US Lobbyists with Clinton Ties Hired to Defend Honduran Coup Regime

[Orwellian_Ghost]

US Lobbyists with Clinton Ties Hired to Defend Honduran Coup Regime


Supporters of the coup in Honduras have begun hiring advisers and lobbyists with close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an attempt to strengthen support in Washington for the coup. A Honduran business group has hired lobbyist Lanny Davis, who served as White House counsel for President Bill Clinton. The coup government has also hired Bennet Ratcliff, a public relations specialist with ties to former President Bill Clinton.

KEN SILVERSTEIN: Well, basically, the coup leaders have decided that they need support in Washington. This is a critical issue, because they are desperately trying to get legitimacy for overthrowing an elected government. And if they can get support in Washington, then they have hopes that they may be able to remain in power and to fend off the return of Zelaya.

Now, they’ve hired—their chief guy here is Lanny Davis, who used to work for President Bill Clinton. He was legal counsel. And he offered advice on the campaign finance scandals and the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and on and on and on. He’s basically a mouthpiece for the Clintons. He has very, very close ties to Hillary Clinton, of course, and, no doubt, he’ll be using his ties to the Clintons and to the Democratic Party, the Democrats in Congress, to try to win support for the coup government.

AMY GOODMAN: And go on from Lanny Davis, on to who else?

KEN SILVERSTEIN: Well, I mean, Davis really is the guy—I think the primary guy they’ve hired, the one who’s got the most influence. And I would point out about Davis is that he has a track record. It’s sort of ironic. I’ve seen bloggers say, “Gee, how could Lanny Davis do this? You know, it’s so surprising, this Democrat.” Well, there’s very little Lanny Davis won’t do for money, actually. I mean, he has a long track record of working for very, very difficult—is the polite way of putting it—clients. He has worked for dictators in the past. In 1999, when he was at Patton Boggs, one of the big law firms here, he worked for a Kazakh front group, just as he’s working for a Honduran front group now. He worked for a Kazakh front group that was acting on behalf of President Nazarbayev, and Lanny Davis was out there trying to convince the world that Nazarbayev was a democratic reformer who was really trying to bring democracy to Kazakhstan. Well, guess what. That was ten years ago. And guess who’s president of Kazakhstan right now. President Nazarbayev, one of the most corrupt leaders around the world. So Davis has a long track record of working for these people. And—

...

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/15/honduras

[malaise]

1. US for profit foreign policy

This is sickening. :puke:

[HamdenRice]

2. This was posted and debunked yesterday nt

[KittyWampus]

3. this is actually guilt by association. And Lanny Davis is what is known as a "hanger on" to the Clin

tons.

[cali]

4. you forgot a link to the shameless propaganda you just posted.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

6. I'm surprised you don't know who Amy Goodman is. Link

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/15/honduras

[cali]

7. I like Amy Goodman. It's still shameless propaganda

it's trying to tar the administration via innuendo and very tenuous association. And it stinks, no matter who's doing it. I don't have anything but contempt for propaganda masquerading as news, whether it's from the right wing and corporate media or Goodman.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. IMHO, Lanny Davis is slime. BTW..Silverstein is quite reputable and is the Washington editor for

Harper's.

[mod mom]

10. Amy Goodman has the highest journalistic standards, but then of course,

to some facts get in the way of an agenda.

[tularetom]

5. During the campaign I used to see "Lanny" shilling for Hillary

and I remember thinking to myself I'd pay that guy money to endorse my opponent. He was the worst salesman I've ever seen.

I would guess the dictators he has worked for in the past succeeded in spite of his efforts, not because of them.

I wouldn't hire him to clean my toilets.

[KittyWampus]

8. The word "unctious" defines him, IMO

Very high Ick Factor.

[varelse]

9. Rec'd for Democracy Now

Plus, I trust Secretary Clinton to do the right thing - no matter who lobbies her from either side.

[Peace Patriot]

15. "I trust Hillary Clinton to do the right thing..."

I'm waiting...

The right thing would be to stop the multi-millions of US taxpayer dollars larded onto the Honduran military, the $40+ million in USAID-NED and other funds larded on all the rightwing political groups in Honduras, including the US taxpayer millions going to the "International Republican Institute" (thence to Honduran fascists) headed by John McCain, and all other aid to the coupsters, withdraw our ambassador and deny the coupsters visas to travel to the US. Secretary Clinton has not done these things, and every day that she delays doing them, this violent, repressive rightwing coup further entrenches itself, further represses dissent and media coverage, and rounds up or 'disappears' more political prisoners.

This Honduran coup--fronted by Lanny Davis, with the thick involvement of Otto Reich and John Negroponte (who is advising Clinton)--both of them notorious for supporting "dirty wars" in Latin America--is in the interest of our war profiteers and US and other global corporate predators. Clinton needs to establish that she is not acting in their interests as well, by failing to take appropriate measures to shut down this clearly anti-democratic coup in a country that is basically a client state of the U.S. The Obama administration can shut this coup down today. They have not done so. And we need to ask why.

Further, Clinton does not have a good record on Latin American foreign policy issues. She had Mark Penn as her chief campaign adviser--a Lanny Davis-type whore lobbyist who was a paid agent of the Colombian government--one of the top human rights abusers on earth--while he was running her campaign. She supported "free trade" with Colombia before she was forced to disavow that position when Mark Penn's connection to the narco-thugs running Colombia was exposed. She also supports "free trade" in Peru, where the highly corrupt government of Alan Garcia is using US "war on drugs" aid to suppress indigenous protests against the rape of the Amazon by international mining and other corporate exploitation. The supposed labor and environmental protections in the Peru "free trade" agreement were paper only protections. They were not real. The same in Honduras. One of President Zelaya's "crimes" in Honduras was to raise the minimum wage which interfered with the bad guys' intention to use the people of Honduras as a slave labor force.

Zelaya started out as a "conservative," but realized part way through his term that US-dominated "free trade" was impoverishing most Hondurans and turned against it. For this, and for calling for fundamental reform--a vote of the people on an advisory referendum, whether or not to form a constituent assembly to discuss fundamental reform (a referendum that had no force of law--merely an opinion poll)--the military shot up the presidential palace, rousted the ELECTED president out of bed at gunpoint, and put him on a plane with blackened windows out of the country, suspended all Constitutional civil rights, rounded up and arrested all local and international reporters (including AP!), surrounded public buildings and opposition or neutral TV stations with troops, and open fired on peaceful Zelaya supporters at the airport in Honduras last week, killing a youngster and wounding many.

Latin Americans have seen this movie before, with some of the same people behind it (Otto Reich, John Negroponte for godssakes). They have no reason whatever to trust the U.S. government, and the grace period for regaining their trust with a truly just, respectful and pro-democracy policy is coming to an end, with this coup in Honduras. If the Obama administration is sincere about a new era of partnership with Latin America, and if that policy is going to succeed, Obama and Clinton need to act immediately to stop this coup and to return the elected president to Honduras. They clearly have the power to do this. They have not done it. Why?

I understand how bad our corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies are, and how dangerous are the global corporate predators and war profiteers who rule over us. They are so powerful they have taken over and privatized our very voting system, with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code in all the voting machines, with virtually no audit/recount controls. To oppose them can be career-ending (as President Zelaya found out). And this situation WE are in, of Corporate Rule (not to mention the plight of the people of Honduras) is likely responsible for many of our disappointments in Obama policy. But, in this case, the Obama administration would have the whole world on its side, in doing the right thing--and it is critically important action that must be taken if there is not to be a permanent breach between the north and south in this hemisphere. And what is very odd is that it would even be in the interest of US corporations, if they would only agree to do business on a fair playing field--or even just a somewhat less tilted one. This traditional policy of bludgeoning Latin America into submission WILL NOT WORK ANY MORE. Leftist (majorityist) governments have been elected in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay (Paraguay!), and Chile, and in all three countries bordering Honduras--Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. These are remarkable, history-shattering events--and very positive events. There is further now a pro-democracy head of the OAS, and a pro-democracy Latin American heading the UN General Assembly.

This is an utterly changed political landscape--a change for the better, for the people of Latin America--and the US can either continue being the pariah of the hemisphere, or it can change, too--for the better. The Honduran coup is being seen as a litmus test of Obama policy in Latin America. Obama and Clinton need to act now to prove their good intentions. They have decades and decades of bad--really bad--US policy in Latin America to overcome--including Bushwhack sponsorship of a white separatist coup in Bolivia only this last September (and many other US/Bushwhack-supported fascist plots, all of them aimed at what I believe is a Bushwhack plan for Oil War II: South America). The Honduran coup needs to be stopped, on the facts of that situation alone. But it is also THE event that will define the Obama administration to the new leftist leadership of Latin America and their billions of supporters.

You may trust that Secretary Clinton will do the right thing. Latin Americans have no reason to trust a US Secretary of State or a US President. None! That trust must be earned by action. And time is running out. Dry up the funds, withdraw the ambassador and shut it down, now. That's what they must do.

[Peace Patriot]

16. Recommended reading re the rightwing coup in Honduras...

KOZLOFF: "The Politics of Destabilization - McCain and Honduras" -Telecoms, etc.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x18910

Washington & the Coup in Honduras: Here is the Evidence
By Eva Golinger
15 July 2009
http://www.chavezcode.com/2009/07/washington-coup-in-honduras-here-is.html

The Role of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in the Honduran Coup
The International Republican Institute talks of “coup” in Honduras, months before
By Eva Golinger
6 July 2009
http://www.chavezcode.com/2009/07/role-of-international-republican.html

Who's behind Lanny Davis' putsch paycheck?
Following the money trail in the Honduran coup
by Bill Conroy 7/14/09
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2009/07/whos-behind-lanny-davis-putsch-paycheck

And do visit the DU Latin American Forum. Lots of good information there.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. Clinton Ties?

I have a Three Stooges tie. Is that anything like it?

There's a button on it, that when you push it, it makes the Curly "woob woob woob woob" sound.

--d!

[maryf]

13. k&r nt

[peacetalksforall]

14. No matter what the posturing by Davis or any other lobbyist or DUers, if I see,

notice, read, hear, or smell any support of this rogue coup government getting support from the U.S., I will be crushed. It will mean our two top leaders are criminals. It will confirm my worst thoughts about what this country is. A pretense for the worst kind of theft in the world - ownership by a ruling class and to hell with the people.

I have heard both Sec Clinton and Pres Obama say things about Chavez or Venezuela that sound like they came from the Cheney game book.

What is going on in Central and South America is a move by the people to get rid of the military dictators and presidents who have played along with the hit men on behalf of our government, some European governments, the usurous World Bank, IMF, and powerful corporations.

The people of these countries, not a few international entities, own the earth resources.

What we should be talking about is whether Otto Reich or any other supporters of the coup government are working for the CIA and who gave them orders. And those involved from the outside should tell us who is paying them.

Someone has to tell these people that times have changed. Someone, somewhere along the way through the decades thought they could get away with thefts, assassinations, and massacres continuing into and throughout this century.

There are protestors in jail. Does Lanny Davis, Otto Reich and the others take the blame?

We have some truly mercenary, ugly souls in this country.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. Kick and recommend.