Left in the desert of his own creation

As so many like to point to Sen. John McCain's American Conservative Union ratings, I decided to take a look at them!  It gives a good idea of what they see as important and how members of Congress voted on those items.

Thus starting in Mr. McCain's House time, and votes contrary to what the ACU supported are listed (Year - ACU percent - comments), all ratings from the ACU Ratings site and I am doing my best to de-conflict the votes for on a proposal against and such [note that non-votes are on ACU cited votes, not of all votes taken].  This list is representative of their views which are biased and I do disagree with a number of their takes and backing, but it is a fair view from a given biased perspective of how to grade Congresscritters:

1983 -  96 - Voted for a pork barrel spending bill that the ACU opposed.

1984 -  86 - Voted for a Public Health bill that the ACU describes as 'budget busting' and for the Civil Rights Act of 1984 which the ACU characterizes as 'absurdly expanding federal power'.

1985 - 81 -  Voted for a Clean Water Bill, for sanctions against South Africa, for textile import quotas, and for expanding the Superfund program.

1986 - 73 -  Voted against an amendment to freeze the Community Services Block Grant Program, against an amendment to delete funds from the Legal Services Corp., for minority set-asides in DoD contracting, voted to over-ride President Reagan's veto of the South African Sanctions bill, and voted to adopt more money for the Superfund program.

Now on to his time in the Senate:

1987 - 91 -  Voted to over-ride President Reagan's veto of the Clean Water Act re-authorization which the ACU describes as 'budget busting' and voted to continue the support of the Legal Services Corp. which was 'controversial' in its outlook and services.  Did not vote on: a $1.06 billion bill that federalizes 'the homeless' by creating new government bureaucracy, the Line-Item Veto, and Congressional salary increases.

1988 - 80 -  Voted to over-ride President Reagan's veto of a bill to extend coverage of civil rights laws (Grove City) so that if one part of an institution receives federal funds all parts are subject to those controls, voted to ratify the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (which the ACU opposed), voted for a 60-day plant closing bill to warn workers if their plant is closing no matter what the circumstances are, voted to reject the amendment to decrease funding to the LSC.

1989 - 91 - Voted for the Americans with Disabilities act (which ACU opposed), voted for a motion to table an amendment calling for the ouster of Manuel Noriega.

1990 - 87 - Voted for a bill to overhaul the Hatch Act to bar federal employees from engaging in political activities (ACU opposed the bill), voted for an HHS bill $11.5 billion larger than the President requested, voted for the Clean Air Act which increased federal regulation capability on manufacturing, energy, and increased the cost of those things to consumers.

1991 - 86 - Voted against aid to help promote free market policies in Latin American countries, voted to continue funding of LSC that helps fund 'special interest litigation', voted for a Quota Bill to reverse a SCOTUS decision and put the burden of proof on businesses to demonstrate that they had met quotas for hiring.

1992 - 85 - Voted for a report supporting public money for campaigns, voted to support bilingual balloting for certain language minority populations, voted to over-ride President Bush's veto of the Parental Leave bill and a second bill to re-regulate the cable business which President Bush had vetoed.

1993 - 83 - Voted for the Family and Medical Leave Act, voted for the Campaign Finance bill to provide for public financing of congressional campaigns and put spending limits on races, voted against an amendment that would prohibit support of US troops put under UN command, voted for the Brady Bill.  Failed to vote in the confirmation of lesbian activist Roberta Achtenberg to Assistant Secretary of HUD.

1994 - 96 -  Voted to invoke cloture on a campaign finance bill to provide public funding for congressional campaigns and finance limits.  Did not vote on a bill to kill an amendment to mandate that US loans to the former USSR require collateral and the Goals 2000 education 'voluntary'  standards providing 'opportunity to learn' norms to be established by federal boards.

1995 - 91 - Voted for the Ryan White Reauthorization with Kassebaum amendment that stripped out the Helms language preventing funds to be used in promotion of homosexuality or IV drug use, voted to stop a bill prohibiting open-ended support in Bosnia without Congressional authorization of the mission.

1996 - 95 -  Voted to invoke cloture on the Welfare for Politicians S 1219 Campaign Finance Reform which would set voluntary spending limits and provide taxpayer subsidies for postage and discounted rates for broadcast time.

1997 - 80 -  Voted for the Chemical Weapons Treaty even though it mandated unconstitutional search and seizures and ceded national sovereignty to international agencies, voted for the establishment of National Assessment Governing Board with exclusive authority over voluntary testing in national tests in 4th grade for English and 8th grade for math, voted against a requirement that the American Heritage Rivers Initiative be approved by Congress and end the encroachment of property rights by environmentalists, voted to approve Free Speech Limits in campaigns and change SCOTUS meaning to restrict first amendment rights of issue advocacy groups.

1998 - 68 -  Voted to invoke cloture on the Satcher nomination to be US Surgeon General *and* Assistant Secretary for Health in HHS, voted to revise financing for federal campaigns (McCain Amendment) banning soft money, limit candidate self-financing and put restrictions on issue advertising,  then voted to ensure the amendment was not tabled, then voted to table an amendment by Olympia Snowe that would replace language defining 'express advocacy' (as seen in the SCOTUS ruling), increase disclosure requirements, and prohibit use of labor or corporate money to broadcast campaign ads shortly before an election.  Voted to increase tobacco taxes, then voted for cloture on a bill that would allow the FDA to regulate nicotine and force the industry to pay for anti-smoking advertising.  Voted on the McCain amendment to allow US troops to remain in Bosnia without express approval of both Houses of Congress.

1999 - 77 -  Voted against an amendment to prohibit courts from issuing orders on civil cases regarding prison condition and that such orders would require prisoners to be released from prison or not admitted to prison if incarcerated for a felony or violating parole, voted against the Tax Cut Package, voted against an amendment ending federal campaign contribution limits, ending public financing and requiring national parties to record amounts sent to candidate and disclose that, voted to continue Overseas Private Investment Corporation that supports loan guarantees overseas.  I take an 'A' in the column for votes to be other than positive or negative to the ACU and thus not voting, in which there are 8 instances of this: Local Government Census Review allowing local governments to review census data before it is finalized for housing units and vacancies (this is a Federal not State or Local power), a Tax Limitation Amendment requiring 2/3 majority in House and Senate for a Constitutional Amendment to require a 2/3 majority for any but trivial tax increases (the Amendment failed by 57 votes total, House and Senate), Ground Troops in Bosnia bill requiring that no more funds be authorized unless war is declared, Y2K liability limitations,  payment increase to the UN, UN World Heritage Series endangered monuments bill, Physician-Assisted Suicide.

2000 - 81 -  Voted for an amendment to delete all tax cuts in the Congressional Budget, voted against limiting troop deployment in Kosovo, voted against Bradley Smith to the FEC (Smith is opposed to federal control of politics), voted to continue IRS requirements to disclose membership in political and policy organizations.  Did not vote in 3 matters: Property Rights, S. 625 (killing an amendment allowing federal over-ride of local owner-tenant laws), Educational Savings Accounts, and 2001 Budget Resolution including tax cuts.

2001 - 68 -  Voted on his amendment to end the requirement that unions and corporations obtain permission from dues paying members or shareholders before spending money on political activities, also against an amendment requiring a detailed listing by unions and corporations of their political expenditures,  and another amendment to lift the ban on soft money and disclosure requirements for issue-based advertising (found unconstitutional).  Voted against accelerated removal of the 'marriage penalty' tax, against a temporary reduction in the capital gains tax,  and against the Tax Cut bill containing the previous two items plus a phase-out of the federal estate tax.  Voted against a Sense of the Senate motion on wishing to remove restrictions on the Medical Savings Account demonstration program. Voted against an amendment that would allow lower health care costs by allowing providers to have participants sign a waiver agreeing not to sue.

2002 - 78 -  Voted against a bill to allow States to clear their voter lists every four years so as to remove voters who have not voted in two or more consecutive federal elections, voted against an amendment that would forbid the national government from setting fuel efficiency standards for SUVs and light trucks, voted to pass a bill limiting contributions to national political parties to $2,000 and limit rights of groups and individuals to participate, voted against making the repeal of the Death Tax permanent.  Did not vote on 2 items: Democratic Stimulus and Spending Bill and Government Discrimination in Farm Regulations amendment.

2003 - 80 -  Voted against the Senate final spending and revenue targets for 2004, voted against phasing out taxes on investments and dividend income, voted against an 11 year tax cut reduction package, voted to enforce US compliance with the Kyoto global warming treaty.

2004 - 72 -  Voted against an omnibus spending bill that contained a provision for vouchers to cover tuition at private schools in DC, voted for an amendment to require the States to demonstrate 90% seat buckle use, voted for an amendment prohibiting the sale of handguns without a secure gun storage or safety device, voted for an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits, voted for an amendment to make it more difficult to cut taxes, voted for an increase and an attempt to make mandatory federal funding for programs educating the disabled, voted against legislation moving class action lawsuits of >100 people or $5 million into the federal court system.

2005 - 80 -  Voted against an amendment protecting tax cuts, voted for requiring businesses to meet year 2000 'greenhouse gas' emission levels, voted for a joint resolution applying emission standards to existing electrical generation facilities, voted to retain restraints on oil and gas leasing in ANWR, voted for an amendment to raise taxes oil and gas development.

2006 - 65 - Voted for an amendment that would require a 60-vote majority in the Senate to cut taxes, voted against an amendment that would bar illegal immigrants from claiming Social Security credits for work done in years before they had a valid SSN, voted for a bill giving a 'path to citizenship' for illegal aliens, voted against a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, voted for a bill to allow native Hawaiians to set-up 'self-determination' and government to have government-to-government relationships with the US, voted against sanctions on Iran, voted against border fencing, voted for embryonic stem cell research.  Did not vote in two instances: Asbestos Trust fund, and the Medical Malpractice motion limiting liability in malpractice cases.

 

So, over the years John McCain has voted consistently against tax cuts and for making them harder, for unlimited 'peace keeping' operations without Congressional oversight, increasing the size and scope of government in multiple areas (education, air quality emissions, greenhouse gases, quota systems, and regulation of all federal election spending), ignored Constitutional provisions for free speech in campaigns, expanding money to questionable legal services organizations backing advocacy litigation, and would vote even against President Reagan's vetoes... that latter making him that venerable 'maverick' one assumes.

He has voted on many good things, but the instances where he votes to limit the rights of individuals in the areas of basic freedoms (first and second amendments), marginalize State's rights to autonomy within the Union and even vote to factionalize one State government (Hawaii) points to a form of Identity Politics at work... and Nannystate, come to that.

While John McCain has an ACU lifetime of 82.3 (average)...well, I come up with a bit different at 82.1 for the mean, 81 for the median (or center number of the range) with a range of 65 to 96.  Graphically it looks something like this:

This is, perhaps, not the graph of a reliable conservative, but an individual who has some conservative values and some others that are not in tune with conservatives at large.

I have, however, enough views outside the 'conservative' realm that are at variance with the general 'conservative' concept in at least two of the three brands (social and fiscal) and only moderate agreement with the third (security) that I am more than likely to have problems with *any* conservative running for High Office.  For Sen. McCain, however, I do have other problems with him beyond that of the ACU or the other conservative folks, by and large, and have clearly stated so multiple times.

One of the first was in this piece where, for me, John McCain had hit bottom and was continuing to dig hard and furiously downwards.  Some of my concerns are reflected in the ACU view and others are not.  For me Sen. McCain's political life is something that bears examination, even while giving him high regard for his time in the armed forces and as POW, that does not gain a Teflon coating and to my view he has never, ever properly explained himself in many areas going all the way back to the Keating Five scandal.  In trying to make up for that scandal by 'campaign finance reform', Sen. McCain has lost sight of what it was that needed to be addressed: campaign money influencing actual votes in High Office.  The extremely simple route of disclosing all corporate and private source political donors and then not allowing them to author or vote on issues that are of concern to their industries has, somehow, never graced the brow of any of the high-minded 'reformers'.  If you accept money from, say, a corporate or union group, then you should be barred from authoring or voting on legislation regarding those groups.  That does not take a federal mandate or law and could be set up as a set of rules in the House and Senate Chambers done by the members themselves as they are ALLOWED TO DO.  Any union or industry or political lobbyist group or activist organization would be donating so as to get good politicians into office.  And campaigns could *refuse* funds from same JUST LIKE THEY CAN DO TODAY.

For all the worries about 'corrupting influence of funding in politics' this extremely simple answer has, somehow, never been put forward by the 'maverick' or any other of the Congresscritters bleating upon the Hill.

Then there is the atrocious ideas that came forward to *try* and regulate free speech on the campaign trail.

 

Yes the 'I'm the Budweiser Donkey and I approved this message' bit!  Gotta love that, no?  With 'issue ads' suddenly appearing all over the place because, in the attempt to *restrict money* so that it would not *buy votes* it gave us semi-anonymous groups we would never hear from that served as front organizations to get a message out that, in theory, was 'informative' while, in fact, it was just another form of candidacy advertising done by rich individuals, corporations, and groups.  That tag line of being this or that individual/group/corporation and approving the message is all fine and dandy... and hadn't seen the light of day until the idea of 'restricting' donations popped into place.  The question of the utility of such thinly disguised 'issue ads' is one that can be considered by the public at large, and that route may have opened in any event, with the modern mass media proving such a heavy sway in politics. 

Instead of getting forthright organizations that proudly put forward their donor lists to demonstrate that they really, and for true, stand behind their message, we get, instead, organizations funded by front groups for billionaires, overseas interests and second or third level intermediaries between corporations and unions to politics.  That does sound like one other organization that has done this to a fare-thee-well in another realm:  the mafia.

Perhaps limiting downstream funding and demonstrating that only a first level organization directly and openly tied to those pushing a message should be allowed?  And if those involved want to fund a different message group they can do so *directly* and not through an intermediary.  I am, actually, perfectly fine with such advertising and marketing when it is straightforward, above-board and makes no attempt to hide who is actually funding the damned stuff.  Make that a felony where a company gets discorporated (yes un-incorporated but the finality sounds better) and that should remove *that* from the lovely idea of political obfuscation: one strike and you are *out*.  And some hefty prison terms for those that authorized such things, to boot.

Don't worry, you won't get that from Congress, either.  Way, way too simple when you can, instead, infringe upon the average individual's first amendment rights to speech...

I also have problems with Sen. McCain's views and votes on 'the tobacco deal' and Sen. McCain's view about worrying on the influence of tobacco money in Congress could *easily* have been addressed by simple and up-front disclosure by Congresscritters on campaign and lobbyist donations.

Plus making their appointment calendars PUBLIC.  It would be handy to know who they meet with while in office, no?  They are your representatives in the federal government, but heaven forbid if you find out who they actually MEET WITH.  The Media Reformer and Real Reformer hasn't done a thing to actually do any of this 'reforming' and has now formed into something totally other than a 'reformer'.

That, too, will never be seen from the 'maverick' or the other bleating masses of gelatin Upon the Hill: they lack spines.

A prime area of concern for a President is this thing known as 'foreign policy'.  Actually, Sen. McCain had a taste of that already with the idea of limiting Nations that we have Treaties with on their activities.  Which ones?  The Indian Tribes that tried to put up casinos in Arizona.  If John McCain can't figure out Treaties with Native Americans, and that they can, indeed, offer things like gambling and tax-free gasoline and cigarettes, and make some money off of the gambling vice, then perhaps he might rethink this idea of actually being able to know what to do with something a bit more complex like Pakistan with at least two major ethnic groups looking for autonomy (or more) and multiple tribes taking sides on different fronts, along with radical Islamic views percolating through it... and nuclear weapons as the big prize behind the National door.  If he can't figure out Indian Tribes in Arizona, then I have a hard time seeing how he will deal with Pakistan or Kenya or Indonesia.

For me this idea of 'defending the Nation' starts right at the borders: every other Nation thinks that and we are the only ones asinine enough to not believe that, save Europe which appears to be dissolving internally for the want of 'unity' while allowing in so many disparate ethnic groups that the idea of 'the Balkans' may soon have to include Londonistan and Sweden.  And Greenland, come to that.  That is why the 2006 and 2007 immigration views are asinine: it is not about race, it is about national security and national sovereignty.  With Chinese 'Snakeheads' importing near slave labor into the US for 'closed factories', the idea that there is a single 'ethnic problem' is ludicrous.  It is global in scope with folks in the Middle East being able to pay a couple of thousand dollars to get smuggled across the border.  And don't mind the jackets with insignia of groups allied to al Qaeda being found in the desert in the US... I'm sure they were a complete mistake.  As we have started to see in Oklahoma and elsewhere - if we enforce the laws, the majority of illegals will 'self-deport' back home and we are then left with the intractable criminal (and terrorist) problem which, today, we have ZERO handle on due being lost in the noise of so many here illegally.  And *rewarding* those here illegally will NOT STOP THE FLOW.  To stop the flow one must, in actuality, stop the flow.

Walls make damned good neighbors.  Sensor arrays are cheap.  So are those lovely close-in weapons systems the British have reworked for anti-small ship work from their original anti-missile work.  Wall, sensors and NORTHCOM, so the border patrol can ensure that those coming through the actual and legal ports of entry are who they say they are.  That is cheaper than building a nuclear aircraft carrier *hull*.  And even if we are, in the long term, wrong-headed for doing so, it then leaves us with a monument to our utter folly... one that we can enjoy because we did stand up to have a Nation with borders and enforce not only the rule of law but the Law of Nations.

And since I have mentioned *that*, what is it with Sen. McCain and the rest of the wool covered, gelatinous, bleating masses Upon the Hill bleating about having difficulties with *terrorism*?  Their Article I, Section 8 powers specifically mention one tract of information and one particular text known as the Law of Nations (not the lower case assumed law of nations, but the uppercase Title and particular citation sitting right there in the US Constitution where we all ignore it).  This is a generalized society level problem, however, as we are too advanced to remember what Nations are about and what their duties and responsibilities are not only between Nations and within Nations, but citizens within Nations to other Nations.  In our lovely multi-culti 'hug everyone, criticize no one' world of Sen. McCain views, where Americans won't pick lettuce of $50/hour... and even if he *meant* $15/hour it is a slur and insult to the American working population... in that world where nice folks only out of desperation because they are too incompetent to stage a revolution to get rid of inept or dictatorial government at home come to the US to be incompetent, the idea is that Nations *matter* and you do *not* get to break the agreements set up by your Nation with other Nations.  International lawlessness starts, at home, with the individual and then is held accountable by other Nations in their laws when individuals break the Law of Nations.  In that act, even if it is not one done in violence, there is violence done to the concept of Nations by those individuals willing to break down international law to 'find a job'.  To each and every individual who points to such things as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: it applies to Nations and the Nationals within them and those foreigners there legally.  It does not and cannot apply to those who break international law by their actions as they are left up to the Nation they affect to deal with as that Nation sees fit. 

Terrorism is something that, under the Art. I, Sec. 8 powers, Congress can deal with on the 'civil side' of things:  it is given for Congress to put laws against Private War as it is a contravention of the Law of Nations.  While the explicit immigration and Naturalization language is given to Congress, that would also be kept under the more general Law of Nations penalties, so that illegal aliens could be dealt with via either means.  So, too, is the lawlessness of Private War given to Congress on the 'civil side' as it is not Public War in which it can make military rules about.  Just as Piracy had to be dealt with via either the apprehension or killing of those outlaws, so, too, are terrorists in that same category as they both fit under the umbrella of Private War.  Sen. McCain is used to Public War against Nations as are all of our contemporaries: even though we feel the lash and pain of Private War we can no longer name it for the outlawry that it IS.  And, as with Piracy, 'civil law' covers those that are either captured by civil society (police, bounty hunters, etc.) and then put to civil justice so that they get one, and only one, opportunity to demonstrate that they are not part of an organization waging Private War.  That was done with Piracy so that those falsely accused could *clear their names* and the reason we remember Captain Morgan who was branded Pirate for a land based attack is that he went back to London, stood trial and *cleared his name*.  Got Knighted to boot.  On the military side, however, as these are not civil enemies, but enemies against all society, it is left to the military commander to promulgate what should be done with such miscreants.  One President has clearly and unequivocally put forward that as Commander of the Armies and the Navies, that those waging Private War are considered Pirates.  That President offers the most succinct view of how to deal with military targets that are *captured* waging Private War against the Union and it is not a President we would expect it from:  Abraham Lincoln.

If Sen. McCain (R-AZ) cannot abide by the way the Nation was set up and the military view of Private War prosecuted against the US to be handled by the President as something outside the Public War arena, then he will try to muddle that clarity given to the United States by one of the greatest Republicans and a founder of the Republican Party.  Terrorists put themselves into the Outlaw position: not mere criminality but outside the protection of civil law and reverting to the law of nature.  Those that wage Private War, of all stripes, are an abomination to civilization and President Lincoln gave battlefield soldiers the ability to do summary justice based on finding them as they were.  If Sen. McCain thinks that those breaking international law during wartime by abusing prisoners in Vietnam are bad, then terrorists who threaten all the Nations of mankind by declaring war against them are something far worse than mere treaty violators: they repudiate civilization itself.

I can, have and *do* blame both parties and, indeed, most of the modern era for wanting to give up the fabric of civilization in an ephemeral quest to have a lovely transnational world where everyone has the exact same freedoms of the Chinese, the wealth of Namibians and the health of whatever the State decides to give you.  By looking to higher taxes, expanded government and less National Sovereignty, Sen. John McCain has demonstrated by his votes and outlook over more than two decades that this is actually what he supports.  When the Congress of 1986 promised, from the seat of power Upon the Hill, to actually do something to secure the borders and 20 years later we have Sen. McCain trotting out an *amnesty* plan because that hasn't been done, the very best that I can call all those who have sat that long and done nothing is "Seatwarmers".  And trotting it out *again* makes them Incompetent Seatwarmers for they cannot even do their jobs to establish justice and ensure that it is done.  That includes each and every Congresscritter who has matriculated through Congress since 1986 and applies multifold to those who were IN that Congress and had that Congress make a pledge to the American People that they would do their JOBS.  Not that Sen. McCain can actually remember what that job *is* most days as he is a bit too busy being high minded about how he can raise taxes and increase spending to actually worry about the rest of the job description that he and the rest of Congress gets. 

And when Sen. McCain trots out his views on COIN, I take that with a hefty sack of salt as he puts forward something that could not be done with the forces of the Union at that time because conditions were changing rapidly and we did not have the manpower to actually have more forces in the field.  And it was the self-same Sen. McCain that was so hot for a 'peace dividend' that he was willing to cut more than the President wanted from the budget and claim to be a 'conservative' because he wouldn't cut as much as the D party wanted to!  While a 'conservative' realizes that a studied view of what the proper force size should be is done *first* and then the forces adjusted to fit those views, not the other way around.  That left the US with two entire Army Divisions, one of which was the 10MD , so badly hung out to dry in Bosnia for so long because Sen. McCain didn't want to keep President Clinton accountable.  Thus his votes to reduce the force size and readiness along with the impact of long-term 'peace keeping' that Congress would not actually put any oversight upon, meant that when 9/11 rolled around, the foremost Army division for Mountain Warfare was *still* recovering from the abuse it had suffered to put it at the lowest readiness status ever seen since Vietnam.  If he stood true to not wanting to ever repeat that experience for the Armed Forces of the Union, then he should have held President Clinton accountable and *not* allowed the US Army to be hung out to dry by a neglectful CinC and a Congress that didn't want to pay for that neglect... a Congress that he sat in as a Senator.

I will not be voting for Sen. McCain for *anything* and that goes for the rest of the Congresscritters Upon the Hill.  They have all reached the end of the Peter Principle and their incompetence is vast and unwieldy as it stands, thus they are at the pinnacle of their careers.  Like Sen. Clinton, however, Sen. McCain gets especial view, but in his case it is not for being a sociopath, but for being deceitful and seeking to increase the size, scope and power of government over the common man while gesturing as a 'hawk' and then wielding the knife in the background, and then claiming none of the problems he has helped cause have any accountability to him.  In using first illegal alien amnesty and then the armed forces as political footballs in the 1990's, we have reaped a Nation that has porous borders and stood less than ready to respond to Private War brought hard to our shores one bright September morn.  What a difference a single Mountain Division could have made in Afghanistan sent quickly and efficiently to deal with dangers only it could be prepared to know.  By doing this we have seen erosion of the rule of law and such lessened respect for the US that those seeking to attack us felt they could do so with impunity.  And the worse part is that those connections between Charles Keating and BCCI continue to echo throughout the enemies of the Nation and the support given by one Senator who was never held to account for his part in it.  Many of the greatest foes of the US took part in BCCI... and because of those high level connections in government we may never know the full extent of how easily our enemies traded for the means to go after liberty and freedom on a regional and global basis.  And I am sure that is *just* the way Sen. McCain likes it... he has 'reformed' since then.

And it is a form I do not like in the slightest.

What don't you know, and why won't they tell you?

The question that nobody cares about!

But for some general interest stuff, there has been the Israeli work in Syria, most likely at Deyr Zzor (your spelling may vary!). There is exactly *one* agricultural facility attached to a university there and someone was very helpful a long time back to put a placemark on it in Google Earth. The reason I never bothered to cover it? Blobography. You can see a clearing with buildings and thats about it, all fuzzy and pretty useless for analysis. Both FAS and GlobalSecurity have been hazy on it, although I expect the latter to catch up a bit in the next few days. But no pretty imagery available for overlay... well, there wasn't last year when I did my Syria run-through. Those links are on my current version of the sidebar, so one can have fun with all the OTHER Syrian WMD and long-range missile sites...

Hsu stepping! Mr. Hsu has been very busy, hasn't he? Evading the law, donating millions of dollars and even with those he did swindle, I'm coming up a few tens of millions short on his cash supply end. I have a notebook of Hsu, Chatwal, Jinnah, and Hsu's connections to Wo Hop To Triad, and all sorts of other fun things. Others are chasing the money angle which is damned important, as Mr. Hsu & Co. have spread their money around across the Nation. But still, where has Mr. Hsu been, where *does* he get the rest of his cash, and who else is he in contact with? Very strange that he only enters the scene as a 'small businessman' in San Francisco's Chinatown with, as the Shrimp Boy remembers, a 'latex glove' business. Uh-huh. 'Latex gloves' and Chinese Triads go so well together! For all of his being 'in the garment industry' and even getting interviewed a number of times as an 'expert' he really hasn't sold much in the way of garments as far as I can see. Perhaps the 'latex gloves' are keeping his fingerprints in check.

Color me: skeptical.

But that Triad connection is interesting, what with them trying to get control of all the North American Triads and such! That has been not-so-fun to try and trace down as the Asian community is not one to lay out the 'who does what' sort of deal as organized crime is part of 'doing business in the community'. Still the Wo Hop To as a division of the Hong Kong based Wo Shing Wo Triad is interesting and the latter has been busy across SE Asia and Australia. Not only heroin, opium, pharma, but also such fun things as human trafficking, sex shop slavery and your everyday black market goods dealing in asian knock-offs, really does point out a problem there. Not that any of the 'open borders' crowd will want to do anything about it. Bring in the organized crime groups from all over!

Now, digging up into organized crime, Hsu and a few other things, I did run across one interesting question:

What is the relationship between Hillary Clinton and a partially completed Soviet Aircraft Carrier?
That is one damned sort of question, isn't it? I mean it seems absolutely non-sensical... yet it does have an answer to it: Chen Kai-kit. And who, praytell, is Chen Kai-kit? Ah, Bertil Lintner can answer that in his paper on Crime, Business and Politics in Asia:

Chen Kai-kit, the Triad-connected legislator who had dined with the Clintons, published an autobiography in which boasted that many international figures had paid him tribute, including the American president, who presented him with “a signed photograph,” which he hung on the wall of the office of his “import-export” company, called Ang Du, in the Bank of China building in downtown Macau.40 Such displays may have benefitted Chen in his attempts to build up a network of business associates in the territory, and perhaps also in China. But there was one man on whom it was not necessary to make any special impression: Wong Sing-wa. They were already long-time friends and close partners in the management of a VIP room in Macau’s Mandarin Hotel. Wong, the head of the Talented Dragon investment firm, was in 1990 appointed Pyongyang’s honourary consul in Macau, and the travel arm of his company was authorised to issue visas for North Korea.41 As such, he worked closely with Zokwang Trading, North Korea’s main commercial arm in Macau. In early 1998, a Lisbon-based weekly newspaper, the Independent, protested Wong’s presence in a delegation from Macau that was being received by the Portuguese president. The paper cited a Macau official as saying that Wong had “no criminal record, but we have registered information that links him to organised crime and gambling in Macau.”42

Catch all that? Chinese businessman with Triad connections, working in Macau and having a friend who was the front-man for North Korea, who was also involved in organized crime? Ok, skipping ahead of other underworld contacts we get to this:

Chen Kai-kit also resurfaced soon after Donorgate. He landed in the middle of another controversy in early 1998, when it was reported that Ukraine would sell an unfinished aircraft carrier to a “leisure company” in the then still Portuguese territory. Ukraine had inherited the aircraft carrier after the break-up of the Soviet Union, and badly needed hard currency. The registered objective of the Macau company, Agencía Turistica e Diversões Chong Lot Limitada — which in English means “Tourism and Amusement Agency” — was to run “activities in the hotel and similar areas, tourism and amusement.”45

The 306-metre long ship was too big to pass through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles Straits, and for months the Turkish authorities forced it to remain at anchor in the Black Sea. In September 2001, however, the Turks finally allowed the aircraft carrier to be towed to China, where it remains. Although Cheng Zhen Shu, chairman of “Agencía Turistica e Diversões Chong Lot Limitada”, denied having bought it for the PLA to enable Chinese engineers to study the secrets of aircraft carrier design, that seemed to be exactly the case. And the Hong Kong media reported that the real boss of the so-called “tourism company” was Chen Kai-kit.47 In other words, a man deeply implicated in an American president’s fund-raising campaign might also have been simultaneously acting on behalf on the Chinese military. One can only wonder how Clinton’s voters might have reacted if the disclosures had come during the actual re-election campaign.

But then, in August 1999, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption issued a warrant for the arrest of Chen and his wife Elsie Chan. They and six others, including Chen’s brother and the accountant of his main company, Ang-Du International, were accused of helping to siphon off millions of dollars from Guangnan Holdings, an insolvent mainland food conglomerate, and of a plan to defraud the Standard Chartered Bank of London of US$13.9 million in bogus loans.48 Eight accomplices were arrested, but Chen could not be apprehended as he was ‘receiving treatment for a heart condition in a military hospital on the mainland’.49

That's right, to be turned into some sort of floating casino/amusement theme park sort of deal! Really, who would pay $20 million for an old, incomplete, Soviet aircraft carrier? It sits, to this day, rusting in a port in China and will probably be scrapped as it is pretty much useless. Costs too much to renovate or retrofit and far cheaper to build a new one than retrofit the thing. You just have to love these folks the Clintons hob-nob around with! Of course Chen Kai-kit is also associated with the People's Liberation Army of Red China. Can't swing a dead cat around the Donorgate/Chinagate scandal without hitting the PLA.

And the incomplete CV Varyag even has its own web page! Who would have thought that a rusting hulk would have its own *fans*?

Speaking of Chinagate, beyond Norman Hsu and Hillary Clinton, what other Presidential Candidate had their name up in lights with that investigation?

Care to guess?

No?

Here is a lovely bit from an article I ran across looking into Chinagate, from the Find Articles cache, Insight on the News, 01 DEC 1997, Why do so many questions yield so few answers? - Sen. Fred Thompson's investigation of '96 campaign funds - Fair Comment - Column, by Larry Klayman:

Fred Thompson, former movie actor and now chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, has taken a dive. Touted just one year ago as the next Ronald Reagan and charged by Senate Majority Leader Dent Lott to investigate and root out corruption in the White House and Democratic National Committee campaign-finance scandals, Thompson himself has succumbed to the insidious forces which have rendered the Clinton administration and most of official Washington ethically bankrupt.

In shutting down his hearings before calling key witnesses who could expose Democrat high crimes and misdemeanors, Thompson has hit the canvass much like Sonny Liston in his first fight against the young Cassius Clay. While Bill Clinton is no modern-day Muhammad Ali (notwithstanding similarities in their Vietnam War draft records) Thompson's well-known presidential ambitions may hold parallels with Liston's meteoric fall to the mat.

Say, just what *was* up with that, anyways? Really, if the man wants to be President, shouldn't he have taken a pretty large interest in Chinagate? Reading a bit further on we get to see some of the problems Sen. Thompson had with investigating President Clinton:

Thompson was appointed to lead the Senate's investigation, reportedly because of his experience as a Watergate prosecutor and his claimed public relations skills. However, from day one of the hearings, it became apparent that he and his colleagues were not up to the task. Making bold predictions that his committee would expose a plot by the Chinese to influence American elections in 1996, he initially and inexplicably called relatively low-level witnesses, such as DNC Finance Director Richard Sullivan, who Republicans initially praised for their integrity and "cooperation," only later to be shocked that they would lie and "forget" key facts. Given the sensitivity of Republicans to their "reputation for meanness," there was little if any challenge to this lack of honesty. Nor were most of Thompson's colleagues generally prepared thoroughly to question the witnesses -- instead relying on bluster and grandstanding, rather than serious interrogation, to make their point.

This was no wonder, since many of the Republican members of Thompson's committee had fund-raising peccadilloes of their own. One, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, was implicated in the scandal. The Washington Times reported on Oct. 3 that Specter may have helped get public financing for the recent Teamsters election (since thrown out for fraud) in apparent exchange for campaign contributions from union sources. (In a letter to the Times, Specter denied the implication of the Times story and notes that he voted against funding of the next Teamster election.) It thus became painfully obvious that Republicans lacked the will and courage to expose the full extent of the biggest Clinton scandal, as to do so could bring about "mutually assured destruction." As reported by columnist Arianna Huffington, Triad, a right-wing group that Thompson "graciously" had allowed to be dragged into the investigation, threatened to expose Republican fund-raising abuses if the committee proceeded against it.

Look, I have no problem with the Republican '11th Commandment', but that does NOT mean letting those on your own side go violate the election laws EITHER. Whatever *did* happen to 'Law and Order' Republicans? Beyond acting on a television program, that is...

From Iran/Contra, BCCI, Chinagate, and a few others like the BNL and S&L scandals, we now get the Hsunannegans and a pretty wide brush painted across most of the Presidential field. Don't any of them have the willpower to stand up against vested interests and big money? Just take a look at the Hsu side of the Force for a second, and we get his contributions to: Sen. John Kerry, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and, apparently, half the Democratic candidates for office over the last four years or so. His previous lawyer, Lawrence Barcella, was employed by BCCI then figured out a way to get a job investigating his activities in BCCI for the government. Great work if you can get it, this investigating yourself deal!

And let us not forget that BCCI and BNL also got in with the Keating Five and Sen. John McCain. And BCCI would also pick up billionaire Jackson Stephens and *his* employment of John Huang who was also in the Chinagate scandal, along with associations with the Riady family, also in the scandal. But heaven forbid if Sen. Thompson were to investigate *that*! Might start leading back to BCCI and the Reagan Administration's use of BNL to finance Saddam Hussein, and the Ollie North/Richard Secord/Albert Hakim work in Iran/Contra which would depend upon BCCI to move money around to, yes, Monzer al-Kassar for his work in supplying and shipping arms for one of the shipments. Of which Jackson Stephens also knew North/Secord/Hakim and helped them with the Iran/Contra affair.

So, which candidate for President *isn't* taking money from: crooks, underworld figures, Foreign Nations or terrorists?

And if the answer is, as I suspect, *none* of them being able to say that, then can they at least come clean on *which* convicts, gangsters, mafioso, underworld figures, terrorists and Foreign Nations ARE backing them?

Hey, we gots a right to know how dirty you are before we elect you for President!

Because no matter the nice words they say to please *you*, they are all looking to be on the take to the monied interests looking to sway: contracts, trade deals, crime enforcement or to just get their hands on US technology or weapons.

Or they can't even be bothered to investigate same because it just might *hurt* someone in their ever so precious political party.

The Two Party System now looks to be a 'rigged game' and the PROBLEM, not a strength of America.

But that's just me... seeing folks highly connected to such things and *not* doing a damned thing about it. And that is, exactly, what a President has to do: Chief Law Enforcement Officer? Head of the Armies and Navies? Head of the Nation? Chief of State? Head of Government?

Ask them no questions and they will tell you no lies.

Or, as given to us by the Village by Patrick McGoohan in the The Prisoner series:

Questions are a burden to others; answers are a prison for oneself.
Perhaps it is time to feel a bit burdened. Unless you already know the answers...

It is Four Degrees of Monzer al-Kassar time!

Ahhh... where would life be without a little bit of frivolity?

Today's frivolity begins in the semi-headlines of the campaign contributions to Hillary Rodham Clinton by Mr. Norman Hsu. As the WSJ reports, a little house in the valley near San Francisco got put on Mr. Hsu's campaign contributions to the Clinton campaign. But the headlines never tell the story, to say the least... and the fun is buried just a bit further down.

Now, as I promised you the Four Degrees of Monzer al-Kassar game, here are the rules:

1) Take someone in the headlines, in this case Mr. Hsu.

2) Find the connections between him and the well connected Mr. Kassar - these connections may be: Individuals or Companies.

3) See how fast you can winnow the connectivity down so that you can get Mr. Kassar within 4 links of the individual in question. This uses the 'Friend of a Friend' (FOAF) concept.

Now I will, in actuality, leave the Clintons out of this, and check towards the next primary individual in this story, which is not the family owning the house. They appear to be absolutely out of the spotlight on this. No, lets chase down the next most likely individual as mentioned in this paragraph:

Lawrence Barcella, a Washington attorney representing Mr. Hsu, said in a separate email: "You are barking up the wrong tree. There is no factual support for this story and if Mr. Hsu's name was Smith or Jones, I don't believe it would be a story." He didn't elaborate.

And Mr. Lawrence Barcella is a key figure, and will be a good fast link out to one company in particular. Which would that be? Time for some history!

Way back in the 1980's there was this scandal going on, and Mr. Barcella would play a key role in it. He would not only be a lawyer for the company, but then, in one of those lovely twists of the rolodex, would then get to work with the man who got him the plea deal! How is THAT for connectivity?

Here is the extract of the Senate repoft on the BCCI scandal (thank you to FAS for keeping such records around!):

BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists

In hiring lawyers and lobbyists in the United States to help it deal with its problems, BCCI did not think small. BCCI's cadre of professional help in Washington, D.C. alone included, at various times a former Secretary of Defense (Clark Clifford), former Senators and Congressmen (John Culver and Michael Barnes), former federal prosecutors (Raymond Banoun, Lawrence Barcella and Lawrence Wechsler), and former Federal Reserve attorneys (Baldwin Tuttle and Jerry Hawke).

Still other prominent figures were recruited for BCCI's secretly-held American subsidiary, First American, such as former Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Stuart Symington and former Republican Senator from Maryland Charles Mac Mathias, who each sat on First American's board of director.

Other firms consisting of important former officials -- such as Kissinger Associates, then home to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, current Under Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and current National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft -- were recruited by BCCI, but refused to accept BCCI's business following its indictment on drug money laundering charges.

The revolving door between government and the private sector made it possible for BCCI to retain former government officials with intimate knowledge of how the U.S. government operates to aid BCCI's agenda. Ironically, BCCI used these former officials against the agencies they once served as instruments of its violations of U.S. laws and its attempts to slow or stop investigations of its wrongdoing.

Much of the activity of BCCI's lawyers in the United States was normal representation, often extremely aggressive, but within the borders of the kind of work the firms involved did for other clients. At other times, however, lawyers for BCCI participated in decisions to hire private investigators to investigate the private lives of government investigators pursuing BCCI; sought to use "political chits" to shut down Congressional investigations of BCCI; threatened publications considering publishing articles about BCCI with libel suits; and refused to refer BCCI foreign branches to federal law enforcement when BCCI's own employees in the U.S. believed such referrals were legally required because of the degree of the branch's involvement in money laundering.

The most aggressive activity by BCC's lawyers and lobbyists took place at the beginning and at the end of BCCI's

Two periods of activity by BCCI's lawyers in the U.S. illustrate how BCCI accomplished illegal or improper objectives were:

** Assisting BCCI and its nominees in restructuring the takeover attempt of Financial General Bankshares after the initial attempt was stopped by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), on the ground that BCCI had secretly colluded with other shareholders by purchasing 4.9% of the FGB stock each to evade securities laws requiring the reporting of their purchases at 5% or more. Among the key attorneys involved in the restructuring of the BCCI takeover were Clifford, Altman, and former Federal Reserve lawyer Baldwin Tuttle. (1978-1981)

** Structuring the purchase of National Bank of Georgia by First American from BCCI's nominee, Ghaith Pharoan. (1985-1986)

Response to Senate


Joint Defense Agreement

Ah, memories! Going from there right to:

Larry Barcella
Larry Barcella is a former Assistant US Attorney who gained national prominence for his successful prosecution of Edwin Wilson, the American convicted of selling secrets to Lybia. Barcella was brought onto the BCCI case shortly after the October 1988 indictment of BCCI in Tampa, Florida. Larry Wechsler, with whom Barcella had practiced law in the US Justice Department recruited him to coordinate the bank's defense.

Although the full extent of Barcella's activities on behalf of BCCI remains unknown, he did engage in the following:

-- In 1988 Barcella tried to persuade his firm's lead partner, former US Senator Paul Laxalt, meet with Swaleh Naqvi, BCCI's CEO, in London, and to engage in lobbying on behalf of the bank on Capitol Hill. The Subcommittee has been unable to determine what, if any, services Senator Laxalt performed on behalf of BCCI.

-- In 1989 and 1990 Barcella joined John Vardaman, a partner at Williams and Conolly and Robert Altman in warning Larry Gurwin, a freelance journalist writing an article about BCCI and First American Bank for Regardie's magazine, that it would be improper to write anything that linked the two institutions. Barcella has called Gurwin's allegations "absurd".(1)

- In early 1990, after BCCI pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in Tampa, Florida, several members of the US Congress criticized the plea bargain as to lenient on the bank. Documents obtained by the Subcommittee show that Barcella met with Senator Dennis Deconcini, one of the critics of the plea bargain, in an effort to persuade him that BCCI was not the corrupt institution that he and others had claimed.

Most recently, of course, Barcella has been hired by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to investigate the "October Surprise", the allegations surrounding a political deal for release of the US hostages held in Iran in 1980. On leave from the Justice Department to assist Barcella in his investigation is Greg Kehoe -- the Justice Department official with whom BCCI lawyers, including Barcella, negotiated the bank's plea agreement in Tampa.

Yes, going from representing BCCI to working with the guy that got you the plea agreement. Lovely how quickly these folks do things in DC, isn't it?

And from BCCI you go directly to Monzer al-Kassar, who used it as a way to launder money from his drug trade and arms deals. From the Globalsecurity.org document cache on BCCI:

4. BCCI's relationships with convicted Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, Syrian drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar, and other major arms dealers. Sarkenalian was a principal seller of arms to Iraq. Monzer Al-Kassar has been implicated in terrorist bombings in connection with terrorist organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Other arms dealers, including some who provided machine guns and trained Medellin cartel death squads, also used BCCI. Tracing their assets through the bank would likely lead to important information concerning international terrorist and arms trafficker networks.

5. The use of BCCI by central figures in arms sales to Iran during the 1980's. The late Cyrus Hashemi, a key figure in allegations concerning an alleged deal involving the return of U.S. hostages from Iran in 1980, banked at BCCI London. His records have been withheld from disclosure to the Subcommittee by a British judge. Their release might aid in reaching judgments concerning Hashemi's activities in 1980, with the CIA under President Carter and allegedly with William Casey.

6. BCCI's activities with the Central Bank of Syria and with the Foreign Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in London. BCCI was used by both the Syrian and Soviet governments in the period in which each was involved in supporting activities hostile to the United States. Obtaining the records of those financial transactions would be critical to understanding what the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, Chernenko, and Andropov was doing in the West; and might document the nature and extent of Syria's support for international terrorism.

Hey, real lucky that Mr. Barcella WORKED for the bank involved in the Arms for Hostages deal, isn't it?

Really, I am quite sure Mr. Hsu had absolutely *no* idea of what he was doing and that it was *all* just a minor transcription error while bundling boodles of checks together! Too bad BCCI isn't around any more to help on that... perhaps Mr. Barcella can help him there....

There you go: Hsu to Barcella to BCCI to Kassar. That is only three degrees, so it is better luck next time in the connected world of the rich and infamous.

More on the dots heading outwards with Monzer al-Kassar

This takes up from my previous post on this. Next post in the series is here.

This post not checked for spelling or syntax. Read at your own risk.

Also blogging: Howie at The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta, Wretchard at The Belmont Club, See-Dubya at Junk Yard Blog.

Picking up with Mr. Kassar, lets dig a bit deeper just on him and see where he is operating. For that we head on over to Globalsecurity.org and their very brief view of him:

Mundhir al-Kassar
Iraqi insurgency Arms Dealer

Details
Importance Medium
Affiliation Iraqi insurgency1
Role Arms Dealer1
Alias(es) Mundhir al Kassar1
Gender Male

Narrative and Notes

Reliable Kassar has connections with the Sabawi Ibrahim al Hassan family, to include Umar, Bashar and Ayman. He is a known weapons dealer and terrorist supplier. A Central Criminal Court of Iraq arrest warrant for Kassar and a reward for information leading to his capture are pending.1

Sources
1 U.S. Central Command press release. "Iraqi Government releases 41 Most-Wanted list." July 3, 2006.

Their confidence level on this is HIGH. It is, indeed, the same man due to his connections to the Hassan family, and currently has a CCCI warrant out for his arrest for work with the insurgency in Iraq. So this individual is NOW tied directly into the Syrian/Ba'athist/al Qaeda insurgency in Anbar and, most likely, elsewhere in Iraq.

Now you can't have pontification and blow-hards without having Sen. John Kerry involved and he does, indeed, involve himself in actually wanting something done about Mr. Kassar. On 30 JUN 1992 as part of Iran/Contra:

Mr. President, Watergate brought down a Presidency, but I must say that Watergate was trivial compared to Iran-Contra. Iran-Contra was nothing less than an effort to subcontract the foreign policy of the United States of America to a bunch of professional arms smugglers, including notorious terrorists like Manzer al-Kassar, drug dealers like Manuel Noriega, and nut cases like polygraph-failing Manchuer Ghorbanifar. It revolved around a scheme to sell weapons to a government responsible for murdering hundreds of American Marines, holding Americans hostage and supporting international terrorists around the world. It involved a specific, planned effort within the White House to evade both the letter and spirit of U.S. law, and it betrayed publicly stated American commitments to isolate terrorist States and to punish--not reward--those who take hostages.

Now if only Sen. Kerry would have had *that* attitude towards Saddam Hussein... but that is, apparently, too much to expect for the long haul. Not enough 'nuance'. While he does use it to decry things done by the Executive, it is strange that the lackadaisical attitude of such a Senator towards holding hearing to find out the EXTENT of Mr. Kassar (and others) influence against the United States is not done. But, I've hit Sen. Kerry on that *before*. And that is surprising, really, as Sen. Kerry was involved with uncovering the BCCI scandal! From the Executive Summary of that report, lets see where Mr. Kassar is situated:

16. INVESTIGATIONS OF BCCI TO DATE REMAIN INCOMPLETE, AND MANY LEADS CANNOT BE FOLLOWED UP, AS THE RESULT OF DOCUMENTS BEING WITHHELD FROM US INVESTIGATORS BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, AND DOCUMENTS AND WITNESSES BEING WITHHELD FROM US INVESTIGATORS BY THE GOVERNMENT OF ABU DHABI.

Many of the specific criminal transactions engaged in by BCCI's customers remain hidden from investigation as the result of bank secrecy laws in many jurisdictions, British national security laws, and the holding of key witnesses and documents by the Government of Abu Dhabi. Documents pertaining to BCCI's use to finance terrorism, to assist the builders of a Pakistani nuclear bomb, to finance Iranian arms deals, and related matters have been sealed in the United Kingdom by British intelligence and remain unavailable to U.S. investigators. Many other basic matters pertaining to BCCI's criminality, including any list that may exist of BCCI's political payoffs and bribes, remain sequestered in Abu Dhabi and unavailable to U.S. investigators.

Many investigative leads remain to be explored, but cannot be answered with devoting substantial additional sources that to date no agency of government has been in a position to provide.

Unanswered questions include, but are not limited to, the relationship between BCCI and the Banco Nazionale del Lavoro; the alleged relationship between the late CIA director William Casey and BCCI; the extent of BCCI's involvement in Pakistan's nuclear program; BCCI's manipulation of commodities and securities markets in Europe and Canada; BCCI's activities in India, including its relationship with the business empire of the Hinduja family; BCCI's relationships with convicted Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Sarkenalian, Syrian drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar, and other major arms dealers; the use of BCCI by central figures in the alleged "October Surprise," BCCI's activities with the Central Bank of Syria and with the Foreign Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in London; its involvement with foreign intelligence agencies; the financial dealingst of BCCI directors with Charles Keating and several Keating affiliates and front-companies, including the possibility that BCCI related entities may have laundered funds for Keating to move them outside the United States; BCCI's financing of commodities and other business dealings of international criminal financier Marc Rich; the nature, extent and meaning of the ownership of other major U.S. financial institutions by Middle Eastern political figures; the nature, extent, and meaning of real estate and financial investments in the United States by major shareholders of BCCI; the sale of BCCI affiliate Banque de Commerce et Placement in Geneva, to the Cukorova Group of Turkey, which owned an entity involved in the BNL Iraqi arms sales, among others.

The withholding of documents and witnesses from U.S. investigators by the Government of Abu Dhabi threatens vital U.S. foreign policy, anti-narcotics and money laundering, and law enforcement interests, and should not be tolerated.

Now there is a happy coincidence of names, places and organizations. Yes, Mr. Kassar is directly involved with Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Sarkenalian, but, also coming from Syria, he would also have a more than peripheral connection to the Central Bank of Syria and its connection to the Foreign Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in London, as seen above. Also the shifting of Banque de Commerce et Placement to the Cukorova Group in Turkey as a means to help the BNL (Banco Nazionale del Lavoro) arms and equipment sales with Iraq. And as BCCI was *also* connecting to the Keating 5 Scandal and Marc Rich, we have possible 'twice removed' connections with: Sen. John McCain and the Clintons.

But just a quick back up to the BNL scandal so that we can get some perspective on it:

LESSON NO. 4: WAR AND OIL
Henry B. Gonzalez, (TX-20)
(House of Representatives - February 21, 1991)

Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, this is the second in a series of special orders that I have planned concerning the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives' investigation of the Banco Nazionale del Lavoro, otherwise known as the BNL, scandal.

As explained in the first special order on February 4, the BNL scandal is a sensational bank fraud and regulatory blunder in which former employees of the Atlanta agency of the BNL, which is really an Italian Government-owned bank, were able to loan Iraq $3 billion without presumably reporting those loans to its headquarters in Rome or to the Federal Reserve and State banking officials.

I brought out also in the first special order that in effect the alarming thing about this, as we first began to look into it more than a year and a half ago, was that it revealed an absence of suitable regulatory oversight on the part of our American regulatory system, which means that the United States is the only nation in the industrialized world, West or East, that permits such a tremendous volume of foreign money, in effect better than $635 billion right now, with little or no accountability or regulatory power exerted from the national interest standpoint of the United States.

The bank regulatory failure in this case is and continues to be the main focus of attention of the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs. The committee will pursue legislative remedies to ensure that entities like BNL are properly supervised.

As a matter of fact, this morning in the Washington Post there was a considerable story in which it was reported that the Federal Reserve Board was looking into a Washington-based bank's control or ownership influence by Iraq or Iraqi elements.

Well, let me say that if that is coming to light, it is coming too late, as in the case of BNL.

What continues to be disturbing to me is that nobody knows what the type of activity involving this huge amount of money in the United States, in which foreign entities owned by foreign governments can, in the exercise of their business, be acting contrary to the basic national policy as set forth by our own Government.

The second main facet of the investigation deals with BNL's relationship with Iraq. The committee is investigating the role BNL played in upgrading the military capability of Iraq, which is quite considerable.

If our boys, as it looks now, unfortunately and tragically will be the case, will go into the ground fighting, they will be facing death or serious bodily harm by missiles or chemical weapons actually funded and paid for by U.S. businesses and guaranteed by the American taxpayer.

As astounding as this is, it is and has happened, and continues to, incidentally.

BNL was one, not the only one, but probably one of the more significant, sources of funding for a complicated Iraqi scheme to obtain sophisticated Western technology and know-how.

BNL financed the sale of chemicals, specialty steel products, sophisticated computer controlled industrial machinery, electronic components, computers, and engineering and construction services. Much of this technology had civilian as well as military uses.

Evidently the United States and other Western nations ignored the true intentions of Iraq, though personally I think that those intentions were well-known, except that at that time, and I think in view of what is happening today, and being that we seem to have very short memories nowadays, we find it difficult to evoke the environment that existed during the Iraq-Iran War for 8 years, and the years immediately following the truce, in which we actually had, as a matter of Government policy, been aiding and abetting the Iraqis against the Iranians.

That sounds unbelievable today, but it is true. Truth is stranger than fiction.

It is equally true that 47.6 billion dollars--worth in an 8-year period of sophisticated weaponry was provided Iraq by not only the United States but almost every other country, including the so-called People's Republic or People's Country of China which used the technology that our licensing agreements enabled the Chinese to produce, such as the Silkworm missile which, incidentally, was the missile that sank or damaged and killed 37 of our sailors just a few years ago fired by an Iraqi source when our Navy was flying the flag for Kuwaiti oil tankers and patrolling the gulf.

Incidentally, the reason that all this financing could be done by the Iraqi Government through its central bank and through these foreign government-owned banks with either branches or agencies, as they call them, in the United States, and the one particularly in Atlanta, is that President Reagan in 1983 saw fit to remove Iraq from the list of nations that he himself listed as terrorist nations. And when he removed Iraq from that designation it opened the sluice gates for considerable commerce and weapons trading.

The BNL was also a major source of agricultural financing for Iraq. BNL financed the sale of over $850 billion in United States agricultural products to Iraq; $720 million of that amount was guaranteed and ultimately is being paid for by the United States Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation, or the taxpayer.

Between 1983 and 1990, the CCC granted credit guarantees which enabled Iraq to purchase a total of $5.5 billion in United States farm products. In addition, the Export-Import Bank granted Iraq a $200 million insurance policy to protect United States companies against the potential risk of loss related to exporting goods to Iraq, and of course they did suffer that loss and, of course, the taxpayers pay that guarantee or insurance.

These United States Government guarantees were very important to Iraq. It not only permitted Iraq to purchase high-quality food for its people and its army, it freed up a like amount in foreign exchange, more importantly, which was used to purchase the technology and military goods from various countries around the globe.

The BNL scandal which burst onto the scene publicly in August 1989 played a key role in the disintegration of United States-Iraq relations. As we are now tragically aware, the break in United States-Iraq relations ultimately ended in war.

Revelation of the BNL scandal was important to United States-Iraq relations because of several reasons. BNL was a major bank participant in the Commodity Credit program with Iraq. Alleged violation of CC regulations by BNL in Iraq, still being investigated by our United States attorney in Atlanta and by the Department of Agriculture, made and compelled the administration, this administration, to rethink the billions of dollars in agriculture credit guarantees provided to Iraq. Iraq received $1 billion in agriculture credit from 1989.

Mind you, it was in August 1989 that we had the first exposure of the deal, but at that time the climate was very favorable in our country and in our Government as a matter of policy toward Iraq, as contradistinguished from Iran. The Department of Agriculture was in the midst of granting Iraq another $1 billion program for 1990 when the BNL scandal surfaced.

Facing pressure from possible irregularities in the Iraq program, the Agriculture Department was reluctantly forced to limit the program with Iraq in 1990 to $500 million. The Iraqis were incensed, because Iraq was effectively bankrupt and had little money to purchase food with. It was counting on an increase in the CCC program, and not a huge cut in the program. This was a blow at the time for Iraq. Iraq took the lowering of the $500 million level as an insult. They claimed this action was indefensible because they were not violating American law at that time, as indeed they were not since Mr. Reagan removed them from the list in 1983, and that no formal charges had been filed against them because of the BNL scandal.

Lowering the level of the CC credit to $500 million also placed increased pressure on Iraq's already scant resources.

The implication of the BNL scandal did not end there. As I have mentioned earlier, BNL was a major source of financing for a complicated Iraqi technology procurement network. During the 1980's, Iraq established ownership or control of a sophisticated network of United States and European front companies whose primary mission was to obtain Western military technology and know-how and export it back to Iraq.

Of course, the Iraqis were very secretive in their dealings and were careful to conceal their true affiliation. During the latter half of the 1980's they relied heavily on these BNL loans to finance the procurement of much of the Western technology they were seeking, including the so-called big gun, the chemical weapons component and other missile and munition facilities, one of which plants was established in Baghdad.

But BNL loans were not ordinary financing. BNL contracted to loan Iraq $2.155 billion at interest rates that were not economically feasible. In addition, a good portion of those loans did not have to be paid back for many years; they were long term, which is incredible. The Small Business Administration has not in many years been able to do anything one-tenth as much for any U.S. businessman.

The former employees of BNL were operating like a charity, not a bank. The BNL raid in August 1989 put an end to this practice at that point and certainly put a damper on the Iraqi procurement of a long list of United States and Western technology. About $1 billion at that point had not yet been disbursed under the charity loan schemes when BNL was raided in August 1989.

The BNL scandal also made the Baghdad diplomatic community worry that Iraq was so desperate for credit it was willing to engage in illegal activity. Iraq feared its already tarnished financial reputation because of their defaults would be further damaged by BNL's scandal, and they were worried that the scandal would possibly jeopardize high-profit Iraqi projects being constructed by foreign companies.

While BNL money and United States credit guarantees would not have been siginficant to a financially strong nation, it was critically important to a country like Iraq because it was in such a poor financial shape after the terribly inhuman 8-year war with Iran.

By the end of 1989, Iraq had already defaulted on most of its debts with the governments and private companies of most Western countries as well as with Japan and Korea. Until the BNL scandal, the United States had almost been the only exception in this rule. Iraq had remained relatively current on its United States obligations.

But limiting United States Government credit programs because of BNL and stopping the flow of BNL lending to Iraq was eventually the proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back in that effectively rendering Iraq bankrupt.

The impact of the BNL scandal and its effect on Iraq is echoed in the words of the Iraqi Foreign Minister during his meeting with Secretary of State James Baker just prior to the allied offensive against Iraq. Iraq had offered many excuses for its brutal invasion of Kuwait. Among others, it accused the United States, other Western nations, Israel, and Kuwait of conspiring to destroy it economically. Related to the United States role in this supposed scheme, Tariq Aziz, the diplomat and Foreign Minister, stated in his Geneva meeting with Secretary Baker, and I am going to quote:

The United States actually implemented an embargo on Iraq before August 2, 1990. We had dealings with the United States in the field of foodstuffs. We used to buy more than $1 billion of American products. Early in 1990, the American administration suspended that deal which was profitable for both sides. Then the United States Government decided to deny Iraq the purchase of a very large list of items.

Evidently, to the Iraqis, the impact of the BNL scandal was a key factor in the decline of United States-Iraqi relations.

As we know, Saddam Hussein reacted to his dire financial straits by invading Kuwait which ironically, along with several other Arab nations, had loaned Iraq tens of billions of dollars during the conflict with Iran.

To summarize, the failure of our bank regulatory system to detect the $3 billion in shady loans to Iraq, coupled with billions in questionable credits to Iraq, along with our inability to stop Saddam from importing BNL-financed technology which was used for military purposes, is being used now in which our soldiers will confront, all worked together to cause our war with Iraq.

Hopefully the committee's investigation of BNL will shed light on how these failures occurred. I would hope an understanding of these failures would work to reduce the risk of more Iraqis on our horizon, even now especially before we are forced to risk many more lives of our soldiers.

I would like to take this opportunity to demonstrate another important reason for proceeding with the Banking Committee's investigation. I have obtained from a source I must protect a memorandum that indicates a top-ranking administratrion official from a Cabinet-level Department had knowledge that BNL was used for purchasing military goods. This administration official was concerned that the revelation of BNL financing of military articles would be bad for his particular program, because it would cause considerable adverse congressional reaction and press coverage.

He stated in this memorandum:

In the worst-case scenario, congressional and other investigators would find a direct link to financing Iraqi military expenditures, particularly the Condor missile.

The astounding contents of this memorandum shed significant light on the administration's and the Federal Reserve Board's efforts to thwart our Banking Committee and its investigation of BNL. To date, they remain silent on the topic of BNL financing of military articles.

With all the lessons we could learn from the BNL scandal, let me say by way of parentheses, I am submitting in furtherance of what this comment from this official implies, in this Record, Mr. Speaker, at this point, an article in the Financial Times of London, an article of February 21, 1991, entitled `Warning Forced Bechtel Out of Iraq Chemical Project,' and believe it or not, this involves a former Secretary of State, George Shultz, who after he left the secretaryship went back to his employer, the Bechtel Corp., which is where he had come from, and this article by Alan Friedman, reporting out of New York for the London Financial Times, says, `I said something is going to go very wrong in Iraq, and if Bechtel was there, it would get blown up.'

So there is a long view of BNL and Iraq, which I am still working on. It is very, very hard to imagine an international arms dealer, drug trafficker and terrorist supporter connected *with* BCCI not getting any wind of this happening in his own back yard. And the scope of the BNL scandal covering: farm commodities, technology sales, arms support equipment sales, manufacturing equipment sales, computer sales and even 'dual use' equipment to Iraq and other Nations, like China, proved to have disasterous consequences. And there was Mr. Kassar sitting in Syria in contact with BCCI that held a bank that helped in the distribution of this entire suite of funds. Especially since the Central Bank of Syria was connected to BCCI and money laundering affairs, which Mr. Kassar had taken part in not only recently, in the Columbia affair cited by the Washington Times on 09 JUN 2007, but 12 MAY 1992, Dennis DeConcini puts forth the following:

Lebanon also provides Syria with much needed infusions of hard currency from its drug trafficking operations. The State Department has estimated that 49 metric tons of opium came from the Syrian controlled Bekaa Valley in Lebanon last year. An article in the New Republic in January of this year reported that, `Between 20 percent and 35 percent of heroin imported into the United States comes from Syrian-occupied Lebanon.' In fact, the drug business has become so important to President Assad that the Washington Post reported in January 26 of this year that `to a large extent, the glue that keeps the Syrian machinery together is the personal enrichment of Assad's military from narcotics trafficking.'

Terrorism is another nefarious international activity in which Syria continues to be involved. At times Syrian drug trafficking and support for terrorism appear to run hand in hand. According to an April 27 Time magazine article, it was Monzer al-Kassar, a Syrian drug dealer, who planted the bomb on Pan Am flight 103 which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. Time's assertions have been supported by Vincent Cannistraro, the former head of the CIA's investigation of the bombing. He was quoted in a New York Times article as saying it was outrageous that Libya could have been fully responsible for the bombing. If this report is true, it is not the first time that Syria has been responsible for the loss of American life.

Published reports have linked Syria to the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine barracks which killed over 200 soldiers. Syrian intelligence has also been implicated in the unsuccessful 1986 bombing of a El Al airliner in London. In addition to its individual acts of terrorism, Syria has been used as a safe haven and training ground for other terrorist organizations.

The Islamic fundamentalist group, Hezbollah, has been receiving its training in Syria. Upon completion of training in Syria, the Hezbollah have their weapons escorted by the Syrians into Lebanon. Hezbollah is the same group that has declared its purpose to be to destroy the cancerous Zionist entity. It also has made more than a dozen attacks on Israeli civilians between 1990 and 1991. Last October, Syrian Vice President Khaddam described the Hezbollah attacks against Israel as brave actions.

Yes, backing up to 1986 and possibly all the way to 1983 with the Embassy bombings and Marine Barracks bombings, Mr. Kassar had that exact, same need, that was being supplied by the Central Bank of Syria and BCCI. One of the follow-ups to BCCI was to look particularly at just that thing, as cited in the BCCI report in 1992:

4. BCCI's relationships with convicted Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, Syrian drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar, and other major arms dealers. Sarkenalian was a principal seller of arms to Iraq. Monzer Al-Kassar has been implicated in terrorist bombings in connection with terrorist organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Other arms dealers, including some who provided machine guns and trained Medellin cartel death squads, also used BCCI. Tracing their assets through the bank would likely lead to important information concerning international terrorist and arms trafficker networks.

5. The use of BCCI by central figures in arms sales to Iran during the 1980's. The late Cyrus Hashemi, a key figure in allegations concerning an alleged deal involving the return of U.S. hostages from Iran in 1980, banked at BCCI London. His records have been withheld from disclosure to the Subcommittee by a British judge. Their release might aid in reaching judgments concerning Hashemi's activities in 1980, with the CIA under President Carter and allegedly with William Casey.

6. BCCI's activities with the Central Bank of Syria and with the Foreign Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in London. BCCI was used by both the Syrian and Soviet governments in the period in which each was involved in supporting activities hostile to the United States. Obtaining the records of those financial transactions would be critical to understanding what the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, Chernenko, and Andropov was doing in the West; and might document the nature and extent of Syria's support for international terrorism.

Has it really taken 15 years to follow this up? Or is this, as I suspect, just another one of those times where the pure criminality of the individual involved has brought him out of the woodwork *again*? Because Mr. Kassar was *also* involved in the Iran/Contra deal which had utilized BCCI for funding transactions. And if Mr. Kassar was involved with the late Mr. Cyrus Hashemi and London BCCI, that also gives him entrance to the Soviet trade delegation there because he is *also* from a client State of the USSR: Syria. And as Syria is already involved there, having a connection between Mr. Kassar and Mr. Hashemi is not only possible, but nearly mandatory for the types of wheeling and dealing going on to get drugs, arms and cash moved around from the Middle East to Latin America.

Now, inside the actual BCCI report we get a look at the Kassar brothers ties to:

Abu Nidal
In the United Kingdom, a key window on BCCI's support of terrorism was an informant named Ghassan Qassem, the former manager of the Sloan Street branch of BCCI in London. Qassem had been given the accounts of Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal at BCCI, and then proceeded, while at BCCI, to provide detailed information on the accounts to British and American intelligence, apparently as a paid informant, according to press accounts based on interviews with Qassem.(66)

As of 1986, the information obtained about Abu Nidal's use of BCCI was sufficiently detailed as to justify dissemination within the U.S. intelligence community.(67)

In July, 1987, as a result of the information provided by Qassem, a State Department report concerning Abu Nidal and Qassem, declassified in 1991 at the request of the Subcommittee, describes Abu Nidal's use of BCCI.

The ANO commercial network comprises several businesses created over the past seven years with the long-term goal of establishing legitimate trading enterprises in various countries, gaining experience in commercial trade, and making a profit for the group. . . The general manager of the commercial network and the principal agent in gray-arms transactions is Samir Hasan Najm al-Din (Samir Najmeddin). He has directed many of ANO's commercial activities, both licit and illicit, from his offices in the INTRACO building in Warsaw, Poland.. . . He has maintained a general account at a major West European Bank [BCCI in London] from which he transfers money to individual company accounts at local banks. He maintains joint control of each company's ban accounts, along with the company manager, and he is responsible for forwarding all major contracts to Sabri al-Banna for final approval.(68)

Following dissemination of this material by the U.S., the U.S. coordinated efforts to shut down the financing of the activities exposed in its targeting of Abu Nidal through BCCI-London, with some success.(69)

Other terrorist groups continued to make use of BCCI, including one "state sponsor of terrorism," and the Qassar brothers, Manzur and Ghassan, who have been associated with terrorism, arms trafficking, and narcotics trafficking in connection with the Government of Syria, and with the provision of East Bloc arms to the Nicaraguan contras in a transaction with the North/Secord enterprise paid for with funds from the secret U.S. arms sales to Iran.(70)

Yes, Mr. Kassar and his brother getting support from BCCI, working with Eastern European contacts and the Contras as part of Iran/Contra. That coming out from a former manager in BCCI itself. Also note the support to Abu Nidal and how that runs in its own similar courses, also cited by that same manager, who then becomes a prime link to knowing what moved between those organizations.

From Wretchard comes this citation of a NY Post article, Evil Rich 'Prince' hid in plain sight:

But the photographs displayed in his home show al Kassar - arrested on terror-related charges Thursday and suspected of supporting the insurgency in Iraq - is no run-of-the-mill millionaire, the British newspaper The Observer reported in October.

In one photo, he is shaking hands with the late Uday Hussein, the ruthless eldest son of dictator Saddam Hussein. Uday was killed by U.S. troops in July 2003.

Another photo shows al Kassar holding hands with Hassan Aideed, son of a now-dead Somali warlord depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down."

In a third, he hugs terrorist Abu Abbas, the former leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front captured in Baghdad in 1993.

Wretchard then offers this link to the LA Times article on the FARC deal:

Kassar promised to provide the FARC with "C4 explosives, as well as expert trainers from Lebanon to teach the FARC how to effectively use C4 and improvised explosive devices," the indictment and federal authorities alleged.

"In addition, Kassar offered to send a thousand men to fight with the FARC against U.S. military officers in Colombia," Garcia said.

Kassar, Ghazi and Moreno were charged with four separate terrorism offenses: conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, conspiracy to kill U.S. officers or employees, conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, and conspiracy to acquire and use an antiaircraft missile. Kassar and Moreno were also charged with money-laundering.

If convicted on all counts, the men face a sentence of life in prison without parole.

From Wretchard we get direction to Barcepundit who looks at some 2005 connections of Mr. Kassar to the Madrid bombings:

El Mundo explains how the police found out that one of their own was the owner of the store where the cell phones were programmed:

From the data obtained in the van, plus the data from the unexploded knapsack bomb, the cell phones that Jamal Ahmidam’s people bought at Bazar Top (the Indian store), and the following “release” [by which the cell phones were able to be operated from any source including calling cards] of those phones, Kalaji’s coworkers at the General Information office came to his store, Tecnología de Sistemas Telefónicos Ayman.

From that very moment, Maussili Kalaji began to fully cooperate with his ex-coworkers at the Information Office, and thanks to him, and to his having written down the IMEI identification numbers of the Bazar Top cell numbers he had been asked to “release” (i.e., program so they phones would allow calling cards from any company and in any modality, prepayment, or contract), the investigators were able to find the Leganés apartment where the terrorist leader of the 3/11 trains of death had taken shelter.
. . .
He was in charge of the Syrian Monzer Al-Kassar
Maussili Kalaji thoroughly knows the Syrian community in Spain, and additionally, was the Spanish agent in charge of listening to and translating all of the telephone conversations of Monzer Al-Kassar, allegad weapons trafficker that was charged by judge Baltasar Garzón for collaborating in the Achille Lauro hijacking.

The ship’s hijacking took place in 1985, and in 1992 judge Garzón charged Al-Kassar -- Syrian resident of Marbella and representative of the Spanish government in some weapons sales to third countries – of allegedly belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (led by Abu Abbas [see link]), of murder, of belonging to an armed gang and terrorist organization, of attempted murder, illegal detention, and piracy.

Kalaji, as member of the Office of Information and by order of the judge, kept close match on Al-Kassar and his family; but eventually the Syrian friend of former Cesid director Alonso Manglano and ex-Secretary of the Interior Rafael Vera, was absolved of all charges of which judge Garzón had accused him.

Kalaji's Palestinian connections are strong and remain strong. El Mundo describes him as "Kalaji, who considers himself a defender of the Palestinian cause". My question is, is it wise of the Spanish intelligence services to have place in such sensitive jobs both Kalaji and members of his family?

Yes, well connected in the Transnational Terrorist realm and Rogue Nation areas!

And with that we now have a few names, beyond Manzar Al-Kassar to add to the kitty of terrorism, bank fraud, money launder, illegal arms shipments, narcotrafficking and undermining Nations:

Manzur Qassar (variant spelling of Monzer al-Kassar )
Mundhir al-Kassar (alias/variant)
Ghassan Qassar (brother to Manzur)
Ghassan Qassem - BCCI London branch manager
Cyrus Hashemi - deceased, major figure in the Iran/Contra deal via North/Secord connections
Sarkis Soghanalian - Iraqi Arms Dealer under Saddam
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - Customer
Medellin cartels - Possible link via BCCI, Iran/Contra, North/Secord
Hezbollah - Syrian and Iranian backed organization, most shipments coming through Syria - customer
Pan Am flight 103 - Agent for bomb and placement of same cited by Vincent Cannistraro, the former head of the CIA's investigation of the bombing
Assad Family - Ruling family of Syria
Defex - Portugese company cited in the Kassar to Contra arms shipment
Thomas Parlow - Danish National - Shipping manager in charge of the schedule for the Erria from Poland to Portugal
Clines, Hakim and William Haskell, an associate of North - Arms purchasers from Erria
Uday Hussein - deceased, Son of Saddam Hussein
Hassan Aideed - Son of Farah Aideed the Somali warlord
Achille Lauro Hijacking
Abu Abbas - International Terrorist
FARC - not only in 2007, but by implication by Interpol as early as 2000
Madrid bombings
Tareq Mousa Al Ghazi - 2007 arms deals with FARC
Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy - 2007 arms deals with FARC

This gets a good scoping on Mr. Kassar! Lots of dots heading outwards and some of the documents I am looking at see connections beyond that to things like: North Korea and AQ Khan network. The man *did* have the necessary contacts for those, but seeing if they pan out is something else, again. Also any hard ties to the BNL scandal will put *that* in a different light and all events after that, as Mr. Kassar seems to have duplicated their network but on a corporate scale for money laundering.

And I still haven't even gotten to the last two on the list. And this list grows outwards.

Also note that if there is *still* a charge out on the Klinghoffer murder, that IS Piracy.

That is something our Piracy laws can be applied to so as to bring down all of Mr. Kassar's network AND everyone who supports him.