How Bush pays the bribes to foreign leaders

[Shylock]

interesting info from a friend with extensive business contacts in Latin America in response to Kennedy's comments yesterday:

"Just by judging what I know (in Central America), the local armies sent some troops to Iraq, only after being paid for their salaries. The main money fund has been provided and coordinated by Spain. However there is a secondary flow of money coming from secret sources, that pays for all other aspects, including life insurance for the central american and spanish soldiers. Right now, there is a huge probe against several of those leaders to disclose the source of funds for the insurance, worth millions of dollars, and set almost like a gambling scam. Still all of them swear secrecy and files are temporary sealed by their attorney general. If this breaks loose in any of those places, Teddy K is already smelling it, and it could be another similar to contra situation for Bush."



I'm sure Congress will investigate, yeah right!

[TioDiego]

1. Hell Shylock

The media won't even investigate. Dang it.

[Shylock]

2. but

real candidates opposing Bush could show how fake the coalition is and expose the "outsourcing" or I guess mercenary behavior of the neo-cons. But I won't hold my breath on that either.

[On the Road]

3. Are Any Laws Being Broken?

I agree it's underhanded, but Reagan clearly violated the will of Congress when he supported the Contras. This is not necessarily the same thing.

This type of reporting is very interesting and I hope there's plenty more.

[Brucey]

4. I would love it if the media would report this stuff.

Anyone out there know some way to get this info to a decent reporter? Would the mass media ignore it? What about letters to the editor? Can't we start a mass mailing?

[donsu]

5. you can add this info to the pot

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1029

"We have proof of the CIA's clandestine activities in Venezuela". Chavez talks to foreign journalists

-snip-

International issues

On the nternational front, Chavez revealed that his government is in the possession of a video, which his security forces secretly recorded, of a CIA officer giving a class to Venezuelans on surveillance. Joking he said, “The technique could not have been very good, since we did manage to film him.” He argues that this is evidence that the CIA is involved in clandestine activity in Venezuela, after the coup attempt, in addition to the evidence he has of U.S. involvement before and during the coup; but his government has so far not issued a formal complaint to the U.S. government. Some day, he said, these pieces of evidence will be released, but he does not know when.

With respect to the unclear stand Venezuela recently took with regard to international property rights at the WTO meeting in Cancun, the president promised to clarify Venezuela’s position, saying that “it’s not the first time that there are contradictions” within the government on an issue. While Venezuela’s Minister of Commerce and Production took a strong position on the issue of eliminating agricultural subsidies for first world countries, along with other third world countries, organized in the “Group of 21”, Venezuela almost signed an agreement which would have limited the use of generic medications to only three diseases, AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. This would have gone directly against the policy of Venezuela’s office on intellectual property rights (SAPI), which maintains that public health must take precedence over the profits of transnational pharmaceutical companies.

Venezuela would not recognize the Iraqi representative to OPEC

Referring to the upcoming OPEC meeting, Chavez announced that his government would not recognize the Iraqi representative as an official representative because “unfortunately there is no government in Baghdad, it is anarchy, with constant destabilization.” “They have not been able to restart their production anyway,” added the president. Rather, there would be informal talks at the next OPEC meeting on September 24 with an observer from the occupation forces in Iraq.

Finally, Chavez said that relations between Venezuela and Colombia are very complicated because there are people who are interested in sabotaging this relationship. He reiterated that his government is not providing any kind of support to the Colombian guerilla movements, despite what the opposition claims. Rather, Venezuela’s position with regard to the conflict in Colombia is one of neutrality, of neither opposing nor supporting the guerilla movement. “We don’t want to support the path of war in Colombia, we want to support the path of peace,” added Chavez.