I’m glad William Jefferson will go to jail, but I wish Peter W. Galbraith (ambassador to Croatia under Clinton) were in there too. Greenwald:
Galbraith was one of the most vocal Democratic supporters of the attack on Iraq, having signed a March 19, 2003 public letter (.pdf) — along with the standard cast of neocon war-lovers such as Bill Kristol, Max Boot, Danielle Pletka, and Robert Kagan — stating that “we all join in supporting the military intervention in Iraq” and “it is now time to act to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime from power.” As intended, that letter was then praised by outlets such as The Washington Post Editorial Page, gushing that “it is both significant and encouraging that a bipartisan group of influential foreign policy thinkers, veterans of both Democratic and Republican administrations, has signed on to a statement of policy on Iraq that makes sense on the war.” Throughout 2002 and 2003, Galbraith appeared in numerous outlets — including repeatedly on Fox News and with Bill O’Reilly — presenting himself as a loyal Democrat firmly behind the invasion of Iraq. In 2002, he was an adviser to Paul Wolfowitz on Kurdistan.
After playing a key role in enabling the invasion of Iraq, Galbraith first became one of a handful of U.S. officials who worked on writing the Iraqi Constitution, and after he resigned from the government, he then continuously posed as an independent expert on the region and, specifically, an “unpaid” adviser to the Kurds on the Constitution. Galbraith was an ardent and vocal advocate for Kurdish autonomy, arguing tirelessly in numerous venues for such proposals — including in multiple Op–Eds for The New York Times — and insisting that Kurds must have the right to control oil resources located in Northern Iraq.
The Times (in an excellent piece of reporting) yesterday:
Now Mr. Galbraith, 58, son of the renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith, stands to earn perhaps a hundred million or more dollars as a result of his closeness to the Kurds, his relations with a Norwegian oil company and constitutional provisions he helped the Kurds extract.
If the Norwegian oil execs had dressed as pimps and hos when they signed the contract or if Galbraith was delivered the $100 million via a freezer, this would be a bigger story, obviously. As it is, he’ll probably soon be writing editorials in the Post and Times about how we should invade another oil rich nation!
DBrown
But it is ACORN that is the real story here – please, get with the real script.
aimai
Creepy. JK would be rolling in his grave. Mind you, the Kurds are entitled to want out of the Iraqi state and to want to take everything up to and including the wiring. In effect the Kurds, like the tibetans, were going to be ethnic cleansed and immigrated to death by the larger Iraqi state. I’d have had nothing to say against Galbraith if he had helped the Kurds pro-bono. Its the financial double dealings and the manipulation of the war machine in two countries that is so disgusting.
aimai
Davis X. Machina
Black sheep, white sheep.
Every family’s got them.
Brick Oven Bill
These guys are small potatoes DougJ, and are in jail because they lack power. Being in agreement that men should earn their money, consider the following:
The reason that the market crashed is because the SEC is corrupted, and does not require Hedge Funds to publically disclose short positions. I am becoming more and more sure of this. It is way more important for the public to know short positions that long positions, as the movement of a small amount of capital can destroy wealth, creating a profit for the short position.
If individuals are destroying wealth to benefit themselves, this is morally wrong, if not criminally wrong. The public should be able to monitor these transactions.
Let us again review what happened last September:
1. John McCain takes the lead in the polls.
2. Barack begins to lose it and Brick Oven declares NCM1.
3. The Invisible Hand either takes its lead from Brick Oven, or sensed the same thing independently, withdrawing $500 billion from the money markets days later, causing financial chaos.
4. Geithner allows Goldman’s biggest competitor, Lehman Brothers, to fail.
5. Market crashes.
6. Economy tanks.
7. McCain falls behind in the polls, after acting like a goober, providing positive emotional feedback for Barack.
8. There are no more NCMs during the campaign, and Barack wins.
9. Goldman Sachs is seated at the Treasury and their stock price triples.
10. Soros states ‘I have had a very good recession’ or something to that effect.
Leading us to three questions that need to be asked, ideally by Doug Hoffman of New York, his hand-selected financial forensics team of Teabaggers, and the United States Marine Corps, with the authorization of the President:
1. Who makes the decision not to require Hedge Funds to publically disclose their short positions?
2. Who withdrew that $500 billion from the money markets?
3. On what short sales did Soros make his money last September?
gf120581
If corrupt politicians learn anything from Jefferson, it’s that one should avoid the fridge or freezer when stashing bribe $.
Of course, this means the next guy will probably get busted with half a million in cash in his sock drawer or something.
Why oh why
Only the far left thinks the Iraq war was about oil! And Michael Moore is fat.
de stijl
BoB = Lonewacko 2.0
STFUBoB!
Derelict
I heard Galbraith on NPR yesterday trying to excuse his way out of this. It was so pathetic and consisted basically of “Well, the Kurds knew what they were doing, so my actions MUST be just okey-dokey, no?”
Yes, he should go to jail. And his $100 million should be turned over to charity.
valdivia
So isn’t insane that The Onion continues to describe reality as is instead of actually writing parody? Sigh.
Derelict
BOB has the causality chain wrong. The market only started to crash after I burned two ENRON stock certificates after sprinkling them with red ink.
Why oh why
And on the subject of ambassadors and money:
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/07/hbc-90005443
Ambassadors acting like that is a feature, not a bug.
Kirk Spencer
@Brick Oven Bill: OK, everyone, re-read this post. Think about it, and you’ll understand.
BOB is a spoof. That is almost classic DougJ from back in the day.
Engage the subject if you want, but for Goo’s sake realize it’s not serious.
calipygian
While being the most egregious example, Galbreath isn’t the only example of Iraqi oil corruption at the highest levels of government.
Hunt was also on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board at the time, or he closely consulted with them.
These people should be prosecuted as war profiteers, a Bush/Walker family tradition since before WWI…
Blahblah
Hereditary rule, bitches. Get on your knees and pray he doesn’t want your wife too. Also, thank the Lord Jesus Christ for leaders who perservere, love America, and kill the evil-doers. Except for that Kenyan Muslim fraud, who has dirtied our white house of worship. But he doesn’t matter. Just rabble who sifted through our herediary seive. We’ll toss him and all the other good for nothing rabble as soon as we tank the market once more with the next financial bubble and crisis.
Bring back monarchy!!!
kth
I read Peter Galbraith’s book about the Iraq War . It’s very Kurd-centric, and hence somewhat unreliable, but a moving account of their plight.
Now that Galbraith stands to become a deci-billionaire chiefly due to his connections, I feel like I’ve been played.
someguy
Funny seeing you and Greenwald, Doug, buy into Republican talking points aimed at undermining Biden and by extension, Obama. In it’s purest form, it is “Galbraith *is alleged* to be corrupt [nothing proven at this point, but we’re just sayin, right?] and at one point advised Biden. Biden is Obama’s go-to advisor on foreign affairs, with his 30+ years of experience on it in the senate. Ergo Obama’s foreign policy should be disregarded, because at some point maybe some of the advice that one of Obama’s several advisors received came from a [possibly corrupt, nothing’s proven, we’re just sayin’] guy who is under media scrutiny in the Village.
Galbraith is the first target, then the Dems he advised. Can’t believe you’re dumb enough to give this credibility.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
@Brick Oven Bill:
I did. Fuck you, what are you going to do about it?
Liberty60 (formerly Reason60)
Is this one of these Galtian Ubermensch who, by virtue of their wisdom and superior abilities, creates “work” that is valued at a hundred million dollars?
Can someone tell me what work was provided, what labor was performed, what value or product or service Galbraith delivered that is worth several hundred times the yearly wage of an ordinary American?
So far as I can tell, the only “work” that is being performed is speaking to the right people, shaking the right hands, chumming up to and clinking wine glasses with the correct personages so as to be given a slice of a very large pie.
This is the sort of person we are told, who absolutely must be rewarded for this sort of endeavor, otherwise their brain may drain and we will lose the benefit of their superior skills.
These are the people who, like Rick Santelli, face the camera and snarl that they should not have to pay the mortgages of “losers” who are being evicted; who sneer at the welfare mothers who have the temerity to ask for a couple hundred dollars a month to feed a family.
By God, Woody Guthrie had it right- “the gamblin’ man is rich, the workin’ man is poor.”
Why oh why
@someguy: Think of the horror, people will complain about Larry Summers and Rahm Emanuel’s ties to Wall Street!
Brick Oven Bill
$100 million is chump change. Child’s play.
Plato teaches us that there are two fighting Arts, namely, Combative (words) and Pugnacious (force). The Combative Art is divided into two: Forensic (speeches) and Disputation (the stuff we do here).
Sun Tzu teaches us that all warfare is deception.
I am DougJ.
But there is something seriously corrupt at the highest levels of power in this country, namely in the financial sector. This is where Doug Hoffman (Combative Art) and the United States Marine Corps (Pugnacious Art) can create Value.
DougJ
Funny seeing you and Greenwald, Doug, buy into Republican talking points aimed at undermining Biden and by extension, Obama. In it’s purest form, it is “Galbraith is alleged to be corrupt [nothing proven at this point, but we’re just sayin, right?] and at one point advised Biden. Biden is Obama’s go-to advisor on foreign affairs, with his 30+ years of experience on it in the senate. Ergo Obama’s foreign policy should be disregarded, because at some point maybe some of the advice that one of Obama’s several advisors received came from a [possibly corrupt, nothing’s proven, we’re just sayin’] guy who is under media scrutiny in the Village.
I’m sorry, but I don’t see how this is about partisan politics. Galbraith pushed for a war that he made hundreds of millions of dollars off of in an underhanded way. And we’re supposed to look the other way because he’s friends with Joe Biden?
I just don’t see things that way.
wilfred
Nothing indicates the historical consistencies of imperialism more than creeps like Galbraith. He conducted himself like a trusted scribe to Decimus Petraeus Mesopotamicus, who in turn has his eyes on bigger things.
Same as it ever was.
kth
@someguy: Someguy, I don’t really see how you gainsay a $100 million sweetheart deal for Galbraith, two-decades long advocate for Kurdish independence though he has been. It stinks even if it wasn’t technically illegal.
And just because right-wing wankers will try to tie Biden and Kerry to the deal (and won’t be deterred by the utter absence of evidence that either of the latter knew of, let alone profited from, the deals) doesn’t mean we should circle the wagons around Galbraith.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
On Monday, September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy. On Tuesday, September 16, 2008, Reserve Primary Fund, the oldest money fund, broke the buck when its shares fell to 97 cents, after writing off debt issued by Lehman Brothers.[2] The resulting investor anxiety almost caused a run on money funds, as investors redeemed their holdings and funds were forced to liquidate assets or impose limits on redemptions: through Wednesday, September 17, 2008, prime institutional funds saw substantial redemptions.[3][4] Retail funds saw net inflows of $4 billion, for a net capital outflow from all funds of $169 billion to $3.4 trillion (5%).[3]In response, on Friday, September 19, 2008, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced an optional program to “insure the holdings of any publicly offered eligible money market mutual fund — both retail and institutional — that pays a fee to participate in the program.” The insurance will guarantee that if a covered fund breaks the buck, it will be restored to $1 NAV.[4][5] This program is similar to the FDIC, in that it insures deposit-like holdings and seeks to prevent runs on the bank.[1][6] The guarantee is backed by assets of the Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund, up to a maximum of $50 billion. It is very important to realize that this program only covers assets invested in funds before September 19, 2008 and those who sold equities, for example, during the recent market crash and parked their assets in money funds, are at risk. The program immediately stabilized the system and stanched the outflows, but drew criticism from banking organizations, including the Independent Community Bankers of America and American Bankers Association, who expected funds to drain out of bank deposits and into newly insured money funds, as these latter would combine higher yields with insurance.[1][6]
[edit] Analysis.The crisis almost developed into a run on the shadow banking system: the redemptions caused a drop in demand for commercial paper,[1] preventing companies from rolling over their short-term debt, potentially causing an acute liquidity crisis: if companies cannot issue new debt to repay maturing debt, and do not have cash on hand to pay it back, they will default on their obligations, and may have to file for bankruptcy. Thus there was concern that the run could cause extensive bankruptcies, a debt deflation spiral, and serious damage to the real economy, as in the Great Depression.
— Wiki
What happened is pretty simple. What caused it is a little less simple but requires a good deal of background. Luckily, Google is available to steer you to and serve up all the necessary background. The drunken brain farts of some charming spoofy nut on an obscure blog are not that useful in sizing up the financial crisis. Sorry, Bill.
Chad N Freude
@Brick Oven Bill: AHA!
Just as I suspected! Although you could be throwing out red herrings to obfuscate the Truth. So I won’t believe you until you validate your claim by posting your long-form birth certificate. Quick, Watson, the needle. [See 2a.]
Chad N Freude
@Chad N Freude: OK, that shouuld have been needle. [See 2a.]
Edit button, please!
eemom
so DougJ…….ARE you BoB?
It’s time we settle this thing and get on with our lives. Hell, even Joke Line finally outed himself about “Primary Colors.”
Liberty60 (formerly Reason60)
@DougJ:
This is why I admire Greenwald, et. al. –
He turns his greatest wrath not on the “other” party, but on the Village and its incestuous closed loop of priviledge and mutual protection.
If Biden did something stupid we SHOULD call him on it. If I wanted a Pravda-eque partisan hackery defense of the Administration I would listen to Hannity circa 2006.
Liberty60 (formerly Reason60)
Sorry, my reply was aimed at someguy
someguy
Of course not. Wait until there’s a special prosecutor appointed to investigate Galbraith, because unlike the last Administration, this one actually gives a shit about ethics. Then we’re going to head down the Ken Starr road. Remember that one? I do. It’s bumpy.
theturtlemoves
Slightly OT, but kudos on the Dylan reference for the title. Jokerman is one of my favorite songs of his.
wilfred
That’s the American whey.
Of Bugs and Books
@Chad N Freude:
I’m beginning to believe the idea that all science fiction becomes science fact, like those scifi B movies where someone is possessed and his electrocardiogram shows two separate sets of brain waves.
MBSS
galbraith’s argument is that he has “interest” (financial and otherwise i suppose) in the kurds, but there is no “conflict” with his work on behalf of you and me. ergo there’s no conflict of interest.
ta-da!
who buys that kind of shit? republicans?
Maude
Peter was also advising Wolfowitz at that time. The NYT put in an editors note that when Peter has written op eds, he had had contracts that he hadn’t disclosed.
After the Afghan election, he was dumping all over the UN.
He is pond scum.
CalD
Then of course there was Ahmet “the Thief” Chalabi, currently a fugitive from a 22 year prison sentence in Jordan for 32 counts of bank fraud. When the original plan to put him in charge of Iraq didn’t work out, we installed him as their Oil Minister instead.
Nutella
Remember the people who said “No blood for oil” before the Iraq invasion, and how they were sneered at by the Village? Mentions of “quagmires” and “another Viet Nam” were also put down.
Now here’s Galbraith getting the $ for the oil that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of US/UK/etc soldiers bled for.
I expect more names of people with similar deals will be exposed sooner or later.