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

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (568411)	4/24/2004 10:15:40 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Operation kickback? Report alleges 20 percent of Iraq reconstruction costs lost to corruption. by Tom Regan \| csmonitor.com Iraq's private companies routinely pay bribes to get reconstruction contracts – often to Iraqi officials but sometimes to employees of US contractors. That's one of the allegations that has been made by a special investigation undertaken by public radio's Marketplace and the Center for Investigative Reporting, and funded by The Economist magazine. The result, according to experts monitoring the situation, is almost 20 percent of the billions of American taxpayers dollars being spent to rebuild Iraq is being lost to corruption. Meanwhile, the report also documents the fail

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (568411)	4/24/2004 10:18:53 AM
From: goldworldnet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

I'm not crazy about the royal family, but the Saudi clerics are even worse. * * *

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (568411)	4/24/2004 5:56:54 PM
From: D.Austin	Respond to of 769670

I would expect nothing else Kenneth.....BUT..... In an interview on the CBS program 60 Minutes, Woodward said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, had made the pledge after being assured the United States planned to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. ''Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day, and the price would drop significantly,'' Woodward said. Saudi Arabia, as the leading exporter of oil to the USA, can affect prices. But Bandar said on CNN that he didn't make that pledge and suggested conversations he had about oil prices with Bush were similar to discussions he had had with past presidents. ''President Clinton asked us to keep the prices down in the year 2000,'' Bandar said. ''In fact, I can go back to 1979, President Carter asked us to keep the prices down to avoid the malaise.''

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (568411)	4/26/2004 11:47:27 AM
From: DizzyG	Respond to of 769670

Again, more partisan spinning, Kenneth. You state: I expect the Saudi - Bush relationship is a corrupt one. Perhaps you should look at this, Kenneth. From Larry King Interview with Bob Woodward: KING: The story that Mr. Woodward has about the promise to lower the oil prices by the election. Your government has denied has. WOODWARD: That's not my story. What I say in the book is that the Saudis, and maybe you looked at this section of the book, Ambassador, that the Saudis hoped to keep oil prices low during the period for -- before the election, because of its impact on the economy. That's what I say. BIN SULTAN: I think the way that Bob said it now is accurate. We hoped that the oil prices will stay low, because that's good for America's economy, but more important, it's good for our economy and the international economy, and this is not -- nothing unusual. President Clinton asked us to keep the prices down in the year 2000. In fact, I can go back to 1979, President Carter asked us to keep the prices down to avoid the malaise. So yes, it's in our interests and in America's interests to keep the prices down. cnn.com OMG, do you think Clinton's and Carter's relationships with the House of Saud were corrupt too? Diz-