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The Muslim Brotherhood's Long-Standing War On The West (US Politicians)
Middle East Information Center via FamilySecurityMatters.org ^ | 2003-2007 | Adrian Morgan

Posted on 02/02/2011 10:18:40 PM PST by bronxville

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood

In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has been described as a de facto front of the Muslim Brotherhood." The AMC was an affiliate of the American Muslim Foundation, which was also headed by Alamoudi. Despite this, in June 2002 the FBI called the AMC "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States."

What is of concern is the manner in which Alamoudi persuaded US authorities under two administrations of his reliability. Around 1993, he was an adviser for the Pentagon on which Muslim chaplains should serve in the US military. He continued this role until 1998. From 1997 he acted for the State Department as a "goodwill ambassador" to Muslim countries. He was regularly at the Clinton White House and had advised Hillary Rodham Clinton on managing iftar dinners since 1996. Alamoudi had made donations to the Democrat party but was open to wooing the opposition.

In 1998, as Frank Gaffney recounted, Republican Grover Norquist formed the Islamic Institute, which aimed to recruit Muslim and Arab Americans to support the GOP. Alamoudi made contributions both to the Islamic Institute and later, in 2000 and 2001, he made payments to a lobbying firm connected with Norquist.

Alamoudi's Brotherhood connections were not touted openly, but in August 1997, he was publicly proclaiming on Fox TV that Hamas was a "freedom fighting organization". Hamas had started its first bombings of Israeli civilians in February 1996, a year earlier. On October 28, 2000, Alamoudi attended an anti-Israel protest at Lafayette Park outside the White House, where he was caught on video proclaiming "I have been labeled… as being a supporter of Hamas. Anybody supporters of Hamas here? Hear that, Bill Clinton. We are all supporters of Hamas. I wish they added that I am also a supporter of Hezbollah. Anybody who supports Hezbollah here?"

Shortly after the White House outburst, Hillary Clinton returned a donation of $1,000 to her election war chest, which Alamoudi had presented on May 25 of that year. Alamoudi embarked upon at least 10 clandestine trips to Libya. On September 28, 2003, after returning from a multi-stage excursion he was arrested at Dulles International Airport. He was handed a 19-count indictment on October 23, on charges including money laundering and dealing with a prohibited nation.

Alamoudi had been stopped at Heathrow on August 16, 2003 before boarding a flight to Syria, and had $340,000 of Libyan money seized. On July 30, 2004, he pleaded guilty to three charges - violating conditions barring transport to, and commerce with, prohibited nations (Libya), failure to disclose to IRS his income, and lying to ICE federal investigators. On October 15, 2004, Alamoudi was given a jail sentence of 23 years. He had told officials that he provided Libyan money to London-based Saudi dissidents to finance a plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

Politicians may have been fooled by Alamoudi, who headed sixteen US-based Islamist organizations, but despite what is known of the Muslim Brotherhood's support of terrorism and extremism, US politicians are now openly courting the Brotherhood. On April 5 this year in Egypt. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with Mohammed Saad el-Katani, the leader of the Brotherhood's 55 members within the Egyptian parliament. Hamdi Hassan, the Brotherhood's spokesman, said Hoyer met with el-Katani once at the parliament building and later at the home of the US ambassador to Egypt.

On May 27, a delegation by four members of the House of Congress again met with Mohammed Saad el-Katani in Egypt. The delegation was led by David Price, a Democrat who represents North Carolina....[...]

Great link about the Muslim Brotherhood - it consists of 4 parts.


TOPICS: Government; Religion
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[...]The average member of the Muslim Brotherhood isn't a rabble-rouser, either -- he's a doctor, pharmacist, teacher or lawyer. He wears Western trousers and shirts, not the ankle-long dishdashah garment traditionally worn by Arab men. He's middle class -- and he's filled with rage. Rage over what he sees as the close cooperation between his government and the hopelessly corrupted West. Kept from pursuing his political aims, he is often a functionary amonst his contemporaries in Arab professional associations for doctors, engineers and attorneys.

Jordan is an exception. The Muslim Brotherhood has been tolerated here for almost 60 years. The small Hashemite kingdom has chosen to pursue dialogue and understanding with the Islamists. "We don't want install a theocracy like in Iran. We are moderate Islamists," says Rashid.

Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al Zawahari: The text book example of a member of the Muslim Brotherhood turned terrorist One of the leading figures of Islamic Jihad, the Egyptian doctor Ayman al Zawahiri, is now considered the textbook example of a member of the Muslim Brotherhood turned terrorist. Once the talented scion of a bourgeois family, as a student he was enthralled by the fiery writings of Muslim Brotherhood ideologist Sayyid Qutb, which would lead him to later become a mujahedeen in Afghanistan and the trusted lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. Zawahiri's path has inspired al-Qaida supporters all the way from the Middle East to Europe and is simultaneously concrete proof for the security forces of the Arab world of just how dangerous the Brotherhood is....

Egyptian Amr Hamzawy admits he's become more cautious with his judgments over the past two years. The renowned political scientist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. is an expert on Islamists movements in the Arab world. Two years ago he was still optimistic. "The moderate Islamists have embraced democratic procedures and have shown a strong commitment to the rule of law," he wrote back then. Europe and the United States would be well advised to engage these "grassroots Islamists" and talk autocratic regimes out of pursuing repressive measures against them....

In the early 1940s, Banna created a paramilitary "secret apparatus" that initiated its members in FREEMASON-LIKE CEREMONIES. Their assassinations of politicians, judges and British soldiers would soon come back to haunt Banna, however. As he got into a taxi in Cairo on Feb. 12, 1949, he was shot dead -- most likely by government agents. His grave in a cemetery in the poor district of Bassatin is distinguishable from the anonymous dead only by its epitaph: "This is the temple of the martyr Hassan al Banna."... http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,491925-2,00.html

The poor little rich guys not unlike the radical leftists over here....the weather underground etc.

Our politicians were in bed with them...probably still are...

1 posted on 02/02/2011 10:18:44 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville
Omar Abdel Rahman, spiritual leader of Gamaa Islamiya, was also connected to the conspiracy to bomb the World Trade Center. He was brought to the United States in 1990 under the sponsorship of Muslim Brotherhood members Mahmud Abouhalima, and Mustafa Shalabi. Abouhalima was given a 240 year sentence for his part in the WTC bombing.
2 posted on 02/02/2011 10:19:48 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

Remember the huge headlines of Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour getting ‘roughed up’ in Cairo? Belguim Journalists, And other’s too....

did ya hear about the Israeli Journalists that were arrested?

I didn’t think so..

4 Israeli journalists arrested in Cairo

but then Anderson, and Christiane would take that headline right off the news wouldn’t it?


3 posted on 02/02/2011 10:29:27 PM PST by Freddd (CNN is down to Three Hundred Thousand viewers. But they worked for it.)
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To: bronxville

“On May 27, a delegation by FOUR MEMBERS of the House of Congress again met with Mohammed Saad el-Katani in Egypt. The delegation was led by DAVID PRICE, a Democrat who represents North Carolina.”

Is our own congressman David Price involved in $$$ naked body scanners???
Published November 16, 2010

“Naked body scanner (Rapiscan’s) lobbyists include Susan Carr, a former senior legislative aide to Rep. David Price
DAVID PRICE was right smack in the middle of this – how much $ is he getting?”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/_Naked-scanners__-Lobbyists-join-the-war-on-terror-1540901-107548388.html
http://randysright.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/is-our-own-congressman-david-price-involved-in-naked-body-scanners/

Was that his payback...


4 posted on 02/02/2011 10:49:31 PM PST by bronxville
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To: Freddd

There’s a cover-up for sure and Fox News has a UK reporter doing their reporting though he may be okay though I’d say he was suspect.


5 posted on 02/02/2011 10:52:03 PM PST by bronxville
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To: Freddd

“In 1998, as Frank Gaffney recounted, Republican Grover Norquist formed the Islamic Institute, which aimed to recruit Muslim and Arab Americans to support the GOP. Alamoudi made contributions both to the Islamic Institute and later, in 2000 and 2001, he made payments to a lobbying firm connected with Norquist.”

Norquist has huge government contracts - his company meets with the other pigs eating from the dwindling trough -
http://www.brettonwoods.org/members/


6 posted on 02/02/2011 10:59:42 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville
Honorary Chairs - more here - http://www.brettonwoods.org/index.php/179/Leadership_Staff
7 posted on 02/02/2011 11:03:19 PM PST by bronxville
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To: nutmeg

bookmark


8 posted on 02/02/2011 11:05:56 PM PST by nutmeg (The 111th Congress: Worst. Congress. Ever.)
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To: bronxville

“What is of concern is the manner in which Alamoudi persuaded US authorities under two administrations of his reliability. Around 1993, he was an adviser for the Pentagon on which Muslim chaplains should serve in the US military. He continued this role until 1998. From 1997 he acted for the State Department as a “goodwill ambassador” to Muslim countries. He was regularly at the Clinton White House and had advised Hillary Rodham Clinton on managing iftar dinners since 1996. Alamoudi had made donations to the Democrat party but was open to wooing the opposition.”

Hillary Clinton overrides DHS; Lifts US ban of Tariq Ramadan; CAIR & ACLU Elated -

http://infidelsarecool.com/2010/01/20/hillary-clinton-overrides-dhs-lifts-us-ban-of-tariq-ramadan-cair-aclu-elated/


9 posted on 02/02/2011 11:09:00 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

“Politicians may have been fooled by Alamoudi, who headed sixteen US-based Islamist organizations, but despite what is known of the Muslim Brotherhood’s support of terrorism and extremism, US politicians are now openly courting the Brotherhood. On April 5 this year in Egypt. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with Mohammed Saad el-Katani, the leader of the Brotherhood’s 55 members within the Egyptian parliament. Hamdi Hassan, the Brotherhood’s spokesman, said Hoyer met with el-Katani once at the parliament building and later at the home of the US ambassador to Egypt.”

April 08, 2007 - House Majority Leader Meets With Muslim Brotherhood

The media is so focused on Nancy Pelosi’s shameful misconduct, one can easily forget that there is plenty of disgrace to go around.

While Pelosi was busily usurping the authority of the President and the State Department, apparently Maryland Congressman, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, was getting chummy with the grandpappy of all terrorist groups, The Muslim Brotherhood.

From The Associated Press:

A top U.S. Democratic congressman met a leader of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s most powerful rival, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, U.S. officials and the Islamist group said Saturday.

Visiting House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with the head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Saad el-Katatni, twice on Thursday — once at parliament and then at the home of the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Brotherhood spokesman Hamdi Hassan said.

U.S. Embassy spokesman John Berry would only confirm that Hoyer, who represents Maryland, met with el-Katatni at U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone’s home at a reception with other politicians and parliament members.

The article went on to point out that, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has refused to meet with the Muslim Brotherhood, U.S. government policy does not bar meetings with the Brotherhood’s members of parliament.
So while no laws were broken, certainly bad judgment was shown by the Dhimmicrats, once again.
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/187327.php

There’s no smoke without fire.


10 posted on 02/02/2011 11:15:50 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

“Egyptian Amr Hamzawy admits he’s become more cautious with his judgments over the past two years. The renowned political scientist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. is an expert on Islamists movements in the Arab world.

Two years ago he was still optimistic. “The moderate Islamists have embraced democratic procedures and have shown a strong commitment to the rule of law,” he wrote back then.

Europe and the United States would be WELL ADVISED TO ENGAGE THESE “GRASSROOTS ISLAMISTS” AND TALK AUTOCRATIC REGIMES OUT OF PURSUING REPRESSIVE MEASURES AGAINST THEM....”

CARNEGIE MOSCOW CENTER

Amr Hamzawy on Al Jazeera

Amr Hamzawy 19/8/2006

Amr Hamzawy appeared on Al Jazeera TV to talk about the current crisis in the Middle East.

Click on the links below to read the transcripts of these shows in Arabic.

On September 13, he discussed prospects of a national unity government in Palestine.

On August 19, he discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Arab fears.

On August 9, he discussed the French-American differences with regard to the war in Lebanon.

On July 22, he talked in depth about America’s strategic interests in the Middle East.

On July 15, he discussed the confrontation between Hizbullah and Israel.
http://www.carnegie.ru/publications/?fa=18569

The plans appeared to have been in the making for a while. This guy from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace appears to be our shadow Foreign Secretary.


11 posted on 02/02/2011 11:26:14 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

BOARD MEMBERS

DONALD KENNEDY, Ph.D. was Editor-in-Chief of SCIENCE magazine since June 1, 2000 until 2008 and also served as Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration during the Carter administration.

Dr. Kennedy serves as the Bing Professor of Environmental Science, Professor of Education, and President emeritus of Stanford University.

Dr. Kennedy serves as Co-director of the Center for Environmental Science and Policy. From 1977 to 1979, he served as Commissioner at the ... U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

He serves as Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board at CollabRx, Inc.

Dr. Kennedy serves as Policy Advisor and Member of Board of Advisors of Common Sense Media, Inc. He serves as a Member of Advisory Board of InsideTrack, Inc. He serves as a Member of Board of Directors of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The.

Dr. Kennedy serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of AxyS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Alzeta Corp.

He served as a Director of StemCells Inc. since July 8, 1999. He serves as Chairman of Children Now; a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Institute of Medicine, and the American Philosophical Society; and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the California Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Kennedy served on the National Commission for Public Service and the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology and Government, and is a founding director of the Health Effects Institute. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Wood Institute for the Environment, and is a member of the Food Security and Environment Program in both Institutes. Dr. Kennedy holds an A.B. and Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University.

STROBE TALBOTT (Clinton Administration) is a President and Trustee at THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION. He is a Director at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/private/board.asp?privcapId=4974034

And that’s only two of them. Then there’s Jamie Gorlick etc. All with key positions in hot button areas. Brookings, of course, write all the policies etc., for puppet Obama.


12 posted on 02/02/2011 11:44:54 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

Clinton remarks prior to signing NAFTA -

“We have the opportunity to remake the world” - “New Order” - Environment - WTO Expansion...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3ooMrgXido&feature=player_embedded#

Decades later and still none of them have asked us if we want a NWO shaped in their image.


13 posted on 02/02/2011 11:48:20 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

Clinton: I Was Wrong to Listen to Wrong Advice Against Regulating Derivatives (and repealing the Glass Steagal act for his buddies Robert Rubin and Larry Summers who made a killing - a percentage goes to the NWO fund - of course)

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/04/clinton-rubin-and-summers-gave-me-wrong-advice-on-derivatives-and-i-was-wrong-to-take-it.html


14 posted on 02/02/2011 11:53:35 PM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

THE NEW MIDDLE EAST

CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT REPORT, February 2008

Marina Ottaway, Nathan J. Brown, Amr Hamzawy, Karim Sadjadpour, Paul Salem

Confrontational U.S. policy that tried to create a “New Middle East,” but ignored the realities of the region has instead exacerbated existing conflicts and created new problems, argues a new report from the Carnegie Endowment. To restore its credibility and promote positive transformation, the United States needs to abandon the illusion that it can reshape the region to suit its interests.

In The New Middle East, Carnegie Middle East experts Marina Ottaway, Nathan J. Brown, Amr Hamzawy, Karim Sadjadpour, and Paul Salem examine the new realities of the region by focusing on three critical clusters of countries—Iran–Iraq, Lebanon–Syria, Palestine–Israel, and on the three most pressing issues—nuclear proliferation, sectarianism, and the challenge of political reform—to provide a new direction for U.S. policy that engages all regional actors patiently and consistently on major conflicts to develop compromise solutions.

Recommendations for U.S. policy:
• Given its current military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States cannot impose a new order on the Middle East through confrontation, but must work with regional actors that are seeking to restore a balance of power in the region.

• Iran: Given that Iran is integral to several issues of critical importance to U.S. and EU foreign policy—namely Iraq, nonproliferation, energy security, terrorism, and Arab-Israeli peace—avoiding dialogue with Iran is not an option and confronting it militarily would only worsen what the West seeks to improve. Iran arguably has more common interests with the United States in Iraq than any of Iraq’s other neighbors. Shared interests should lead both countries to look to Iraq as a forum to build confidence, with the intention of gradually expanding the discussion to include the nuclear issue.

• Iraq: A political solution in Iraq cannot be achieved under the current policy based on a U.S. model of what Iraq should be, rather than what it is. To move forward, the United States must acknowledge that current efforts have failed, put Iraq’s political leaders on notice that the United States will not support them indefinitely, and engage with all of Iraq’s political factions.

• Israel and Palestine: The United States needs to recognize that time is running out on a two-state solution. Progress is impossible unless Hamas is brought back into the process and viable Palestinian leadership is restored.

• Lebanon and Syria: The Bush administration narrative that sees Lebanon as the battleground between democracy and autocracy must be replaced by a more accurate perception of a deeply divided country where all factions invite outside intervention. The United States needs to consolidate the gains of the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon by encouraging compromise, the election of a new president, the drafting of a new election law, and the holding of elections on schedule in the spring of 2009.

• Democracy: The credibility of U.S. democracy promotion efforts has been severely undermined by the dangerous mix of grandiose rhetoric and inconsistent policies. A new policy must be based on a clear understanding of the possible consequences of democratization and a willingness to accept democratic outcomes even when not optimal from an American perspective. It must also focus on the countries where some progress is most likely.

“The United States needs a new approach to this part of the world, based less on confrontation and more on diplomacy, less on ideology and more on reality, and on a narrower definition of U.S. interests. Most of the problems discussed in this report cannot be solved, nor can they be bypassed, by creating a new Middle East, as the Bush administration tried to do. Some of the region’s problems can be alleviated through wise policy; others can at best be contained. Still others will have to be accepted for many years as part of a new Middle East landscape that has changed, but not for the better,” the authors conclude....

About the Authors

Marina Ottaway is a senior associate in the Democracy and Rule of Law Program and director of the Carnegie Middle East Program. Her most recent book, Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World (edited with Julia Choucair-Vizoso), was published in January 2008.

Nathan J. Brown is director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University, a nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment, and a distinguished scholar and author of four well-received books on Arab politics.

Amr Hamzawy is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment and a noted Egyptian political scientist who previously taught at Cairo University and the Free University of Berlin. His most recent book, Human Right in the Arab World: Independent Voices (edited with Anthony Chase), was published in 2007.

Karim Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment. Earlier, he was the chief Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Paul Salem is the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. Prior to this appointment Salem was the general director at The Fares Foundation and from 1989 to 1999 he founded and directed the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Lebanon’s leading public policy think tank.
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=19928&prog=zgp&proj=zme

And we think we’re having a real conversation about the ME.


15 posted on 02/03/2011 12:05:34 AM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

07/03/2007

Dancing with the Devil

Charting the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood

The recent putsch in the Gaza Strip by Hamas is shedding light on an organization exercising considerable influence on the entire Arab world — the Muslim Brotherhood. As both a social movement and a militant Islamist political outfit, its power stretches from the Atlantic coast to the Indian Ocean.

A victorious Hamas fighter in Gaza Strip:

“We want to spread this medicine throughout the world.”

Young men with fuzz on their chins not yet thick enough for full beards stand on busy streets directing traffic. There are more on each corner of the congested Omar Mukhtar Street in Gaza City. They wear yellow and green t-shirts that enable everyone to know who they’re working for long before they get close enough to read the Hamas logo emblazoned upon them.

It’s the most visible sign of the violent takeover by the militant Islamist group after it pushed out the secular Palestinian Fatah party from the Gaza Strip three weeks ago. But it also represents much more: It’s the irrefutable evidence that the Islamist international network of the Muslim Brotherhood has, for the first time, become the sovereign power over a piece of territory. One of the world’s most densely populated and troubled specks of land has suddenly become a laboratory for political Islam in the Middle East.

“We’ve freed the people from a corrupt regime,” says Khalil Abu Leila. The 55-year-old with the speckled gray beard sits in the courtyard of an apartment building wearing a plain gray suit and leather sandals.

On the table in front of him is a copy of the Koran.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,491925,00.html

They’ve got Palestine, Iraq, Turkey, Yemen, IMO Iran’s in the bag, Afghanistan is pending, ?Tunisia, Egypt is next...


16 posted on 02/03/2011 12:12:59 AM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Phil Gramm (wife Wendy Gramm), Bill Clinton, Robert Rubin,

Key Culprits in Subprime Meltdown

The current Subprime Mortgage Crisis, which has been the single biggest factor in helping lead the United States into a recession, (and depending on which economic analyst is talking, a depression) has it’s root’s in the Clinton Administration.

Let’s take a quick walk through history to find out more.

After four years of investigating the Black Friday crash in 1929, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Administration figured out that the main actions that lead us into the Depression were bank’s using their clients money to speculate on risky investments and pushing other risky investments on the very same customers. Some of the investments were sold directly to the bank’s investors, others were made by the banks themselves. When the investments went belly up, the banks had no money to pay their customers back.

To stop this from ever happening again, FDR and fellow Democratic Senators and Congressmen passed the Glass-Steagall Act in 1933. The law stopped commercial banks from merging with investment banks, established the FDIC to insure bank deposits, gave the Federal Reserve control over setting interest rates, and made other banking reforms. The entire point was to protect deposits and stop banks from speculating with that money.

Strictly speaking, the GLASS-STEAGALL ACT was a huge success. It restored confidence in America’s banking system and worked relatively well for six decades. That is, until Citigroup decided to spend over 30 years working behind the scenes to repeal parts of the act.

In the 1960’s, Citigroup, then known as First National City Bank, (and later Citibank and Citi) started talking to Washington about repealing the Glass-Steagall Act. It took many years, and to make a long story short, they finally succeeded in 1999.

BTW, First National City Bank (Citi) is to blame for the modern credit card society, having introduced in 1967 the card that later was renamed Mastercard, the first credit card.

What does this have to do with BILL CLINTON, or the current economic feces-fest we are currently in?

When Bill Clinton was President in 1998, Citibank, by then called Citicorp, was trying to merge with Traveller’s group (the investment firm with the ads with the red umbrella). Under the Glass-Steagall Act, this was prohibited. Way back in 1933 FDR and Co. were wise enough to know that commercial banks shouldn’t own investment banks, it leads to all sorts of illegal shenanigans.

But years of bribing, er, lobbying Congress had done it’s trick, and Citicorp’s CEO SANDY WEILL said he was assured by Federal sources the merger would be approved, which it was in 1998. (Technically the merger was illegal in 1998 as the law wasn’t repealed until November, 1999.) Renamed Citigroup after the merger, they have gone on to purchase other investment firms.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (called the Financial Services Modernization Act at the time) repealed 66 years of consumer protections and paved the way for financial mergers and the introduction of new investment products.

The Act was written by Republican Senators including PHIL GRAMM, and early voting was split down party lines until President Clinton forced a rewrite of the bill.

Clinton vowed to veto the Senate version of the bill unless it was re-written to include “requirements that banks make loans to minorities, farmers, and others who have had little access to credit.” The new version passed 90-8 in the Senate, passed the House, and Clinton signed it into law. Clinton’s required reworking of the bill should be studied closely to see what role, if any, it played in illegal, often racist, subprime loans at higher rates than Caucasian borrowers were offered.

Days before the act passed, Clinton’s Secretary of the Treasury, ROBERT RUBIN (and Ludwig), resigned. As Secretary of the Treasury, Rubin had oversight over enforcing the Glass-Steagall Act. While the resignation at the time looked like Rubin had been against repealing the act, that might not be the actual story. While Rubin had been critical of repealing the Act during the early stages, a year after resigning, Rubin took a cushy job with the newly formed Citigroup as Chairman of the Executive Committee, drawing a salary of $40 million a year, a position Rubin still holds.

As for Phil Gramm, the Republican Senator from Texas left Washington to become Vice Chairman for UBS Investment Bank, a Swiss bank that used the Gramm-Leach-Bailey Act to purchase Paine Weber and become the largest private financial services bank in the world. To make the story even more complicated, Phil Gramm is also serving as co-chairman and financial adviser of JOHN McCAIN’s 2008 Presidential campaign, and would reportedly be in the running for a cabinet job if McCain were to win, most likely as Treasury Secretary.

In recent years, not content with helping destroy the U.S. economy and send us into a recession, Phil Gramm has lobbied Congress and George W. Bush on behalf of UBS to remove remaining state regulations that protect consumers from predatory lending. Gramm was paid an additional $750,000 for his lobbyist work for UBS.

And for the heck of it, let’s also disclose that Gramm and his wife were tied to the ENRON scandal when it was revealed that WENDY GRAMM wrote an exemption from federal oversite for Enron while she was head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. What that means is that Wendy Gramm used her position as the head honcho of a major government agency to stop federal investigations and oversite of Enron’s shady practices.

Wendy Gram then quit the commission and took a directorship with Enron. So Phil and Wendy Gramm each used their government positions to make specific companies richer and remove federal oversite, then quit their government jobs and went to work for those same specific companies (UBS, Enron). After the Enron disaster, Wendy Gramm and other former Enron directors agreed to pay $13 million of their own funds (plus $155 million from their insurance companies) to settle a lawsuit accusing them of insider trading.

Another random fact I discovered while researching:

Ron Paul voted against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, however, as he says in this speech 4 days before it was signed into law, he was for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act.

Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill, along with his company, was under investigation by the Feds in 2002 for behavior that would never have been allowed had Citigroup not succeeded in removing the Glass-Steagall Act. Among the illegal actions CITIGROUP was accused of taking: “hyping the stocks of lackluster companies in order to rake in those companies’ IPO business; using loans as loss leaders to encourage companies to give Citigroup their investment-banking business; helping ENRON and WORLDCOM conceal their massive debts; “spinning” rocketing IPO shares to executives in exchange for business from the executives’ companies.”

What ever became of the investigations? Under the BUSH Administration, nothing. No charges were filed. Sandy Weill was eventually replaced as CEO of Citigroup on October, 1, 2003, and sold $300 million in Citi stock back to the company.

Weill received $1.967 billion worth of Citigroup stock as part of the Traveller’s-Citicorp merger. And we can’t forget this, “as of April 2006 he held 16,518,365 shares of Citigroup, Inc. and another 3,109,173 unexercised options.”

So what have we learned? Hillary Clinton and John McCain are each connected to the current recession, either through the incompetent behavior of their spouse or their campaign manager.

The main players in repealing the Glass-Steagall Act - Sandy Weill, Phil Gramm, Robert Rubin, and Bill Clinton, have all continued to rake in ridiculous amounts of money, while the law they enacted contributed to the implosion of the U.S. banking system and our current recession. People are losing their homes, but the likes of Robert Rubin are still earning $40 million dollars a year. Bill Clinton has earned over $100 million dollars since leaving office despite not officially having a job. Sandy Weill apparently broke many federal laws, but didn’t even get a slap on the wrist while pocketing $2 billion.

And then there’s Phil Gramm. The man who may have actually had the most do with destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and affecting millions more, has enjoyed a posh job with a company that directly benefited from his legislation. And in a bizarro-world twist of irony, he may be “rewarded” for destroying our economy by being appointed to save us from himself.

UPDATE: UBS, the Swiss bank that Phil Gramm now works for, is accused of helping at least 19,000 of the wealthiest U.S. citizens avoid paying taxes by setting up offshore bank accounts to hide their wealth.
http://www.ickypeople.com/2008/04/bill-clinton-major-part-in-subprime.html

Read it closely and see the dealings and kickbacks between both parties. We own nothing, not even our own homes, all we have is a vote and even that counts for nothing. And then there’s Freddie and Fannie...


17 posted on 02/03/2011 12:34:56 AM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville
What has this to do with the Muslim Brotherhood. Follow the money. These guys don't have a conscience.
18 posted on 02/03/2011 12:38:41 AM PST by bronxville
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To: bronxville

The MuBarak Obama supporters are simply making sure it is a “smooth transition” for them in September.

Hosni MuBarak and MuBarak Obama have a lot in common...

The communist agent provocateurs (courtesy of the Podesta Group) are disrupting the originally peaceful Egyptian Tea Party.

(Same kind of shysterism MuBarak Obama is trying to do here with our own Tea Party movement.)

The radical Islamists welcome the vacuum of leadership.

The bigger question we need to ask ourselves is this: Is 5,000 years of tyranny in Egypt something we should support?

Hosni Mubarak and MuBarak Obama have so much in common... High unemployment, rising consumer prices, unsustainable government largesse, election fraud and Tea Partiers...


19 posted on 02/03/2011 12:39:49 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (Arjuna, why have you have dropped your bow???)
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To: Sir Francis Dashwood

These elites find a Democratic Republic and the American Constitution abhorrent. They think of us as equivalent to the animal kingdom - subhumans - useless eaters. The CIA and British Intelligence are financing the Muslim Brotherhood. MB got the Islamists together and ousted Nasser (and the Shah) and now it’s Mubarak - lots of abuse though with him - this guy from the UN is controlled by the MB so things will get worse. All these presidents are middle management anyway. It was interesting watching all the commentators on TV today - it’s easy to spot the globalists and they’re not all dems by a long shot. And as for them having a debate on how Obama should handle it was laughable if it wasn’t so sad.

We’re broke because the money is going to fund their Great Transition. The carbon deal at the UN was to be the pay-off - the greedy buggers were pissed - anyway they’ve gotten our stimulus money but it won’t be enough. It will never be enough they’ll be back soon with some other scam. I believe they also financed Hitler. We’ve been taken by them for a very long time. We’ve been totally taken by these demonic people. I want our beautiful soldiers home!!!


20 posted on 02/03/2011 1:54:22 AM PST by bronxville
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