Clinton Foundation Donors Got Weapons Deals From Hillary Clinton's State Department

[Wilms]

Clinton Foundation Donors Got Weapons Deals From Hillary Clinton's State Department

Even by the standards of arms deals between the United States and Saudi Arabia, this one was enormous. A consortium of American defense contractors led by Boeing would deliver $29 billion worth of advanced fighter jets to the United States' oil-rich ally in the Middle East.

Israeli officials were agitated, reportedly complaining to the Obama administration that this substantial enhancement to Saudi air power risked disrupting the region's fragile balance of power. The deal appeared to collide with the State Department’s documented concerns about the repressive policies of the Saudi royal family.

But now, in late 2011, Hillary Clinton’s State Department was formally clearing the sale, asserting that it was in the national interest. At press conferences in Washington to announce the department’s approval, an assistant secretary of state, Andrew Shapiro, declared that the deal had been “a top priority” for Clinton personally. Shapiro, a longtime aide to Clinton since her Senate days, added that the “U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army have excellent relationships in Saudi Arabia.”

These were not the only relationships bridging leaders of the two nations. In the years before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed at least $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, the philanthropic enterprise she has overseen with her husband, former president Bill Clinton. Just two months before the deal was finalized, Boeing -- the defense contractor that manufactures one of the fighter jets the Saudis were especially keen to acquire, the F-15 -- contributed $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to a company press release.

The Saudi deal was one of dozens of arms sales approved by Hillary Clinton’s State Department that placed weapons in the hands of governments that had also donated money to the Clinton family philanthropic empire, an International Business Times investigation has found.

http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hillary-clintons-state-department-1934187

Great list of "donations", here:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/hillary-clinton-foundation-state-arms-deals#disqus_thread

Quite the Enterprise they've got there!

And BIG thanks to Amborin!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511310833

[msongs]

1. bernie votes for F[-35s...F-35s stationed in....Vermont nt

[Wilms]

5. They were going to be stationed somewhere.

It's supposed to be a "go to" plane for national defense. They canceled the previous model already...and of course, the new one is screwed up. But it's a plane for our national defense. And it was going to be stationed somewhere.

[bobbobbins01]

33. Bernie brings jobs to his state!

How corrupt!

[Jefferson23]

2. Recommend...thank you. n/t

[amborin]

3. this is So VERY serious; it is such a blatant conflict of interest, at minimum; more here:

In 2011, the State Department cleared an enormous arms deal: Led by Boeing, a consortium of American defense contractors would deliver $29 billion worth of advanced fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns over the kingdom's troublesome human rights record. In the years before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, Saudi Arabia had contributed $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, and just two months before the jet deal was finalized, Boeing donated $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to an International Business Times investigation released Tuesday.

The Saudi transaction is just one example of nations and companies that had donated to the Clinton Foundation seeing an increase in arms deals while Hillary Clinton oversaw the State Department.

IBT found that between October 2010 and September 2012, State approved $165 billion in commercial arms sales to 20 nations that had donated to the foundation, plus another $151 billion worth of Pentagon-brokered arms deals to 16 of those countries—a 143 percent increase over the same time frame under the Bush Administration.

The sales boosted the military power of authoritarian regimes such as Qatar, Algeria, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, which, like Saudi Arabia, had been criticized by the department for human rights abuses......



http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/hillary-clinton-foundation-state-arms-deals

eta: Saudi Arabia (Sunni/Wahhabi) is using some of those fighter jets to bomb Houthis (Shiites) in Yemen, with massive civilian casualties; YET---the Houthis have been constantly FIGHTING AGAINST AL QUEDA in Yemen! INSANITY

[kristopher]

8. It's shocking to say the least.

The brazen nature of the money games they routinely play show a such a chasm between how they view 'right & wrong' and how I view 'right & wrong' that I have trouble believing we are the same species, let alone the same culture and political party.

[Amishman]

10. not sure how you can argue with that

Corporate Clinton doing what she does best; anything she can to enrich herself.

[tk2kewl]

4. Make millions killing thousands and get a tax deduction for helping a few

And get some quid pro quo to go

[kgnu_fan]

6. getting worse and worse as people are finding out...

[mopinko]

7. oh please. have we ever said no to the saudis?

i'm a bernie supporter, but this is just dumb.
i would love it if we cut off the house of saud. but laying this at the feet of hillary clinton, at all, let alone claiming this was a quid pro quo is just reaching like stretch armstrong.

[Wilms]

9. Largest sale in history.

All offensive weaponry. Use it as a threat to Iran, who some would love to bomb. Israel is pissed but will go along.

Let's just have the Saudi's and Boeing, in the midst of this dangerous circus, kick a few bucks toward the foundation.

[tammywammy]

11. As far as I know

The State Dept reviews foreign military sales to make sure it complies with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, import/export licensing and that the sale is consistent with the administration's foreign policy.

These deals take years to go through.

[sarge43]

14. Oh please, it's the Boeing kick back to the Clinton Foundation.

The Boeing executives did that out of the goodness of their hearts?

Only surprise it wasn't much more 900K. That's serious quid.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. $10m here $10m there, and, voila!, you're not "dead broke" any more.

Capitalism + politics + greedy politician = Investment pays off.

[panader0]

13. The Clinton Foundation looks worse than Bain Capital...

Very obvious connection between Hill as SOS and donations to the Clinton Foundation.

[KoKo]

15. Recommend for Exposure..........

[Octafish]

16. 5 WikiLeaks Revelations Exposing the Rapidly Growing Corporatism Dominating American Diplomacy Abroa

One of WikiLeaks' greatest achievements has been to expose the exorbitant amount of influence that multinational corporations have over Washington's diplomacy.

By Rania Khalek / AlterNet June 21, 2011

One of the most significant scourges paralyzing our democracy is the merger of corporate power with elected and appointed government officials at the highest levels of office. Influence has a steep price-tag in American politics where politicians are bought and paid for with ever increasing campaign contributions from big business, essentially drowning out any and all voices advocating on behalf of the public interest.

Millions of dollars in campaign funding flooding Washington's halls of power combined with tens of thousands of high-paid corporate lobbyists and a never-ending revolving door that allows corporate executives to shuffle between the public and private sectors has blurred the line between government agencies and private corporations.

This corporate dominance over government affairs helps to explain why we are plagued by a health-care system that lines the pockets of industry executives to the detriment of the sick; a war industry that causes insurmountable death and destruction to enrich weapons-makers and defense contractors; and a financial sector that violates the working class and poor to dole out billions of dollars in bonuses to Wall Street CEO's.

The implications of this rapidly growing corporatism reach far beyond our borders and into the realm of American diplomacy, as in one case where efforts by US diplomats forced the minimum wage for beleaguered Haitian workers to remain below sweatshop levels.

In this context of corporate government corruption, one of WikiLeaks' greatest achievements has been to expose the exorbitant amount of influence that multinational corporations have over Washington's diplomacy. Many of the WikiLeaks US embassy cables reveal the naked intervention by our ambassadorial staff in the business of foreign countries on behalf of US corporations. From mining companies in Peru to pharmaceutical companies in Ecuador, one WikiLeaks embassy cable after the next illuminates a pattern of US diplomats shilling for corporate interests abroad in the most underhanded and sleazy ways imaginable.

While the merger of corporate and government power isn't exactly breaking news, it is one of the most critical yet under-reported issues of our time. And WikiLeaks has given us an inside look at the inner-workings of this corporate-government collusion, often operating at the highest levels of power. It is crystal clear that it's standard operating procedure for US government officials to moonlight as corporate stooges. Thanks to WikiLeaks, here are five instances that display the lengths to which Washington is willing to go to protect and promote US corporations around the world.

1. US officials work as salespeople for Boeing. The merger of state and corporate power is striking in a slew of cables detailing US State Department officials acting as marketing agents on behalf of one lucky corporation. Earlier this year the New York Times revealed details about how US diplomats have actively promoted the sale of commercial jets built by the US company Boeing.

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/story/151370/5_wikileaks_revelations_exposing_the_rapidly_growing_corporatism_dominating_american_diplomacy_abroad

This got dropped off the Corporate Owned News radar, so on it goes.

[forest444]

17. Ms. Electability does it again.

Undecided voters will just love this in November - and it's probably just the tip of the iceberg.

[AzDar]

18. Jesus wept.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

19. doesn't this bother her supporters?

[cali]

23. No. Nothing does.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

24. Yes I suppose people still loved Martha Stewart

[Hydra]

28. As they put it so well in Fight Club:

"**** Martha Stuart! She's polishing the brass on the Titanic!"

In a very real way, she was a junior member of the Big Club. The kind of graft going on at the upper levels is staggering in comparison.

[jhart3333]

20. Can you say "conflict of interest?" nt

[John Poet]

25. "The Appearance of Impropriety"

used to be a thing that could end political careers...

I guess those folks hadn't collected enough millions from corporations and foreign governments to inoculate themselves...

[Duval]

21. Mother Jones has a very good investigative team.

I've been reading it for years. They are the ones who got the scoop on the "Romney, 98%.

Thank you, Wilms.

[Warren DeMontague]

22. Somebody better get a squad in here to kick some berniebro threads, stat!

Help! These crickets arent going to feed themselves!

[think]

26. Come on. Every Secretary of State does this.

[Unknown Beatle]

27. Pay to play, baby.

Pay to play.

[Cheese Sandwich]

29. nasty. nt

[SMC22307]

30. K&R

[Uncle Joe]

31. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Wilms.

[amborin]

32. Hillary is going to get indicted over this; but is the State Dept the proper investigator? Should it

be an outside entity?