thanks for posting this. I read the post story out loud this morning to my husband and thought "hm, this looks weird, what is the actual evidence that cheney has ever been concerned about congressional privilige and what is the evidence that he is *now* in this story?" It utterly contradicted, yet without any real attribution or discussion, all that we know of cheney so far. It makes an excellent pair with the Boston globe piece, th anks for linking them.
aimai
Posted by aimai at May 28, 2006 12:03 PMWell, there may be some connections. Wayne Madsen goes out on a limb more often than he should, but sometimes he's right on. Here's what he's saying:
However, WMR sources report that the Jefferson bribe involving Nigerian businesses is just one small part of Nigerian interests funneling oil dollars to foreign politicians, including Americans. The financial network, largely composed of GOP operatives, uses Nigerian politicians like Abubakar and Buhari to make contact with U.S. politicians for the purpose of arranging "investments" into their private and public coffers. In return, the politicians are blackmailed into supporting the interests of the oil companies, including the largest ones operating in Nigeria, including Exxon Mobil and Halliburton. The same GOP and Nigerian interests were likewise involved in the infusion of money into the 2004 election in order to buy off local elections officials and technicians. In that case, reported by this editor, there was also a significant connection to Kentucky.The Nigerian bribery scandal involving Jefferson is also linked to previous bribes paid to Nigerian politicians by U.S. oil companies, including $180 million in bribes paid by Halliburton, while Dick Cheney was its chairman, to Nigerian officials in return for a gas liquefaction plant contract in Nigeria. That bribery scheme (known as the "Technip Affair") resulted in a multinational criminal investigation of Halliburton that included the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department. Buhari, a former chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and was the Executive Chairman of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF) from 1995 to 1999, when the fund was abolished. During Buhari's tenure, the Technip scandal involving Halliburton and NNPC blew wide open. Buhari has been a frequent visitor to Washington and one WMR source has reported an attempt by the former Nigerian president to enlist his political support in return for a large sum of money. The FBI's raid on Jefferson's office may have had more to do with eliminating evidence involving U.S. oil companies in Nigerian bribery schemes (and, therefore, protect Cheney) than in nailing Jefferson. [http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/ ]
Food for thought, and it fits right in with their modus operandi.
Posted by Andy at May 28, 2006 12:56 PMP.S.--about the above. I know, it's Wayne Madsen and I know that his "sources" are often poor. Like I said, it just kind of makes sense that there might be some connections here...
Posted by Andy at May 28, 2006 01:03 PMAndy, I read Madsen's post as well with pretty much the same heaping tablespoon of salt yet I have to admit that where Madsen used to tread wildly alone, we find that BushCo frogleaps over to take the lead from Madsen on a regular basis now. So, even if it is nuts, it's always interesting to see how many short steps this stuff takes to return to Cheney and/or Haliburton.
Posted by mainsailset at May 28, 2006 02:59 PMYou almost have it right, Steve.
He does care, to the extent it can be used to save his sorry butt.
Cheney reminded the Chicago Tribune last month that his job straddles both the executive and legislative branches (he is the president of the Senate), to show that his office enjoys the privileges (and perhaps, protections) of belonging to both branches of government. The Trib interview was about his failure to follow the rules concerning classification of documents (Cheney used his "my job straddles both branches" argument to ignore the executive's demands to classify less).
So you see, he is interested in this, because at some point someone will want to search his office, and he can use this "I'm a member of the legislative branch, no now I'm a member of the executive" to avoid prosecution.
Posted by raisin at May 28, 2006 04:09 PMYou may or may not be impressed with the reporting of Wayne Madsen. He has another angle on Cheney's interest in Congress:
quote
May 28, 2006 -- Nigerian connections to political bribes ultimately linked to U.S. oil industry. According to informed sources, the $90,000 found in Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson's freezer by the FBI had its origins with Nigerian politicians who include two 2007 presidential hopefuls, current Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former President Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, as well as former Nigerian President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is looking at the three politicians and evidence that they have been used by foreign oil companies to launder money into the coffers of Nigerian and foreign politicians, including Jefferson. The Louisiana congressman is being investigated for receiving over a half million dollars in bribes from iGate, Inc., a Louisville, Kentucky-based company that was using Jefferson to promote its Internet and wireless business in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon. In the case of Nigeria. Jefferson allegedly attempted to double dip by receiving a finder's fee from iGate for an introduction to Nigerian political leaders and company officials of Nigeria's Netlink Digital Television of Nigeria and also receive direct sales commissions from Netlink. Netlink's lawyers blew the whistle on Jefferson's illegal gambit.
William Jefferson, Dick Cheney, and Nigerian bribes: Did the FBI raid Jefferson's office and seize evidence to protect Cheney?
However, WMR sources report that the Jefferson bribe involving Nigerian businesses is just one small part of Nigerian interests funneling oil dollars to foreign politicians, including Americans. The financial network, largely composed of GOP operatives, uses Nigerian politicians like Abubakar and Buhari to make contact with U.S. politicians for the purpose of arranging "investments" into their private and public coffers. In return, the politicians are blackmailed into supporting the interests of the oil companies, including the largest ones operating in Nigeria, including Exxon Mobil and Halliburton. The same GOP and Nigerian interests were likewise involved in the infusion of money into the 2004 election in order to buy off local elections officials and technicians. In that case, reported by this editor, there was also a significant connection to Kentucky.
The Nigerian bribery scandal involving Jefferson is also linked to previous bribes paid to Nigerian politicians by U.S. oil companies, including $180 million in bribes paid by Halliburton, while Dick Cheney was its chairman, to Nigerian officials in return for a gas liquefaction plant contract in Nigeria. That bribery scheme (known as the "Technip Affair") resulted in a multinational criminal investigation of Halliburton that included the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department. Buhari, a former chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and was the Executive Chairman of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF) from 1995 to 1999, when the fund was abolished. During Buhari's tenure, the Technip scandal involving Halliburton and NNPC blew wide open. Buhari has been a frequent visitor to Washington and one WMR source has reported an attempt by the former Nigerian president to enlist his political support in return for a large sum of money. The FBI's raid on Jefferson's office may have had more to do with eliminating evidence involving U.S. oil companies in Nigerian bribery schemes (and, therefore, protect Cheney) than in nailing Jefferson.
end quote
Posted by suds at May 28, 2006 07:27 PMOops--sorry for the re-post. But I see at least one other person is interested in Madsen's take.
Posted by suds at May 28, 2006 07:29 PM