There’re a bunch of people—I call them idiots—who are all in a lather over the fact that the Clinton Foundation, developed by the former President, has taken donations from various foreigners and governments. Some see it as ‘proof’ that the Saudis own the US government. Others, that policy decisions of the past were predicated on who gave the most money. If there’s any rational disquiet, it could be that donations from foreign governments could compromise the performance of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State through the appearance of a conflict of interest. Not a conflict, just the appearance of one.
Some reports are relatively balanced, as this piece from The New York Times:
In Clinton List, a Veil Is Lifted on Foundation
PETER BAKER and CHARLIE SAVAGEWASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton has collected tens of millions of dollars for his foundation over the last 10 years from governments in the Middle East, tycoons from Canada, India, Nigeria and Ukraine, and other international figures with interests in American foreign policy.
Lifting a longstanding cloak of secrecy, Mr. Clinton on Thursday released a complete list of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation as part of an agreement to douse concerns about potential conflicts if Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is confirmed as secretary of state in the Obama administration.
The donor list offers a glimpse into the high-powered, big-dollar world in which Mr. Clinton has traveled since leaving the White House as he jetted around the globe making money for himself and raising vast sums for his ambitious philanthropic programs fighting disease, poverty and climate change. Some of the world’s richest people and most famous celebrities handed over large checks to finance his presidential library and charitable activities.
…
Others, though, are right out there with their Saudi-bashing and phobias against Arabs and Muslims, as this piece from The New York Post: BUBBA SHEIK-ING THE MONEY TREE. This piece eventually, in the last paragraph, gets around to mentioning that Israeli-focused groups like AIPAC or Jewish-Americans were also among the $1+ million contributors.
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December:19:2008 - 10:22
This is indeed ludicrous. I think I’d be more in an uproar in regards to the American citizens who still hold Israeli citizenship and are in or have held a position of high authority within the US government such as:
Re: US Govt officials who hold dual American/Israeli citizenship?? Got a list? Quote
Michael Mukasey
Recently appointed as US Attorney General. Mukasey also was the judge in the litigation between developer Larry Silverstein and several insurance companies arising from the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001.
Michael Chertoff
Former Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, at the Justice Department; now head of Homeland Security.
Richard Perle
One of Bush’s foreign policy advisors, he is the chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board. A very likely Israeli government agent, Perle was expelled from Senator Henry Jackson’s office in the 1970’s after the National Security Agency (NSA) caught him passing Highly-Classified (National Security) documents to the Israeli Embassy. He later worked for the Israeli weapons firm, Soltam. Perle came from one the above mentioned pro-Israel thinktanks, the AEI. Perle is one of the leading pro-Israeli fanatics leading this Iraq war mongering within the administration and now in the media.
Paul Wolfowitz
Former Deputy Defense Secretary, and member of Perle’s Defense Policy Board, in the Pentagon. Wolfowitz is a close associate of Perle, and reportedly has close ties to the Israeli military. His sister lives in Israel. Wolfowitz came from the above mentioned Jewish thinktank, JINSA. Wolfowitz was the number two leader within the administration behind this Iraq war mongering. He later was appointed head of the World Bank but resigned under pressure from World Bank members over a scandal involving his misuse of power.
Lawrence (Larry) Franklin
The former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst with expertise in Iranian policy issues who worked in the office of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith and reported directly to Feith’s deputy, William Luti, was sentenced January 20, 2006, “to more than 12 years in prison for giving classified information to an Israeli diplomat” and members of the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Franklin will “remain free while the government continues with the wider case” and his “prison time could be sharply reduced in return for his help in prosecuting” former AIPAC members Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, [who] are scheduled to go on trial in April [2006]. Franklin admitted that he met periodically with Rosen and Weissman between 2002 and 2004 and discussed classified information, including information about potential attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. Rosen and Weissman would later share what they learned with reporters and Israeli officials.” (source: sourcewatch.com).
Douglas Feith
Under Secretary of Defense and Policy Advisor at the Pentagon. He is a close associate of Perle and served as his Special Counsel. Like Perle and the others, Feith is a pro-Israel extremist, who has advocated anti-Arab policies in the past. He is closely associated with the extremist group, the Zionist Organization of America, which even attacks Jews that don’t agree with its extremist views. Feith frequently speaks at ZOA conferences. Feith runs a small law firm, Feith and Zell, which only has one International office, in Israel. The majority of their legal work is representing Israeli interests. His firm’s own website stated, prior to his appointment, that Feith “represents Israeli Armaments Manufacturer.” Feith basically represents the Israeli War Machine. Feith also came from the Jewish thinktank JINSA. Feith, like Perle and Wolfowitz, are campaigning hard for this Israeli proxy war against Iraq.
Feith was investigated by the FBI under suspicion of leaking classified information to Israel, being that he was Larry Franklin’s boss when Franklin leaked those documents to Rosen and Weissman of AIPAC. For that he was forced to leave the National Security Council. Feith was also investigated by the Senate Intelligence Committee for sexing up ‘intelligence’ that was used to justify invading Iraq.
Edward Luttwak
Member of the National Security Study Group of the Department of Defence at the Pentagon. Luttwak is reportedly an Israeli citizen and has taught in Israel. He frequently writes for Israeli and pro-Israeli newspapers and journals. Luttwak is an Israeli extremist whose main theme in many of his articles is the necessity of the U.S. waging war against Iraq and Iran.
Henry Kissinger
One of many Pentagon Advisors, Kissinger sits on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board under Perle. For detailed information about Kissinger’s evil past, read Seymour Hersch’s book (Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House). Kissinger likely had a part in the Watergate crimes, Southeast Asia mass murders (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos), Installing Chilean mass murdering dictator Pinochet, Operation Condor’s mass killings in South America, and more recently served as Serbia’s Ex-Dictator Slobodan Milosevic’s Advisor. He consistently advocated going to war against Iraq. Kissinger is the Ariel Sharon of the U.S. Unfortunately, President Bush nominated Kissinger as chairman of the September 11 investigating commission. It’s like picking a bank robber to investigate a fraud scandal. He later declined this job under enormous protests.
Dov Zakheim
Dov Zakheim is an ordained rabbi and reportedly holds Israeli citizenship. Zakheim attended Jew’s College in London and became an ordained Orthodox Jewish Rabbi in 1973. He was adjunct professor at New York’s Jewish Yeshiva University. Zakheim is close to the Israeli lobby.
Dov Zakheim is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and in 2000 a co-author of the Project for the New American Century’s position paper, Rebuilding America’s Defenses, advocating the necessity for a Pearl-Harbor-like incident to mobilize the country into war with its enemies, mostly Middle Eastern Muslim nations.
He was appointed by Bush as Pentagon Comptroller from May 4, 2001 to March 10, 2004. At that time he was unable to explain the disappearance of $1 trillion dollars. Actually, nearly three years earlier, Donald Rumsfeld announced on September 10, 2001 that an audit discovered $2.3 trillion was also missing from the Pentagon books. That story, as mentioned, was buried under 9-11’s rubble. The two sums disappeared on Zakheim’s watch. We can only guess where that cash went.
Despite these suspicions, on May 6, 2004, Zakheim took a lucrative position at Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the most prestigious strategy consulting firms in the world. One of its clients then was Blessed Relief, a charity said to be a front for Osama bin Laden. Booz, Allen & Hamilton then also worked closely with DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is the research arm of the Department of Defense.
Judicial Inc’s bio of Dov tells us Zakheim is a dual Israeli/American citizen and has been tracking the halls of US government for 25 years, casting defense policy and influence on Presidents Reagan, Clinton, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. Judicial Inc points out that most of Israel’s armaments were gotten thanks to him. Squads of US F-16 and F-15 were classified military surplus and sold to Israel at a fraction of their value.
Kenneth Adelman
One of many Pentagon Advisors, Adelman also sits on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board under Perle, and is another extremist pro-Israel advisor, who supported going to war against Iraq. Adelman frequently is a guest on Fox News, and often expresses extremist and often ridiculus anti-Arab and anti-Muslim views. Through his racism or ignorance, he actually called Arabs “anti-Semitic” on Fox News (11/28/2001), when he could have looked it up in the dictionary to find out that Arabs by definition are Semites.
I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby
Vice President Dick Cheney’s ex-Chief of Staff. As chief pro-Israel Jewish advisor to Cheney, it helps explains why Cheney is so gun-ho to invade Iran. Libby is longtime associate of Wolfowitz. Libby was also a lawyer for convicted felon and Israeli spy Marc Rich, whom Clinton pardoned, in his last days as president. Libby was recently found guilty of lying to Federal investigators in the Valerie Plame affair, in which Plame, a covert CIA agent, was exposed for political revenge by the Bush administration following her husband’s revelations about the lies leading to the Iraq War.
Robert Satloff
U.S. National Security Council Advisor, Satloff was the executive director of the Israeli lobby’s “think tank,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Many of the Israeli lobby’s “experts” come from this front group, like Martin Indyk.
Elliott Abrams
National Security Council Advisor. He previously worked at Washington-based “Think Tank” Ethics and Public Policy Center. During the Reagan Adminstration, Abrams was the Assistant Secretary of State, handling, for the most part, Latin American affairs. He played an important role in the Iran-Contra Scandal, which involved illegally selling U.S. weapons to Iran to fight Iraq, and illegally funding the contra rebels fighting to overthrow Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. He also actively deceived three congressional committees about his involvement and thereby faced felony charges based on his testimony. Abrams pled guilty in 1991 to two misdemeanors and was sentenced to a year’s probation and 100 hours of community service. A year later, former President Bush (Senior) granted Abrams a full pardon. He was one of the more hawkish pro-Israel Jews in the Reagan Administration’s State Department.
Marc Grossman
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He was Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources at the Department of State. Grossman is one of many of the pro-Israel Jewish officials from the Clinton Administration that Bush has promoted to higher posts.
Richard Haass
Director of Policy Planning at the State Department and Ambassador at large. He is also Director of National Security Programs and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He was one of the more hawkish pro-Israel Jews in the first Bush (Sr) Administration who sat on the National Security Council, and who consistently advocated going to war against Iraq. Haass is also a member of the Defense Department’s National Security Study Group, at the Pentagon.
Robert Zoellick
U.S. Trade Representative, a cabinet-level position. He is also one of the more hawkish pro-Israel Jews in the Bush (Jr) Administration who advocated invading Iraq and occupying a portion of the country in order to set up a Vichy-style puppet government. He consistently advocates going to war against Iran.
Ari Fleischer
Ex- White House Spokesman for the Bush (Jr) Administration. Prominent in the Jewish community, some reports state that he holds Israeli citizenship. Fleischer is closely connected to the extremist Jewish group called the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidics, who follow the Qabala, and hold very extremist and insulting views of non-Jews. Fleischer was the co-president of Chabad’s Capitol Jewish Forum. He received the Young Leadership Award from the American Friends of Lubavitch in October, 2001.
James Schlesinger
One of many Pentagon Advisors, Schlesinger also sits on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board under Perle and is another extremist pro-Israel advisor, who supported going to war against Iraq. Schlesinger is also a commissioner of the Defense Department’s National Security Study Group, at the Pentagon.
David Frum
White House speechwriter behind the “Axis of Evil” label. He lumped together all the lies and accusations against Iraq for Bush to justify the war.
Joshua Bolten
White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Bolten was previously a banker, former legislative aide, and prominent in the Jewish community.
John Bolton
Former UN Representative and Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Bolton is also a Senior Advisor to President Bush. Prior to this position, Bolton was Senior Vice President of the above mentioned pro-Israel thinktank, AEI. He recently (October 2002) accused Syria of having a nuclear program, so that they can attack Syria after Iraq. He must have forgotten that Israel has 400 nuclear warheads, some of which are thermonuclear weapons (according to a recent U.S. Air Force report).
David Wurmser
Special Assistant to John Bolton (above), the under-secretary for arms control and international security. Wurmser also worked at the AEI with Perle and Bolton. His wife, Meyrav Wurmser, along with Colonel Yigal Carmon, formerly of Israeli military intelligence, co-founded the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri),a Washington-based Israeli outfit which distributes articles translated from Arabic newspapers portraying Arabs in a bad light.
Eliot Cohen
Member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board under Perle and is another extremist pro-Israel advisor. Like Adelman, he often expresses extremist and often ridiculus anti-Arab and anti-Muslim views. More recently, he wrote an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal openly admitting his rascist hatred of Islam claiming that Islam should be the enemy, not terrorism.
Mel Sembler
President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. A Prominent Jewish Republican and Former National Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee. The Export-Import Bank facilitates trade relationships between U.S. businesses and foreign countries, specifically those with financial problems.
Steve Goldsmith
Senior Advisor to the President, and Bush’s Jewish domestic policy advisor. He also served as liaison in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (White House OFBCI) within the Executive Office of the President. He was the former mayor of Indianapolis. He is also friends with Israeli Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and often visits Israel to coach mayors on privatization initiatives.
Adam Goldman
White House’s Special Liaison to the Jewish Community.
Joseph Gildenhorn
Bush Campaign’s Special Liaison to the Jewish Community. He was the DC finance chairman for the Bush campaign, as well as campaign coordinator, and former ambassador to Switzerland.
Christopher Gersten
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families at HHS. Gersten was the former Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Husband of Labor Secretary.
Mark Weinberger
Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Public Affairs.
Samuel Bodman
Deputy Secretary of Commerce. He was the Chairman and CEO of Cabot Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts.
Bonnie Cohen
Under Secretary of State for Management.
Ruth Davis
Director of Foreign Service Institute, who reports to the Office of Under Secretary for Management. This Office is responsible for training all Department of State staff (including ambassadors).
Daniel Kurtzer
Ambassador to Israel.
Cliff Sobel
Ambassador to the Netherlands.
Stuart Bernstein
Ambassador to Denmark.
Nancy Brinker
Ambassador to Hungary
Frank Lavin
Ambassador to Singapore.
Ron Weiser
Ambassador to Slovakia.
Mel Sembler
Ambassador to Italy.
Martin Silverstein
Ambassador to Uruguay.
Lincoln Bloomfield
Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs.
Jay Lefkowitz
Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Ken Melman
White House Political Director.
Brad Blakeman
White House Director of Scheduling.
Just to name a few!!!
December:19:2008 - 10:22
There’s turmoil in a US court over the issue of dual-citizenship as it applies to flight risks at least. See Volokh Conspiracy for a discussion.
December:19:2008 - 10:22
I’m surprised at you, Carol, for presenting this cut-and-paste list that portrays things in such an accusatory way. It is gratuitous anti-Semitism, because John was talking about the purported influence of Arab and Jewish money on the U.S. government and its policies, but you breezed past that to shift to the purported influence of Jewish (and only Jewish) personnel on U.S. government and its policies. You don’t feel any embarrassment or remorse for your conduct?
December:19:2008 - 10:22
It’s hard to even discuss this subject without being branded with one label or another. I guess I’ll take the risk.
It does, indeed, bother me that Bill Clinton has been raking in so much cash from some of the same people and governments who have, if not supported directly, failed to condemn and try to stop those who relish killing Americans. The largest threat we face by far is islamist terrorism, and while the number of Muslims who are actual terrorists is very small, the number of Muslims who support them, overtly and otherwise, is very large. It’s at the very least unseemly for a former president to be roaming around that part of the world with his hand out.
It’s even worse if that former president is also the husband of the Secretary of State. The Clintons have proven over and over again that their first priority is their own self-interest. I don’t expect that to change, and I think Clinton’s benefactors will call in their markers in many and varied ways.
Clinton’s activities are a national security issue, and President-elect Obama should address it, even if only in private with the Clintons.
December:19:2008 - 10:22
I’m certainly no fan of the Clintons, going back to when William J and I were at the same university. But I do think there’s a bit of disingenuity on the part of many who automatically assume that if money went in one direction, something of great value went or will go in the other.
That, for example, is one reason I’m very leery about advertising on this blog. I could certainly use financial support for it, but if I received funding from a Saudi or Saudi institution, it would be very easy to claim that I was ‘bought’. That presumes, falsely, that I can be bought or that the amount a supporter would give my efforts would mean that, suddenly, all things Saudi were wonderful.
You can certainly raise questions about the integrity of the Clintons. Eight years in the White House provides lots and lots of talking points. I do not think, however, that even tens of millions of dollars donated to the Clinton Foundation or the Clinton Library has much of the bribe effect. At most, it might garnish good will and a handshake, maybe even a dinner. But not a corruption of policy.
Ask me the same question about Illinois Governor Blagojevich, and I’ll give a different answer! In that case, there’s demonstrable tit-for-tat.
December:19:2008 - 10:22
John, I’ve always respected your knowledge and appreciated your point of view.
In this case, I have to disagree about the influence of money. If someone gives someone else a million dollars, then he at the very least expects his phone calls to be returned and his advice listened to, if not necessarily followed. In the case of the Clintons, the evidence that their attention and their favor flows back up the trail of money into their pockets is overwhelming. And think about it for a moment–”good will and a handshake, maybe even a dinner” with a former President of the United States and the current Secretary of State is a big deal, and there are many fatcats willing to pay for it. They don’t all have the best interests of the American people in mind.
Don’t worry about taking advertising on Crossroads Arabia–go for it! Free enterprise and free speech are a good combination, as long as they aren’t used to influence government policy. Unlike the Clintons, I’ve seen no evidence you’ve ever done that.
December:19:2008 - 10:22
I guess we may just have to disagree on this.
It’s possible that I’m over-sensitive on the issue. I’ve seen too many decent efforts derailed by allegation of being ‘bought off’. It’s reached a point where reporters for major US media cannot accept an invitation from a US diplomat without being forced by their companies to pay their own way for fear that they will be ‘corrupted’ by a lunch or dinner! Islamophobes and Arabophobes are quick to decry and dismiss former diplomats for getting jobs in any way related to Arab or Muslim groups/causes. The focus is on the funding, not what’s actually being said or done.
I sincerely doubt that any donor to the Clinton Foundation or Library is going to get special access to the Sec. State solely on the basis of the donation. There are so many demands on that official, so many gatekeepers between the SecState and importuners, that I just don’t see it happening.
December:19:2008 - 10:22
You’re forgetting the business of the Clinton Administration’s last-minute pardons, John. That pretty much proved (for political purposes) that money buys access to the Clintons. In fact, that entire episode – and the fact that the Clintons got away with it – almost certainly served to encourage future donors, as the conventional wisdom in D.C. at the time was that the Clintons were down but not out.
For the right price, it is perceived that the Clintons will see or speak or listen to anybody. If Hilary is too busy, Bill is available, or maybe the SecState can just shove all those cables into the autowriter and thus make time for visitors or a phone call. (Bill, of course, is infamous for his skill at multi-tasking these things.)
December:19:2008 - 10:22
Sorry, I have to disagree again. (I suddenly realize that it’s looking as though I like the Clintons… egad!)
I’ll give you the appearance, but not the fact. The only really controversial pardon from Clinton was that for Marc Rich. I think the paperwork for that pardon ended up on his desk and the facts of Rich’s case did not. (You might want to pay attention to Obama nominee Holder, BTW.) I’m sure the fact that Rich’s wife had donated didn’t hurt her fugitive husband’s chances, but I don’t think they were a golden key, either. Certibus paribus, a donor will probably get more slack than someone else, but I don’t think Clinton actually intended to grant this pardon.
YMMV, of course…
December:19:2008 - 10:22
@Solomon – I did not realize until I pasted the links that it also included a lot of commentary that I do not necessarily adhere to but I did want to point out as a matter of reference that the fact that very senior American officials are allowed to hold positions wielding great influence and at the same time have dual citizenship to me is a bigger security issue or area of concern than one who has accepted foreign donations whether speaking of Israeli citizenship, Saudi citizenship or even British citizenship. In my personal opinion when one holds certain positions all previous citizenships should be denounced and withdrawn.
December:19:2008 - 10:22
the fact that very senior American officials are allowed to hold positions wielding great influence and at the same time have dual citizenship to me is a bigger security issue
Look at that list again, Carol. I don’t know if any of those listed have Israeli citizenship, and I know at least one of them isn’t even Jewish. You’ve fallen for the Arab Disease, Carol: you see Jews or Zionists everywhere and blame them for everything that’s wrong, rather than consider the problem at face value. If you do that, what do you see?
December:19:2008 - 10:22
Solomon – no…I have not fallen for any kind of disease – arab or otherwise. The fact is there is a list (fully accurate or not) circulating which does indicate individuals who are alleged to have israeli citizenship while in senior positions of influence. My point is that any US official in a position of influence should not hold any other citizenship than US citizenship. That is my point of view. I am in no way trying to make this any kind of Jewish or Zionist conspiracy as that is not my style nor my belief.
December:19:2008 - 10:22
My point is that any US official in a position of influence should not hold any other citizenship than US citizenship.
Nothing wrong with having a point of view – except when it comes to promoting it as a distraction from dealing with the matter at hand. Clear your mind of this distraction, and what do you see?