Thanks for posting the references, Liz. I had my hands full and didn’t have time to go digging.
You know, I wonder how many more of these guys have these sleazy arrangements. You have Perle working with Qaddafi to improve his image while engaging in private oil deals. You also had Jack Kemp working for the Venezuelans to improve perceptions of the Chávez government while being a
beneficiary of a billion-dollar deal with the state-owned Venezuelan oil company. And that was shortly after Kemp being implicated in Saddam’s oil-for-food scandal.
I really wonder about those who support these crooks. Are they complicit or blind?
No, not blind-----these people are rank opportunists----getting in on dream deals. They connive to get into position of power b/c they have know it will reap benefits to THEM.
Bush made a deal w/ the neos BEFORE he was elected to invade Iraq---to get votes. It was a done deal, and when Bush was elected neos had their own Office of Special Plans in the WH w/ high paying jobs---AND access to top secret info in order to orchestrate the ME invasion----they had a secret list of other countries the US was to invade.
BTW, one of Bush's top aides was fired b/c he dared to suggest the neocons were low-balling Bush and that the Iraq invasion could cost as much as $60 billion.
Bush stupidly went on the aircraft carrier to declare "Mission Accomplished." That was about 8 years ago.
Trillions of dollars later, and still counting, we know Iraq went horribly wrong.
We can only hope that Bush realized he had been duped when the Office of Special Plans (September 2002 to June 2003) went kaput.