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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Oeconomicus who wrote (508296)	12/12/2003 10:30:29 AM
From: trouthead	Respond to of 769667

Be careful what you wish for. When the gods want to punish you they grant your wishes. jb

To: Oeconomicus who wrote (508296)	12/12/2003 11:21:43 AM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

More disgusting displays of CONFLICT OF INTEREST from BUSH and BAKER and COMPANY Putting Kissenger in charge of investigating 9/11 and his CLIENTS THE SAUDI's...SAME THING...and he was bounced in NO TIME Cutting James Bakers Ties December 12, 2003 Last week, the White House summoned James Baker III, the Bush family's persuader of last resort, back to public service. His new portfolio is the diplomatically ticklish and economically crucial problem of restructuring Iraq's currently unpayable official debts. As a former secretary of both the State and Treasury Departments and a public and private Middle East deal maker, he is in many ways a supremely qualified choice. Yet as it stands right now, Mr. Baker is far too tangled in a matrix of lucrative private business relationships that leave him looking like a potentially interested party in any debt-restructuring formula. The obvious solution is for him to sever his ties to all firms doing work directly or indirectly related to Iraq. Mr. Baker is senior counselor to the Carlyle Group, a global investment company that has done business with the Saudi royal family. He is also a partner in Baker Botts, a Houston law firm whose client list includes Halliburton. Baker Botts has an office in Riyadh and a strategic alliance with another firm in the United Arab Emirates, and it deploys Mr. Baker's name and past government service on its Web site to solicit Middle East business. It is inappropriate for Mr. Baker to remain attached to these businesses, whose clients and potential future clients could be affected by the decisions made about Iraq's official debt. Iraq's overall debt is estimated at something over $100 billion, with another $100 billion or so owed in reparations. Just servicing that debt, without paying back any principal, looks beyond the means of a country whose oil revenues amounted to only $13 billion in the last full year before the war. Finding a way to persuade creditor nations like France, Russia and the Persian Gulf Arab states to forgive part of Iraq's debt and restructure the rest is critical to the administration's foreign policy. It is no wonder the president turned to an experienced hand like Mr. Baker, whose legal maneuvering in Florida did so much to secure his hold on the White House in 2000. Yet before any of this can happen, Mr. Baker must show that he will be free of any private business entanglements that could raise legitimate questions about his recommendations. If the administration needs a political reason for doing the right thing, it need only look at the deep suspicion raised about the Iraqi construction contracts doled out to Halliburton, a company that was run by Dick Cheney before he became vice president. Mr. Baker has agreed to forgo earnings from clients with obvious connections to Iraqi debts, a process that Baker Botts attorneys would supervise for the law firm and that the White House would oversee for the Carlyle Group. That is not good enough. Businesses like Carlyle and Baker Botts make their living by flaunting their connections to the politically powerful. To perform honorably in his new public job, Mr. Baker must give up these two private ones. nytimes.com CC