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Delivered-To: john.podesta@gmail.com Received: by 10.100.255.16 with SMTP id c16cs54365ani; Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:38:36 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.110.53.14 with SMTP id b14mr1254909tia.12.1203881915070; Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:38:35 -0800 (PST) Return-Path: <tara@iraqcampaign.org> Received: from an-out-0708.google.com (an-out-0708.google.com [209.85.132.244]) by mx.google.com with ESMTP id i13si7931287wxd.3.2008.02.24.11.38.34; Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:38:34 -0800 (PST) Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 209.85.132.244 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of tara@iraqcampaign.org) client-ip=209.85.132.244; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=neutral (google.com: 209.85.132.244 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of tara@iraqcampaign.org) smtp.mail=tara@iraqcampaign.org Received: by an-out-0708.google.com with SMTP id b36so449921ana.101 for <John.Podesta@gmail.com>; Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:38:34 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.100.254.18 with SMTP id b18mr4735695ani.21.1203881914596; Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:38:34 -0800 (PST) Return-Path: <tara@iraqcampaign.org> Received: from Kate ( [98.204.98.174]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id m33sm4925393ele.17.2008.02.24.11.38.32 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:38:33 -0800 (PST) Reply-To: <tara@campaigntodefendamerica.org> From: "Tara McGuinness" <tara@campaigntodefendamerica.org> To: tom@zzranch.com, "'John Podesta'" <John.Podesta@gmail.com>, "'Stan Greenberg'" <sgreenberg@gqrr.com>, "'Anna Greenberg'" <agreenberg@gqrr.com>, "'Susan McCue'" <susan@messageinc.com>, "'Paul Begala'" <pbegala@hatcreekent.com> References: <1879594868-1203739588-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-1711334758-@bxe001.bisx.prod.on.blackberry> In-Reply-To: <1879594868-1203739588-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-1711334758-@bxe001.bisx.prod.on.blackberry> Subject: RE: "A Security Scandal" Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:38:15 -0500 Organization: Campaign to Defend America Message-ID: <008601c8771c$cd80d060$68827120$@org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0 Thread-Index: Ach10Xfi9pBE7KnDTe+oM6N4cjriLQBReuLA Content-Language: en-us Sender: Tara McGuinness <tara@iraqcampaign.org> 1 "security scandal" possibility: Charlie Black. McCain this week defended Black's lobbying: "I'm proud of the record of = many of my advisers. One small example, Charlie Black." =20 Black lobbied for Chalabi, Iraq, the Fluor Corps (which overbilled USG = in Iraq) and Blackwater (which unfortunately leads to Mark Penn). See some early research below... there is definitely more out there . . Iraq Reconstruction Black Planned to Set up Iraq=E2=80=99s First Lobbying Firm. = =E2=80=9CAnother top Republican lobbyist in Washington, Charlie Black, = told me that his firm, BKSH & Associates, has plans to help Iraqis set = up their own affiliated public-relations and government-relations firm; = the company would become perhaps the first lobbying shop in Baghdad. = Black is excited by the opportunities in Iraq, but he, too, has = complaints. =E2=80=98The problem in Iraq so far is it=E2=80=99s slow = and very confusing for people to figure out how to do business = there,=E2=80=99 he said. =E2=80=98One week you go to Baghdad, and they = say the decisions are being made at the Pentagon. Then you go to the = Pentagon, and they say the decisions are being made in Baghdad. Only = Halliburton is making money now!=E2=80=99 He laughed. =E2=80=98Is = there too much cronyism? I just wish I could find the = cronies.=E2=80=99=E2=80=9D [The New Yorker, 2/16/04]=20 Black Helped Fluor Corporation Become Top Contractor. =E2=80=9CThrough = his lobbying firm, BKSH & Associates (a division of the public relations = firm Burson-Marsteller), Black represents Fluor Corporation, an = engineering and construction firm that is one of the top contractors for = post-war reconstruction in Iraq.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=A2 Fluor Knowingly Over-Charged DOD and Dept. of Energy. = =E2=80=9CLast November, Fluor agreed to pay the government $12.5 million = to settle a whistleblower suit alleging that the company had knowingly = overbilled the Departments of Defense and Energy on contracts for tens = of millions of dollars of illegal costs, including executive bonuses, = land investments, construction and building improvements, luxury condos, = fine art, a Mercedes driven by the company=E2=80=99s president, and an = antique Chippendale chair.=E2=80=9D [The American Prospect, 1/2006] BKSH Lobbied for Firm that Handled Propaganda Articles in Iraqi = Newspapers. =E2=80=9CThe Lincoln Group, a previously little-known = business intelligence company headed by a heretofore little known young = Briton and Oxford graduate, Christian Bailey, now at the centre of = controversy surrounding the Bush administration=E2=80=99s covert = propaganda war in Iraq. It was recently revealed that Bailey=E2=80=99s = company got the lion=E2=80=99s share of a $100-million contract from = Donald Rumsfeld=E2=80=99s Department of Defense for buying space in = Iraqi newspapers to place deliberately one-sided stories written by U.S. = =E2=80=98psy-ops=E2=80=99 troops.=E2=80=9D Additionally, the Lincoln = Group was paid $20 million to place misleading stories in Anbar = providence about U.S. forces running up to Iraqi elections. = =E2=80=9CThe Lincoln Group has Republican links. Its lobbyists include = Charles Black, an adviser to Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr. and Marlin = =E2=80=98Buzz=E2=80=99 Hefti, a former Pentagon director.=E2=80=9D = [Hamilton Spectator, 1/7/06]=20 Wye Oak Technology hired BKSH to help Contractor Get Contracts in = Post-Invasion Iraq. =E2=80=9CIn April of 2003, after the United States = invaded Iraq, Stoffel retained the lobbying powerhouse BKSH, the firm = headed by the influential Republican lobbyist Charles Black, to provide = =E2=80=98assistance in defense contract procurement,=E2=80=99 for Wye = Oak.=E2=80=9D [Washington Monthly, 6/1/05]=20 =E2=80=A2 BKSH Sought Out Because of Link to Iraq War. Wye Oak hired = Black and BKSH to help it tap into the fortune of new Defense contracts = in Iraq because =E2=80=9CBKSH had a special interest in Iraq. The firm = was a key member of the coterie of talking heads, lobbyists, and = politicians pushing for the war in Iraq that centered around Ahmed = Chalabi=E2=80=99s Iraqi National Congress (INC), the anti-Saddam exile = group, which was itself a BKSH client.=E2=80=9D [Washington Monthly, = 6/1/05] =E2=80=A2 Wye Oak was Greedy Business Looking to Profit from War. Dale = Sfoffel, the founder and head of Wye Oak Technologies, =E2=80=9Cwas a = self-professed man of action, who was proudly and openly in Iraq to make = a fortune.=E2=80=9D [Washington Monthly, 6/1/05]=20 Blackwater Blackwater Enlisted Black to Repair Reputation. =E2=80=9CBlackwater = Worldwide, its reputation in tatters and its lucrative government = contracts in jeopardy, is mounting an aggressive legal, political and = public relations counterstrike.=E2=80=9D The work was =E2=80=9Clanded = by BKSH=E2=80=A6led by Charles Black Jr.=E2=80=9D A =E2=80=9CBKSH = associate had worked briefly in Iraq and met several Blackwater = personnel.=E2=80=9D [International Herald Tribune, 11/2/07] -----Original Message----- From: Tom Matzzie [mailto:tom@zzranch.com]=20 Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 11:06 PM To: John Podesta; Stan Greenberg; Anna Greenberg; Susan McCue; Paul = Begala; Tara McGuinness Subject: "A Security Scandal" I've been thinking about McCain's stength on keeping America safe and = the advantages of going after his reform brand we saw in the poll. It = struck me that what we need is a security scandal--something to connect = his lobbyists with selling out US security. I'm not even sure what something like that looks like. It would be the = Halliburton of 2008 almost. Something to think about and get our folks = who know these issues focused on. Just a thought.