Greg Palast: Barnes got Bush into Guard, collected payoff later.

[Soopercali]

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=233&row=1

STILL UNREPORTED: THE PAY-OFF IN BUSH AIR GUARD FIX
Saturday, August 28, 2004

by Greg Palast

In 1968, former Congressman George Herbert Walker Bush of Texas, fresh from voting to send other men's sons to Vietnam, enlisted his own son in a very special affirmative action program, the 'champagne' unit of the Texas Air National Guard.  There, Top Gun fighter pilot George Dubya was assigned the dangerous job of protecting Houston from Vietcong air attack.

This week, former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes of Texas 'fessed up to pulling the strings to keep Little George out of the jungle. "I got a young man named George W. Bush into the Texas Air Guard - and I'm ashamed."

THE PAY-OFF

 That's far from the end of the story. In 1994, George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas by a whisker. By that time, Barnes had left office to become a big time corporate lobbyist. To an influence peddler like Barnes, having damning information on a sitting governor is worth its weight in gold – or, more precisely, there’s a value in keeping the info secret. 

Barnes appears to have made lucrative use of his knowledge of our President's slithering out of the draft as a lever to protect a multi-billion dollar contract for a client.  That's the information in a confidential letter buried deep in the files of the US Justice Department that fell into my hands at BBC television.

Here's what happened. Just after Bush's election, Barnes' client GTech Corp., due to allegations of corruption, was about to lose its license to print money: its contract to run the Texas state lottery. Barnes, says the Justice Department document, made a call to the newly elected governor's office and saved GTech's state contract.

The letter said, "Governor Bush ... made a deal with Ben Barnes not to rebid because Barnes could confirm that Bush had lied during the '94 campaign."

In that close race, Bush denied the fix was in to keep him out of 'Nam, and the US media stopped asking questions. What did the victorious Governor Bush's office do for Barnes? According to the tipster, "Barnes agreed never to confirm the story and the governor talked to the chair of the lottery two days later and she then agreed to support letting GTech keep the contract without a bid."

And so it came to pass that the governor's commission reversed itself and gave GTech the billion dollar deal without a bid.

The happy client paid Barnes, the keeper of Governor Bush's secret, a fee of over $23 million. Barnes, not surprisingly, denies that Bush took care of his client in return for Barnes' silence.  However, confronted with the evidence, the former Lt. Governor now admits to helping the young George stay out of Vietnam.

[dennis4868]

1. How does Greg....

always seem to get his hands on top secret government documents?

[jdj]

4. Well, his stock answer is that he is just innocently standing on

the road when a black limousine stops and suddently secret documents come flying out the window.


The tale of how he got proof of the vote fraud in Florida from Katherine Harris's office is hilarious. He just called asking about a certain document and asked a low-level staff person to FAX him what he needed, which they did.

He's a maverick.

[Tamyrlin79]

2. HOLY MOLY!!!!

This could be so huge... if the f-ing media picks it up, that is.

[merh]

3. So now there are US Justice Dept documents being leaked

to the BBC

"That's the information in a confidential letter buried deep in the files of the US Justice Department that fell into my hands at BBC television."

Looks to me like * has not only pissed off alot of the citizens of the U.S.of A. and many international governments, but he has mad a bunch of folks in his own admin angry!

Heehee, couln't happen to a nicer guy!

[Tamyrlin79]

6. It always helps...

When the "underlings" are turning against the ones at the top.

[movonne]

5. How can we get this reported ???

[HEyHEY]

7. I have a feeling this will go big

Perhaps this is why Kerry wasn't worried about swiftboat vets and why Bush suddenly began denouncing them

[teamster633]

9. and why isn't the irony of * sending National Guard troups...

...off to die when he used the same National Guard as a hide out to avoid combat ever brought up. How does that asshole sleep at night?

[Nomad559]

8. Video - Barnes

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/Nomad667/Barnes.wmv