Consultant on Iraq contracts employed president's brother

Financial Times ^ | Nov 28, 2003 | Stephen Fidler and Thomas Catýn in London

[Lessismore]

Neil Bush, a younger brother of US President George W. Bush, has had a $60,000-a-year employment contract with a top adviser to a Washington-based consulting firm set up this year to help companies secure contracts in Iraq.

Neil Bush disclosed the payments during divorce proceedings in March from his now ex-wife, Sharon. The divorce was finalised in April and the court papers were disclosed by the Houston Chronicle this week.

Mr Bush said he was co-chairman of Crest Investment Corporation, a company based in Houston, Texas, that invests in energy and other ventures. For this he received $15,000 every three months for working an average three or four hours a week.

The other co-chairman and principal of Crest is Jamal Daniel, a Syrian-American who is an advisory board member of New Bridge Strategies, a company set up this year by a group of businessmen with close links to the Bush family or administrations. Its chairman is Joe Allbaugh, George W. Bush's campaign director in the 2000 presidential elections.

Other figures at New Bridge include Ed Rogers, its vice-chairman and a senior official in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, and Lanny Griffith, with whom he works in the lobby firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers. Lord Charles Powell, adviser to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is listed as an advisory board member.

On its website, New Bridge describes itself as being created to "take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the US-led war in Iraq".

In his deposition, Neil Bush said he provided Crest "miscellaneous consulting services". This included "answering phone calls when Jamail [sic] Daniel, the other co-chairman, called and asked for advice".

There is evidence that the relationship between Mr Bush and Mr Daniel goes further. Joseph Peacock, Crest's company secretary, is one of the original investors in Ignite, Neil Bush's educational software company based in Austin, Texas.

In 1996, Mr Daniel and his wife hosted a $1,000-a-plate fund-raising dinner at their Houston mansion for the Texas Alliance Against Alcohol Abuse. The event was chaired by Sharon Bush, while George H. W. Bush, the former president, and his wife Barbara were to be present, according to the Houston Chronicle in 1996.

Other investors in Ignite, which was founded last year, include George H. W. and Barbara Bush, and Winston Wong, a Taiwan businessman who started the Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. The court papers further show Mr Bush benefits from a contract with Grace, a company also backed by Jiang Miangheng, son of Jiang Zemin, the former president of China.

Under the deal, signed on August 15 2002, Grace would pay Mr Bush $2m in shares over five years, issued in annual $400,000 increments.

In return, according to the Los Angeles Times, Mr Bush agreed to "provide GSMC from time to time with business strategies and policies; latest information and trends of the related industry, and other advice", according to the contract.

A call to New Bridge in Houston went unanswered yesterday, a holiday in the US. Previous attempts to contact Mr Daniel through the office were unsuccessful.

[Sacajaweau]

btt

[The Wizard]

and 3 of my cousins....so what

[Pern]

For this he received $15,000 every three months for working an average three or four hours a week.

Oh, no, there's nothing wrong with this. /sarcasm

Just like when Halliburton 'won' the no-bid contract to clean up Iraq. I'm sure Cheney's influance had nothing to do with it.

This admisistration is just as corrupt and crooked as the last, they just attempt to hide it better.

And those foreign bank accounts just keep getting bigger...

[OpusatFR]

The nerve. D@man the man! Why isn't he snorting coke or stumbling around drunkenly flogging beer or using his influence to buy pardons for criminals!!??

I say we have to this in writing in the future.

No presidential relative may do anything that even smacks of making a living honestly..

The nerve...

[OpusatFR]

"For this he received $15,000 every three months for working an average three or four hours a week."

Hillary made more than that a month just for hiding law files under her bed.

[LetsRok]

Just like when Halliburton 'won' the no-bid contract to clean up Iraq. I'm sure Cheney's influance had nothing to do with it.

Haliburton won it's contract three years BEFORE the war in Iraq. It was awarded and renewed during the Clinton Administration. The Bush Administration had nothing to do with who would be responsible for this kind of work.

[Pern]

Haliburton won it's contract three years BEFORE the war in Iraq.

Sorry, I don't believe that. The Clintoon's had no intention to interfere in Saddam's evil playpen. So you're telling me that the Clinton administration awarded a no-bid contract to the company headed by the defeated president's cabinet member?

Come on.

[Ahban]

You call $60,000 for a few hours work a week an "honest living"? Combine it with the Chinese giving him $400,000 and sex. It stinks. The "no bid" contracts for Haliburton stink. The fact they charged our armed forces $2.65 a gallon for gasoline that was sold retail for $1.81 a gallon in Kuwait stinks. The whole thing stinks.

The only thing I can say for the 'pubbies on this one is that they are not quite as utterly and degeneratly corrupt as that festering pus-filled boil known as the Demon-rat-ic party- however much that is worth.

Signed- proud member of the Constitution Party
http://www.constitutionparty.com

[Captain Kirk]

So your theory is that if the other side is corrupt it is alirght for the GOP to be corrupt also?

[Pern]

Signed- proud member of the Constitution Party

Me, too! I'm peosonally sick of the Dem/Rep monopoly on US politics. Those outfits only further their own agenda, or their pimps (special interests), and preparing their golden parachute for their exit from politics.

[OpusatFR]

Do you take everything you read at face value?

[Gumption]

You two aren't suggesting that the Constitution Party is both free from and immune to corruption are you?

[Gumption]

... or even the appearance of corruption?

[liberallarry]

Documents: Neil Bush has Contract With Chinese
Neil Bush tells of hotel trysts in Asia
Neil Bush business links in spotlight

[Pern]

No party is immune to corruption, but I'd bet the Constitution Party is more honest and forthcoming than the Dems/Reps. America has put up with shady politics and back door deals for far too long, with the Constitution getting 'reinterpreted' at every turn, and I, for one, have had enough.

Look at their website, the party platform is clearly posted on most major issues affecting us today.

[Ahban]

True to your screen name, you have a lot of gumption for attempting to assert a 'moral equivalence' between this kind of sleeze and the Constitution Party. If the CP has a problem, it is that they are too honest to get elected to anything. That could change quickly when people finally get fed up and put honesty first.

Attempting moral eqivilence between the CP and the GOP is about like those who tried to assert moral equivalence between us and the Soviets in the 80s just because our society is not perfect. Forget moral equivalence- Bush is a better man than Saddam. His party is better than the Baath party- it is just not good enough for America.

No party made of human beings is going to be perfect, and no one if free from temptation. Don't try to put words in my mouth. I simply state the plain truth- the Republican party has grown corrupt, the Constitution Party has not.

What is more, the policy positions of the CP help safeguard them against corruption. They don't want to buy senior's votes with your children's future earnings like GW Bush does. They don't want a 'global economy' where we are inextricably linked to unfree societies so that if their economy tanks ours does too. The Chinese won't be buying our politician's families for favors. They know we will stop what they are doing to our economy.

The CP are for being the friend of Liberty everywhere, but the gaurantor of ours alone- we won't be sending your kids to every mudhole on earth to defend any corporate interests.

Any nations we do have to war on, we won't waste blood and treasure trying to 'nation build' afterwards. As if a bunch of weasels who let Saddam's sons rape their daughters for 30 years could be made into a free nation regardless of their lack of courage and character.

There are no gaurantees in this world, someday, the CP might become as corrupt as the GOP clearly has become now. If and when that time comes I will leave it. Right now, the CP is honest and the GOP is not. I know where honest men belong.

[Pern]

I know where honest men belong.

Amen, brother!

[Gumption]

No party is immune to corruption,

Exactly, but you think the Constitution Party would be the LEAST corrupt if they came into power. You have no basis for that belief because said Party has never been anywhere near a position of power.

Others here believe that ANY Party that controls high office will attract certain characters that consider their own interests before the nations interests. So we choose the one we trust the most to be the LEAST corrupt. Just like you do/did. The only differences are that our choice was actually one of the choices we had and your choice had/has no chance whatsoever, and our choice has a long track record of being less corrupt than the other choice.

I'm sorry if you don't like it but that's the way it is.

[ilgipper]

So if the Constitution Party ever has an elected representative, are you saying that not one political benefit will go to political friends and allies? I somehow doubt that.