The big guns - The Corporate State

New Internationalist, July, 2002 by Tim Shorrock

Other recent hires include Arthur Levitt, the former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which regulates the US stock market; William E Kennard, the former chair of the Federal Communications Commission, which has jurisdiction over the US telecom and wireless industries; and Afsaneh Beschloss, the former chief investment officer of the World Bank, who runs Carlyle's new asset management group. Carlyle's advisory boards are peppered with corporate executives from Boeing, BMW, Toshiba and other big transnationals, and influential characters like former Bundesbank President Karl Otto Pohl, former Thai Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun, former Philippines President Fidel Ramos and former US Ambassador to Japan and former Speaker of the House Thomas Foley.

The Saudi connection

After Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, Carlyle's Republican connections - and the role of the President's father - became grist for several press exposes, including a detailed article in the New York Times that focused on Bush Senior and Baker's close ties with the Saudi royal family.

But few took notice until shortly after September 11, when the Wall Street Journal revealed that the bin Laden family, which owns a major construction company in Saudi Arabia, had committed at least $2 million to one of Carlyle's funds and entertained Bush Senior, Baker and Carlucci at their family compound in Jeddah during the 1990s. Carlyle, deeply embarrassed, quickly severed the investment ties. But a few months ago, The Washington Post revealed that the bin Laden money had been solicited by members of the Saudi royal family, who encouraged wealthy Saudi citizens to invest in Carlyle as a sign of respect for Bush Senior and Baker, their heroes from the Gulf War.

Judicial Watch, a conservative US legal group, seized on the bin Laden connection to launch a vitriolic attack, urging Bush Senior to resign from Carlyle. Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity believes the bin Laden connection may be the tip of the iceberg of Carlyle's political relationships. 'I actually think this is a potentially more serious scandal for the Bush administration than Enron, because it's more personal,' he said.

Carlyle only tells the public what it wants. That makes information about Bush Senior's meetings with heads of state and his other activities on Carlyle's behalf almost impossible to obtain.

In April, Cynthia McKinney, an outspoken Democrat Representative from Georgia, became the first public figure to criticize the relationship between the Bush family and the Carlyle Group. In a radio interview, McKinney accused the Bush administration of 'serving the interests' of Carlyle and said that persons close to this administration are poised to make huge profits off America's new war'. For that, she was vilified by her fellow lawmakers and the White House, which said through a spokesperson that: 'The American people know the facts, and they dismiss such ludicrous, baseless views. The fact that she questions the President's legitimacy shows a partisan mindset beyond all reason.