of Defense. When Carlucci arrived in 1989, he brought with him a phalanx of former subordinates from the CIA and the Pentagon, and an awareness of the scale of business a company like Carlyle could do in the corridors and steak-houses of Washington. In a decade and a half, the firm has been able to realise a 34% rate of return on its investments, and now claims to be the largest private equity firm in the world. Success brought more investors, including the international financier George Soros and, in 1995, the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family, who insist they long ago severed all links with Usama. The George HW is understood to have visited the bin Ladens in Saudi Arabia twice on the firm's behalf. (Some Bin Laden Family background). George WWIII's own links to the firm go deep. In 1990, he was appointed to the board of one of Carlyle's first purchases, an airline food business called Caterair, which they eventually sold. He left the board in 1992, later to become Governor of Texas. Shortly thereafter, he was responsible for appointing several members of the board which controlled the investment of Texas teachers' pension funds. A few years later, the board decided to invest $100m of public money in the Carlyle Group. None of these links are illegal, but that does not mean there is no conflict of interest. Messrs George WWIII, Big Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld have either sold their Carlyle stock holdings or put them in a blind trust, meaning personal gain is off the agenda. But gain for their friends and families may well be a by-product of the looming war against Iraq. Among the companies Carlyle owns are those which make equipment, vehicles and munitions for the US military, and its celebrity employees have long served an ingenious dual purpose, helping encourage investments from the very wealthy while also smoothing the path for Carlyle's defence firms. Carlyle has hired speakers including Colin Powell and AOL Time Warner chair Steve Case. 08MAY2003 - MORON NEOCONS : STRONG MUST RULE THE WEAK - by Jim Lobe 22NOV2002 - Update: IBM's Lou Gerstner replaces Frank Carlucci. News with some background info. Originally published as Gerstner's Surprise - As Carlyle Group's new chairman, IBM's former CEO will help the firm shed its image as a defense dealmaker -- Business Week Online Also see: Fortunes of war await Bush's circle after attacks on Iraq THE HOUSE OF BIN LADEN Big Oil and bin Laden Sources Hike in US defence spending to benefit Usama's family - Originally published in NYT 05MAR2002 Greece and Great Britain React Differently to US Initiatives So what about Tiger Woods? What about Elin Nordegrin? Is there no good news anymore?? Sure! Click HERE for Sports. |
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