Kurds try to invest 14 tons of cash(in talks w/Barbour, Griffith & Rogers)

[maddezmom]

A Washington-based lobbying firm with strong ties to the US Republican party has been in talks with international banks to facilitate the placing by the Iraqi Kurds of more than half a billion dollars in cash.


The money is part of $1.4bn in Iraqi oil revenues paid in cash by the US-led occupation authority to the Kurds in June 2004, just days before it handed power to an interim Iraqi government.

Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, a firm founded by two senior aides of President George H.W. Bush and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, is representing the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Washington. Robert Blackwill, until last month White House chief adviser on Iraq, has also joined the firm.

Ed Rogers, a founding partner, confirmed the firm was working for the Kurds but said it was not managing any money for them. "Know that BGR has no role in managing investments for the Kurds and the only comment about our role that we can make is what is listed in our foreign agent registration filing," he wrote in an e-mail.

more: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/795c6bcc-4a4f-11d9-b065-00000e...

[pleiku52cab]

1. Nice trick

Give them our tax dollars and then let them give it back to the repugs to spend. Sure am glad that money was not wasted on anything that could have improved the lives of the average Kurds.

[maddezmom]

2. three helicopters filled with shrink-wrapped blocks of $100-dollar notes.

three helicopters filled with shrink-wrapped blocks of $100-dollar notes. The money, which was outside the regular budget, would have weighed 14 tonnes and represented the equivalent of around six months regular financing for the Kurdish regional government It was part of nearly $1.8bn paid by the CPA to the Kurds outside its regular financing in its final two months of life. The money came from the Development Fund for Iraq, set up by the United Nations following the war for use in rebuilding the country.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sounds like a movie.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Yea, a bad movie n/t

[MGKrebs]

3. Let's see, 10% of of 500 mil equals,

ummm, 5 mil. Divided by 5 (4 principals and a cut to the firms general revenue) is a million bucks apiece.

Possible investments? Let's see, United Technologies is looking up. Carlysle is a safe bet. Probably wouldn't hurt to grab a chunk of Chevron. Modest ongoing transaction fees. Done deal! See you at the club!

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Rampant corruption! The Bush cabal is about NOTHING except...

enriching its cronies and financial supporters.

[Nordic]

7. of course. They're nothing but gangsters

Tony Soprano would be green with envy

[FDRrocks]

6. The Iron Triangle at work n/t

[daleo]

8. Lots of corrupt officials must have gotten rich on this one

Plenty of loot to go around. It makes all the death seem worth it.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. kick

[Solly Mack]

10. That would be the infamous Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Lanny Griffith - Chief Operating Officer
Ed Rogers - Vice Chairman

LINK: http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Barbour%2C...

Barbour claims to no longer have a financial stake in the company



BUT..check out New Bridge Strategies: http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=New_Bridge...

Link related to NBS: http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0310/01/m03c.html

[snippy]

11. How very republican. n/t

[Hotler]

12. Kick!

[saigon68]

13. Gangsters and Hoodlums

They are nothing more than the above.