I know the Bush administration holds itself to a pretty low standard for law and order, but this sounds like one of the more blatant cases of influence-peddling in a long while.
In meeting after meeting, President Bush’s special envoy, former Secretary of State James Baker, has lobbied world leaders to reduce the crushing debt owed by Iraq.
But at the very same time, a high-powered consortium — including Baker’s firm, the Carlyle Group, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other Washington heavyweights — has been pitching a seemingly conflicting proposal. The plan urges one of the wealthiest nations in the Middle East to maximize what it collects from Iraq.
How? By hiring the consortium.
“I don’t care how eminent the people are, or the groups, this is as bald-faced influence peddling as you are ever going to see anywhere,” says international finance expert Jerome Levinson, a law professor at American University in Washington, D.C.
Isn’t this why we have conflict-of-interest laws? Baker is representing the U.S. government while working with Kuwait, which is owed billions by Iraq. At the same time, Baker’s Carlyle Group’s is telling Kuwait that the firm’s “roster of political stars” could “protect” Kuwait’s interests. Time for a special counsel.
NBC is picking up on this now, but it’s worth noting that The Nation is the one who broke this story earlier this week and obtained the documents upon which the report is based.