LET'S HEAR THE CLINTONS EXPLAIN THIS
From the Captain's Quarters Blog (Link provided below)
1 December 2004
ABC News reports tonight that oil shipping records show that the fugitive financier pardoned by Bill Clinton in the last hours of his presidency played a significant role in Saddam's fleecing of the UN Oil-For-Food program. Marc Rich, who received a pardon from Clinton despite being on the run and over the objections of the Department of Justice, provided a middleman for Hussein and major oil companies looking to keep their hands clean from scandal:
Former American fugitive Marc Rich was a middleman for several of Iraq's suspect oil deals in February 2001, just one month after his pardon from President Clinton, according to oil industry shipping records obtained by ABC News.
And a U.S. criminal investigation is looking into whether Rich, as well as several other prominent oil traders, made illegal payments to Iraq in order to obtain the lucrative oil contracts.
"Without that kind of middleman, the system would not work because the major oil companies did not want to deal with Iraq because there was a mandated kickback," said human rights investigator John Fawcett.
So when Bill Clinton allowed Marc Rich to go free -- coincidentally just after his wife, Denise Rich, donated $450,000 to Clinton's presidential-library fund -- he set loose one of the conduits that helped Saddam steal $21 billion from his own people and funnel it to his military and, probably, Islamist terrorists. Not only did he allow Rich to escape prosecution for his earlier crimes, he also eliminated any chance of trying him for any crime committed before the pardon was issued in January 2001. While the fortune Rich funneled to Saddam gets used to kill American servicemen and Iraqi civilians, Bill Clinton wanders around his presidential library, wrapped in the loving embrace of the American media.
However, I suspect this will make a huge dent on Hillary's chances for the presidency in 2008, especially if this administration manages to capture and try Rich for his part in UNSCAM. After this report, you can bet that they'll be issuing warrants for his arrest and extradition. (via Instapundit)
UPDATE: Deltanine reminds me that I wrote about Marc Rich's inclusion in the Duelfer Report on October 7th:
At the time of the pardon, many people puzzled over why Bill Clinton would pardon a man who fled the country and whose status as a fugitive had been under negotiation with the FBI just prior to Clinton's action. Instead of cutting a deal with Rich to get him back to the US to face charges, Clinton pulled the rug out from under the FBI. Without the leverage of the charges, Rich had no further motivation to cooperate with the DoJ on any outstanding investigations.
At the time, the presumption was that Rich's wife had donated enough money to buy the pardon. Now, however, the question may be whether Clinton knew about the corruption and feared that an aggressive Bush administration policy would uncover Rich's participation in undermining Iraqi sanctions while Rich raised funds for both his presidential library and Hillary's election. Or maybe the issue runs even deeper than that? Wednesday, December 1, 2004
www.captainsquartersblog.com
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LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
From the Froggy Ruminations Blog (See Link Below)
3 December 2004
I am very encouraged by President Bush’s nomination of Bernard Kerik to lead the Department of Homeland Security. No matter what you think about Tom Ridge, the fact is he has presided over one of the biggest bureaucratic bungles in US history (which is a significant accomplishment so to speak). I never understood his qualifications for the job in the first place because he does not have a law enforcement background. He was a Vietnam Vet, the Governor of Pennsylvania, and reputed to be under consideration as a VP candidate in 2000.
Next on the chopping block ought to be Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas congressman who was appointed head of the DEA when he lost re-election. He now serves as Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Border and Transportation Security which is simultaneously the most important arm of the Department and the most disorganized. It should come as no surprise that when you put politicians in charge of law enforcement agencies, you can expect them to be quickly run into the ground.
Kerik enters the DHS job with impeccable credentials and important real world experience. He is well known for his excellent stewardship of the NYPD during and after the 9/11 attacks. But it seems that his life experiences have culminated to make him uniquely qualified to hold this position. After serving in the US Army, Kerik got a job supervising security for the construction of a US military installation in Saudi Arabia. In 1984 he had returned to the States, and took a position as Corrections Officer in Passaic, NY where he was quickly promoted to Warden. In 1986 he took a 50% pay cut to fulfill his life’s ambition of becoming a NY Police Officer where he soon began to work undercover on narcotics investigations. By 1991, Kerik’s successes had garnered the attention of Mayor Giuliani who appointed him the NY Commissioner of Corrections. In August of 2000 after vastly improving conditions at Riker’s Island Correctional Facility, Kerik was named Chief of the NYPD where he served with the distinction. Following the invasion of Iraq, President Bush tapped him to go to Baghdad to design and implement the training program for the Iraqi Police. [Be sure to check out Kerik's extremly complelling auotbiography "The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice"...you can it find bargain priced at http://www.bookfinder.com .]
I don’t know about you, but the contrast between these men could hardly be more profound. Kerik’s resume could scarcely be more complete, while the appointment of Ridge and Hutchinson seem deeply irresponsible in comparison. If I were still an ICE Agent or Federal Air Marshall I would pray for a quick confirmation followed by a broadly swung axe eliminating the dead wood and political hacks that populate the leadership of DHS. For 2 years ICE Agents have been looking for light at the end of the tunnel which they believed to be a speeding freight train, with any luck they can look forward to a ray of hope. Friday, December 3, 2004
http://froggyruminations.blogspot.com/
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