The Smoking Gun on Clark?: Stephens Group and Dean Attack Ads

[seventhson]

The attacks Dogs have been set loose on Howard Dean and there is a nice, privately funded group behind it all. But they are not a secret society nor are they operating behind veils of secrecy.

They are proud and out and out nasty.

And they began by financing the attack ads in Iowa against Dean last month.

They are called (ready for this?); THE CLUB FOR GROWTH !!!

But the great irony is that there is ONE member of the CLUB FOR GROWTH (at least, I have not searched all the participants) whose ties to Bush and to one other candidate brings the whole Clark candidacy into a new light (at least for me)

That man is Jackson Stephens Jr.. And until just 10 months ago General Wesley Clark was a Manager of the Jackson Stephens-owned Stephens Group.


We had BETTER know who the CLUB FOR GROWTH is, because they are the biggest enemies of the Democratic party and to democratic principals to come down the track since the Heritage Foundation. And we had BETTER know who Jackson Stephens is and the others who are in that organization, because it is THEIR agenda which is critical in this election season. They want one of THEIR OWN to be in the White House.


BEFORE General Clark resigned from the Stephens Group at the end of February 2003, he had begun his quest for the presidency.

In early 2003 it was reported that Clark had been meeting with a variety of people to explore the possibility of a 2004 run at the presidency. He decided then that he would resign his position and take a position with CNN commenting on the Iraq war (saying that he was being posted first in Kuwait)

Just prior to that he was lobbying the CIA and Pentagon and the White House for Homeland Security and other military contracts for Axciom and other Stephens clients in the military industrial complex.

My thinking is this: What BETTER way to get contracts for your clients than to WIN the White House?

Why bother having to LOBBY the White House when YOU can make the decisions?

In December 2003 the nasty attack ads began in Iowa against Howard Dean. Who was one of the major players behind these ads? None other than Clark's former chief employer not even 10 months previously: Jackson Stephens Jr.


Club for Growth is a nasty animal which even attacks Republicans for voting agaiunst Bush or with the Dems. They are called RINOs (Republicans in name only)

THIS is who our beloved General Clark was workiong for when he decided to run for President and then register as a Democrat.

I wonder wonder why.


Here is a link for their story on the antiDean ad:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/index1.php

here is the membership list of Club for Growth:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/staff.php


On Edit: Please see some additional sources for this article below in posts # 32 and #43

[Tummler]

1. Guess who else has ties to the Stephens?

Bill Clinton and virtually every major politician from Arkansas.

OMG!!!! Maybe Bill Clinton is behind the attack ads!!!!!!!!! :tinfoilhat: :crazy:

[seventhson]

2. Maybe Bill Clinton is behind General Clark

Maybe that's why Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean

[BobbyJay]

17. cue erie music!!!

[Closer]

25. Clark

is a NeoCon Warhawk. I've known it from day one, and it only takes half a brain to figure it out.

Thanks for this post, Seventhson.


But I sincerely hope you didn't expect mature, or reasoned discourse from a majority of the Clark supporters here.

Don't worry, there are those of us who know about Clark, his ties to Jackson Stephens, Acxion (sp) and others. We're listening. And we're talking.

[BobbyJay]

37. neocon warhawk? So THAT'S why he came out against the Iraq war and

against the PNAC agenda (which he mentioned by name several times). Because's he's a NEO-CON WARHAWK. Yes, it's all clear now.

[seventhson]

51. Clark: A Hawk in Dove's feathers

LOL

Jeez, never heard of Machiavelli?

You only need to PRETEND to be what the people want when you are working for the Emperor. The Emperor tells you what to do. Even to say you ooppose the Emperor so that the people will follow you and believe in you.

Political Science 101. "The Prince"

Machiavelli. Modus Operandi. Simple and Brilliant.

But it's NOT working, Jackson.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

81. "Pretending to be what the people want"

Sounds familiar doesn't it?

[worldgonekrazy]

107. HE WAS NOT AGAINST THE WAR!!!

Haven't you seen the story where he praised the Bush Admin for having the cajones to go into Iraq?

Didn't you watch him on CNN where he talked about what a brilliant strategy the war plan was?

Clark didn't decide he was against the war until:
1) he didn't like the way the occupation was playing out
2) it became obvious that the war was a big fucking mistake
3) he decided to run for prez and knew the Dem base wouldn't vote for someone who supported the war

Your guy is a shill. Sorry to be the one to have to tell you.

[rogerhall]

127. He never praised Bush for Iraq. That was Afghanistan.

Hell. *I* praised Bush for Afghanistan, and my skin crawls at the thought of the 'PATRIOT ACT'. I nearly threw up just typing it.

Check again. And then read past the single quoted paragraph you have been fed over the last few months. You will find that Clark spelled out a tremendous amount of the Dem platform.

BTW, I personally:
1) don't like the way the occupation is playing out
2) see the big fucking mistake this war is (hey - even I was willing to give the administration the benefit of the doubt after Powell went to the UN with his little vial of baby powder)
3) asked Clark to run for POTUS, regardless of where he stood before the war.

Try watching about a dozen of these:

http://www.us4clark.com/mediaclips.html

And then tell me he is a shill. Good luck not seeing the truth!

Clark is the only chance we have of protecting civil liberties AND healing the rifts with our allies (who seem more and more to have right about their threatened vetos, dontcha think?).

[CWebster]

161. Nope, he praised bush for Iraq

From the horse's mouth:

What Must Be Done to Complete a Great Victory
by General Wesley Clark


Can anything be more moving than the joyous throngs swarming the streets of Baghdad? Memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the defeat of Milosevic in Belgrade flood back. Statues and images of Saddam are smashed and defiled. Liberation is at hand. Liberation — the powerful balm that justifies painful sacrifice, erases lingering doubt and reinforces bold actions. Already the scent of victory is in the air. Yet a bit more work and some careful reckoning need to be done before we take our triumph....

As for the political leaders themselves, President Bush and Tony Blair should be proud of their resolve in the face of so much doubt. And especially Mr Blair, who skillfully managed tough internal politics, an incredibly powerful and sometimes almost irrationally resolute ally, and concerns within Europe. Their opponents, those who questioned the necessity or wisdom of the operation, are temporarily silent, but probably unconvinced. And more tough questions remain to be answered.



http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0917-14.htm

[cappymeister]

176. Why don't you try reading the complete article

From the same article...

Is this victory? Certainly the soldiers and generals can claim success. And surely, for the Iraqis there is a new-found sense of freedom. But remember, this was all about weapons of mass destruction. They haven’t yet been found. It was to continue the struggle against terror, bring democracy to Iraq, and create change, positive change, in the Middle East. And none of that is begun, much less completed.

Let’s have those parades on the Mall and down Constitution Avenue — but don’t demobilize yet. There’s a lot yet to be done, and not only by the diplomats.

The truth is Wes Clark is not a partisan Democrat, he was giving congratulations to the US military and US leadership for winning the major combat so quickly. He does question motives for the war and warns of the difficulty of the aftermath.

In fact, Wes Clark has a pretty clear record on his opposition to the way the Iraq threat was handled by this administration. Here are some quotes:

August 29, 2002:
Clark Said There Is "War Fever Out There Right Now in Some Quarters of the Leadership Elements in this Country...Where is That Coming From?" On August 29, 2002, Clark said regarding a proposed invasion of Iraq, "Well, taking it to the United Nations doesn't put America's foreign policy into the hands of the French. What you have to do as the United States is you have to get other nations to commit and come in with you, and so you've got to provide the evidence, and the convincing of the French and the French public, and the leadership elite. Look, there's a war fever out there right now in some quarters of some of the leadership elements in this country, apparently, because I keep hearing this sense of urgency and so forth. Where is that coming from? The vice president said that today he doesn't know when they're going to get nuclear weapons. They've been trying to get nuclear weapons for -- for 20 years. So if there's some smoking gun, if there's some really key piece of information that hasn't been shared publicly, maybe they can share it with the French." CNN, 8/29/02

January 23, 2003:
Clark Said "There Are Problems With the Case the U.S. is Making," for War Against Iraq in Order to Gain Allies at the U.N. On January 23, 2003, Clark said, regarding the case the United States had made for war against Iraq to the United Nations, "There are problems with the case that the U.S. is making, because the U.S. hasn't presented publicly the clear, overwhelming sense of urgency to galvanize the world community to immediate military action now.....You need the cover of legitimacy, and afterwards, you're going to need allies and other people to help share the burdens of peacekeeping." CNN 1/23/03

There are lots more quotes from Clark from CNN, some of which are found here.

He also has written two books on the subject of national security. His latest is found at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1586482181/qid=1073505911/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-2055020-2990403

[seventhson]

50. I just Hope Dean does NOT pick this neocon as VP

All I can think of is JFK and RFK.

RFK is starting to look more likely.

Dean had BETTER have awesome security because the BFEE have a very long history and pattern of dark actions with their dark actors.

And he'd better pick a clear antiBFEE dude or dudette like Edwards for insurance as opposed to Clark or Kerry which would provide the Bushes an INCENTIVE.

[Clark Campaigner]

152. Yes, he is

because he knows only Clark can win the GE.

[Romberry]

153. Do you and the other Clark folks....

...think that posting pictures of Clark close to Bill Clinton will somehow make some of the magic rub off? Clark is a loser. Worse, he's a Republican.

[CWebster]

160. Looks more like he wants to kiss him to me

it is a good candidate to caption.

Hiya Bill...I leave it to your imagination.

[ArkDem]

158. Bingo

.

[arewethereyet]

196. Maybe Clinton is behind Clark ? Is there ANY doubt ?

Not that I've ever seen...

[xultar]

3. No it was Lee Harvey Oswald! He's behind the attack ads and the

grassy knowl n/t

[blm]

4. You're talking about STEPHEN MOORE. Dean's old pal from CATO Institute.

Get your facts straight, seventhson. Stephen Moore is Club for Growth.

Moore and Dean have had a relationship for at least 6 years. In fact, just last September Moore was praising Dean and recalling that the folks at CATO felt they finally found a "Democrat they can work with."

What I see is Moore treating Dean for the 2nd time as if he is the Dem nominee already, and by attacking him from the right, the left solidifies around Dean to defend him.


The Appeal of Howard Dean
From the September 15, 2003 issue: Why he could be Bush's more dangerous opponent.
by Stephen Moore
09/15/2003, Volume 009, Issue 01

SEVERAL YEARS AGO an obscure Democratic governor from the politically inconsequential state of Vermont was the guest speaker at a Cato Institute lunch. His name was Howard Dean. He had been awarded one of the highest grades among all Democrats (and a better grade than at least half of the Republicans) in the annual Cato Fiscal Report Card on the Governors. We were curious about his views because we had heard that he harbored political ambitions beyond the governorship.

Dean charmed nearly everyone in the boardroom. He came across as erudite, policy savvy, and, believe it or not, a friend of free markets--at least by the standards of the Tom Daschle-Dick Gephardt axis of the Democratic party. Even when challenged on issues like environmentalism, where he favored a large centralized mass of intrusive regulations, Dean remained affable.

"You folks at Cato," he told us, "should really like my views because I'm economically conservative and socially laissez-faire." Then he continued: "Believe me, I'm no big-government liberal. I believe in balanced budgets, markets, and deregulation. Look at my record in Vermont." He was scathing in his indictment of the "hyper-enthusiasm for taxes" among Democrats in Washington.

He left--and I will never forget the nearly hypnotic reaction. The charismatic doctor had made believers of several hardened cynics. Nearly everyone agreed that we had finally found a Democrat we could work with. Since then, I've watched Dean's career with more than a little interest and we chat from time to time on the phone.

>>>>>>>
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/073ylkiz.asp

[retyred]

14. So then I guess deans

behind is own attack ads, who'd a thunk it!


retyred in fla
“Good-Night Paul, Wherever You Are”
So I read this book

[Clark Can WIN]

29. Dean must miss his underdog status

So he's running ads against himself so he can suprise everyone again?

makes as much sense as any of the conspiracy theories I've seen around here.

:tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat:

[cosmicdot]

19. Jackson Stephens is a Founder of the Club for Growth

not that the Koch CATO Institute is any better

Founders Committee
http://www.clubforgrowth.org/

Frank Baxter
Jean Belanger
Brent Bozell
Terry Considine
Harlan Crow
K. Earl Durden
David Hartman
Patricia Herbold
Charles Hilton
William J. Hume - Trustee at the Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org/About/Departments/trustees.cfm
Lawrence Kudlow
Leo Linbeck
Virginia Manheimer
Lisa Nelson
D.C. Searle
Rex Sinquefield
Jackson T. Stephens, Jr.
Alex Van Rensselaer
Richard Weiss
Louis Woodhill

[blm]

27. Stephen Moore RUNS Club for Growth and has a relationship with Dean.

And so far, it had been a friendly relationship.

[democratreformed]

34. Founded in 1999 by Steve Moore, et. al. Link included

Link: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/who.php?clubforgrowth=12cfc8b19b27c4d0282c02e198166233

[HFishbine]

23. Wrong

Jackson T. Stephens, Jr. is a director of the Club for Growth(1) and son of the chairman of the Stephens Group(2) from which Clark resigned last year(3).

1) http://www.clubforgrowth.org/staff.php

2) http://www.horatioalger.com/members/ste80.htm

3) http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=MZZ72757

[Fleshdancer]

26. No, he means Jackson Stephens, Jr.

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/staff.php

Founders Committee

Frank Baxter
Jean Belanger
Brent Bozell
Terry Considine
Harlan Crow
K. Earl Durden
David Hartman
Patricia Herbold
Charles Hilton
William J. Hume
Lawrence Kudlow
Leo Linbeck
Virginia Manheimer
Lisa Nelson
D.C. Searle
Rex Sinquefield
Jackson T. Stephens, Jr.
Alex Van Rensselaer
Richard Weiss
Louis Woodhill


I'm not sure if this could be a big claim against Clark yet, but the poster was talking about Stephens, not Moore.

[blm]

31. It's Stephen Moore who did the ads and RUNS Club For Growth.

And is part of the CATO Institute, the Koch brothers funded CATO Institute who also acquired Vermont Yankee from Dean.

[KaraokeKarlton]

33. Apparently you missed all those posts of proof

that it isn't Moore. So why do you keep posting that it is?

:eyes:

[blm]

35. Because Stephen Moore was talking about HIS ad on Hannity

just an hour ago. I WATCHED the ad. Stephen Moore of the Club for Growth.

Get the transcripts.

[incapsulated]

36. Stephen Moore is President of the Club for Growth Here is the link

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/stephen.php?clubforgrowth=95f3abf3b4a11c9f7ad8dba02a4ac76

[democratreformed]

38. Yes. The link is here:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/

Please be sure to check out the section "Who are our members?"

[HFishbine]

39. Your missing the point

Clark's former employer is a huge contributor(1) to the Club for Growth and now they are running ads against Dean.

1) http://www.publici.org/527/search.aspx?act=com&orgid=700&comid=96c

[jmaier]

41. Since when do

we condemn someone for something their employer does -- or in this case doesn't even do. A number of years ago, I worked for Diebold (not in the voting machines division) but that doesn't make me a reactionary Rethuglican. Nor can I be held responsible for what their CEO does. So, what is the point of this thread exactly.

It looks like a simple smear by 2nd hand association.

[democratreformed]

45. Since Wesley Clark started running for the Democratic Presidential nom.

I've been through this one before with one of these same people.

[HFishbine]

49. It is what it is

Clarks former employer is helping to fund ads that attack Dean. Make of that what you will.

[jmaier]

54. Not much actually

But I won't have to -- others here will blow the smoke for me.

We have become a scary bunch of folks here -- attacking someone for something an organization that receives some funding from that someone's prior employer is pretty much irrational. If any Freeper type made this sort of attack on a Dem candidate, we'd be pissed.

I'm all for legitimate debates about the candidates, but this is simply specious.

[HFishbine]

61. You

may well be correct.

[BootinUp]

110. His former employer

is a rethug *sshole!

Does that make you feel any better?

:hi:

[seventhson]

68. But YOU were not lobbying for Diebold and planning to run for Prez

while Diebold was fixing races for Republicans.

Now were you a TOP executive earning 6 or 7 figures per year.

You must admit THAT is a VERY different story.

[xultar]

52. OK so if my former employer sells drugs to kids I'm an accessory? n/t

[blm]

56. I understand that, but, it's Moore who ran those ads

and he was just on FOX debuting it on Hannity's show. That ad was so obviously CHEEZY that you couldn't HELP but hate the message in it. Way over the top. As if it was DESIGNED to do the exact opposite of what they say.

[HFishbine]

60. Funny

Are we talking about the same ad? The one I saw came out a few weeks ago, so it obviously would not be debuting on Spinsanity's show. The one I saw clearly said, "Paid for by the Club for Growth," not Stephen Moore.

[blm]

63. The NEW ad, HF. Get the transcripts.

There have been threads about the ad all day here. Moore was JUST on Hannity's show tonight talking about his NEW ad, just as he talked about the other ad when it FIRST came out.

[HFishbine]

79. I see

and the Moore paid for the new ad?

[Fleshdancer]

140. Oh no, it was paid for by the Club for Growth.

Moore hit the talk show circuit, but that doesn't mean he was the only one responsible. You're right about that.

[Printer70]

111. CATO is Libertarian, not Republican

Libertarians SHOULD like Dean. Dean doesn't believe in meddling in people's private lives and believes in balancing budgets, which the last time I checked, was a good thing.

But this is a red herring. Wes Clark has a relationship with a member of Club for Growth, and while this alone might not be troubling, combined with the fact that Clark has been a Republican up until recently- voting for Nixon, Reagan, repeatedly praising W. Bush- it raises the question: are we going to nominate Republican-lite Clark on the false hope that he is more electable than Dean (despite Jan 1 Time/CNN poll showing Dean faring better versus Bush than Clark).

[blm]

183. DEAN was praised for HIS business deregulation efforts by CATO.

Pure CORPORATISM.

Dean was a proponent of some of the WORST areas of Libertarianism...DEREGULATION FOR BIG BUSINESSES.

It is that which makes Dean more Republican lite than ANY other candidate. He's campaigning as a FRAUD pretending he's a populist now.

[Printer70]

189. I see the light now...

Bill Clinton believed in de-regulation and sparked an economic boom. He is proud of that record and rightfully so. Dean does the same in Vermont with similar results...and you're criticizing him? That is inconsistent. Dean is no ideologue- he does what works and has a track record, unlike Clark, to prove it.

[bearfartinthewoods]

207. what i see is the curtains are being pulled back

revealing much about these two unknowns. this is what happens when people become so enamored of the idea of an outsider that they forget the value of a verifiable history.

it's not too late to pick a man who we know about, a man with a history we can have confidence in.

[Fleshdancer]

5. This is a pretty big claim

I'm going to need sources. I like Clark, I hope this isn't true. But if it is things are going to get real nasty real fast.

[jmaier]

13. Stephen Moore on Howard Dean

Here's a link from Stephen Moore about Gov Dean. He was quite supportive of the 'conservative' Dean but is aghast at the 'populist' Dean running for President.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/073ylkiz.asp

The Appeal of Howard Dean
by Stephen Moore
09/15/2003, Volume 009, Issue 01

SEVERAL YEARS AGO an obscure Democratic governor from the politically inconsequential state of Vermont was the guest speaker at a Cato Institute lunch. His name was Howard Dean. He had been awarded one of the highest grades among all Democrats (and a better grade than at least half of the Republicans) in the annual Cato Fiscal Report Card on the Governors. We were curious about his views because we had heard that he harbored political ambitions beyond the governorship.

Dean charmed nearly everyone in the boardroom. He came across as erudite, policy savvy, and, believe it or not, a friend of free markets--at least by the standards of the Tom Daschle-Dick Gephardt axis of the Democratic party. Even when challenged on issues like environmentalism, where he favored a large centralized mass of intrusive regulations, Dean remained affable.

"You folks at Cato," he told us, "should really like my views because I'm economically conservative and socially laissez-faire." Then he continued: "Believe me, I'm no big-government liberal. I believe in balanced budgets, markets, and deregulation. Look at my record in Vermont." He was scathing in his indictment of the "hyper-enthusiasm for taxes" among Democrats in Washington.

He left--and I will never forget the nearly hypnotic reaction. The charismatic doctor had made believers of several hardened cynics. Nearly everyone agreed that we had finally found a Democrat we could work with. Since then, I've watched Dean's career with more than a little interest and we chat from time to time on the phone.

[BootinUp]

114. But thats the old Dean!

He's changed now!

:evilgrin:

[seventhson]

24. I posted the links on edit to Club for Growth attack ads and membership

in the original post

[jmaier]

30. I believe

her question was perhaps more directed at your 'smoking gun' implication. Where is the evidence you use to imply that Clark is in some fashion affiliated with these anti-Dean ads?

[democratreformed]

47. And I posted them in several different threads n/t

[Printer70]

118. Reality Check: CATO is not Republican

CATO is a libertarian institute. It bashes Republicans and Democrats- and is having a field day at the Republicans' expense for the way money is being managed by Washington today. If CATO was won over by then Governor Dean, it's probably because he was managing Vermont's money carefully and balancing the budget. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Now contrast that to "Club for Growth" which believes in irresponsible tax cuts. The Club for Growth (w/Moore) IS a Republican organization which is running ads in Iowa AGAINST Dean. Clark has history with Club for Growth through Stephens- and were that an isolated incident of Clark demonstrating ties with Republicans, it would not be troubling. Unfortunately, it's part of a pattern that is becoming more and more apparent as his history comes out.

[ozone_man]

199. Spot on.

it's part of a pattern that is becoming more and more apparent as his history comes out.

Acxiom, Stephens, National Endowment for Democracy, etc. . Clark is a mystery man. A Neocon trying to pass himself off as a liberal Democrat.

[Samantha]

6. Well don't leave us hanging!

Hurry up and edit this so can read your final thoughts. What exactly does the Stephens Group promote?

[democratreformed]

15. Here you go:

Link: http://www.stephens.com/

From the front page: "Stephens Inc. is a full service, privately owned Investment Bank with headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, and offices in London, England, and strategic money markets in the United States.

Founded in 1933, Stephens is one of the largest investment banking firms off of Wall Street. We serve a world-wide base of high net worth clients including corporations, state and local governments, institutions and individuals."

[democratreformed]

7. Here's the rub: February 2003

That's when he resigned from Stephens, Inc. I sure hope he had started running before then.

[xultar]

9. You mean Clark has been running since 2/03? WOW I didn't know n/t

[HFishbine]

44. It was public knowledge

That he was considering it then.

[xultar]

8. Are there other employees @ the Stevens Group? Perhaps the

mailroom guy and the lobby receptionist is behind the ads.

[retyred]

10. Clark resigned 10 months ago?

How dare he, how can he direct the attacks properly over the phone? He needs to be more hands on if he expects me to take him seriously.


retyred in fla
“Good-Night Paul, Wherever You Are”
So I read this book

[windansea]

11. next

[Cocoa]

12. so Clark is seen as the main threat to Bush?

back when Kerry was considered the big threat, we heard a lot about Skull and Bones and the medals.

[seventhson]

73. No, I see Clark as the main Ally of the Bushes

If Bush goes down in 2004 they want one of their own in power to protect what they have gained.

Frankly. I think Kerry and Clark represent almost equal threats to democracy. But I believe Clark may actually be MORE duplicitous than kerry (as hard as that may be for some to believe).

When Kerry began to tank they went to their next best player: Clark.

Politics is dirty. We know this.

But for the Repubs to run allies as Dems is a really smart tactic politically.

I believe that this is the case with Clark based on his resume and his alliances.

Do you think he discussed this run for office with Stephens? Of course he did.

THAT is why Stephens is involved with the attack Dean ads.

[BobbyJay]

82. I think you are young and misguided

[seventhson]

94. Nah! Gettin' old, educated and wise!

I have been doing this kind of research for 30 years.

[worldgonekrazy]

108. But why wouldn't the real Dems call out Clark for this?

Or they perhaps waiting to do so until right before the primaries?

I can believe that Clark might be a front for the PNAC agenda. The fact that he lobbied for Axciom tells me he has no problem with war profiteering, and that is one of PNAC's goals. But I can't understand why some prominent Dems (Clinton) seem to support Clark and haven't said "the guy is a shill!"

[bowens43]

156. You're absolutely correct.

Clark's past belies his rhetoric. He was an ardent supporter of the most vile, war-mongering , conservative administrations this country has ever seen. To think that Clark suddenly saw the light and went from hawk to dove, conservative to progressive, republican supporter to Democrat is ridiculous. He is playing on the fears and naivety of Democratic voters. He knows that we on the left usually trust until given a reason not to trust. This a weakness (in his eyes a weakness)that he is exploiting.

Bush and Clark, two ends of the same worm.....

[Cocoa]

197. that's what you said about Kerry

exactly the same: he was a Bush ally.

Now it's time to play that magic with Clark, now that Clark is more of a threat.

[KC21304]

184. Isn't that a coincidence ?

And one theory is about as nonsensical as the other. Now there are two bogeymen.

What I have deduced from this thread so far is that Clark is a scoundrel because he worked at one time for Jackson Stephens, who now is a member of Club for Growth.

By the same token, Dean is a marvelous, wonderful, insightful human being, even though he has a great ( phone calls and all) relationship with the founder of the Club for Growth, Stephen Moore.

[BobbyJay]

16. "Dean" supporters pulling at straws at this point

Pretty sad.

[Forkboy]

22. While your point may or may not be true in this case

you need to open your eyes and look at some of the weak attempts by others against Dean.

I'm really tired of people who close their eyes to one group doing something while bitching about another group doing the same.

[SahaleArm]

18. Got Desperation? n/t

[Forkboy]

46. Yeah...look at some of the anti-Dean threads kicking around

they reek of it as much as this.

I hope to see you decry it when your fellow Clark supporters do it as well.

[SahaleArm]

109. The whole six-degrees game gets tiring regardless of the candidate n/t

[seventhson]

170. Six Degrees of separation? This is not even barely arms length!

Clark was planning his run for the White House while he was working for Stephens.

They were in BED (financially/politically) together. No separation at ALL!!!

[Printer70]

121. Got Lead?

Dean is in the driver's seat and Clark is off the map in all the early primary states: New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina. How you can characterize Dean as desperate is a lesson in irony we can some day explore. But for the time being, it's fair to consider Clark's history consorting with the Republican party because I think most Democrats want to offer a clear contrast with the Republian party, not a faint echo.

[TrueAmerican]

20. What are your sources?

Do you have anything to back up what you alluded to?

[hilzoy]

21. It's his son, I think.

Jackson T. Stephens is a member of the Stephens Group; Jackson T. Stephens, Jr., is the Club for Growth guy. And Clark resigned from Stephens on March 1 2003, in order to comment for CNN, and well before he announced for the Presidency.

[in_cog_ni_to]

28. Oh, for crying out loud, seventhson.

This is ridiculous and you know it. How many days have you been digging for garbage on Clark? Give it a rest. He resigned..he's not a part of the company and you are grasping at straws here. If you can't see that Clark is a "REAL" Democrat then you are blind and don't WANT to see it.

[seventhson]

32. More sources on Clark's exploration for Prez while AT Stephens...

and THEIR plans and hopes to work with him "in the future"

The original links no longer work, but these are dated and sourced for your reading pleasure.


Gen. Wesley Clark Resigns From Stephens
ArkansasBusiness.com ^ | February 28, 2003






Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, the Little Rock native and former NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, has resigned as managing director of merchant banking for the Stephens Group Inc. of Little Rock effective Friday, a company spokesman confirmed.
"He told several of us that his first assignment would be to Kuwait City for CNN," Stephens spokesman Frank Thomas said. "It was a very amicable parting, very comfortable."

Clark couldn't be reached for comment Friday morning.

He joined Stephens in July 2000, the same month he retired from the Army. He serves on the boards of directors of Acxiom Corp. of Little Rock; Entrust Inc. of Dallas; Sirva Inc. of Westmont, Ill.; and privately held Time Domain Inc. of Huntsville, Ala.

Reportedly, Clark has been weighing a run for president. In the last months, he has met with Democratic Party leaders throughout the country, including Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Feb. 16, Clark said he had thought about running for president but has not accepted any political money or hired any political consultants.



NEXT:

From Arkansas Democrat-Gazette -

Clark says bye to job at Stephens
BY ANDREW DEMILLO

Saturday, March 1, 2003

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who is considering a bid for the White House in 2004, is stepping down as managing director of merchant banking for the Stephens Group Inc.

Clark said he gave his resignation, effective Friday, so he could prepare for possible war in Iraq. A military analyst for CNN, Clark said he expects the network will dispatch him to Kuwait. "When the war starts, I'll probably be sent out there," Clark said Friday. "It's just very busy right now and I felt like the time was right."

The former NATO commander said he told the company of his plans a month ago and said it had nothing to do with a possible presidential bid.

The 58-year-old Little Rock resident has said he is thinking about running in 2004, but he said he doesn't have a timeline for the decision. If he runs, Clark has said, it would likely be as a Democrat. "I am not a candidate," Clark said. "I'm not going to speculate on that stuff."

Clark said he will soon open his own business services firm in Little Rock. He joined Stephens in July 2000.

Author of the best seller Waging Modern War, Clark said in an interview last week that he believes war with Iraq is imminent.

He has also been sharply critical of the Bush administration on foreign policy. "There is a perception of the U.S. going it alone that is deeply unsettling," Clark said in an interview Monday.

A former Rhodes scholar and Vietnam War veteran, Clark led NATO's 11-week bombing campaign in Kosovo. He currently also serves on the corporate board of Acxiom Corp. in Little Rock.

Frank Thomas, a spokesman for Stephens, described Clark's departure as amicable. "He had been active in the aerospace and defense sectors for us," Thomas said. "We wish him well and we hope to work with him again in the future."

[democratreformed]

40. And from another article:

"And his campaign for president carries an unwelcome dividend. It draws attention to Stephens Inc. and the Stephens family, both of which have long and complicated political histories, most notably with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The only political contribution Clark has made in the past two decades was $1,000 to Erskine Bowles, a former Clinton chief of staff who was running for the Senate, according to Federal Election Commission records. That was in November 2002, while he was a Stephens employee.

It’s awkward, Warren Stephens acknowledged. He likes Clark and thinks highly of him, but they are on "different pages" politically. Stephens is the Arkansas financial co-chairman of President Bush’s re-election effort.

"Our company isn’t looking to get into the spotlight here," he said, "and I’m not happy that it has been put upon us with Clark’s candidacy."

[cprise]

62. Are you saying Clark is a neocon appeaser like Clinton?

Or shall we just say that Clark is neoliberal?

We know about Deans speech from several years ago. But then there's his record since then. His about-face on energy deregulation (he helped stop it) it emblematic of a politcian who turns away from the DLC.

[xultar]

57. Well it's not like you'd wake up one day and say

Hey, I think I'm gonna run for President!

I'm thinking of running for President in about 20 years. (seriously) I think we would have had at least one black female president when I decide to run...so the fact that I'm a corporate employee and I'm thinking about it now cause a conflict of interest?

[KC21304]

185. The nerve of him. Just outrageous. He is worst than that Kerry guy.

[seventhson]

42. An AP article on the Stephens Group and WHAT CLARK was involved in

(Associated Press) Thursday, October 09, 2003

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark (search) has resigned from the board of two companies -- Acxiom Corp. and Entrust Inc.



In mid-2001, the retired Army general had joined the Stephens Group, the parent company of a privately held family financial concern in Little Rock, Ark., as a managing director for merchant banking. That December, Acxiom Inc., a Little Rock data analysis company, signed a $300,000 contract with Stephens to obtain Clark's help in lobbying the government for homeland security business.

Clark joined Acxiom's board at the same time, and after leaving Stephens earlier this year, he signed another, $150,000 consulting agreement with the company. That contract was terminated when he announced for president last month, according to Acxiom, but he had remained a paid board member.

A privacy group has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (search) against Acxiom and JetBlue Airways (search) Corp., which has acknowledged that, in violation of its own privacy policy, it had given information from about 5 million passenger records to a Defense Department contractor.

Clark serves on at least three other boards, and Clark spokeswoman Kym Spell said he is talking to managers from those companies as well.

[Duder]

43. Stephens is an interesting character

Jackson Stephens

Venice, Florida

[seventhson]

75. YIKES!!! Can I hide at ANYONE'S Home now.

I might need to go underground.

THAT is some scary shit I didn't even know yet.

The sky IS falling. And I am under it.

[blm]

159. How did you not know about Stephens and BCCI, seventhson

when you claimed that you read everything about Kerry's investigations?

Kerry is the one who EXPOSED Stephens connection to BCCI and yet your myopic view of Kerry STILL blames him while you use all the info Kerry dug up to go after others.

[nomaco-10]

77. Very interesting indeed....

You need a score card to keep up with this guy. I can't quite put all the pieces of the puzzle together yet, but it's there, it's definitely there.
Some great research in this thread and I sure hope people will keep following up on this little gem of a story.

[worldgonekrazy]

113. Oh my

Another member of the BFEE unearthed. Is somebody keeping a list?

[Tinoire]

120. This came up during 911 and is in DU archives

many Newspaper articles to that effect. Good job!

[Brian_Expat]

48. Shameful but unsurprising

After all, Clark has been a Democrat for less time than my sister has been pregnant.

[BobbyJay]

53. yawn

[xultar]

58. When's the baby due? Contrats to your sister... n/t

[Hoppin_Mad]

55. Pretty damning evidence - Thanks for your hard work -eom-

[seventhson]

65. I believe this makes Clark Toast

But MORE people need to know about it.

S0 PLEASE PASS IT ON FOLKS AND NEVER BACK DOWN FROM YOUR PRINCIPLES!

[Tinoire]

59. Article: Campaign law exemption /Jackson gives $75K Group Club for Growth

Campaign law exemption gives wealthy a special voice in elections

By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press
Last Updated 4:45 p.m. PST Monday, December 8, 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) - Though companies and unions are now banned from financing last-minute election ads, wealthy individuals already are writing big checks that will give them a voice on the airwaves in the final days before voters pick candidates.

An exemption in the nation's campaign finance law allows well-heeled people to give unlimited amounts to certain tax-exempt, unincorporated groups to pay for TV and radio ads targeting candidates just before elections.

The option is so attractive that some traditional political groups, such as the GOP-leaning Club for Growth, are considering shedding their incorporated status to qualify for the right to influence elections with big-dollar ads down the stretch.

<snip>
"I'm sure if and when that ever happens it will drive all the campaign finance reformers batty. But it clearly is allowed by the law," said David Keating, executive director of the Club for Growth.

Keating's group already collects several five- and six-figure donations from business executives, including at least $75,000 in recent months from Arkansas banking magnate Jackson Stephens.


<snip>
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/1082971p-7561579c.html

[slinkerwink]

64. that line in bold is very damning.....

so Clark's indirectly working through Stephens to discredit Dean.

[jmaier]

66. Slinkerwink

There is no way to reach that conclusion from those 'lines in bold' without simply eschewing any attempt at rationality. There is simply no link, smoking gun, etc. between Clark and these ads.

I used to work for Diebold yet I'm a die-hard Dem so am a Bush supporter by association? It's a silly premise.

[seventhson]

78. YOU worked for DIEBOLD???

Were you an EXECUTIVE there as Clark was at Stephens?

Did you lobby the CIA, the WHITE HOUSE and the Pentagon?

Were you paid hundreds of thousands or millions for your services?

Did they ask YOU to run for president?


C'mon Maier - there is no comparison at all.

[jmaier]

89. How about a link

that suggests they asked Clark to run for President. You are smearing by association. At one point, I did earn nearly $200k a year but I was sharper back then. :-)

My point is that you have shown nothing in this thread that links in even the most half-assed fashion that Clark has anything to do with these attack ads other than: "he worked for a guy who knew a guy and gave him some money ... blah, blah.

There certainly are many legit issues to try and tag Clark with but this one is beyond desperate.

[Cheswick2.0]

87. If there was an award for DU sleuth

you would have to get it. Good job.

[Tinoire]

105. Naw....

But thank you. I learned from the best when I came to DU 3 years ago. That is HIGH praise from one of the people who educated me Ches!

A blushing thank you :)

And the DU 911 threads were THE BEST. They are when I first heard the name Jackson Stephens because it's all in there!!! And Seventhson, Sterling, gosh I can't even remember all the names because some have left and my memory is faulty but WOW!

[dkf]

67. More on Clark & Stephens

The article details some of Clark's business/lobbying relationships but the link no longer works. It used to be here:

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_National.php?storyid=43245

Anyone want the entire article send me a message and I'll get it to you.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette
October 2, 2003
Andrea Harter

After the Army, Clark signs up as businessman

Doors open for retired general

Some snips:

One contact led him (Clark) to Arkansan Vernon Weaver, longtime Democrat and President Clinton’s choice for U.S. ambassador to the European Union. When the two men first met in Brussels, both knew they’d soon be returning to the United States.

Weaver was returning to take a job as assistant to Chairman Jackson T. Stephens of the Stephens Group, the Little Rock-based conglomerate. Clark was looking for a job in investment banking. And Warren Stephens, chief executive officer of Stephens Inc., the investment arm of the Stephens Group, wanted to become a player in aerospace and technology.

snip

At the time, Stephens Inc. was deeply involved in Northrop Grumman Corp.’s $13.4 billion acquisition of TRW, which would create the second-largest defense contractor in the country. Warren Stephens saw that as a foot in the door of an industry in which it had little history. Clark might swing the door open, he thought.

snip

"Wes didn’t know anything about investment-banking business. He came to it with virtually zero experience in it," Warren Stephens said. "It was a pretty steep learning curve."

re: Acxiom and Stephens
snip

Clark worked for Acxiom for free for several months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

snip
But Clark was still a Stephens employee. So Acxiom and Stephens did a deal.

Stephens formed a new subsidiary, SCL LLC, specifically for aerospace and defense consulting. Clark was the only employee, Acxiom the only customer. Acxiom agreed to pay Stephens $300,000 a year. Clark’s cut of that is unknown.

snip

Has Clark been good for Acxiom’s business?

To a man, the companies that have courted him say Clark’s biggest asset is his insight on how to get the government to listen to them and, ultimately, buy their products.

For Acxiom, that included arranging a July 2002 meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney for Morgan and Jerry Jones, the company’s general counsel.

[Tinoire]

123. Our "ahem" friends (bless their little hearts) saved the entire article

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/993773/posts

[incapsulated]

69. So let me get this straight...

Are you saying that the main motivation for Clark entering the race late, one which had Dean way out in front with tons of traction and money, to work his ass off, just on the chance that he could become President and get kickbacks for Axciom?

And this getting buisness for Axciom and making money for himself, this was impossible under Bush, right?

Since he could much more easily do a Cheney, and become Dean's VP to get his kickbacks, he didn't want to because?? What? I don't know. This whole thing is bullshit.

 
 

[dkf]

70. Oh of course not... I just find these relationships very interesting

n/t

[incapsulated]

71. I was responding to the person who started the thread

and those who agreed with his premise.

 
 

[dkf]

72. Whoops sorry n/t

[John_H]

74. Plus Jackson Stephens was on the Grassy Knoll !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[seventhson]

80. Hell - He damn well Mighta been

for all the dirt he's been involved in.

Thanks for pointing this out! ;)

[Turkw]

76. conspiracy theory much? I'm sure that every employee of every company

that the Stephens Group or Jackson Stephens Jr. owns is nothing more than a brainwashed drone. I'm sure that every one here agrees completely with the politics of the people that own the companies they work for. I'm sure that Wes Clark personally writes every attack add by every Right wing group that he happens to know members of. OH my God, other Democratic Candidates know people who are right wing, there is no purity left, they have all been tainted! What are we to do!

[HFishbine]

84. You could look at it that way

Or, you might consider that a candidate for president who used to be an executive at a company that is now running ads to discredit his opponent might at least have something to say about it.

[bain_sidhe]

100. The COMPANY is not running the ads

the company is a contributor - one of MANY - to an organization that is running the ads.

There's too much irrationality here for me to tackle it all. But, there's one correction, anyway.

[HFishbine]

115. For the sake of accuracy

You are correct, of course. The company is the third largest single contributor to the Club for Growth, which is running the ads. I stand corrected.

http://www.publici.org/527/search.aspx?act=com&orgid=96

[seventhson]

85. What are we to do? I am voting for Dean!

I suppose you could vote for Nader since you feel that way?

[Tinoire]

126. I'm with Kucinich who is going to clean this SHIT UP !! n/t

[nomaco-10]

86. We're not talking about Avon or...

Burger King here. Read post# 43

[BobbyJay]

83. Phil Jackson's endorsing CLARK??????

[Tinoire]

88. Even worse / Jackson Stephens, BCCI Al-Queda

As Professor Michel Chossudovsky of the University of Ottawa reported in June 2002 in his publication Global Outlook:

The U.S. Congress has documented in detail, the links of Al Qaeda to agencies of the U.S. government during the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as in Kosovo. More recently in Macedonia, barely a few months before September 11, U.S. military advisers
were mingling with Mujahideen mercenaries financed by Al Qaeda. Both groups were fighting under the auspices of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), within the same terrorist paramilitary formation.

It is absurd to think that the Al Qaeda operatives in Kosovo were there without Clark's knowledge or that he did not control their interactions with US military.

In June of 2000, I was stunned to see an announcement in the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette that a retiring Wesley Clark was going to go to work for billionaire investment banker and Presidential kingmaker Jackson Stephens in Little Rock. This set off alarm bells that Clark was someone to watch. In his current campaign literature, Clark lists
his profession as an investment banker. And he is still employed by Stephens.

Stephens was the man who gave a down-and-out Bill Clinton a $2 million loan to jumpstart an ailing presidential campaign in 1992. There is also a glowing photograph of Stephens with a young George W. Bush in the brilliant expose of the drug money laundering and covert operations bank BCCI, False Profits. Several BCCI players, including Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz, have been directly tied to the financing of Al Qaeda.

Stephens' firm Systematics, which has since gone through two name changes to become Axciom, was deeply connected to the PROMIS software scandal, the Worthen Bank, the Lippo Group, and subsequently through a 2001 FTW investigation to drug money laundering out of the Mena Regional Intermountain Airport in Arkansas. In that investigation, looking into the apparent release from US prison of Medellin Cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder, we found that one of Stephens' subsidiaries, Beverly Enterprises, had been connected to a suspected money laundering operation involving bearer bonds sold by Bill Clinton's Arkansas Development Financial Authority, sold by Stephens Inc, and underwritten by the insurance giant AIG and Goldman Sachs.

Please See:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/gray_money.html
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/part_2.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anthroposophy/message/10079


Cavorting with more narco Al-Queda KLA terrorists
KLA leader Hashim Taqi, Viceroy Bernard Kouchner, General Sir Michael Jackson, KLA commander Agim Ceku, and General Wesley Clark celebrate the victory of their joint enterprise; Pristina, 1999

Bin Laden in the Balkans
From the 'The Washington Times' June 22, 2001

"The rebels would have their big brothers in America - the same heroes who led the NATO mission against their enemies, the Serbs - believe that the violence they are now perpetrating in Macedonia is merely about protecting minority rights. But the National Liberation Army (NLA), a splinter of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), also has another motive: It is fighting to keep control over the region's drug trafficking, which has grown into a large, lucrative enterprise since the Kosovo war. In addition to drug money, the NLA also has another prominent venture capitalist: Osama bin Laden. The Muslim terrorist leader, according to a document obtained by The Washington Times and written by the chief commander of the Macedonian Security Forces, puts out the front money for the rebel group through a representative in Macedonia: 'This person is representative of Osama Ben laden sic , who is the main financial supporter of the National Liberation Army, where up to date he has paid $6 million to $7 million for the needs of the National Liberation Army.'"
http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/54896_comment.php


Clark, center, shares a happy moment and hat trading photo op with Serb mass murdered and wanted for war crimes, Gen. Ratko Mladic (to Clark's right). They shared wine and other gifts. Wanted by the U.N. and NATO, Mladic is still at large.

'The Charleston Gazette.' November 30, 1998 - Page 2A

"BIN LADEN RUNS TERRORIST NETWORK, REPORT SAYS

"LONDON - The man accused of orchestrating the U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa operates a terrorist network out of Albania, The Sunday Times reported.

"The newspaper quoted Fatos Klosi, the head of the Albanian intelligence service, as saying a network run by Saudi exile Osama Bin Laden sent units to fight in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

"Bin Laden is believed to have established an Albanian operation in 1994 after telling the government he headed a wealthy Saudi humanitarian agency wanting to help Albania, the newspaper reported.

"Klosi said he believed terrorists had already infiltrated other parts of Europe from bases in Albania. Apparent confirmation of Bin Laden's activities came earlier this month during the murder trial of Claude Kader, 27, a French national who said he was a member of Bin Laden's Albanian network, the newspaper said.

"Kader claimed during the trial he had visited Albania to recruit and arm fighters for Kosovo.

http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/54896_comment.php


FROM 'THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN,' May 28, 1999

"...As U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe long has predicted, American troops go into Kosovo against the Serbs, they'll be fighting alongside a terrorist organization known to finance its operations with drug sales - including some to the United States.

"By joining hands with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which intelligence sources say bankrolls itself by selling heroin and cocaine, the United States also would become partners of a sort with Osama bin Laden, the international terrorist behind last year's bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Washington Times reports. According to the newspaper's sources, the KLA is linked to an extensive organized crime network headquartered in Albania. In 1998 the State Department listed the KLA as an international terrorist organization that supported itself with drug profits and through loans from known terrorists like bin Laden.

"Such an ally is the result of Bill Clinton choosing sides in a centuries-old civil war. "They were terrorists in 1998 and now, because of politics, they're freedom fighters," a top drug official told the Times.

http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/54896_comment.php

In 1999, the newspaper, 'Dani,' announced that bin Laden had been issued a Special Passport from the Washington-Backed Bosnian Government in 1993. Two weeks ago, the Bosnian government issued a denial. Given that this denial took two years and came immediately after September 11th, we suggest it be taken with a grain of salt.

"BIN LADEN WAS GRANTED BOSNIAN PASSPORT

"Agence France Presse September 24, 1999

"SARAJEVO

"Osama bin Laden, the Saudi billionaire wanted by the United States for organising bloody terrorist attacks, was granted a Bosnian passport in 1993 by the country's embassy in Vienna, an independent weekly reported Friday.

"'The Bosnian embassy in Vienna granted a passport to bin Laden in 1993,' Dani magazine said, quoting anonymous sources, emphasizing that files and traces linked to his case have recently been destroyed by the government.

<snip>

"'High Muslim officials of the Bosnian foreign ministry agreed that it was the top priority. It was even more important than investigating a person responsible for granting a passport to the most wanted terrorist in the world,' Dani reported.

<snip>

http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/54896_comment.php

*ter·ror
ter·ror (ter?er) noun
4. Violence committed or threatened by a group to intimidate or coerce a population, as for military or political purposes.
- <'American Heritage Dictionary,' 3rd Edition, from Microsoft Bookshelf '98 CD>

AND NOW GET READY TO WEEP!

Interview with Chedomir Prelinchevich, Chief Archivist of Kosovo and leader of the Jewish Community in Pristina, capital of Kosovo province (Serbia).

Interviewers: Jared Israel and Nancy Gust


=======================================

The interview is divided in two parts, conducted at various times in the beginning of September, 1999. Jared Israel is the interviewer in Part One. He and Nancy Gust are the interviewers in Part Two.

Jews Driven from Kosovo

Interview with Cedda Prlincevic, Chief Archivist of Kosovo and leader of Pristina's Jewish Community.

The interview is divided in two parts, conducted at different times. Jared Isael is the interviewer in Part One.

DRIVEN FROM KOSOVO

FULL TEXT of Interview with Cedda Prlincevic, Chief Archivist of Kosovo and leader of Jewish Community in Pristina, capitol of Kosovo province. Presently a refugee in Belgrade.

(The website, http://www.emperors-clothes.com, encourages everyone to reproduce the following interview by email, on websites, or in print, wherever possible, but please don't leave anything out, including this note. Thanks. )

The interview is divided in two parts, conducted at different times.
Jared Isael is the interviewer in Part One. Note that KFOR essentially means NATO.

Jared: So you are the President of the Jewish Community in Pristina?

Cedda: It was a small community. We have all left.

Jared: Why did you leave?

Cedda: Because the political settlement became a military resolution. Pressure was on the citizens. They didn't ask which nationality you are, you were pressed to leave the apartments and the city. Even if I had a paper which said I am the President of the Jewish Community of Pristina in English and signed by the President of the Federation of Jewish Community from Belgrade, Mr. Singer, the officers from KFOR , refused to recognize that paper and I was kept imprisoned in my home for one week. I gave it to another KFOR officer later and he said "I have other business to attend to."

The powers from Albania came inside the country. Their main purpose was to get all the non-Albanian population out. With help from Eliz Viza from Israel and from the Chairman of the Jewish Community from Skopia I was rescued, taken by Taxi together with my wife and my mother to Macedonia and from Macedonia I came to Belgrade. The whole rescue operation of my family was given to Israeli TV. Altogether there were 40 people of Jewish origin in Kosovo. They are of mixed marriage, Jewish-Albanian, Jewish-Turkish and Jewish-Serbian. All are prepared to go to Israel. To go back to Kosovo for us is too late. Even though we got a guarantee from Thaci which is the head of the UCK , that our homes would not be touched we have information that all our apartments and our houses were completely robbed and demolished. Which means UCK and Thaci do not have control.

Jared: Or they are lying. What did you do in Pristina?

Cedda: I was public employee, director of archives of Kosovo and Metohija. There is documentation there which gives the story about Serbians and Turks and Albanians and Jews, whoever lived in Kosovo and the system which was there.

Jared: Did you ever experience anti-Semitism from the Serbs?

Cedda: Never. Neither from the Albanians. I was manager, both to Albanians and to Serbians. We were not driven out from Kosovo by Albanians from Pristina but by Albanians from Albania.

Jared: In other words a lot of the people we saw cheering German troops on the street were not the local residents?

Cedda: The same people who were demonstrating in Albania a few years ago and demolishing the whole country - they are in Kosovo now.

Jared: They have been brought in intentionally by the KFOR?

Cedda: I cannot tell you.

Jared: Put it this way: they haven't been stopped?

Cedda: No one is stopping them. And with the KFOR assistance, actually. KFOR is there, saw it all, allowed them to do what they did.

Jared: How did it happen? Were threats made after which you went to the KFOR and they said "we won't help you?"

Cedda: They came to our home and threatened they would kill us. They would slaughter us. My wife was defending me. My wife is Serbian. And she was defending me in front of the door.

Jared: How was she doing that?

Cedda: They said we will slaughter you, and she said to them "Kill me! Slaughter me! I will not go out of my home!" Then officials of Jewish community come to my home and put me in a taxi.

Jared: Your wife is a very brave woman. You have made tears come to my eyes.

Cedda: And the same happens to me here. She is very brave and I am proud of her.

Jared: OK. OK. Getting back to the people who came to your house. Had you ever seen them before?

Cedda: Never.

Jared: Were they armed?

Cedda: With machine guns. They completely cleared up the building and the whole area where we lived.

Jared: Cleared up?

Cedda: The whole area of 30,000 people, they completely cleared it.

Jared: 30,000? Emptied it?

Cedda: Emptied it. Went from house to house and building to building.

Jared: Did they kill anyone.

Cedda: Initially one person, family named Kompic, a Serbian family, they killed, which was an obvious reason for us not to resist.

Jared: In other words they made an example of one family and then they said if you want to die -

Cedda: All night they were banging the doors and slamming the doors and going inside the doors and from apartment to apartment.

Jared: Was that private houses?

Cedda: Apartment buildings. Many of the people who lived there are of prominent status and social position in the city. Even Albanians who lived in the same buildings were also running away.
It was not only Serbian, it was mixed nationality. This was something completely unknown in history of Kosovo. Since Kosovo is multinational, multi-confessional society which lived 500 years together, there was no such level of hatred as now.

Jared: But you are saying they have sent in Albanians in large numbers from Albania?

Cedda: This is a pogrom toward non-Albanian population all around Kosovo area, Djakovica, Pec, Kosovska, Mitrovica, all over Metokia. Metokia and Kosovo both.

Jared: But it is not being done by the local Albanians?

Cedda: Yes, the foreign Albanians. They differ in language. A different dialect. All over Kosovo it is the same situation. I cannot give 100% that it is done exclusively by Albanians from Albania.
But I have not seen revenge taken on a man from his next door neighbor who was Albanian -

Jared: Did you try to go to the KFOR?

Cedda: The KFOR was in my house when they came to there.

Jared: WHAT?

Cedda: When Albanians started to destroy apartments one person called KFOR and KFOR officer came inside the house, he was there with his squad. There was a whole bunch going up and down the stairs, 24 hours pressure of people going up and down the stairs, banging, entering, demolishing? they break down the door and pour in tear gas in some places and they were robbering -

Jared: Excuse me?

Cedda: Robbing, robbing.

Jared: Now, you said the KFOR men were there? Did they actually witness it?

Cedda: Yes.

Jared: What did they say?

Cedda: They didn't react at all. They didn't protect nobody.

Jared: For God's sake, what did they say?

Cedda: They said this is for civil authorities to regulate the problem. They were only concerned with killings.

Jared: Who were the civil authorities?

Cedda: They were not formed yet. There were none.

Jared: How did you know whether you were going to get murdered when someone banged down the door? I guess after you were murdered, you would know?

Cedda: Yes. They were just there to put documents if you were
murdered.

Jared: So. Archivists?

Cedda: Yes. Last month a number of very heavy crimes and murders happened in Kosovo. Instead of getting 'European democracy' we got a non-defined form of power and - power is not the right word?

Jared: Fascism?

Cedda: No. Not fascism. Force. Power. Probably the historian will invent a new word for this?

Jared: It needs a new word.

Cedda: Jews have the word which is called pogrom.

Jared: Yeah. It's a pogrom, that's right. It's a pogrom.
Indiscriminate brutality against a group - in this case defined by anybody who is - but wait, you say it includes Albanians -

Cedda: The population expected real security from KFOR and that's why they didn't leave where they lived?

Jared: Ahh. Boy. You were set up.

Cedda: And that's what surprised us the most. Instead of defending the population they just stand by and looking what's happening like it is not a relevant situation. During June and July 300,000 people left Kosovo which are non-Albanian population, Serbians, Turks, Gorani , "Gypsies," that is the Romi, also people from Montenegro. 300,000.

Jared: What about - you said Albanians from Kosovo were being harassed too -

Cedda: Yes. Those who were pro-Yugoslav oriented. Who were loyal citizens of the system.

Jared: So the people who were living -

Cedda: They could tell from the person's work.

Jared: So the people who were living in the area with you, were considered by these gangs to be collaborationists because they were living in a mixed area?

Cedda: No. Only the position of power.

Jared: I'm not sure what you mean.

Cedda: They attacked those who were not for their seperatistic movement. Not supporters of the separatists.

Jared: So they knew which neighborhoods?

Cedda: Yes. They knew. Every loyal citizen of Serbia was punished. Doesn't matter which party he belongs to, opposition or ruling party, doesn't matter. Different parties have different ideas and different religious or national characters but -

Jared: They didn't care about any of that?

Cedda: No. They have realized the plan of Greater Albania in Kosovo.From World War II, from Fascism.

Jared: During the bombing the US press says the Serbs attacked the Albanians. What did you witness?

Cedda: The war was very dirty, between the army and the secessionists...35 members of my family are here with me now. And my mother is here. And one pregnant lady, 8 months. 20 of us are without work. Left everything in Kosovo. 7 apartments and 3 houses that we owned. Some land. And all my life. All my life and I am penniless. I didn't have time, I wasn't ready to go, I didn't even have a suitcase to pack.

Jared: So for all you know some people didn't get out and are murdered. Is that true?

Cedda: Yes. All I brought was the Talmud. My mother Bea is 81 years old. And my wife. I would prefer to stay in Serbia. First I have a problem with my mother she is old and sick and what am I going to do with her in Israel now? I love Israel I was there many times but it is very hard for me at 61 to settle there.

Jared: My heart goes out to you.

Cedda: Thank you very much.

Jared: Thank you for being brave to give me this interview.

Cedda: It is very difficult but we have to say the truth. I think that people of good heart and good will, will take this interview in the best manner.

Jared: I hope so.

Cedda: And this interview should be a beginning of a different kind of thinking and nobody should be a victim in the life.

Jared: I agree with you. Before, I asked you a question but you didn't answer. The Press said the Yugoslav Army committed atrocities against Albanians during the bombing. You said the war was dirty. Could you tell us more?

Cedda: Why? Even if I speak about this, nobody trust the Serbians.Even if I say no, it did not happen, nobody will trust the Serbians.

Jared: But I don't know exactly what happened, we need to know exactly -

Cedda: Even if I say no, even if one Jew coming from Pristina would say this charge is not true, it is very hard to believe because he can be a person who has some reason, he can be accused of -

Jared: So what? So they won't believe you! Let them believe what they will but at least if you say the truth it is being said. Don't you see, the truth must be -

Cedda: I was completely out of the fighting between Army and KLA -

Jared: But you were in Pristina. You are the Chief Archivist of Kosovo. And you know! I am sure that you know! You know if there were people going around massacring people, you know from Albanian friends what was going on, you know if the Army was involved, if CNN was telling the truth or lying, you know a thousand times more than I do and if you can just tell the truth - somebody has to tell the truth for God's -

Cedda: Alright.

Jared: And if bad things happened, say that - just tell the truth -

Cedda: Bad things did happen. But Serbians as a people as a nation were not a nation which from the beginning of its history till this day were doing genocidal atrocities. But there were individuals who did certain things that should not have been done. But somebody is taking this, exaggerating, trying to make us the black sheep and - look, the Serbian people had no problems with the ethnic Albanians and as much as they saved Albanians the Albanians saved them especially in the latest period, but as soon as KFOR came inside and the border was opened to Macedonia and Albania lots of outside Albanians came inside and the end of it is a mess, killings. So what I'm saying is during the bombardment in the places where the people lived there was no massacre by the local population. The Serbs were defending the Albanians from the paramilitary troops.

Jared: Not from the Yugoslav Army? They didn't have to defend them from the Army?

Cedda: Never from the Army, not from the police, not from the regular Serbs. No. But with the withdrawal of the army there were paramilitary groups that existed on both sides - and that was when there was dirt.

Jared: But during the bombing?

Cedda: Then there was no massacring at all. For example in Pristina we were sitting together with Albanians in the cellar, in the basement.

Jared: From the bombs?

Cedda: From NATO. All of us together, "Gypsies", that's the Romi people, Serbians, Turks, Albanians, Jews, tenants of the same building. Together. We were together.


Part Two

A later interview was conducted by Jared Israel and Nancy Gust; Nancy trains people in interviewing techniques professionally. The purpose was to clarify various questions. The most revealing information about the role of NATO troops is to be found in the latter part of this interview.

Jared: You said many Albanians fled the KLA, the gangs. Do you know how many?

Cedda: Tens of thousands. 15,000 went to Vojvodina, 30,000 to Belgrade, many more.

Jared: How did the gangs that attacked buildings know whom to expel?

Cedda: They had evidence who was who. Also they came to the offices. People were expelled from the offices. All the institutions which belonged to the government had been occupied. The gangsters were coming to work, whether municipalities, courts or universities, or whatever which were public, the post office, the civilservices, they would come to the buildings and take over, take the people outside. They had a register of who was working in these places.

Jared: Was anybody allowed to stay who lived in your building?

Cedda: As much as I know in the building I live there is nobody left. If they were resisting the person was shot down.

Nancy: Do you know how many people were shot?

Cedda: For instance they found today one lady which was strangled in the bath. Ljubica Bujouic.

Nancy: She was from your complex?

Cedda: For example today two villages were completely expelled. And they went to Serbia.

Nancy: The woman who was murdered, that was in your apartment complex? How did you know that they found her there?

Cedda: It was an official announcement on the TV but I knew her. 4500 murders in Kosovo since KFOR arrived.

Nancy: According to?

Cedda: Information that is published by the Media Center from Pristina. It is called the Center for Tolerance and Joint Living.

Jared: In your apartment complex were there other murders?

Cedda: There were several murders. I can't be sure because a majority left. Those that resisted were killed.

Jared: How many attackers were there?

Cedda: There were a large number of them. They were going up and down all day long. It's hard to know how many. The building itself has 11 stories and 20 entrances. It's a huge building.

Jared: Was this building singled out?

Cedda: They did the whole area of new buildings begun in 1990, completed in 1995, very luxurious apartments by our standards luxurious, new buildings, porches, all different kinds of adjoiningfacilities.

Jared: And were all the people who lived there employees of thegovernment?

Cedda: The elite of the city was living in that area. A majority of university professors and managers of different state organizations, public organizations, doctors, physicians, lawyers.

Nancy: Someone might argue that, since these were luxury apartments and since this was the elite, this was just a large scale robbery.

Cedda: You cannot call it robbery, because they were taking us and they were entering, they were occupying the apartments. We are waiting now for a civil government to come from the United Nations to start with their control but we very much believe that we will not be able to return even though we are being invited to come back. We think that what is happening now will be legalized by the civil authorities when they come in and we expect a migration from the big number of Albanians living now in Europe, from Switzerland, where there is a huge number, from France, from London. And they will come from Albania. They already have.

Nancy: While you were there were the Albanians occupying the apartments?

Cedda: You cannot call it a robbery because robbery is when I'm not home and you come inside and take my TV. Right? This is robbery. But you come inside the apartment and you kick me out of the apartment, is this robbery? This not robbery, this is complete anarchy outside the system. Somebody enters by force, kicks you out, enters inside and continues to live? Not just comes there and stays a few hours and drinks coffee and whisky. And all the property inside is not guaranteed? This is like occupying the country, occupying the apartment by force.

Jared: There was a week during which you said you were imprisoned in the apartment and couldn't leave. Was that the week during which the gang was marauding around?

Cedda: Yes, the first week when KFOR came, I was inside the apartment without the ability to go outside because a huge number of Albanians came inside and I was afraid to leave the place.

Jared: They were all over the building?

Cedda: No, no, the city. Inside Pristina. The KFOR was very much concerned about the military withdrawal of Yugoslav Army but without paying attention to the civilians.

Jared: At what point did the gangs come? Was it immediately or was it after a few weeks?

Cedda: Together with them. In other words, the KFOR arrived and the gangs arrived.

Jared: When did they attack the complex?

Cedda: They attacked immediately. When the Russians came to Pristina, before the British, to the airport, the people were expecting that they would protect them but it was not so.

Nancy: How long was it before your apartment complex was attacked? When did that happen?

Cedda: At the very day that the British entered my part of the city the gangs started to attack different buildings in this huge area. It's a quarter of Pristina, the section called 'Milana'.

Nancy: Are you saying the gangs arrived physically in the same time and place as the British soldiers? The gangs traveled with British soldiers?

Cedda: Yes. The answer is yes. Yes they came together. Yes. Over the frontier, over the route, over the streets together. Yes!

Nancy: Did they just come parallel, at the same time but independently?

Cedda: They came in different groups - not together arm by arm - they come and they go, they're here and there - very often you see them together, mingling, but each of them has a separate organization.

Nancy: But you saw them mingling together

Cedda: Yes! Yes! For example a gang comes to the building and a tenant calls KFOR and the KFOR arrives and gets around the building and then KFOR leave and the fellows continue to move around.

Nancy: Did the Albanians leave when you called KFOR?

Cedda: No they stayed. They didn't leave.

Nancy: You're saying the gangs broke into the place, moved into the places, that people called the KFOR, KFOR came and they did nothing?

Cedda: You know sometimes they had funny situations. KFOR would come and they said, the Albanians said, "we don't have a place to stay for the night" so the KFOR says "ok, so stay together in the tenants apartment."

Jared: The same apartment as the people they were trying to throw out?

Cedda: Yes.

Jared: Is that correct?

Cedda: Yes, yes. That's what they suggested. So the Albanians and the Serbs, or whoever was there, will live together in the same building, in the apartment and the gangsters would say if you don't leave the apartment in the next two or three hours we will kill you, we will slaughter you.

Nancy: Can you get more identification of these people? Were they not from Kosovo, did they identify themselves in any way?

Cedda: Only in the position that they were armed, and in the position of the power. Definitely they are making an ethnically clean Kosovo.

Nancy: When these people came to the building and threatened you did you call the KFOR?

Cedda: They were in the building already. When the Albanians came to my apartment the KFOR was already there. One of the neighbors, a doctor, ran and called the KFOR soldiers to come and protect the place.

Jared: Did you talk to them.

Cedda: Yes. I spoke to them.

Nancy: Do you know the name of the person you spoke to?

Cedda: The fellow, the soldier was introducing himself as Major of the British army. And when I showed my papers, the soldier said forget it, next time.

Nancy: Next time?

Cedda: The papers that said I was the President of the Jewish Community in Pristina. The soldier just glanced at the paper and said "Next time," like he didn't have time to be bothered with this. "Don't bother me now."

Jared: He arrived with a squad of soldiers or alone?

Cedda: With his squad.

Nancy: Did they do anything?

Cedda: If they helped me would I be here now?

Jared: Please don't take offence at these questions. We are asking in this kind of detail to get the clearest answers.

Cedda: It is not only me that suffered but thousands of others. People who are of the age of 80 and expelled from their homes. And they're still doing it on a daily basis. It is still going on.
*****

Please send this article or the link to your friends. We encourage everyone to reprint and repost any Emperor's Clothes article. Please include the article's Web address and author(s).

http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/ceda.htm

====

If we are to believe that Al-Queda attacked us on 9-11 (and I am still personally iffy about that whole story because things aren't adding up right) then what are we to believe about us cavorting with them and their fellow terrorists in Yugoslavia?


====

Al-Qaeda's Links in the Balkans
Posted July 1, 2002

By Jamie Dettmer

Since Sept. 11 the U.S. intelligence services have been working hard to uncover links between Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network and other Islamic groups throughout the world. And the Bush administration has not been slow to advertise connections once discovered or to demand cooperation from local authorities in order to disrupt the links.

<snip>

In the spring, Macedonian officials provided U.S. National Security Council (NSC) aides with a 79-page report on al-Qaeda activity in the area. The report, which was compiled by Macedonia's Ministry of the Interior, lists the names of al-Qaeda-linked fighters and outlines the roles of two units, one numbering 120 and the other 250, in northern Macedonia.

<snip>

The Macedonians say the units are based in the Kumanovo-Lipkovo region of their country. As well as being composed of Macedonian and Kosovar Albanians, they say the units also number fighters from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan and Chechnya, some of whom were trained in al-Qaeda-run camps in Afghanistan. The Macedonians seized a video made by one of the so-called "mujahideen," a Turk named Ramzi Adem, showing the activities of the foreign fighters. The 120-man unit is led by Selimi Ferit, an Albanian born in the Macedonian capital of Skopje.

<snip>

Yossef Bodansky, director of the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, claimed in his book, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, that the Albanian network was headed by Muhammad al-Zawahiri, the engineer brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian who mentored bin Laden and, according to the United States, was the brains behind Sept. 11 and other attacks.

http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/256955.html
---

Yet, it would be willful blindness to suggest that the roots of terror begin and end in Afghanistan or the Middle East. When examining events that have transpired in the Balkans over the past ten years, Osama Bin Ladens name appears prominently. Bin Laden directly aided the Bosnian Muslims, both financially (weapons procurement) and with training. In addition, that same aid was extended to the separatist Albanians of Kosovo and Macedonia. Ironically, the US found Bin Laden and his supporters convenient allies when dealing with Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians, again in another so-called struggle for freedom.



Hashim Thaci, Head of the KLA, closely linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda. Hashim Thaci had ordered political assassinations directed against the Party of Ibrahim Rugova.

Bernard Kouchner, Head of United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in Kosovo (July 1999- January 2001), instrumental in elevating the KLA to UN status.

General Michael Jackson, Commander of KFOR Troops in Kosovo.

General Agim Ceku, Military Commander of the KPC, investigated by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) "for alleged war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia between 1993 and 1995." ( AFP 13 Oct 1999)




Globe and Mail, August 01, 2001
We Created a Monster

Albanian terrorists, armed by the West to fight in Kosovo, are destroying Macedonia, says Canada’s former ambassador to Yugoslavia

JAMES BISSETT

When Canadian pilots joined in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in March 1999, we were told by Lloyd Axworthy and Art Eggleton that the intervention in Kosovo was necessary to prevent the violence there from spreading and de-stabilizing the Balkans. Yet we now know that long before the bombing it was NATO countries themselves that were inciting violence in Kosovo and attempting to de-stabilize that Serbian province. Moreover despite the bombing the violence has spread – in Kosovo itself, in southern Serbia, and more recently in Macedonia.

Media reports have revealed that as early as 1998, the central intelligence agency assisted by the British Special Armed Services were arming and training Kosovo Liberation Army members in Albania to foment armed rebellion in Kosovo. The KLA terrorists were sent back into Kosovo to assassinate Serbian mayors, ambush Serbian policemen and do everything possible to incite murder and chaos. The hope was that with Kosovo in flames NATO could intervene and in so doing, not only overthrow Slobodan Milosevic the Serbian strong man, but more importantly, provide the aging and increasingly irrelevant military organization with a reason for its continued existence.

After bombing Yugoslavia into submission, NATO then stood by and submissively allowed the KLA to murder, pillage and burn. The KLA was given a free hand to do as they wished. Almost all of the non-Albanian population was ethnically cleansed from Kosovo under the watchful eyes of 40,000 NATO troops. Moreover, in defiance of United Nations resolution 1244 which brought an end to the fighting, NATO adamantly refused to disarm the KLA fighters. Instead, NATO converted this ragtag band of terrorists into the Kosovo Protection Force – allegedly to maintain peace and order in Kosovo.

To add insult to injury NATO appointed an alleged war criminal, Agim Ceku, as commander of this force. Agim Ceku is an Albanian Kosovar who led the Croatian army in "operation storm" which ethnically cleansed all of the Serbian population from their ancestral lands in Croatia. Some news reports have suggested that there is a sealed indictment against Ceku held by the war crimes tribunal in the Hague but not acted upon because to do so would embarrass his NATO bosses. On june10 of this year the London Times reported that in early march, Agim Ceku ordered 800 KLA reservists from Kosovo to enter Macedonia to help their fellow Albanians in their rebellion against the government there.

<snip>

Although embarrassed by the actions of the KLA in Macedonia NATO has shown no inclination to bring a stop to this naked aggression against a democratic and peaceful nation. To do so would result in armed clashes with the KLA with consequent loss of NATO lives. It would also underline the bankruptcy of NATO’s policy in the Balkans. This is not something that Lord Robertson or our NATO political leaders wish to have highlighted.

<snip>

http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/august01/hed3828.shtml
James Bissett is a former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia.

=====


The KLA that gang of Muslim terrorists and drug runners… Wow…

Are you beginning to see a US/UK pattern here? Does it not bother you that we have been waging wars throughout the oil-rich world on the pretext of going after terrorism and causing it, fuelling it as we do so? The concept of PNAC’s encless wars terrifies me and as a Progressive Democrat, I will do everything I can to expose that cancer wherever it’s found- even from within my own party because too many people have been dying and the boys at the top are determined to continue enriching themselves and waging these endless wars.


Please send this article or the link to your friends. We encourage everyone to reprint and repost any Emperor's Clothes article. Please include the article's Web address and author(s).

www.tenc.net *
====

Over 250,000 Serbs, Bosnians, Croats, Roma, and Jews were ethnically cleansed by the KLA during this conflict. The same group of people that was crushed during the pro-Axis Ustashe during World War II. Are we going to let the media and the MIC win this one too?

Although most of the ethnic Albanians have returned, they quickly forced out a quarter of a million ethnic Serbs, Jews,Gypsies, and even non-Albanian Muslims. NATO did little more than watch. Stability has been the greatest victim of Western blundering. When NATO effectively provided the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) with an air force, it backed the most destabilizing force in the region.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/archives/2001/07/02/0000092411

[HFishbine]

91. Whoa. Wait a minute. Am I reading this right?

I'm only a few paragraphs into you post, but Stephens founded Acxiom too? Was this Jr. or Sr.?

[Tinoire]

93. Acxiom / Promis IS Jackson Stephens

That name might not ring a bell, but Acxiom is a recent name change from a company formerly called Alltel which was once known as Systematics. Systematics is the information, communications, data processing firm owned by Arkansas billionaire and kingmaker Jackson Stephens. And Systematics has been part and parcel - linked in paperwork and court records - of the PROMIS software saga almost from day one. It was Systematics that reportedly received stolen copies of the software in the 1980s. If Inslaw founder Bill Hamilton ever had any doubt about the fact that the progeny of his creation were at the heart of TIA, he can lay it to rest now. In a December 17, 2002 story Rarey revealed that Acxiom had been selected "the lead company to provide software and pull together the network to furnish the information to DARPA's "Information Awareness Office" headed by John Poindexter.


http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/022803_chap_23.html (refers found there)

[HFishbine]

97. Did Clark really quit Acxiom?

I'm aware that he resigned from the Acxiom board, but is Axciom still doing business with Wesley K. Clark and Associates?

During the past fiscal year we had an agreement with an affiliate of Stephens Group, Inc. ("Stephens"), whereby we retained the consulting services of a former Stephens employee who is also one of our board members, General Wesley K. Clark, in connection with our pursuit of contracts with various government agencies. Under the agreement, commissions were payable to the Stephens affiliate on revenue from government contracts attributable to Clark's efforts, which commissions were to be offset against an annual consulting fee of $300,000. As of March 1, 2003, General Wesley K. Clark resigned from Stephens and founded Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a business services and development firm. As of that date we replaced the agreement with the Stephens affiliate with an agreement with Wesley K. Clark & Associates for the consulting services of General Clark. Under the terms of the new agreement, Acxiom will pay Clark an annual retainer of $150,000 plus commissions for new business obtained through Clark's efforts, which commissions will be offset against the retainer.

http://public.thecorporatelibrary.net/Transactions/rel_ACXM_2003.html

[SahaleArm]

99. He resigned as consultant first...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – October 9, 2003 – Acxiom® Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) today announced that retired U.S. Army General Wesley K. Clark has resigned from the Acxiom Board of Directors, effective immediately. The Company said Clark originally had hoped to fulfill his duties as a Company Director but that the growing demands of seeking the U.S. presidency had made that impractical.

Acxiom Chairman Charles D. Morgan offered deep gratitude to Clark for his many contributions to the board. Clark had resigned his role as a consultant for Acxiom the day he announced his presidential campaign.

Clark had been a member of the Acxiom board since December 2001.

http://www.acxiom.com/default.aspx?ID=2312&Country_Code=USA

[Tinoire]

116. Yes and then resigned from the Board when People asked 2 many questions

Where do Wesley Clark and nearly 50 million Americans part ways?
By Michael Paranzino, October 4, 2003

By Michael Paranzino, October 4, 2003

Let’s see here. Until moments ago, Wesley Clark was a registered lobbyist. Not exactly what primary-voting Democrats profess to like. He was praising one President named Ronald Reagan and two named George Bush, and was raising money for the GOP. Strike two. And he is a soldier. Oops. That’s the ultimate crime on the Left.

Clark seems to think that being a dove now forgives him for wearing the uniform all those years. But why would Democrats vote for a newly-converted dove when Howard Dean offers them the real thing?

But Wesley Clark has a fourth problem, and given the headlines of the last two weeks, this could actually dwarf the other three.

<snip>

While all this was going on, Wesley Clark was just getting around to ending his federal lobbying contract for a company called Acxiom. (He’s still on the Board of Directors, along with, among others, the former Postmaster General of the U.S. Postal Service and Clinton/Kissinger-pal Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty III.)

You may not have heard of Acxiom, but Acxiom has heard of you. If you are like 95% of Americans, Acxiom knows your name, Social Security number, income level, martial status, number of children, vehicles owned, and probably that furious bout you had with hemorrhoids a few years back (next time, pay in cash and don’t use your supermarket Bonus Card when you buy that Preparation H!). And they don’t just know it, they share it with anyone who will pay.

<snip>

http://www.rightpolicy.com/clark.htm

(#####UPDATE 10/10/03: On October 9, five days after this essay appeared and after more than 500 people had accessed this page ( including dozens who came from discussion boards on DemocraticUnderground.com and Salon.com), Wesley Clark bolted from the Board of Directors of Acxiom Corp. "The Company said Clark originally had hoped to fulfill his duties as a Company Director but that the growing demands of seeking the U.S. presidency had made that impractical." Score one for RightPolicy.com.)


http://www.rightpolicy.com/clark.htm

[SahaleArm]

125. Being in the military is a crime to the left?

Oh - Michael Paranzino runs http://www.rightpolicy.com; a far right rag that wishes to smear Clark. He resigned because he was running for office not because of Mr. Paranzino, DU, or pressure from fringe right-wing groups.

[Tinoire]

130. It is not a crime to the Left. I happen to be a 20 year retired veteran

who loves my country and bled for it, cradling the head of my best friend in the jungles of South America as the blood seeped all over my BDUs. My fight is against the entire machinery that sends young men and women to die for the portfolios of nasty old men.

Some of the biggest Leftists on this board are Veterans and none of the old Vets, who were established here as Liberals before these Primary fights, can stand Clark.


You see, we are the people, the Leftists who protest the very sort of evil Clark is defending. Here we are at Fort Benning Georgia, School of the Americas, that Clark supporters here would have us think is a school that teaches what, social skills?

VETERANS FOR PEACE

and almost to the MAN behind Dennis Kucinich- the true warrior in this race.

Please don't resort to the platitudes we usually hear from the Right. If you don't understand our point, you can watch this film: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/School_of_the_Americas_112403.htm#SOA%202003%20Photos We tried to explain our problem with School of the Americas as we marched and protested.

If you don't have time for the film: You can read here: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/School_of_the_Americas_112403.htm

This game of death and dying is no game to us and I will not sit by quietly as I watch my country going down the tubes.

If you want to learn more about us, please visit: http://www.veteransforpeace.org

[SahaleArm]

132. Veterans for Peace and the Ramsey Clark connection...

A Clark supporter and Kosovo Vet went to talk with VFP outside Seattle as part of a forum and got roundly screamed at by VFP members who weren't veterans.

Ramsey Clark, the war criminal's best friend: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/06/21/clark/

[Tinoire]

139. Of course Sahale. Spoken like a true Pinko Leftist

We are quite aware of who Ramsey Clark. He's the guy who's going after US war criminals and trying to stop death and destruction.

Former Attorney General of the United States government and a man of integrity and honor. We'll take Ramsey any day thank you :)

=====

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy nominated ((RAMSEY)) Clark as assistant attorney general. Clark remained in the position until he was nominated deputy attorney general by President Johnson in 1965.

<snip>

Clark has been active to end political repression and human rights violations. He has provided legal assistance for those accused of war crimes in Rwanda and Kosovo. Recently, Clark has been an outspoken critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. As the founding chairman of the International Action Center in New York, Clark has helped organize several anti-war demonstrations in Washington over the last year.

Criticizing the use of U.S. military force, Clark has charged that despite his popularity, President Bush has "committed the highest crimes against peace -- wars of aggression -- as defined in the Nuremberg Charter." He makes the case that the American people should therefore exercise their constitutional power by impeaching the chief executive.

<snip>

http://www.npr.org/programs/npc/2003/030512.rclark.html

Why good old Ramsey even worked on JFK's assassination and autopsy- no wonder he hates neo-conliberals so much!

You know we did notice, when the Clark campaign started, that all of a sudden there were a bunch of new posters slinging mud at Ramsey Clark and the International Action Center that had organized the protests against the war. Why is that do you think :shrug: Do you think it's because they knew we'd all remember the protests against the war in Yugoslavia :shrug: and what General we were protesting against :shrug: and what war criminals Ramsey was going after :shrug:

A stealth commando raid that was as stealthy as a herd of stampeding elephants Sahale.

Out of the two, I'll take Ramsey anyday! Hope they get to "meet" soon ;)

[SahaleArm]

141. Calling vets baby killers isn't a good way to engender dialogue...

If you want a seat at the table keep the conversation civil. The VFP event was recommened by a Democratic LD chair - needless to say the actions of a few ruin the cause of the greater group. Every Kucinich supporter I've talked to has been civil and willing to engage in thoughtful dialogue so the event only reflects on VFP. I've seen most of the major candidates here in Seattle at Democratic events and have never had any issues with their supporters.

[Tinoire]

143. Vets called themselves baby killers?

And if they did, if your story is true, I would say that of all people, vets have deserved the right to say that.

If you have a problem with that, you go enlist, spend some time getting shot at while pretty toy REMF generals hang out poring over topographical maps and practicing theatrical phrases like "Men take that hill!" in front of a mirror. Do that and then maybe they'll take you seriously and treat you as if you know what you're talking about when you try to sell them Clark as an anti-war Liberal.

It must be have been tiring to have to defend Clark from veterans who know better.

Whoever sent Clark supporters to a Veterans for Peace event was playing a nasty joke on you, like sending lambs to the slaughter. Must have been Joe Trippi ;) I hear he has a wicked sense of humor.

You guys aren't serious are you? You guys really didn't think you could go campaign to the group that had been denouncing the war against Yugoslavia for years? You went and tried to sell Clark to war heros like Ron Kovic and S. Brian Willson? Heroes in a wheel-chairs? People who laid down in front of a train to stop it from taking arms to the death squads people like Clark were commanding in Latin American? If it weren't so sad, because I do not doubt your sincerity, I would be rolling on the floor laughing.



"Our original White ancestors possessed both a Eurocentric racism and a religiously-based arrogant ethnocentrism that justified, and continues to justify, a continuum of expansion, initially for land, then markets and the drive for increased profits, and a way of life, i.e., the American Way of Life (AWOL). In the early 1600's, Captain John Smith of the Virginia Colony referred to the native inhabitants as 'sub-animals' worthy only of extermination as rationalization for unilaterally controlling the land and the inevitable associated guiding policies of hegemony.

Through all the phases of U.S. "Manifest Destiny," from the Appalachian Mountains and the Ohio River Valley to the Pacific Ocean, then to the entire globe, the evolving "national interest" has increasingly, and aggressively, sought for our "special deserving" one-twentieth of the world's population, a disproportionate consumption of the globe's resources that at times approaches one-half of what is available for all the earth's inhabitants. Exploitation is a given! There is no possibility for justice if this unfair formula persists.

This voracious, mindless materialism can only be achieved through the use, or threat of use, of brute force. Thus, as we are addicted to AWOL, we are necessarily Addicted to War.

This illustrated expose by Joel Andreas clearly lays out this pattern, and severe problem, in the hope that people of the United States might SEE that our addictions are rapidly leading toward destruction of much of the life on our dear Mother Earth, including extinction of our species, and of course, our own "civilization".

As Gandhi said, "There is enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed." Let us pray for an historic and radical alteration of our consciousness, from that of selfishness to humble & sacred ecological interconnectedness. That would be revolutionary!"

S. Brian Willson
Vietnam Veteran For Peace

http://www.addictedtowar.com/S.BrianWillson_and_Ron.Kovic.htm

[SahaleArm]

144. Except the ones doing the name calling weren't actually veterans...

just members of VFP. I wasn't paying attention to this particular event; had I known about the intentions of VFP vis-a-vis Ramsey Milosevic we would not have sent a speaker. As far as your snarky attitude - live and let live. In the end I can't take a group that practices revisionist history seriously...

On Edit:

Take a close look and there is something downright suspicious about former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, now the darling of certain sectors of the radical left. His journey has taken him from the heights of federal power to outer orbits of the political fringe. In the process, he has seemingly transformed from a shill for the most corrupt elements of the US elites to a shill for any foreign despot who claims to oppose the US elites. Who is Ramsey Clark really working for?

http://shadow.autono.net/sin001/clark.htm

[drfemoe]

142. It is an honor to be on your team

:yourock:

we just have different quarterbacks ;) .. You GO GETTEM BABY :thumbsup:

[Tinoire]

145. The honor is sincerely mine

Even though this is one of the most distasteful things I have ever done in my life because I don't enjoy antagonizing people and I don't enjoy dwelling on these unpleasant issues but this is the world the neo-conliberals have brought us and if we don't fight it, who will?

Many of us have lives ruined because of these people and their wars, and not just vets but normal people who watched in horror as these vultures stole our country, little by little, until it got to this _Bush regime. If we can do something to prevent more death and destruction, that sacrifice will have been worth it.

It takes more than slapping a few white feathers to your tail to be a dove.

Peace. To all DUers. Especially to the Clark supporters. Nobody is trying to hurt you or our country. Many of us are simply extremely alarmed.

Between all our quarter-backs and half-backs we'll get there... The key is getting the right blend of people in the right place and not forgetting the real goal. It's not just yanking _Bush out of the White House; it's putting the right people in.


Hercules and the Hydra: Some say he used a club to bash the Hydra's heads open; the skull would break but instead of dying the flattened cranium expanded, enlarged and split into two, each of the two halves immediately transformed into a new head. Other tales say he cut off the heads using a sword only for the neck to grow two new heads.

Hercules eventually caught on and realized that if the heads kept on splitting soon there would be too many to fight. He asked Iolaus to make more burning torches and used these to cauterize the stumps, this stopped the Hydra's heads from regenerating. This was the secret to killing the Hydra. From then on the battle became very one sided as each head was destroyed with physical force and burning flame until, at last, only a single head remained.

This final head was immune to fire but not from decapitation. It was cut off and buried under a pile of rocks. I pray we decapitate _Bush's head properly.

Peace my friend. My fellow warrior. We'll win the game yet and get those SOB's out!

[Fleshdancer]

102. I don't know, but Clark's campaign paid Axiom $11,133 on 09/18/03

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/expend.asp?id=N00026187&cycle=2004

I saw this earlier and thought it was odd. It says here that the expenditure to Acxiom was for "Airfare/Rail-Admin".

Does anyone know when the 4th quarter financial information of the candidates will be available? I tried to look for a date on open secrets but couldn't find any details.

[SahaleArm]

104. Jan-15th n/t

[SahaleArm]

112. BTW - I hope you like Joe Trippi...

Trippi McMahon Squier has received close to $2-Million dollars from DFA.

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/expend.asp?id=N00025663&sort=A&cycle=2004

[HFishbine]

117. I'm shocked

Trippi's consulting company is working on the Dean campaign? I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

[SahaleArm]

136. Conflict of interest? No-bid? Campaign Profiteering?

:evilgrin:

[Fleshdancer]

122. Not unusual for a communication strategy and advertising agency

That's a lot of money, but I would be suprised if campaigns didn't pay large amounts for advertising and strategy.

http://www.tmsnewmedia.com/about.html

"At Trippi, McMahon & Squier, our specialty is communications strategy and persuasive advertising that delivers a targeted message. For political campaigns. For issue advocacy groups. For trade associations. For corporate clients in both the U.S. and the international arena."

[Tinoire]

133. Interesting. Well you know what they say. Film at 11

;)

Actually there was quite a little scandal because Clark was using Acxiom's corporate jet for his, get this, campaigning.

Remember how we hollered the last time someone did that? And what happened in the susequent years? Well people HOLLERED big time about this one. The joke at the time was

Why fly Acxiom? Why not Jet Blue? Afraid they'll give your data to Homeland Securitry? :)

===

Clark paid $11,133 for flights on the Acxiom Corp., jet on Sept. 18, the day after he announced his candidacy, traveling to Florida and Iowa, spokeswoman Kym Spell said. Clark lobbied for and served on the board of Acxiom, an Arkansas-based data analysis firm that has been trying to win Homeland Security Department business.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20031021-1243-airpolitics.html (though in all fairness so did Edwards, Gephardt, Lieberman and Bush)

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts often uses his wife's Flying Squirrel charter airline, paying the company at least $70,000 so far.

Reports from Howard Dean's campaign showed no apparent use of corporate planes; a spokesman said the campaign may have had a few such flights and was checking.

At least one Democratic hopeful, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, intentionally spurns the use of corporate jets, his campaign said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20031021-1243-airpolitics.html

[SahaleArm]

98. Founded as Demographics not Systematics...

http://www.acxiom.com/default.aspx?ID=1741&Country_Code=USA#6996

Alltel is a publicly traded company under the symbol AT and does telecom work.

The source of the Acxiom information is suspect, it sources an unsourced piece.

[arendt]

209. Thanks. I've been getting "I can't recall" from Clark supporters on this

I started a thread on "Clark and Civil Liberties",
in which I said something like,

when I hear Arkansas and Software in the same
sentence, the next thing I expect to hear is Promis.

No one picked up on this in a thread that lasted
for days.

So, thanks for putting pile of steaming horseshit
on the table for all to see.

If Clark worked for Promis, he is into some really
dirty, spooky shit.

BTW, Jackson Stephens, Sr. is pretty spooky
himself. That Daniel Hopsinger(?) guy at Mad Cow
is busy tying him to the Venice, FL flight school.

The more I hear about Clark, the more scared
I get. Its not about what he says, its about what
he has done, and who he has done it with.

arendt

[w13rd0]

96. I've made comments about the KLA before...

...and their affiliation with al Queada, but woosh, right over heads. The US creates its own monsters, time and again. And time and again, the SAME GROUP OF MEN are involved...

[incapsulated]

101. You have got to be kidding me

If you think I am going to take seriously your book length cut-and-paste from some of the most clearly one-sided Pro-Serb, anti-Muslim sites (rags, to me) like the misleadly named "balkanpeace" and emperorscloths.com, throw in the Washington Times and indymedia, connect-the-dots smear on Clark to make him a war criminal slightly worse than Stalin and connected to bin Laden to boot, forget it.

Try putting it in pdf form and have one of the Milosevic sites host it.

[Tinoire]

90. Bush, Harken Energy, Jackson Stephens, BCCI, & the Saudis

When BUSH'S Harken Energy partners ran short of cash and hooked up with the investment banker corporate cell, Jackson Stephens, of Little Rock, Arkansas, arranged, FOR BUSH, a $25 million stock purchase by the foreign corporate cell, Union Bank of Switzerland. Sheik Abdullah Bakhsh, who joined the board as a part of the deal, was connected to the BCCI (Bank Of Credit And Commerce International) corporate cell. The Union Bank was connected to BCCI (including its operations in Panama), the Nugan Hand Bank corporate cell (a notorious CIA-front in Australia), and Ferdinand Marcos.

Jackson Stephens introduced the players in what turned out to be the infamous First American-BCCI deal after the BCCI stole over $10 Billion dollars stolen from its investors.

Bush Sr & the CIA had a long history of using the BCCI to fund the arms and drug trade.

The Axis of Speak No Evil

So, if you wonder why the Democrats didn't shout these revelations from the top of the Washington monument, consider the power of "hush money". When big Bush-backer Jackson Stephens' name kept popping up in the Senators Kerry's Committee report on BCCI in 1992, his Worthen Bank of Little Rock, Arkansas made a timely, much needed, two million dollar loan to the primary campaign of you-know-who: our then future president, William Jefferson Clinton. Earlier, Hillary Clinton, representing the Rose Law Firm, successfully defended Systematics,(of John Ashcroft Promis fame & later to become Acxiom ) a subsidiary of Stephens Inc, during Stephen's and Adham's hostile takeover of Finanial General Bankshares, that subsequently became First American Bankshares of D.C..

<snip>

Recently, Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, has demanded that the heavily censored Saudi section of the Senate's 911 report, covered-up by President George W. Bush, be made public, so that the royal household could defend themselves from the accusations of their complicity in the events of 911.

Saudi royal complicity in supporting bin Laden is supposed by some to be documented in that report, although the Prince claims that most of the support was inadvertent. As one of many examples of Saudi support, Prince Sultan, Prince Bandar's father and the Saudi minister of defense, has admitted to having contributed millions of dollars to the IIRO, while claiming to have been ignorant of their clandestine behavior.

However, if some significant measure of culpability for the September 11th attacks is shifted onto Sheikh Mahfouz, bin Laden's principle sponsor, and away from the Saudi royal family, the loser might actually be the current Bush administration. President Bush may be caught in a trap of his own making. Consider that George W. Bush never disclosed the true extent of his financial relationship to terror-sponsoring Saudi Sheikhs and CIA-dealing bankers. In reality, George W. Bush had important business dealings with seven men that were deeply connected to Mahfouz: Dr. Hartmann, Sheikh's Bakhsh, Adham and Khalifa, Sami Baarma, James Bath and Jackson Stephens. Moreover, Hartmann and Adham were each clearly involved in multiple U.S. covert military operations. Consequently, if the purpose of Bush's censorship of the Saudi section of the 911 report was to obscure his business relationship to a number of high ranking individuals in Sheikh Mahfouz's financial empire, the episode could come to represent a "high crime and misdemeanor", that is, an impeachable offense.

<snip>

http://www.geocities.com/rivers_mj/

=========================

In 1987, the original plan for George W. Bush's Harken Oil and Gas Company was to obtain 25 million dollars in investment capital from BCP, a joint venture between the Union Bank of Switzerland and BCCI as the controlling interest. As originally structured by Bush donor Jackson Stephens, a billionaire from Little Rock, the deal apparently did not comply with U.S. banking regulations, according to the Asian Wall Street Journal. In the course of restructuring the deal, UBS decided to sell its shares as soon as possible. Stephens obligingly found a new buyer for the UBS's share of Harken, Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh, a principle shareholder in Mahfouz's BCCI until its 1992 collapse and a major investor in Stephens' own Worthen Bank. Sheikh Bakhsh's purchase of 3.5 million Harken shares, 17.6 percent of the total outstanding, is documented in U.S. Security and Exchange Commission reports.

Bush's Harken deal was concluded with BCCI's Geneva subsidiary, BCP, whose man-of-a-thousand-faces, Dr. Hartmann, was also the chairman of the the Swiss affiliate of another criminal bank, BNL, the Italian Banco Nazionale del Lavoro. According to the Congressional Record in 1992, BNL was alleged by a former U.S. House Banking Committee chairman to have secured billions of dollars in illegally-used, weapons-directed loans from the first Bush administration to Saddam Hussein just prior to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

After 1996, Sheikh Bakhsh was a principle shareholder in Mahfouz's Middle East Capital Group, a British offshore investment bank involving SBG, the Saudi BinLaden Group, the bin Laden family's giant construction and investment conglomerate. SBG is partners with Mahfouz in SICO, the Saudi Investment Corporation. In turn, SICO was covertly involved in supporting the mujahideen in Afghanistan during the late 1980's, in connection with the BCCI's National Bank of Oman. Arranging SICO's capitalization of bin Laden were InterMaritime Bank executives, Rapapport and Hartmann and the infamous deceased CIA director, William Casey.

Thus, during the late 1980s, the ubiquitous Harken financier, Dr. Alfred Hartmann was both rearming Saddam Hussein and supporting Osama bin Laden's Jihad. With BCCI Holdings of Luxembourg having Dr. Hartmann as CFO, Hartmann was at the very center of Mahfouz's BCCI scandal, a more than 10 billion dollar bank loss, termed "the largest bank fraud in world financial history" by Manhattan district attorney, Robert Morganthau. The CIA director under the first President Bush, Robert Gates, referred to BCCI as the "Bank of Crooks and Criminals" in Senate testimony.
<snip>

PLENTY MORE HERE: http://www.geocities.com/rivers_mj/

And yes, Mr George Soros, a foreigner, who is part of the Carlyle cabal right up there with James Baker, Frank Carlucci, the Bin-Ladens, & the _Bush family is more than happy to invest a paltry $10 million dollars in the Democratic Party to protect their investments. And what they are doing here in the US is EXACTLY what they have done in every single country they've destabilized & taken over. The destabilization is usually done with angry young people (just like Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Georgia and now the US) to whom they sell a packet of lies about X is your enemy as they devalue that country's currency.

George Soros is currently manipulating the dollar in a serious attempt to destabilize it. There are many stories in LBN & recent LBN archives to this effect.



Shall we be the next Georgia where the Democratic Students have 'won' some dubious "democracy" or will we call their bull what it is and say

HELL NO! I'M TAKING MY COUNTRY BACK!!!

Since the theft of 2000 we have been fighting them together and waking up together. We can NOT give up now!

[seventhson]

92. Jesus! Looks like Clark's ties to Stephens is only the tip of the iceberg

as far as reasons to shy way away from Clark.

The Stephens ties of Clinton to Stephens AND Bush always creeped me out and made me mistrust Clinton.

No WONDER Al Gore jumped in to try to help Dean defeat these bastards who stabbed HIM in the back in 2000.

[SahaleArm]

95. Al Gore stabbed Al Gore in the back - Blaming Clinton is pathetic n/t

[Tinoire]

103. Al Gore lost what was his to lose HOWEVER

there is more than enough blame to hand to Clinton, the man who brought us NAFTA, GATT, WTO, the war against Yugoslavia, who foisted Monsanto's genetically engineered poisons on the world, oversaw massive corporate globalization, Columbia & Yugoslavia. Lots, lots more where that came from. Just because we hate Bush does not mean we have to close our eyes to the dirt in our own living room.

I want a CLEAN HOUSE! I AM TAKING MY COUNTRY BACK

Do you remember December 1999?


The empire strikes back? World Trade Organization Protest, Seattle, the OTHER Washington



MORE about Seattle here: http://photosc.msspro.com/citizen/seattle.htm


WTO


GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS


NAFTA

More here: http://photosc.msspro.com/citizen/seattle.htm

[SahaleArm]

106. Yet as Al Gore distanced himself from Clinton he wasn't against...

NAFTA, WTO, or GMO's. Gore never fought back when Bush-Rove tried to manipulate his record. He was a laid back campaigner when he should have seized the bully pulpit afforded to a sitting VP.

Edit: BTW thanks for the pictures - I live there. You can thank a few anarchists for turning the protest into a mess.

[Forkboy]

119. those damn anarchists!

you dont suppose that maybe they were plants to give police the excuse they were looking for do ya?

[SahaleArm]

128. The whole thing was wierd...

Possibly plants but an anarchist group from Oregon claimed responsibility; the conspiricy circle is endless. I really have no idea about the details.

[Tinoire]

137. More about BCCI - Kissinger, BNL, Saddaam

More Blasts from the Past

Kissinger founded the New York-based consulting firm Kissinger Associates in 1982, a year before accepting the position as head of the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America. And, beginning in 1986, Kissinger Associates became entangled with the infamous Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

BCCI was a Pakistani-managed, Middle East-financed bank with branches in 70 countries. In a nutshell, BCCI's purpose was "stealing very large amounts of money and using it for a multitude of illegal purposes, perverting governments, corrupting politicians, corrupting regulators, corrupting bank regulators," according to Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Truell.

In 1986-1989, BCCI initiated a series of contacts with Kissinger Associates. Over several months, representatives of BCCI and representatives of Kissinger Associates explored the possibilities for joint projects. Following BCCI's indictment in 1988, representatives continued to meet to discuss how Kissinger Associates might help BCCI respond to the indictment. Kissinger ended these discussions in 1989, according to Kissinger.

BCCI itself may not have become a client of Kissinger Associates. However, a congressional investigation found that BCCI's secretly owned affiliate, the National Bank of Georgia, was.

<snip>

Worse, another Kissinger Associate client, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro , connect Kissinger to Saddam Hussein. Here is more from Congressman's Gonzalez's testimony to the House:

• "Several former employees of the Atlanta branch of BNL conspired to provide the Government of Iraq with over $4 billion in unreported loans between 1985 and 1990. They accomplished this massive fraud by keeping a secret set of accounting records that concealed the over $4 billion in loans to Iraq.
  
  
• ...To date, several of the former employees have pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and signing false financial statements. The former manager of BNL, Chris Drogoul, goes to trial on June 2. He claims that the BNL management in Rome was aware of the loans to Iraq and the United States and Italian Governments should have been aware of the loans.
  
  
• $4 billion plus in BNL loans to Iraq between 1985 and 1990 were crucial to Iraqi efforts to feed its people and to build weapons of mass destruction. In addition, the BNL loans were crucial to Reagan and Bush administration efforts to assist Saddam Hussein. ...
  
  
• procurement network, which operated through front companies situated in Europe and the United States, used the BNL loans to supply Iraqi missile, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs with industrial goods such as computer controlled machine tools, computers, scientific instruments, special alloy steel and aluminum, chemicals, and other industrial goods. ...
  
  
• Several of BNL's high level friends in the United States should have been aware of the BNL loans to Iraq. The high level patrons that I am referring to are Henry Kissinger, and his Kissinger Associates compadres, Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence Eagleburger."
  
  
  <snip>
  
  http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/12/04_henry.html
  
  There's some great research in that article! With footnotes and sources.
  

[blm]

157. It was KERRY who exposed Stephens in BCCI and you blame

Kerry for everything, seventhson. Now why would Kerry expose Stephens on BCCI when according to you, Kerry is BFEE?

Gore may have inadvertently help COVER UP what was going on in BCCI and IranContra by starting his Censorship campaign on dirty song lyrics. It helped change the headlines for Reagan and Bush. Why would he do that? Was his Senate panel on dirty song lyrics really so important? Did James Baker have anything to do with pushing that idea through?

[rogerhall]

124. Once again, a little education on Arkansas

I do want to let you in on an important little thing. If not for Axciom and Stephens Investment group, Arkansas would be a really crappy place.

I know that these corporations are a little scary for some people. I understand why, too. They creep me out a little.

But the truth is Axciom is only one of two places for most technically oriented people to work in central AR. Many of my neighbors (and a few of my friends) feed their kids with Axciom dollars.

The Stephens family is second only to Waltons in philanthropy in Arkansas, and there is no other large investment firm. And trust me, we need lots of philanthropy around here.

Where was Clark going to work when he moved back to Arkansas? WalMart? Tyson chicken plants? The trucking industry? That's pretty much all we have besides Axciom or Alltel (the only big tech houses here), or Stephens Investments (who have themselves been the targets of animal activists).

Suggesting that Clark might somehow be nefarious because of such connection is to simply be ignorant of the realities of central Arkansas!

Besides, Clark left both of the positions rather quickly. He didn't leave for other corporations, he left to return to public service.

And he didn't do that because he was looking for a way to 'help his clients'. He did it because I asked him too (along with thousands of others).

[nomaco-10]

129. It's not the affiliation with the Stephens Group per se.....

as much as it is with Jackson Stephens the man. Read post 43.

[rogerhall]

131. Check out what the Stephens says about Clark

BTW - there is a slew of Stephens around here - and they are cut from the same cloth! :}

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/993773/posts

"Wes didn’t know anything about investment-banking business. He came to it with virtually zero experience in it," Warren Stephens said. "It was a pretty steep learning curve."

So why hire him?

"Wes was a draw to get people to some events. We had a lot of lunches and conferences, and he spoke at many of those events," Stephens said.

Clark left Stephens Inc. early this year to start his own consulting company. His position has not been filled, and his legacy is unclear.

"It would be incorrect to say Wes made a big contribution while he was here, but it would be wrong to say we expected that, either," Warren Stephens said.

"Wes certainly was helpful in opening doors, but that was about the extent of it."

There "would not be any significant dollars we could place by his name," Stephens added.

And his campaign for president carries an unwelcome dividend. It draws attention to Stephens Inc. and the Stephens family, both of which have long and complicated political histories, most notably with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The only political contribution Clark has made in the past two decades was $1,000 to Erskine Bowles, a former Clinton chief of staff who was running for the Senate, according to Federal Election Commission records. That was in November 2002, while he was a Stephens employee.

It’s awkward, Warren Stephens acknowledged. He likes Clark and thinks highly of him, but they are on "different pages" politically. Stephens is the Arkansas financial co-chairman of President Bush’s re-election effort.

"Our company isn’t looking to get into the spotlight here," he said, "and I’m not happy that it has been put upon us with Clark’s candidacy."

[nomaco-10]

134. I'll just bet he's "not happy with ...

his company in the spotlight". I wouldn't be either if I had the dubious connections he has (Jackson Stephens) that could be uncovered and exposed on a internet message board. So far this board has uncovered and brought attention to BBV (thanks Bev) the true story of the "Mission Accomplished" banner and countless other stories that have been unearthed and reported here. Some of the people on this board spend exhaustive hours researching and uncovering the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts, sometimes it may not be what you want to hear, but it's the truth and the truth will set you free or atleast make you a better informed and enlightened voter and citizen. I see nothing but good in that.

[Tinoire]

135. Ask yourself- Jackson Stephens, Bush, Funeralgate

"Our company isn’t looking to get into the spotlight here,"

Why not? They've been in the spotlight at DU & on other Leftist sites for years. This is not a new spot-light sorry to say.

Do you remember these stories? Funeralgate?

Sunday, November 24, 2002
TERRI SCHIAVO TO DIE IN ATTORNEY'S "DEATH FACTORY"? SUNCOAST HOSPICE BOSS WAS GEORGE FELOS...
Click Full Story:

Things are coming together now.

This story was from 2002, about the conflict of interest with this hospice.

Whole chains of Florida hospices and nursing homes to which Jackson Stephens is the ultimate owner, along with Carlyle Groupies, run with front men in charge. These companies are interbred with funeral homes and graveyards where bodies get disinterred and bones sold.
The FuneralGate scandal was a big thing before 911.

How many hops between this hospice, and the nearest FuneralGate figure?
Damm few, betcha.

... with Ken Lay, his giving the finger to Clearwater protesters, Florida's criminal purge of LEGAL voters, the Menorah Gardens Funeralgate scandal, and on and on ...
http://www.democrats.com/search.cfm?term=funeralgate

http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/10-26-03/discussion.cgi.163.html

[Fleshdancer]

138. Warren is Jackson Stephens' son.

http://www.stephens.com/stephens/

[windansea]

146. TANK.....

wank spank doodle dank expialadocious

[Tinoire]

147. Is that one of the tanks Clark couldn't find?

The Kosovo Cover-Up
NATO said it won a great victory, but the war did very little damage to Serb forces. By not conceding this, the Pentagon may mislead future presidents about the limits of U.S. power. A NEWSWEEK exclusive.

By John Barry And Evan Thomas
Newsweek, May 15, 2000


According to a suppressed Air Force report obtained by NEWSWEEK, the number of targets verifiably destroyed was a tiny fraction of those claimed: 14 tanks, not 120; 18 armored personnel carriers, not 220; 20 artillery pieces, not 450. Out of the 744 "confirmed" strikes by NATO pilots during the war, the Air Force investigators, who spent weeks combing Kosovo by helicopter and by foot, found evidence of just 58. ((Paging General Shelton))

<snip>

The damage report has been buried by top military officers and Pentagon officials, who in interviews with NEWSWEEK over the last three weeks were still glossing over or denying its significance. Why the evasions and dissembling, with the disturbing echoes of the inflated "body counts" of the Vietnam War? All during the Balkan war, Gen. Wesley Clark, the top NATO commander, was under pressure from Washington to produce positive bombing results from politicians who were desperate not to commit ground troops to combat. The Air Force protested that tanks are hard to hit from 15,000 feet, but Clark insisted. Now that the war is long over, neither the generals nor their civilian masters are eager to delve into what really happened. Asked how many Serb tanks and other vehicles were destroyed in Kosovo, General Clark will only answer, "Enough."

<snip>

Instead, the Pentagon essentially declared victory and hushed up any doubts about what the air war exactly had achieved. The story of the cover-up is revealing of the way military bureaucracies can twist the truth—not so much by outright lying, but by "reanalyzing" the problem and winking at inconvenient facts. Caught in the middle was General Clark, who last week relinquished his post in a controversial early retirement. Mistrusted by his masters in Washington, Clark will retire from the Army next month with none of the fanfare that greeted other conquering heroes like Dwight Eisenhower after World War II or Norman Schwarzkopf after Desert Storm. To his credit, Clark was dubious about Air Force claims and tried—at least at first—to gain an accurate picture of the bombing in Kosovo. At the end of the war the Serbs' ground commander, Gen. Nobojsa Pavkovic, claimed to have lost only 13 tanks. "Serb disinformation," scoffed Clark. But quietly, Clark's own staff told him the Serb general might be right. need to get to the bottom of this," Clark said. So at the end of June, Clark dispatched a team into Kosovo to do an on-the-ground survey. The 30 experts, some from NATO but most from the U.S. Air Force, were known as the Munitions Effectiveness Assessment Team, or MEAT. Later, a few of the officers would refer to themselves as "dead meat."

<snip>

The team found dozens of burnt-out cars, buses and trucks—but very few tanks. When General Clark heard this unwelcome news, he ordered the team out of their helicopters: "Goddammit, drive to each one of those places. Walk the terrain." The team grubbed about in bomb craters, where more than once they were showered with garbage the local villagers were throwing into these impromptu rubbish pits. At the beginning of August, MEAT returned to Air Force headquarters at Ramstein air base in Germany with 2,600 photographs. They briefed Gen. Walter Begert, the Air Force deputy commander in Europe. "What do you mean we didn't hit tanks?" Begert demanded. Clark had the same reaction. "This can't be," he said. "I don't believe it." Clark insisted that the Serbs had hidden their damaged equipment and that the team hadn't looked hard enough. Not so, he was told. A 50-ton tank can't be dragged away without leaving raw gouges in the earth, which the team had not seen.

<snip>

The Air Force was ordered to prepare a new report. In a month, Brig. Gen. John Corley was able to turn around a survey that pleased Clark. It showed that NATO had successfully struck 93 tanks, close to the 120 claimed by General Shelton at the end of the war, and 153 armored personnel carriers, not far off the 220 touted by Shelton. Corley's team did not do any new field research. Rather, they looked for any support for the pilots' claims. "The methodology is rock solid," said Corley, who strongly denied any attempt to obfuscate. "Smoke and mirrors" is more like it, according to a senior officer at NATO headquarters who examined the data. For more than half of the hits declared by Corley to be "validated kills," there was only one piece of evidence—usually, a blurred cockpit video or a flash detected by a spy satellite. But satellites usually can't discern whether a bomb hits anything when it explodes.

<snip

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m4PRN/2000_May_7/61924373/p1/article.jhtml

[windansea]

148. pffffffffffffffffftttttttttttttttt

so Bubba is a war criminal...Clark was his stooge

lets run with it!!

good plan tinoire....if you have an alternate plan please share

[SahaleArm]

149. Shelton and Cohen are to blame

Clark has been open about the fact that he was hurt when his command was cut short. He offered clues about why he was treated so badly in his first book, Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat, published in 2001, and recollections of highly placed civilians in the Clinton administration confirm what he wrote. Clark displeased the defense secretary, Bill Cohen, and General Hugh Shelton, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, by arguing strenuously that—contrary to Clinton's decision— the option of using ground troops in Kosovo should remain open. But the problem seems to have gone further back. Some top military leaders objected to the idea of the US military fighting a war for humanitarian reasons. (Clark had also favored military action against the genocide in Rwanda.)

Clark's view on Kosovo, shared by Tony Blair and other European leaders, was that Clinton, by stating that ground troops would not be used there —a position Clinton took for domestic political reasons—gave the Serbs a military advantage. Similarly, Clark wasn't allowed to use helicopter gunships for fear that they might be shot down, despite the fact that the helicopters didn't need to fly over Kosovo itself and the helicopters' missiles could have been more precise in hitting targets than bombers flying at 15,000 feet. The argument over whether there should be even contingency planning for the use of NATO ground troops in Kosovo (at the time, it appeared that they would have to fight their way in) caused a serious clash between Clinton and Blair, particularly when they met in April 1999 at the White House residence on the eve of a NATO summit. Clinton's national security adviser, Samuel Berger, argued strongly against contingency planning for ground troops. It would, he said, be controversial domestically and might imply that the air war wasn't working. It was clear that Clinton, who remained largely silent, fully agreed with Berger. A close Clinton associate has told me that "to this day" Clinton regrets that he removed the option of ground troops.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16795

[Tinoire]

150. It's sad that the only tools you have to refute all these

issues about Clark is his own propaganda.

God forbid the entire world mis-understand such a great man because we will be in serious trouble indeed! Shudder and search your soul. Vote for him if you want but stop repeating his propaganda. What kind of legacy do you want America to have? What kind of world do you want your children to live in? One where it's ok to poison it with depleted uranium as you admire the parades?

You seem like a very, extremely nice person but the US is on the brink of pursuing catastrophic wars to maintain our life-style. Is this what you want? We cannot win against the Euro, the indigenous peoples who want to control their own resources and destiny, and our own hypocrisy. Vote for Clark but make sure you're choosing wisely.

[BootinUp]

151. Ask and ye shall receive :)

http://slate.msn.com/id/2091194/
Defending the General
The New Yorker's unfair slam on Wes Clark and his role in the Kosovo war.

snip...

Clark was fired by Secretary of Defense William Cohen shortly after the war ended—and, just to make sure Clark didn't try to make an end-run, the chiefs leaked the firing to the Washington Post. The reasons for his dismissal seem clear: Clark had pushed a policy that Cohen and the chiefs had opposed (and, even after the war, continued to oppose); he went around them in his advocacy; he was too close, for the chiefs' taste, to Clinton (in signing Clark's release papers, Clinton was led to believe the move was a normal succession, not a dismissal); and, toward the end of the war, he pushed for a ground-invasion option that none of the Pentagon's top officials supported in the slightest.

Clearly, Clark made mistakes. Like many, he thought that merely threatening Milosevic with airstrikes would make him back down; after that didn't work, he thought three nights of bombing would crack his resistance. (The bombing campaign lasted 11 weeks.) But Clark was far from alone in this miscalculation; Clinton and Albright shared it. Clark also delivered a disastrous press briefing in the middle of the war (prompting Cohen to order him, "Get your f***ing face off the TV, no more briefings, period"). But the briefing (which I remember well and reported on at the time) was a disaster because Clark committed truth: He admitted, in a roundabout way, that the air war wasn't going well; he was impolitic, but he was right.

The fact that Cohen hated Clark, shuddered at the sight of him according to Boyer's article, should cause no discomfort to any prospective voter today. Cohen posted the least distinctive record of any secretary of defense in modern memory; he was widely seen as a milquetoast at the time and left no legacy to speak of.

....

There's more available if you need it.

[SahaleArm]

155. Don't bother - It's all propoganda holding back the man...

:eyes:

[Tinoire]

163. Can you find anything good that's not campaign-related about this guy

All we have are articles written before he had any konwn intention of seeking the ticket that are mostly damning and then a slew of post campaign apologetics. Do you have anything in between? Something preferably not written by Clark himself?

For such a great man, one would think there would be an avalanche of glowing reviews.

[BootinUp]

165. Have you seen this site?

Lots of stuff here from his days in europe till now.

http://wesleyclark.h1.ru/

:hi:

[SahaleArm]

154. Aliens Cause Global Warming

Don't read this lecture if you accept consensus science as fact...

A lecture by Michael Crichton
Caltech Michelin Lecture
January 17, 2003

http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote04.html

[CWebster]

162. Don't miss it

:kick:

[frank frankly]

164. this isn't good

I'll read everything you and Tinoire posted...goddamn it that makes sense.

fuck.

:shrug:

[JNelson6563]

166. Wow Seventhson!

This post/thread offers up some pretty alarming info. Even more alarming is that I do not see any of it refuted anywhere here either.

Hmmm.

Julie

[jmaier]

167. You might

consider re-reading at least post #131 which puts the Clark - Stephens relationship with respect to political beliefs in some context. :-)

There is plenty of context added in the various thread responses. Not to mention slamming a pretty crude smear by implied association tactic. You would probably be pretty quick to dismiss a thread that was starting against Dean using similar tactics. Oh, never mind. Partisanship is pretty blind no matter which candidate you support.



Wes Clark. He will make an extraordinary American President.

[seventhson]

169. Unfortunately the Truth often hurts. If Dean had these deep ties ...

He would get crucified.

Because Clark is a neocon newborn dem IMHO, folks seem to accept this.

I believe it is unacceptable for Dems and especially for the Democratic underground (small u).

Stephens is one of the preeminent dangers to democracy in my opinion.

But the fact that Clark was planning his presidential run while still AT the Stephens Group makes this information all the more troubling.

It is reminiscent of Cheney and Halliburton.

Nice work if you can get it and nice Presidency if you can steal it.

[blm]

191. Dean is tied to the Koch brothers and that doesn't bother you at all.

And to Stephen Moore who is putting up these bogus ads.

[JPJones]

168. Panic mode for the Dean machine

Uh oh, Clark must be doing something right.

One of my former bosses became a REPUBLICAN governor. Does this make me a Republican?

[seventhson]

171. Just taking it all in stride and Moving Forward. No panic at all. Relief.

Clark is toast and y'all know it.

But your analogy fails the laugh test. If you were a paid republican operative until just before your bosses election THEN the answer is YES anyway.

[in_cog_ni_to]

174. Hahahahaha!

He's got you running scared...hence your slanderous posts. He's going up, up, up in the polls and now you're SCARED! Hahahaha! Oh, well. Such is life. You just continue your little rabid campaign and he will continue his job of WINNING this campaign. THEN what will you do. Leave the country? Bye!!!! :hi:

[seventhson]

172. Crazy Baldheads! (Bob Marley) (Funny)

I keep thinking that Club for Growth is "The Hairclub for Men".

It just goes to the same part of my brain as those dweebs.

And then Bob Marley comes to mind.


"Gonna run those crazy boilheads (baldheads)outta the town!"

Yep! That's what we gonna do!

[Fleshdancer]

173. The past of every candidate will be investigated...even Clark.

Every major Democratic candidate has had their past investigated. Dean, Clark, Edwards, Gephardt...everyone. Should it really come as a big shock when people look up and question Clark's past?

Of course no die hard supporter likes it, but calling it a "smear" is just as ridiculous as when Dean supporters claim the same thing when someone brings up what Dean did as a Governor...or when others bring up Kerry's voting record as Senator, etc.

[w13rd0]

175. Well, with Clark...

...they are counting on his lack of having a record upon which to base judgement as a "plus". Unfortunately, it's not a plus, and it also means we have to look into his business interests and his ties with his "friends" in PNAC, his relationship with Arkansas kingmakers, etc...

[cthrumatrix]

177. rove is in waiting for Clark....with thier campaign....they already are

clearly after Dean.

So..who do you think they want...?

[TexasSissy]

178. Incorrectomundo. Clark did not "quest" for the Presidency at all,

much less before he resigned from any company.

He was drafted. His plans, actually, were to run for Arkansas gov.

I don't care what Clark's party affiliations were. Because of his integrity and character, I know that he in no way has ever been connected with undermining any political party or candidate, Republican OR Democrat. He's a pretty straightforward, truthful, and sincere man.

I, myself, work for a company whose owners and staff, for the most part, are Republican. They no doubt give $$$ to Bush and others like him. That doesn't make ME Republican or have anything to do w/me. Most higher-ups at corporations are Republican. So what? Whatever they do has nothing to do with those who don't participate in those activities.

[seventhson]

180. I guess reading the posted evidence of his "questing" is too much work?

I posted links and articles which back up this claim.

I can repost them if you want.

[seventhson]

181. Here's the Beef (ummm Tofu?) The Evidence of Clark's quest.

I posted this in #32 above


Gen. Wesley Clark Resigns From Stephens
ArkansasBusiness.com ^ | February 28, 2003






Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, the Little Rock native and former NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, has resigned as managing director of merchant banking for the Stephens Group Inc. of Little Rock effective Friday, a company spokesman confirmed.
"He told several of us that his first assignment would be to Kuwait City for CNN," Stephens spokesman Frank Thomas said. "It was a very amicable parting, very comfortable."

....

He joined Stephens in July 2000, the same month he retired from the Army. He serves on the boards of directors of Acxiom Corp. of Little Rock; Entrust Inc. of Dallas; Sirva Inc. of Westmont, Ill.; and privately held Time Domain Inc. of Huntsville, Ala.

Reportedly, Clark has been weighing a run for president. In the last months, he has met with Democratic Party leaders throughout the country, including Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Feb. 16, Clark said he had thought about running for president but has not accepted any political money or hired any political consultants.

[seventhson]

182. PS in January 2001 (when Clark was at Stephens) they gave Bush $100,000

For his inauguration. Stephens gave it to Bush when Clark was working there (I JUST figured this out - I had thought it was BEFORE Clark went to work there)

[KC21304]

187. Do you even know how silly this is ?

[in_cog_ni_to]

192. Stephens gave it to Bush

Key phrase there. Stephens gave it to Bush NOT Clark. Do you know which political campaign YOUR employer donates to? I'm self employed now, but I was NEVER privy to that kind of information when I was employed. This is a pathetic attempt to slander a good man...you should be ashamed.

[seventhson]

203. Clarek was a MANAGING DIRECTOR of Stephens when they gave Bush

$100,000.

Clark was tasked with LOBBYING THE WHITE HOUSE, for jiminy crickets' sake. OF COURSE he knew about it. It may not have been Clark's monet but he was sure as hell thisclose to its strategic purposes for Stephens (and it was before his exploration for President).

[oasis]

205. Stephens backed Bush, therefore his gardener and paperboy are GOP.

[in_cog_ni_to]

190. Back in FEBRUARY he was talking to Terry McAuliffe?

FEBRUARY??? OR SOONER! Could be Nov. or Dec. of 2002. So, he INTENDED to run as a Democrat all along! Hahahahahaha! That just blows "he's a republican" bullshit right out of the water! :bounce::bounce::bounce::

That business resume is just SO scary! :scared: :eyes:

Thanks! THAT'S a KEEPER!

[TLM]

179. Why am I not at all surpised....

Oh yeah because I've been saying Clark is dirty for 5 months.


Great job on the research.

Maybe now some of the people Clark has fooled, will see Clark for the repuke punk ass he really is.

[stickdog]

186. Wow! Just like the Golden Age of DU. The cockroaches are sure

scurrying for cover.

Thanks for some needed truth, people.

That's what this place used to be all about.

[polpilot]

188. Clark's still receiving 'his orders' obviously.

Dean '04

[hedda_foil]

193. Take a look at this.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/

[Duder]

194. I looked and...

...ended up back here.

Best thread ever. ;)

[seventhson]

202. Best Thread Ever?

Gee Thanks.

And Thanks to WhatReally Happened.com for posting my article (link) there!

[Polemonium]

195. This ain't the only smoking gun

Do your homework folks

[lurk_no_more]

198. Gee, I don't know what to say

After reading all these posts, it doesn't look good for Clark, I'd better donate $200 instead of $100, he'll need it if he really wants to be king. /sarcasm


” JAFO”

[PatrickS]

200. Very interesting!

I hope this information comes out to the general public.

[Tinoire]

201. If it's on the front page of WhatReallyHappened- now u can bet your sweet

a** it will :)
Awesome... And they have quite a bit on Jackson Stephens . Will be combing through their archives soon.

Peace

[stickdog]

206. I don't particularly TRUST any of the candidates.

But Clark scares me the most.

[w13rd0]

204. Things that started or gained momentum...

...here and at other "HATEBUSH" sites include:

Bush and his connections to the Saudis
Questions concerning S11 that to this day remain unanswered
Black Box Voting
Bush's ties to Enron
Election 2000
Mission Accomplished Banner
Chalabi's role in Iraq and the manufactured PR/Intel
Iraq, the leadup, the execution, the follow-up
the anti-Iraq war protests (MILLIONS worldwide)

[seventhson]

208. IF DU is not on the Cutting Edge of Researcxhing these issues

Then WHO WILL be?

Many may find that Clark's ties to Stephens (and the Stephens financial backing of both Bushes AND Clinton) are OKAY with them.

I imagine that they know little about the Stephens Group and could care less or do not want to know the truth.

But those who care about the influence of the MIC on the DLC and the PNAC shadowy figures who align members of the Dems and Repugs in shadowy enterprises (like the coup in Venezuela) MUST get informed about these serious and deep ties and financial/political connections.

We would be remiss in our duties as Democrats and citizens in these perilous times not to point out these matters and underscore them for as many people as possible to know.

I appreciate those who are supportive here and for those who don't care or think it is irrelevent, I have only pity or sorrow.