OMG! Could funds stolen in Iraq have been used to finance GOP in 2004?

[spooked]

I was doing a little research on the Plame outing and Matt Cooper's lawyer and posted in GD but I think I stumbled onto something relevant here and to the 2004 election.

Please read, this is what I have found so far:

1. Matt Cooper's lawyer is the same lawyer who defended the firm Custer Battles after they were accused of defrauding US taxpayers of $50 million in Iraq.

2. One of the founders of Custer Battles is Michael Battles, a former CIA agent.

3. Custer Battles allegedly used offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands and other "tax haven" countries.

4. Bush refused to pursue the prosecution of Custer Battles.

5. Micahel Battles also coordinated fundraising for the Republican Party!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4031102

Can anyone find more on Michael Battle's ties to the GOP and "fundraising" activities? Do you think there's a connection here?

MORE:

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11575

Iraq Contractor Accused of Offshore Shell Game
by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch

Former managers working with Custer Battles, a high-profile private security company in Iraq, are accusing the firm of using affiliated "shell" companies in the Cayman Islands and other "tax haven" countries to fraudulently overcharge on government contracts by tens of millions of dollars. The accusations are spelled out in a lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act and made public October 8.

Custer Battles, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, first grabbed headlines after winning a $16.5 million contract in June 2003 to provide security for the Baghdad International Airport by hiring Nepalese Gurkhas. It was the first major assignment for the fledgling firm after being launched in October 2001.

Founded by two Army veterans, Scott Custer and Michael Battles -- a former Republican candidate for Congress in Rhode Island -- the firm had little experience in private security and employed only a handful of people at the time. The two entrepreneurs, both in their mid-30s, made their first payroll with credit cards and personal loans. Since then, Custer Battles has landed security contracts totaling an estimated $100 million that include protecting Iraq’s new currency and training the Iraqi army.

But during those early months in Iraq, the company resorted to using crooked accounting and "sham" companies in far-flung countries including the Cayman Islands, Cyprus and Lebanon, to dramatically pump up charges on contracts by as much as 162 percent on equipment, construction supplies and services...

[mzmolly]

1. Woah.

That would be HUGE!

[halsaxby]

2. Yeah...

Too huge for the MSM to ever let it see the light of day.

[mzmolly]

4. Well they do loooooove ratings.

Welcome! :hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

28. I think you mean "That would be Hugh!"

[Independent_Liberal]

3. I can only hope!

:)

[Kip Humphrey]

5. Send this to Greg Palast!

Ask him to investigate.

[screembloodymurder]

6. Interesting timing. Went into the security business in Oct. 2001.

Lucky break getting those contracts in Iraq? Bet there connected to Bush or Cheney.

[peacetalksforall]

7. I'll go one further...I believe Enron was a major fund raiser and

money launderer for the political machinery of the right wing. Jut a hunch. They took care of a lot of pensions and other investments as well. There was operating money and their energy business to keep a front.

I think the political machinery of the right wing costs a bundle because a lot of people are being paid off. Some may be working with them for free or favors - the right wing corporate networks and newpapers to reference two.

They need a lot of money.

Where are all the missing funds from HUD, DOD, Iraq?

They are only missing in the public's eye, I'm sure. They know where it went.

Does anyone believe Halliburton and Kellogg Root are losing money from the unplanned length of the war?

How interesting that the right wing Time Mag hired the Custer Battles lawyer for Cooper.

[spooked]

9. The MONEY...

What HAS happened to all of the money unaccounted for in Iraq? I think you're right...a lot of people needed to be paid off, especially "if" they stole an election!

[cosmicdot]

38. maybe that's why Ralph Reed was hired (planted)

as a 'consultant' with enron ... to help 'coordinate' things ... nice cover if so ...

~just a thought~

"I think I talked to someone before Ralph got hired," Mr. Rove said.

"Enron paid Mr. Reed $10,000 to $20,000 a month"

http://home.earthlink.net/~mjohnsen/Post_911/Ralph_Reed_and_Enron.html

"One of his first clients was the Enron Corporation--a deal arranged by Karl Rove when George W. Bush was starting to think about running for President in 2000. Rove wasn't ready to put Reed directly on a campaign payroll but presumably wanted to cultivate good will from Reed toward the coming Bush candidacy. Enron paid Reed's Century Strategies more than $300,000 to generate support for energy deregulation. In the 2000 GOP presidential primary, Reed justified his big Enron fee by helping to smear John McCain during the South Carolina primary."

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20040712&s=newfield

One wouldn't think that the GOP would need to steal so much money when its treasury teems with mega-million bucks ... of course, this 'extra' money wouldn't have gone to buying postage stamps ... some of it would be slush funds to pay operatives (under the table) to help 'facilitate' stealing the election(s) or just to buy 'support' and influence state and local voters.

Much of it is likely in off-shore accts. If they were serious about fighting the funding of terra, they'd do a serious regulating thing on these accts. imho.

Nixon had his slush funds, too. These people have been at this a long time.

We didn't go far enough in correcting the wrongdoings involved in Watergate. Heck, Donald Segretti is still practicing law and involved in GOP politics in Orange Co., CA.

When my relative ran for Congress (D) in '72, the word was that the $$$ from the GOP was 'pouring in' and 'into' people's pockets (source: another relative helping in the campaign). So, I know it's real.

[spooked]

39. They needed LOTS of money to pay off campaign operatives

From your link to The Nation:

"Reed is in charge of Bush's 2004 election campaign in the Southeast, including Florida. In 2000, he was paid almost $3.7 million for helping Bush"

[aquart]

8. What an interesting mind you have.

Come sit here by me.

[spooked]

10. is it safe? lol

:hide:

[aquart]

12. Scaredy cat.

[sundancekid]

11. well, lookee here ... what the hell is a RI boy doing paying the MA GOP?

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=battles%2C+michael&txtState=%28all+states%29&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&Order=N



Contributor/ Occupation/ Date/ Amount/ Recipient

BATTLES, MICHAEL
NEWPORT,RI 02840


CUSTER/BATTLES INC./SECURITY
9/28/2004

$10,000

Republican State Cmte of Massachusetts
===============================
BATTLES, MICHAEL
NEWPORT,RI 02840

IBIS CONSULTING/CONSULTANT

12/26/2001

$1,000

Simmons, Rob
================================
BATTLES, MICHAEL
NEWPORT,RI 02840

CUSTER BATTLES LLC
4/27/2003

$300

Chafee, Lincoln D
===========================
BATTLES, MICHAEL
NEWPORT,RI 02840

IBIS CONSULTING/CONSULTANT

2/25/2002

$250

Simmons, Rob
============================

[spooked]

14. Add this to Battles's resume: FOX NEWS COMMENTATOR!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002058470_contract09.html
Contractor accused of fraud in Iraq
By T. Christian Miller
Los Angeles Times


Richard Sauber, a lawyer representing Custer Battles, denied the charges. He blamed a competitor and a disgruntled former employer for making false accusations.

The company's founders are Scott Custer, a former Army Ranger and defense consultant, and former CIA officer Michael Battles, who ran for Congress in Rhode Island in 2002 and was defeated in the Republican primary. The Federal Election Commission fined Battles for misrepresenting campaign contributions.

Battles is a Fox News Channel commentator.

"We believe that the allegations are baseless," Sauber said. "We have every expectation that we can demonstrate they are meritless."

Several other former Republican officials have come under investigation in connection with other Iraq contracts. The Pentagon's inspector general has asked the FBI to look into a deputy undersecretary of defense in connection with a police radio contract. A former top Republican official in the Transportation Department was investigated in connection with an airport contract, U.S. officials have said.

Custer Battles was a newly formed company with no experience in the security industry when it landed one of the first contracts issued in Iraq in the spring of 2003 to secure the airport. The no-bid contract was worth $16 million when it was awarded in the chaos after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

****
Good find at opensecrets.org

I still can't help but wonder how Sauber ended up being Matt Cooper's lawyer.

[kestrel91316]

13. You are very very clever ................

FOLLOW THE MONEY.

[mod mom]

15. I have a funny story about republican extravagance during the campaign.

There is a large 4th of July celebration in Columbus Oh. I worked the day manning a Kerry booth which was a little plastic white vinyl canopy and most of our chum (stickers and bumper stickers) was purchased by volunteers. The repugs had this extra long wide semi all decorated with an attached front porch, 2 large screen tvs, piped music,free nintendo games to play for the kids and the volunteers driving around in mini-bu$h mobiles (painted golf carts). I KID YOU NOT! It was so vulgar.

So that's how they financed it, with money that should have gone into armour for the troops. The dirty bastards. How do they look in the mirror. Are they really so cold blooded that they would steal money from our military for funding their campaign. After 911, anything is possible with these thugs. Despicable. :(

[spooked]

16. WP: Michael Battles talks to "individuals" at White House almost daily!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24468-2005Feb14.html

"Michael Battles and Scott K. Custer, both former U.S. Special Operations soldiers, founded the company in 2002. Battles ran unsuccessfully as the Republican candidate for Congress in Rhode Island that year.

After an interview with Custer in January 2004, agents from the Pentagon inspector general's office wrote, "Battles is very active in the Republican Party and speaks to individuals he knows at the White House almost daily, according to Custer." A White House spokesman had no immediate comment."


MMMM....now who do you think that might be!?

[Inland]

17. Think of coingate in Ohio

Noe supports republicans, republicans put him in charge of millions of pension fund money for him to invest in coins, he steals some, and uses the stolen funds to contribute to republican candidates.

[spooked]

19. Just gotta keep following the money

where did it all go, I wonder.

[berni_mccoy]

18. This shit gets DEEPER

and deeper by the second...

And it's stinking to high heaven!

[AmBlue]

20. kick

:kick: This shit is really just going to blow the top of my head clean off!!

[JRob]

21. if true you then need someone to carry the torch...

MSM? No. The GOP? Oh hell NO! Dem's? Ah... hmmm, I think Conyer's plate is full...

I guess you'll need to get a huge group of people together to camp out at DOJ.

[cynatnite]

22. Here's something that might fit, too

A guy by the name of Rob Roy Trumble was an exec at Custer Battles. He's back in Iraq and doing business as usual. Just for a little history he ran the School of the Americas and that little group had their own little army. My understanding is they are responsible for a hell of a lot of bloodshed in Latin America.

Here's the article about Trumble.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2005/06/12/offshoots_of_banned_contractor_solicit_more_iraq_contracts/?page=full

Also, it makes sense why he's able to operate freely in Iraq with Michael Battles as a buddy.

[rumpel]

32. There was a congressional hearing in February it seems.

snip

On at least one known occasion, cash was handed to a private US mercenary firm, ostensibly to be spent on its operations in Iraq, though the cash was not properly accounted for once it was paid. Former CPA employee Frank Willis said that company, Custer Battles, was handed $2 million in shrink-wrapped $100 bills in his presence, and he displayed a photograph taken just moments before the handing over to prove it.

A lawyer attended the hearings to represent two former associates of Custer Battles who declined at the last minute to testify in person for fear of retribution from both the mercenary firm and the Bush administration. Alan Grayson said his clients have filed a sealed claim against Custer Battles alleging, in part, that the company accepted $15 million from the CPA to provide security for Iraq’s civilian airline, which was in fact grounded for the duration of the contract and in no need of the company’s services.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1484

snip

Assistant US Attorney Richard Sponseller, according to Grayson, has suggested that any fraud committed against the CPA should not be equated with theft from the United States, since the CPA was an international organization. But when President George Bush signed the CPA’s original funding mandate, it clearly referred to the organization as "an entity of the United States."

Custer Battles has reached the same conclusion about its own lack of culpability, but for different reasons. The company’s lawyers told CorpWatch, a website that monitors the activity of war profiteers, that the claim against them should be dismissed because the money allegedly stolen was rightfully that of Iraqis, not Americans.

blatant theft!

from the article as mentioned SAIC (Scientific Applications International Corp)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH16Ak02.html

They are related to our election system as I recall...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1103/p11s02-uspo.html

[eridani]

23. Where is the link on Battles being a Repub fundraiser?

Other than for his own failed run, I mean. You have links to support all of your other points.

[spooked]

24. reference here...

We need to find more information on this...

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/tx.politics/msg/3b759c1d1219b7a1?as_umsgid=D_are.302$[e-mail]
From: Sanders Kaufman
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005

Do you know about Rob Roy Trumble or his company, Custer Battles?
Custer Battles was formed by two Republicans just before the war (Mr. Custer and Mr. Battles).
Mr. Custer is an veteran Army Ranger and Mr. Battles is a veteran CIA agent. Mr. Battles has also been coordinating fund-raising for the Republican Party.

During the initial invasion of Iraq, they submitted false invoices on
government contracts - stealing more than $10,000,000.
After they were exposed, they were banned from getting any more contracts,and a criminal investigation began.
Some of the other crimes this NeoCon and his company are accused of
include - firing on Iraqi civillians and forging government documents.
It's a shameless attempt at war profiteering by another of Bush's close supporters.

Nothing has come of the criminal investigation because the White House does not consider it important enough.

[eridani]

29. Yabbut--

I think it needs to be confirmed by documentation from the Republican Party, instead of a single-source website assertion.

[spooked]

30. absolutely...that's what we need...confirmation

I do wish someone would look into this story.

[rumpel]

33. here is another one

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2005/06/war-profiteers-come-back-for-more.asp

snip
The AP brings this story about our old friend Custer Battles, a Virginia-based security contractor formed by ex-Army Rangers Scott Custer and Mike Battles, a prominent Republican politico. Undeterred by charges of fraud and abuse, Custer's top profiteers are finding creative ways to get back into the action:


The AP story
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-06-12-iraq-contractor_x.htm

[rumpel]

34. here is another one

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2005/06/war-profiteers-come-back-for-more.asp

snip
The AP brings this story about our old friend Custer Battles, a Virginia-based security contractor formed by ex-Army Rangers Scott Custer and Mike Battles, a prominent Republican politico. Undeterred by charges of fraud and abuse, Custer's top profiteers are finding creative ways to get back into the action:


The AP story
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-06-12-iraq-contractor_x.htm

[ncteechur]

25. Who can investigate this? Can Spitzer? This may be big!

[spooked]

26. WHY is the guy stealing $50 Million in Iraq on phone daily w/ WHITE HOUSE?

Something is rotten in Denmark...

[fooj]

27. Way to go, Spooked! If I ever need any PI work- You're the one!

The only prayer that we have re: the MSM, IMO, is Olbermannn! As far as DC goes...Conyers plate is full, however, he has stepped up when there have been legitimate concerns! I'd still send him the info with a cover letter. I'd also get the info to lala_rawraw...maybe they'd use it at Raw Story! You could pm lala here at DU and see what she thinks. Also- Randi Rhodes will be back form vacation on the 12th! She's an idea, as is Mike Malloy!

Hope my brainstorming helped.

peace.

[rumpel]

31. It sounds like a company formed with foreknowledge of the war, and to

possibly launder money, I wonder how they fit into Madsen's investigation.

Great find. Thanks

[johnmilton]

35. Did anyone see the Dem session on CSPAN about Iraq/Halliburton scams

I only saw part of the coverage that featured very interesting
testimony on Halliburton's actions over there--the overcharging
on gasoline that then got waived, the attempts to thwart their
british competitors from delivering their petrol to southern
Iraq by denying them the right to cross into Iraq at the Kuwait border, and lastly, very interesting testimony from a guy
who ran food provisions who told typically shocking stories about graft and feeding the troops expired food and food that had been picked clean of debris.

I don't know if this group (the one conducting the hearing) is following the money back into the GOP but maybe they are or could be persuaded to do so.

I remember Waxman was there. I only saw a part of it. Perhaps someone else saw the whole thing?

[rumpel]

36. Maybe it is in the c-span video archives

[maddezmom]

37. kick for the whistle blowers...battle will go on

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1619574

[Minnesota_Lib]

40. More from Ma Jones...Custer Battles whistleblower had a bounty on his head

Also testifying at the hearing was Attorney Alan Grayson, who represents two former employees of Custer Battles, a private firm hired to provide security in Iraq. Grayson's clients have charged that the company defrauded the CPA of millions of dollars during its time in Iraq. Custer Battles has been accused of, among other things, charging the CPA for security detail at airports that weren't even running flights. Former employees also allege that members of the firm have fired on Iraqi civilians.

Grayson and his colleagues have unearthed so much dirt on Custer Battles that it's hard to believe the case is still pending. The company's own documents reveal that Custer Battles forged invoices. (The documents are available online at Taxpayers against Fraud.) One of the former employees Grayson is defending is a former FBI agent who refused to take part in a scam. Grayson claims his client was then held at gunpoint by other employees, stripped of his weapons and security ID, and left on the streets of Baghdad. Originally, both of Grayson's clients planned to testify before the Senate, but then sent e-mails to the Committee explaining that they could not. When questioned as to why his clients did not appear, Grayson explained that they are both receiving death threats—one of the employees recently discovered that there is a $50,000 bounty on his head.

The employees also reportedly fear retaliation from the Bush administration, as they are still both government contractors and worry that the White House may cut off contracts for their current employers. That may sound odd—why would the administration retaliate against anyone who exposed fraud against the U.S. government?—but there may be more to the story here. As it turns out, one of the cofounders of Custer Battles, Mike Battles, is pretty well known in Republican circles (he ran for Congress back in 2002, where he managed to get fined by the FEC for "misstatement of financial activities"). His partner, Scott Custer once stated, in an interview with two federal agents, "Battles is very active in the Republican Party and speaks to individuals he knows at the White House almost daily."

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/02/custer_battles.html

These guys are filth...I wonder if Bush stumped for Battles in that 2002 Rhode Island campaign?

[spooked]

41. My bet is that Battles was talking to ROVE at the White House

to coordinate where the money was needed in the 2004 election.

Does this seem too far out to anyone? Why would TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars be siphoned offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands bu the same company RUN BY A FORMER CIA OPERATIVE AND A PLAYER IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!?

"As it turns out, one of the cofounders of Custer Battles, Mike Battles, is pretty well known in Republican circles (he ran for Congress back in 2002, where he managed to get fined by the FEC for "misstatement of financial activities"). His partner, Scott Custer once stated, in an interview with two federal agents, "Battles is very active in the Republican Party and speaks to individuals he knows at the White House almost daily."

[johnmilton]

42. Iran/Contra Redux

The proposed logic propounded by SPOOKED not only
makes perfect sense, it would appear to follow established
protocol, at least as far back as Iran/Contra and given the number of people involved in that who are once again at the
controls it seems silly not to assume that this is one
destination for all that missing money Bremer couldn't account for.

[spooked]

43. Let's not forget what Wayne Madsen was investigating

This could very well be related:


Special Report

Saudis, Enron money helped pay for US rigged election

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

November 25, 2004—According to informed sources in Washington and Houston, the Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.

The leak about the money and the rigged election apparently came from technicians who were promised to be paid a certain amount for their work but the Bush campaign interlocutors reneged and some of the technicians are revealing the nature of the vote rigging program...

The money to rig the election in favor of Bush reportedly came from an entity called Five Star Trust, largely based in Houston but a worldwide entity that is directly tied to the Saudi Royal Family. Five Star Trust was termed "a well-protected vehicle" that has been used to support both Bush and Osama bin Laden in the US and around the world.

Other money used to fund the election rigging was from siphoned Enron money stored away in accounts in the Cook Islands, which was once the base of one of the more questionable and Saudi-linked BCCI subsidiaries. Cook Islands banks also handled some of the weapons smuggling financing of the Iran-Contra scandal. A former Justice Department attorney who helped prosecute the BCCI case said the use of the Cook Islands by the Bush reelection team indicates they wanted the bank arrangements to be a "quick folding tent" operation that would cease to exist when the election was over. He said the Cook Islands was notorious for not requiring any documentation for such operations.

[AtLiberty]

44. *bump*

[iconoclastNYC]

45. Didn't Sibel Edmonds say something about this?

She had to be cagey but she was saying something about illicit funds being xfered to campaigns?