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06.24 Mr. Holder, You Must Hold Torturers Accountable Health & Environment
06.29 Thinking about Climate 06.26 False Health-Scare Ad on CNN 06.25 Louella Learns the Limits of Medicare 06.23 The Simple Answer to America’s Health Care Crisis: Medicare for All 06.23 Tell ABC: Include Single-Payer in Healthcare Debate 06.23 Serving the Medical-Industrial Complex 06.22 Thinking about Recoveries 06.20 Obama's Health Care Waterloo 06.15 Obama, Like Clinton Before Him, is Blowing the Chance for Real Health Care Reform 06.11 Two Key Health-Care Numbers 06.10 Big Breakthroughs for Single Payer Health Care 06.10 Readying Americans for Dangerous, Mandatory Vaccinations Media Watching
06.29 WP's Connolly Back, on Health Reform 06.17 Hypocrisy and Hope: Western Coverage, Iranian Courage 06.15 Excusing Outrages of the Right 06.11 Tying Obama to Bush's Budget Mess US Politics, Policy & Culture
06.30 Obama's Torture Hypocrisy 06.30 Court Circular: Annals of Imperial Continuity 06.29 Obama, They Want You to Fail 06.26 Who to Trust on a Truth Commission? 06.26 Tarnished Shields: The Morally Bankrupt 'Family Values' Republican Leadership 06.25 America's "Bases of Empire" 06.24 Twelve Angry White People: Jury Nullification in a Pennsylvania Coal Town 06.24 Touring Empire's Ruins 06.23 Employers are Undermining the Economic Stimulus Program 06.19 Criminalizing Dissent: Obama Pot Calls Iranian Kettle Black 06.17 Afghanistan's Operation Phoenix 06.16 Are You Ready for War with a Demonized Iran? 06.13 Where's the Anger as the Wheels Come Off Obama's and the Democrats' Recovery Program? 06.10 Waiving the Rules for Old Glory 06.10 Obama's Era of Openness Is Closed High Crimes?
07.03 Reviewing Marjorie Cohn and Kathleen Gilberd's "Rules of Disengagement" 07.01 Iraq: A Bitter Strategic Failure 06.25 It's All Good, Again: 'Uptick' in the American-Made Tides of Violence in Iraq 06.22 Obama Opposes Plame-gate Release 06.21 Dexter's Legions: The "Good" Killers of the "Good" War 06.18 Extending the Tradition: Proudly Taking American Torture Into the Future 06.15 New UN Report Denounces America's Human Rights Record 06.14 Fear Rules Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance
07.01 Michael Hudson's "Super Imperialism:" The Economic Strategy of Imperial America 06.23 Obama's Financial Reform Proposal - A Stealth Scheme for Global Monetary Control 06.10 Cyberscares About Cyberwars Equal Cybermoney International
07.01 Pirates of the Mediterranean 06.29 Color Revolutions, Old and New 06.25 Iran Divided & the 'October Suprise' 06.23 Astringent Corrective: AbuKhalil on Iran's Turmoil 06.20 Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated “Color Revolution?” 06.20 Through a Glass Darkly: Sifting Myth and Fact on Iran 06.19 Iran's Election and US - Iranian Elections 06.16 The Ir-Af-Pak War: Obama Looses the Manhunters 06.12 Israeli War Crimes Against Children During Operation Cast Lead We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
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COMMENTARY:Bush Approves Sale of US Military Parts Suppliers to UAE GovernmentDubai International Capital LLC (which is owned by the UAE) lists both the Carlyle Group and Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) as co-investments.
Outgoing White House Press Secretary Scott "Scottie" McClellan announced Friday that George W. Bush approved the sale of 9 US defense-related production plants to Dubai International Capital, owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, in a $1.24 billion takeover of the British firm Doncasters Group Ltd. Among the plants sold is the sole supplier of turbine fan parts for the US military's Abrams tank fans.
Since "...the plants make turbine blades for tanks and aircraft, the deal was reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which sent it on to Bush for a decision, a step used only when the potential security risks or political considerations are particularly acute," according to CBS' Market Watch. "...One official who was briefed on the Doncasters transaction said there would be provisions in the agreement protecting American military secrets. But it was unclear whether that would satisfy Congressional objections." "The committee almost never met, and when it deliberated it was usually at a fairly low bureaucratic level," Richard Perle said. Perle, who has worked for the Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations added, "I think it's a bit of a joke." "The formal CFIUS review is not the most important element in the approval process. CFIUS does not require unanimity among all the agencies involved, but a disputed decision to approve a sale would be escalated to the cabinet level or to the President for appeal....In 1993, Congress amended Exon-Florio to require foreign, government-controlled companies to obtain CFIUS approval before acquiring U.S. companies when the foreign purchaser is 'controlled by or acting on behalf of a foreign government' and the acquisition 'could result in control of a person engaged in interstate commerce in the U.S. that could affect the national security of the United States." Established in 2004, Dubai International Capital LLC. [DIC] is a Dubai-based international investment company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates that primarily focuses on private equity. The deal was originally announced by DIC. Dubai International Capital LLC lists both the Carlyle Group and Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) as co-investments. George H.W. Bush (41), former U.S. President, was a Senior Advisor to the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board from April 1998 to October 2003, almost two years after his son took office. Among its various military projects, the Carlyle Group is, through its various investments, a major contractor for the US Missile Defense System, which has been expedited by the Bush Administration prior to its being fully tested. The system is the single costliest defense budget item for the current budget year. George W. Bush (43) was on the board of directors from 1990-1992 of a Carlyle investment gone bad (Caterair), which was later sold at a loss. Then as Governor of Texas, Bush appointed several persons to the board of Texas teachers' pension funds, which later decided to invest $100 million dollars of public money in the Carlyle Group.
Among the Carlyle Group notables are: current Secretary of the Treasury and chairman of CFIUS John W. Snow; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; and former Secretary of State and 2000 Bush campaign advisor James Baker III. According to Doncasters, "This investment follows a series of strategic, value-driven investments by DIC"--Dubai International Capital – including "a US$1 billion investment in DaimlerChrysler." Chip Yost is a progressive activist who can be read daily on Chip's blog.
Read more: Copyright © 2006 The Baltimore Chronicle.
All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on May 1, 2006. |
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