Stop the Carlyle Group ! Archives December 2003

As America's military involvement abroad deepens, profits are increasing for the Carlyle Group -- and, it turns out, for thousands of California civil servants.
The Carlyle who, you ask?
The Carlyle Group, as in a secretive Washington, D.C., investment firm managing some $14 billion in assets, including stakes in a number of defense- related companies.
Carlyle counts among its chieftains former Defense Secretary (and deputy CIA Director) Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of State James Baker and, most notably, former President George Bush.
Until October, the Carlyle Group also maintained financial ties with none other than the family of Osama bin Laden, but those links were severed when it was agreed that the relationship was becoming a tad embarrassing for all concerned.
What is not well known is that Carlyle's profits also benefit the 1.2 million members of the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the United States.
CalPERS has about $730 million invested in Carlyle itself and in various Carlyle funds. It owns 5.5 percent of the Carlyle Group in a minority equity stake and has an option to double that holding during the next two years. (…)
Read More...
From : SF Gate, David Lazarus

Can you say military-industrial complex? The Carlyle Group takes part in management-led buyouts (MBOs), acquires minority stakes, and provides other investment capital for companies. It is particularly hawkish on the aerospace and defense industries, putting to good use the experience of its chairman emeritus Frank Carlucci, a former US secretary of defense. Firms in this arena make up a significant share of the portfolio at Carlyle, one of the world's largest private equity firms. The company has also engineered MBOs and other capital deals for firms in such industries as consumer products, energy, health care, information technology, real estate, beverages, and telecommunications.
From : Yahoo Biz

May 24, 2004 - Jeffrey St. Clair: 'When war is swell: Bush's crusades and the Carlyle Group'

"Amid the wreckage, there remain opportunities for profit and plunder. Halliburton and Bechtel's triumphs in Iraq have been chewed over for months. Less well chronicled is the profiteering of the Carlyle Group, a company with ties that extend directly into the Oval Office itself.
Even Pappy Bush stands in line to profit handsomely from his son's war making. The former president is on retainer with the Carlyle Group, the largest privately held defense contractor in the nation. Carlyle is run by Frank Carlucci, who served as the National Security advisor and Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan. Carlucci has his own embeds in the current Bush administration. At Princeton, his college roommate was Donald Rumsfeld. They've remained close friends and business associates ever since. When you have friends like this, you don't need to hire lobbyists.
Bush Sr. serves as a kind of global emissary for Carlyle. The ex-president doesn't negotiate arms deals; he simply opens the door for them, a kind of high level meet-and-greet. His special area of influence is the Middle East, primarily Saudi Arabia, where the Bush family has extensive business and political ties. According to an account in the Washington Post, Bush Sr. earns around $500,000 for each speech he makes on Carlyle's behalf. (…)
Carlyle and its network of investors are well positioned to cash in on Bush Jr.'s expansion of the defense and Homeland Security department budgets. Two Carlyle companies, Federal Data Systems and US Investigations Services, hold multi-billion dollar contracts to provide background checks for commercial airlines, the Pentagon, the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security. USIS was once a federal agency called the Office Federal Investigations, but it was privatized in 1996 at the urging of Baker and others and was soon gobbled up by Carlyle. The company is now housed in "high-security, state-of-the-art, underground complex" in Annandale, Pennsylvania. USIS now does 2.4 million background checks a year, largely for the federal government.
Another Carlyle subsidiary, Vought Aircraft, holds more than a billion dollars in federal contracts to provide components for the C-117 transport plane, the B-2 bomber and the Apache attack helicopter. Prior to 2001, Vought had fallen on hard times. Just before the 9/11 attacks, Vought announced that it was laying off more than 1,200 employees, more than 20 percent of its workforce. But business picked up briskly following the airstrikes on Afghanistan and the war on Iraq. (…)
From : CounterPunch, Jeffrey St. Clair

"The Carlyle Group is a private equity fund, sort of like a invitation-only mutual fund, formed in a 1987 meeting between David Rubenstein and William Conway Jr. at the Carlyle Hotel in Washington. Its assets are around $12 billion, which is actually quite a lot of money to control if you demand profits on it. Those profits thus far have been about 35% per year, very impressive. Carlyle is the 11th largest defense contractor in the United States, and has numerous ventures everywhere -- for instance, a $50M/yr contract training the Saudi Arabia National Guard.
What makes Carlyle a bit different than ordinary funds is that certain people of influence use their extra-fund connections to benefit the greater good of the fund. Foremost among these is Frank Carlucci, and if you wondered why an $11 billion Crusader defense system is still alive after being dis-recommended by the Pentagon, you need only look this far.

Partners and Former Partners
Bin Laden family (of the Osama bin Laden's) had $2M invested in Carlyle Partners II fund. On 26 Oct 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, this investment was withdrawn.

George HW Bush
George Soros, invested $100M.
James Baker III
Frank Carlucci, former U.S. Secretary of Defense
Arthur Levitt, former SEC chairman
Louis V. Gerstner, ex-CEO IBM, Chairman of the Carlyle Group
John Major, ex-PM of Britain
Fidel Ramos, ex-President, Philippines
Saudi Royal Family "

After Portugal, attacks against Carlyle in Germany.
" Begriffsdiskussion, Geschichte, Organisationen und Finanzen eines Gespenstes. (…)
Finanzverquickungen
Das weltweite Konglomerat aus internationalem Terrorismus, Finanzimperien und Geheimdiensten führt bisweilen zu überraschenden Verbindungen, so z.B. die Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zwischen der Familie Bush und den Bin Ladens: Bei der Carlyle Group, einer US-amerikanischen Rüstungs-Holding, hat sich eine illustre Schar von Personen zum Geldverdienen zusammengefunden, die früher bedeutende Posten in der Reagan- und der Bush-Administration innehatten. Sogar George Bush Sr. ist als "Berater für asiatische Angelegenheiten" mit von der Partie. Umgekehrt war Carlyle auch schon Georg Bush Jr. gefällig, als dieser 1990 einen Aufsichtsratsposten beim Tochterunternehmen Caterair erhielt. Zu den ausländischen Investoren bei Carlyle gehört mit mindestens 2 Millionen Dollar die Familie Bin Laden. Auch außerhalb der Carlyle Group haben beide Familien schon gemeinsame Interessen verfolgt: Salem bin Laden, der von 1976 bis 1988 die Geschäfte der Saudi Binladin Group leitete, war Anteilseigner bei Bushs früherer Ölfirma Arbusto Energy.
Auch der Scheich Khalid bin Mahfouz, frührerer Anteilseigner der BCCI-Bank, gehört zu den Investoren bei der Carlyle Group. Außerdem unterhält er enge wirtschaftliche Beziehungen zur Familie Bush und zur Familie Bin Laden. Insbesondere gilt Mahfouz als einer der Finanziers von Osama bin Laden, mit dem er verschwägert ist. Charles Lewis, Direktor des Center for Public Integrity, kritisierte den Lobbyismus der Carlyle Group: "Carlyle ist, soweit sie können, mit der gegenwärtigen Regierung verzahnt. George Bush erhält Geld von privaten Interessengruppen, die Geschäfte mit der Regierung machen, während sein Sohn gleichzeitig als Präsident agiert." (…)"
From : Uni Kassel, Von Gerhard Piper

The Carlyle Group deals mostly in the acquisition of high-tech and defense companies.
The “Yediot Ahronot” Hebrew daily reports that the Carlyle Group of the US is interested in acquiring the controlling interest in Bezeq. David Rubenstein and William Conway Jr. founded Carlyle Venture in 1987.
Carlyle is trying to preserve the confidentiality of its shareholders. As far as is known, however, the most famous of them are former US President George Bush Sr., former UK Prime Minister John Major, and investor George Soros. Former US Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci is chairman of the Carlyle Group.
Carlyle has a number of investments in Israel, including Actelis Networks, a start up, and Trellis Photonics and Packet Technologies. A number of parties are reported to be interested in acquiring the Bezeq controlling interest, including a consortium formed by former Cable and Wireless chairman Lord Young, businessman Poju Zabludowicz, investments funds Apax Partners and Markstone Capital Partners Fund, Eurocom Communications, and Shrem Fudim Kelner & Co.
From : Globes, Yael Gaoni

More Portuguese...
"A Carlyle tem uma vasta experiência no sector petrolífero? Não...
A Carlyle já participou numa solução similar à que é proposta para a GALP? Não....
Se a Carlyle não tem qualquer valor acrescentado no domínio do sector petrolífero, nem credênciais especiais ao que se deve a sua escolha?"
Read More...
From : Jumento

Otor's Board has decided to kick out Carlyle's administrators during next shareholders meeting: June 9th. This decision would concern Jean-Pierre Millet, Frank Falezan and Jonathan Zafrani.
From : Balo (Bulletin des Annonces Légales Obligatoires)

Now, you can find informations about The Carlyle Group in Portuguese.
Latest news :

O QUE SABE SOBRE A CARLYLE?
United Defense - Uma empresa do grupo Carlyle
Ser português e não saber o que é a Carlyle é como ir a Roma e não ver o Papa. O Jumento vai ajudar os seus visitantes a superar esse défice de conhecimento e está a preparar uma sequência de posts. Vai saber que a designação da firma deve-se ao facto de ter sido criada numa reunião realizada num hotel de uma cadeia com esse nome; ou que tipo de relações a Carlyle gosta de ter com a comunicação social (é por isso que os jornais e televisões passam pelo tema como cão por vinha vindimada?); ou que a Carlyle reuniu em 2003 em Lisboa para falar da reconstrução do Iraque; ou que a Carlyle gosta pouco de páginas na internet a falar mal dela e por isso faz registo de todos os domínios que possam ser usados conta os seus interesses; ou que houve uma reunião de apresentação em que estava presente a família Bin Laden, que ouviu atentamente o discurso de George Bush pai. É muita coisa, são centenas de páginas de informação a ler.
Muito em breve aqui no Jumento e depois seja o que Deus quiser. Até pode ser que sejam simpáticos e optem por dar uma "nota" aqui pelo Jumento; até já estou a imaginar uma récua a almoçar com os ilustres representantes nacionais de tão distinta firma, que tem a sede entre a Casa Branca e o Capitólio.

O AGRUPAMENTO ALFA
Se os soldados da GNR estão no Iraque para assegurar a Portugal a participação nos negócios da reconstrução daquele país e se a Carlyle tem interesses nessa reconstrução, então seria justo que no caso deste grupo financeiro "ficar" com a GALP uma parte das acções desta empresa fossem entregues a título de prémio aos soldados do Agrupamento Alfa. Ou então deveriam ser todos promovidos a consultores daquela empresa.

O SILÊNCIO DO PORTA-VOZ
Fala de défice, fala-se de privatizações, fala-se da CGD, enfim, fala-se de uma variedade de temas económicos no Parlamento mas eu até já esqueci o nome do porta-voz do PSD para a economia, cuja experiência em questões bancárias teria sido útil nesta coisa da Carlyle. Mas não, o homem desapareceu de um todo.

QUINTA DÚVIDA: NÃO LHE CHEIRA A NADA?
Se misturar Grupo Espírito Santo (este, por definição, está em todas...), com Bush pai, com Angola, com Carluci, com Baker, com armas a guerra do Iraque, com muito dinheiro, com John Major, com Martins da Cruz o que vai dar? Aguardemos pelo resultado das conclusões do grupo de sábios conduzido por um tal Catroga para sabermos se dá Carlyle.

UNITED COLORS OF CARLYLE (Link) é um blogue que se dedica a morder na empresa que em portugal é reporesentada pelo ex-ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Martins da Cruz.
O JUMENTO está a estudar a Carlyle e em breve coloca a informação disponível para ajudar o nosso Martins da Cruz a conhecer melhor o "patrão".
From : Jumento

"The biggest private investor in the world, deeply entrenched in the weapons' sector, is a discreet group that cultivates dealings with influential men, including Bush father and son. (...)
Carlyle is a unique model, assembled at the planetary level on the capitalism of relationships or "capitalism of access" to use the 1993 expression of the American magazine New Republic. Today, in spite of its denials, the group incarnates the "military-industrial complex" against which Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned the American people when he left office in 1961. (...)"
Read Full article...
From : Village News
Original in French : Le Monde, Eric Leser

Fresh from his Oscar ceremony tirade against a 'fictitious President' fighting a 'fictitious war', documentary-maker Michael Moore has said he is setting his sights on the alleged links between former President George Bush senior and the Saudi family of Osama bin Laden.
Moore, whose exploration of US gun violence, Bowling for Columbine, is one of the most commercially successful documentaries ever, said his new film, tentatively titled Fahrenheit 911, will examine what has happened to the US since 11 September.
The film will look at the alleged 'murky relationship' between Bush senior, controversial defence investment firm the Carlyle Group, and the bin Laden family. According to Moore, the former President had a business relationship with bin Laden's father, Mohammed, who left $300 million to his son. (...)
From : Guardian Unlimited, Edward Helmore

“An easy way to slash the deficit and still finance social outlay: Go after the $300 billion in taxes that aren't collected each year. Unfortunately, the Bush administration won't. (…)
Current and former officials blame the combination of funding cuts, congressional mandates, and the speed at which these scams reproduce and mutate. "Recognizing the IRS' diminished capacity, promoters and some tax professionals are selling a wide range of tax schemes and devices designed to improperly reduce taxes to taxpayers based on the simple premise they can get away with it," wrote former IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti in his final report to the IRS Oversight Board at the end of 2002. Hardly a liberal, Rossotti is a Republican who was appointed by Bill Clinton and served during the first two years of the Bush administration before joining the Republican merchant bank The Carlyle Group. He estimated the loss in tax revenue to questionable partnerships alone to be $100 billion a year.”
From : Prospect.org, Samuel Loewenberg

"Mickey Mouse corporation is blocking its Miramax division from distributing Michael Moore's latest documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 . (…) The film connects the dots between the Bush dynasty and significant Saudis, including the bin Laden family, whose members were flown out of the U.S. when all planes were supposedly banned from American airspace in the days after Sept. 11.
There are many dots to be connected here, starting with a private equity fund called the Carlyle Group, which is a major defence contractor with business in ... Saudi Arabia.
In fact, CBC's the fifth estate did a dandy job of making all these connections last fall in its season opener which, coincidentally, ran again last night. That was the kind of documentary you'd never see on any Disney-owned channel, including ABC, because the Carlyle Group helped bail out Euro Disney in the mid-1990s. Not that there's a connection or anything, right?"
From : Toronto Star, Antonia Zerbisias

"President Bush recently assured the American public that he would have moved mountains to avoid 9/11. Though similar assurances are sometimes made by guilty minds, it is likely that Bush is keenly aware of Americans, uncertain of him or untrusting of government in general, who do not entirely believe he did everything in his power to avoid 9/11. But why would Americans suspect such a thing? Was 9/11 good for the president? (…)
Before 9/11, Bush distances himself from Clinton's Al Qaeda imperatives, calling Clinton's focus on Bin Laden a mistake. He cuts counterterrorism spending and underfunds troop equipment while funding outdated and costly missile defense programs that benefit wealthy campaign donors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the Carlyle Group. (…)
One thing previously hard to figure out is why Bush is interested in Iraq in the first place. Bush is well connected to the Saudi family and to Saudi businesses. Saudi money has moved through Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, Arbusto, and the Bush Presidential Library. Bush friend James Langdon and fundraiser George Salem represent Saudi businesses that are connected with the Bin Laden family. Who else but Bush could authorize relatives of Bin Laden to fly in closed U.S. airspace immediately after 9/11? (…)"
From : Tehran Times, Sankara Saranam

"Using a Native American-owned business loophole, a Pentagon official, John Shaw, tried to help his pals bag the cellular phone market in Iraq. Fortunately, the guy got caught and faces an investigation. Funny, the LA Times called this trick just a 'coincidence' but didn't the Carlyle group get its big break using a similar loophole. (Actually, I think it was a tax write-off thing but still...).
A senior Defense Department official is under investigation by the Pentagon inspector general for allegations that he attempted to alter a contract proposal in Iraq to benefit a mobile phone consortium that includes friends and colleagues, according to documents obtained by The Times and sources with direct knowledge of the process. (…)
From : AnoldSoul

“We're sorry for our endless ranting about oil being the lifeblood of the Bush family circle, and The Carlyle Group existing as nothing more than a gigantic corporate kickback to its members for faithful service while in office, and the Bush team comprising the selfsame men who supported Saddam Hussein to the hilt while he was committing most of his genocidal atrocities and therefore making them his guilty accomplices. These are vicious, hateful untruths. We see that now. (…)
Some of us even have advanced skills to put at your disposal. We could help discredit Europe's socialistic health and welfare systems and nonprofit public utilities so The Carlyle Group can privatize them. We could produce inspiring movies about the great Americans who are ushering in the thousand years of prosperity that are just around the corner. We could create upbeat news stories for the Ministry of Truth you plan for George W. Bush's second term. (…)
We come to you not just as sinners but as supplicants, begging not just forgiveness but inclusion . There's a reason God named the right the right: Because it's right . You have a monopoly on the truth, and you always have and you always will."
From : Prospect.org, Tony Hendra

April 23, 2004 - Republican-controlled Carlyle Group poses serious Ethical Questions for Bush Presidents

“Though described by the Industry Standard as “the world's largest private equity firm,” with over $12 billion under management, chances are readers haven't ever heard of The Carlyle Group. Isn't that a little odd, considering it is run by a veritable who's who of former Republican political leaders. Former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci is Carlyle's chairman and managing director (who, by the way, was college roommate of the current Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld). And that partners in this mammoth venture include former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III, George Soros, Fred Malek (George H.W. Bush's campaign manager, forced to resign when it was revealed he was Nixon's “Jew counter”), and—presumably—George H.W. Bush?
We say “presumably” because the privately-held Carlyle doesn't have to reveal information about its partners or investments to the SEC or to anyone else. Our former President is reported to be active in seeking investments for the Carlyle Group from the Asian market, and word is he's paid between $80,000 to $100,000 per presentation.
All told, Carlyle has about 420 partners all over the globe, from Saudi princes to the former president of the Philippines. Its investments run heavily in the defense sector; they make money from military conflicts and weapons spending. (…)”
From : Baltimore Chronicle, Alice Cherbonnier

Former Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney, the Georgia Democrat who suggested that the Bush administration had prior warning of the September 11 attacks, says an independent commission's investigation into the matter justifies her concerns.
Mrs. McKinney said she was right to question what the White House knew before the attacks, but that some comments about the administration were taken out of context and have become an "urban legend" among her foes.
Her comments March 25, 2002, during an interview on KPFA radio in Berkeley, Calif., implied that the White House allowed the attacks so investment groups specializing in defense contracts would benefit from an ensuing military buildup. She singled out the Carlyle Group, where Mr. Bush's father, former President George Bush, was an adviser.
"What did this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of September 11?" Mrs. McKinney said at the time. "Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? What do they have to hide?"
McKinney Website: http://www.cynthiaforcongress.com
From: Washington Times

"This company basicaly runs the military industrial complex, members include Bush Sr., Bin Laden family, Former US Sec. Defense Frank Carlucci, former PMs of UK, US, S. Korea, and The Phillipines.
www.tribemagazine.com/board/s...hread.php "
" I find it alarming that there are several huge, secretive organizations like the Carlyle Group (…) that nearly everyone in power, especially US power, is involved with. These organizations represent an element of our society that is extremely powerful, and extremely secretive. This element lies in the sketchy grey area where conflicts of corporate and governing interests abound. (…) Because these individuals and organizations derive profit from arms, destruction of the environment, the energy trade, institution of a police state, etc. the only way for them to serve their stakeholders and expand is to increase demand for their services, and end which is clearly contrary to life on this planet. (…)
Let's have a little meet and greet with these shady organizations shall we? I'm going to start with my favourite, the Carlyle Group :
Private Equity organization specializing in the military-industrial complex. Profit for Carlyle = increased militarism, war, institution of a police state, etc. They further this agenda quite effectively by recruiting politicians, and ex-politicians as major members. (…)
Carlyle Info: http://www.informationclearinghouse...article3995.htm "
From : Tribe.net ; Tribe Magazine

April 15, 2004 - Carlyle Group Subsidiary Named "MATRICS" is Brimming with NSA and CIA Operatives and pushing a Swastika-Shaped Tracker Chip

This image is from RFID wireless computing technologies company Matrics, Inc. "Matrics was created with a vision to revolutionize the logistics and supply chain processes by deploying breakthrough RFID systems. Today, as Matrics is delivering customer success in pursuit of their vision, Bill and Mike continue to serve the company enthusiastically as Chief Scientist and Chief Technology Officer, respectively."
"The Carlyle Group, run by Frank Carlucci, was strategically placed before Sept 11th to maximize profits by controlling almost every sector of the police state's architecture in America.
Upon looking at Matric's structure, Alex found the following Carlyle Group members on the Board of Directors at Matrics:
Brooke Coburn: Managing Director of The Carlyle Group
Mark Ein: "Previously, he was with Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group for seven years where he had responsibility for many of its telecommunications investment activities”
Michael Arneson: "Michael Arneson has over 20 years of experience with the National Security Agency/Department of Defense in electronic design, development, and integration of advanced electronic security technologies. When you look closer at the website, you will notice they talk about using RFID for Homeland Security and it's clear that they're selling the RFID as part of Big Brother's infrastructure.
When we first looked at the image of the RFID styled like a swastika we thought it was so in-your-face that we needed to do more research. We didn't have to dig very deep to find the shadowy figures behind Matrics."
From : Infowars.com ; Matric's website

"Cynthia McKinney, Georgia's first black congresswoman, is trying to regain the seat she held for 10 years but lost due to the fallout from her incendiary remarks, particularly on the Mideast and terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Moreover, persons close to this Administration are poised to make huge profits off America's new war. Former President Bush sits on the board of the Carlyle Group. The Los Angeles Times reports that on a single day last month, Carlyle earned $237 million selling shares in United Defense Industries, the Army's fifth-largest contractor. The stock offering was well timed: Carlyle officials say they decided to take the company public only after the Sept. 11 attacks. The stock sale cashed in on increased congressional support for hefty defense spending, including one of United Defense's cornerstone weapon programs."
From : Public Domain Progress

“The war in Iraq is a year old, and the military-industrial complex is making out like a bandit. That at least was what protesters were telling me the other day in downtown San Francisco, where people were chanting, the names of slain soldiers were read aloud and signs said "Shut Down the War Profiteers." (…)
Since the subject has come up, here's a little something about Carlyle that most people don't know. I can say that with confidence because even a Carlyle representative said he didn't know until I pointed it out to him. (…)Those investments include United Defense Industries, a maker of combat vehicles, naval guns and missile launchers; and Sippican, a maker of submarine systems and countermeasures to protect warships. (…) The Carlyle Group and another investment firm, the Cypress Group, spent more than $400 million to acquire a controlling stake in MedPointe in May 2001. Carlyle alone owns about 42 percent of the firm. Chris Ullman, a Carlyle spokesman, said he had no idea that MedPointe produces a potassium iodide pill called Thyro-Block. But when I explained what Thyro-Block can be used for, he said this was something to feel good about. "Carlyle is proud to own companies that make products that keep America safe," Ullman said, adding that MedPointe allows Carlyle "to participate in the specialty pharmaceutical space." (…) If a "nuclear incident," as the bioterror law quaintly puts it, should occur, MedPointe and the Carlyle Group would be uniquely positioned to benefit from catastrophe. That's not danger-mongering. That's a fact. (....)
From : War Profiteers.com

Jean-Yves Bacques (founder of Otor) has told the three administrators of Carlyle (Jean-Pierre Millet, Frank Falezan, Jonathan Zafrani) that he didn't want to see them in their functions next meeting of shareholders beginning of June. This decision comes after press declaration of Michèle Bouvier (director of Otor) in Entreprendre saying that these Carlyle's administrators have insulted Jean-Yves Bacques and her. In, what is now called, “The Otor Case”, the war is violent between Carlyle and Otor. New articles about this case are now almost everyday in financial press (Le Figaro, Les Echos, La Tribune...).
From : Les Echos, 04/08/2004

Some 80 New York anti-war activists took to the streets this morning, returning to the doors of the Carlyle Group, the secretive investment house that helps propel the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq through its holdings in armaments companies. They were picking up where they left off exactly one year ago, when more than 70 activists from student, community, religious, and labor groups were arrested while demonstrating outside the Manhattan offices of a Carlyle subsidiary. The activists were all acquitted or had charges dropped, and are now suing the city over their illegal arrests.
Once again, the protest was called by the M27 Coalition, an ad-hoc coalition of over 35 antiwar organizations. It began at the Carlyle affiliate's offices at 56th Street and Fifth Avenue, where last year's protest took place, at 8 a.m., and continued with a march at 9 a.m. to Carlyle's main New York office at East 53rd Street and Madison Avenue. Part of a national day of action against war profiteers, the rally against Carlyle accompanied a similar rally in Oakland, California.
"For Carlyle, perpetual war means perpetual profits," said Ben Maurer, a member of the M27 Coalition. "They're the perfect embodiment of the military-industrial complex. Carlyle builds weapons for this war, its investments drive this war, and its relationships with the people in power who decided to launch this war are hidden from the people."
From : Indymedia NYC

The following recent news report epitomises this close bond between government and business concisely: on the 27th September ‘01, the Wall Street Journal revealed that the bin Laden family firm in Saudi Arabia was a major investor (1 of 450 such investors) in the prestigious American investment firm, the Carlyle Group, and that George Bush Snr., on behalf of this group, had brokered the deal. The report added that the FBI had subpoenaed the bin Laden family's bank records, there being doubt that the family had broken all ties with Osama. This calls for a closer examination of the Carlyle Group in order to unearth more germane facts., and an efficient way to accomplish this is to begin by listing the senior officers of the company - with very brief (incomplete) C.V's added. (It should be noted here that the European Chairman is John Major, the ex-British PM, but he warrants no further mention in this article as he is of little import to the subject in hand).
Read More...
From : Spectrezine.org

Following latest Indymedia influence actions, rumors go on to figure out who did that… Oya stands out… as written : « it smells the cave… »
From : rumors

Say No To War Profiteering and Police Repression!
On Wed., April 7, Rally and March to remember the Mass Arrests at The Carlyle Group!
Where: The Carlyle Group: 712 5th Ave, at 56th St.
When:Wednesday, April 7, at 8 a.m.; march to begin at 8:30 a.m. to the Carlyle Group's main NYC offices at Madison Ave. betw. E53rd and E54th Sts.
The M27 Coalition ( www.m27coalition.org ) invites everyone who supports free speech and opposes war profiteering to join us on Wed., April 7, as we mark the one-year anniversary of the illegal mass arrests at the Carlyle Group's Mahattan offices. The arrests occurred on the morning of April 7, 2003, during a protest called by the M27 Coalition to expose the connections between the Bush administration and the companies that profit from the war in Iraq. The protest was part of a national day of action against war profiteers.
Read More…
From : Infoshop, M27 Coalition
Rally in NYC against Carlyle Group. Say No To War Profiteering and Police Repression! m27 Coalition

Rally in NYC against Carlyle Group. Say No To War Profiteering and Police Repression! m27 Coalition

March 31, 2004 - Bush, the Saudi billionaire and the Islamists: the story a British firm is afraid to publish

"A book investigating links between rich Saudis and US politicians has been suppressed by the giant publishing firm Random House because, it says, of growing "libel tourism" by wealthy foreigners, and exorbitant legal "success fees". (...)
In 1987, he says a Saudi associate of Mr Bin Mahfouz, Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, helped the young George Bush and his struggling oil firm, Harken Energy, by buying 17% of its stock. More help for Mr Bush came in 1990, when the prime minister of Bahrain, Khalifa bin Salan al-Khalifa, awarded offshore drilling rights there to Harken. The Bahrain premier was a shareholder in a controversial bank, BCCI, along with Mr Bin Mahfouz, who owned 30%.
The final link asserted by Unger came in 1995 when, he says, Mr Bin Mahfouz's two sons invested $30m (£16m) in the Carlyle Group, a firm linked to the Bush family.
What Unger describes in his book is the kind of exploitation of oil-rich Saudis which has often been linked to US and British politicians in the last 30 years.
Mr Bin Mahfouz points out that he neither personally funded Harken nor paid anybody else to do so. On the other alleged business links, his lawyers, Kendall Freeman, say he "does not propose to comment".
But what gives the book a controversial edge is the linking of this phenomenon with the financing of terrorism. Unger accuses Mr Bin Mahfouz of making donations to Osama bin Laden… "
From : The Guardian, David Leigh

March 29, 2004 - A firm in position to profit: Carlyle Group invests in Nuclear Terror

"Michael Daloisio, a San Francisco teacher, lamented that U.S. schools are struggling for cash while a variety of companies are "making billions off this illegal war." Aside from Bechtel, he cited Halliburton, Lockheed-Martin, ChevronTexaco and the Carlyle Group. Since the subject has come up, here's a little something about Carlyle that most people don't know. I can say that with confidence because even a Carlyle representative said he didn't know until I pointed it out to him.
(…) (Carlyle) has put money into about 300 different companies and properties. Those investments include United Defense Industries, a maker of combat vehicles, naval guns and missile launchers; and Sippican, a maker of submarine systems and countermeasures to protect warships.
They also include a New Jersey pharmaceutical firm called MedPointe, which just so happens to be one of only three companies licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture over-the-counter potassium iodide pills. That's significant because potassium iodide can help protect against thyroid cancer in the event of exposure to large amounts of radiation -- from a small, easily transported nuclear weapon, say, or a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant. And that's significant because, in June 2002, President Bush signed into law the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. It requires state and local officials to "provide adequate protection" by distributing potassium iodide to all public facilities within a few miles of a nuclear power plant. And that, in turn, is significant because if you're one of just a handful of authorized makers of potassium iodide, you're in a position to profit handsomely if the worst-case scenario should actually come to pass.
The Carlyle Group and another investment firm, the Cypress Group, spent more than $400 million to acquire a controlling stake in MedPointe in May 2001. Carlyle alone owns about 42 percent of the firm. (…)This much at least is clear: If a "nuclear incident," as the bioterror law quaintly puts it, should occur, MedPointe and the Carlyle Group would be uniquely positioned to benefit from catastrophe. That's not danger-mongering. That's a fact."
From : Axis of Logic, David Lazarus

While the consumer cannot boycott Carlyle s death machines, we can avoid buying the brands owned by Carlyle : Boycott Dr Pepper and 7 Up. The Carlyle Group owns 53% of the Dr Pepper Bottling Company of Texas. The Dr Pepper Bottling Company of Texas will be combined with The American Bottling Company, owned by Cadbury Schweppes and The Carlyle Group, to form the largest independent soft drinks bottler in the US.
From : Indymedia San Francisco

March 24, 2004 - Online Action Alert – 20 Questions to President W. Bush

PLEASE REPOST THE FOLLOWING AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE...... FEEL FREE TO PASS THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE, LET'S HAVE AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TAKING PART IN SOME FORM OF PROTEST IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS, EVEN IF PEOPLE CAN'T TAKE PART IN THE "REAL WORLD" PROTESTS, PEOPLE CAN STILL MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD
Please contact both Bush and Cheney at the following email addresses, send them the following list of 20 questions, demand an answer!
president@whitehouse.gov and vice.president@whitehouse.gov
Courtesy of a Mr Kelley from the Anti War Pro Peace mailing list, we have the following list of 20 questions:
Question 15. An organization/business called CARLYLE GROUP, whose members include 3 Bin Laden brothers, your father, James Baker, Frank Carlucci, and several others from your administration, serves as a conduit for weapons sales between major defense contractors and governments all over the world. CARLYLE also rebuilds defense companies both financially and through market availability. Mr. President, you also served with the CARLYLE GROUP 1990-92. Dont you find this organization and its members in conflict of interest since they come directly from high government positions and are now selling weapons systems to those same governments? Don't you find it a conflict of interest when the CARLYLE GROUP advises governments what weapons systems to procure and what strategies to use against potential enemies?
From : Indymedia New York

Cynthia McKinsey : “Just before my departure from Congress I challenged the Administration on its corporate insider Pentagon contracts, including for the Carlyle Group. And I challenged the Administration to tell us what it knew and when it knew it about the tragic events of September 11th.”
From : From The Wilderness

March 20, 2004 - Republican-controlled Carlyle Group poses serious Ethical Questions for Bush Presidents

"Who benefits? In the case of a war, the answers to this question become of paramount importance. Suppose, for example, that profits from military contracting were to go in the pockets of a former U.S. President whose son (and a presumed future heir) is now President? Suppose further that such profits escalate in times of conflict. Wouldn't this be of concern to the public? Wouldn't you expect the media to be all over such an important ethical (not to mention moral, and maybe legal) angle? Though described by the Industry Standard as “the world's largest private equity firm,” with over $12 billion under management, chances are readers haven't ever heard of The Carlyle Group. Isn't that a little odd, considering it is run by a veritable who's who of former Republican political leaders...
Read More...
From : Baltimore Chronicle, Alice Cherbonnier

March 18, 2004 - Antiwar protests to begin Friday in Oakland and San Francisco

Demonstrating will mark the anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq. It all starts at 7 a.m. Friday in San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza, where protesters will gather for a series of nonviolent direct actions, perhaps including street blockades and sit-ins at corporations identified by activists as war profiteers, such as The Carlyle Group.
From : Three Valley Herald, Josh Richman

"The Carlyle Group is a multi-billion dollar corporation that specializes in buying, restructuring, and selling financially troubled companies. The Carlyle Group is also the 11th largest military contractor in the United States. With these statistics, it may seem odd that the Indy would single out this corporation, except for one important reason: the Carlyle Group has been doing business with the Saudi Bin Laden Group (a multi-billion-dollar construction group run by Osama Bin Laden's brother). While this connection was mainly ignored in the corporate media, the Carlyle Group was eventually exposed by the independent media for a $2 million deal it made with the Bin Laden Group. The firm also made approximately $50 million a year training the Saudi Arabian National Guard (Carlyle also advises the Saudi royal family on its Economic Offset Program)."
Read More...
From : Indymedia, Anthony DiMaggio

Company Man (The Nation) ; Crony Capitalism Goes Global (The Nation) ; Dark Heart of the American Dream (The Observer) ; The Carlyle Connection (Villagevoice) ; The Big Guys Work For the Carlyle Group (Fortune) ; Arms Buildup Enriches Firm Staffed by Big Guns (L.A. Times) ; Carlyle's Way (Red Herring) ; Bush, bin Laden and the Carlyle Group (Commons)
Read More...

Interesting remark...
"Maybe Aznar will still pay for the folly of dragging Spain into someone else's war. He recently declared that he will not be running for a third term in office. He may need to seek some refuge from the popular resentment; if things become uncomfortable for him in Spain, then perhaps he will be offered a cushy job at the Carlyle Group -- joining other useful fools like the ex-prime minister John Major."
From : Counter Punch

March 15, 2004 - Carlyle Group in the Top 100 Federal Prime Contractors (2003)

Top 100 revenue: $233,656,000
2002 revenue: Privately held
2002 earnings: Privately held
2001 revenue: Privately held
2001 earnings: Privately held
Number of employees: 500
Headquarters: Washington
Web address: www.thecarlylegroup.com

President/CEO: Louis Gerstner, chairman; William Conway, managing director and founder
Head of gov't business: Same as managing director
Lines of business: Management-led leveraged buyouts, venture capital, real estate, high yield, turnarounds, and asset management
Major customers: The Carlyle Group is a major stockholder in government IT contractors, including United Defense Industries Inc., which primarily works for the Department of Defense.
Major contracts/projects: United Defense Industries, which reported 2002 earnings of $134.6 million, is re-manufacturing 138 Bradley Fighting Vehicles for the U.S. Army.
Sources: Washington Technology, Federal Sources Inc., Eagle Eye Inc

All sorts of accusations have been made here and elsewhere about the Saudi influence on George Bush and about the influence of the Carlyle Groups which are a danger to Israel. I am not knowledgeable enough to make a judgement on how true these are. On the one hand, I would be surprised if considerable influence did not exist—it always does, and line between proper influence and improper bribery is not as clear as we would wish. (…)
Here are a few selections from this excellent article.
- Saudi Arabia has launched an undeclared war on George W. Bush. This simple fact must be understood by policy and strategy elites, the press, and the general electorate. Otherwise, the Saudis may well succeed in their tacit campaign to sabotage the long term success of America's war on terror, by engineering the electoral defeat of George W. Bush in November…
- This phenomenon becomes self-evident in charting the history of Bush I and his White House staffers. Former President Bush I traveled the lecture circuit in Arab lands, earning upwards of $100,000 an appearance. Sentiment-tinged gifts to his Presidential Library and $500,000 to fund a scholarship in his name at Phillips Academy Andover (son George W's preparatory school, not coincidentally) are certainly important, but pale in comparison to his profits from participating in the Carlyle Group.
- The Carlyle Group is a supremely successful merchant bank, which also has James Baker (Bush I consiglieri) and Brent Scowcroft (Bush I National Security Adviser) as partners. This particular investment group has enjoyed access to investment funds from the Saudi royal family. Undoubtedly, the triumvirate of former officials, none of them previously renowned for investment prowess, has handsomely prospered from the arrangement.
From : Israpundit

For the first time since the 1998 financial crisis, the private equity firm Carlyle Group will reopen a Moscow office.
Joshua Larson and Andrei Terekhov have been appointed to head the office. Carlyle Group hired Andrei Terekhov last january to help raise and manage a $300 million fund to buy companies in Russia, less than three months after the firm scrapped a plan to start one with Moscow-based Alfa Group.
Carlyle currently has one majority stake in Russia, Apteka-Holding. The company is Russia's fourth largest pharmaceutical distributor, with 2003 revenues totaling more than $19 million, according to Apteka's Web site.
From : The Moscow Times

“On Sept. 11, 2001, a conference in Washington, D.C., at the Ritz-Carlton was hosted by the Carlyle Group for international investors. Frank Carlucci, James Baker III and President Bush's father work for and represented Carlyle when they met with investors. Carlyle buys and sells defense industries for enormous profit. Carlyle also rakes in huge profits from international weapons sales.
A Carlyle spokesman claimed President Bush's father left the conference prior to the first jet slamming into the Twin Towers. At the conference, Safiq bin Laden was there with other Saudi investors. All Saudis were allowed to leave the U.S. even though the FBI wanted to speak with some, including Osama bin Laden's half-brother, Safiq. Carlyle has many former government leaders working for it, including John Majors, the former prime minister of Britain. This ensures Carlyle complete access to the highest levels of many governments. President Bush was paid to serve on the board of one of Carlyle's subsidiaries, Caterair. President Bush has access to Pentagon and CIA briefings that are immensely helpful to his father for Carlyle's international weapons traffic.
Corruption in this administration is pervasive, with no-bid contracts being passed out to industries that are cashing in on the 9/11 tragedy and the Bush wars. Judicial Watch has been calling for the elder Bush to leave Carlyle because of extreme influence in awarding government contracts. Read "The Iron Triangle" by Dan Briody to learn about this corrupt administration.”
From : Santa Maria, James Murr

"The vilification of Saudi Arabia by many in Washington after September 11, 2001, led to rash speculation that the United States might eventually turn on its longtime ally. But the sound and fury of ongoing neo-conservative polemics against the al-Saud dynasty have not signified a change in policy. The Saudi-US partnership is too profitable to risk throwing the baby out with the bath water, and it seems destined to endure, at least until the long-predicted fall of the House of Saud. (…) That the US-Saudi relationship has indirectly enriched all of President George W Bush's senior advisers can only work in favor of the status quo. Abandoning al-Saud would mean mothballing such organizations as the Carlyle group that provide beltway glitterati with a bottomless retirement fund garnered through Saudi defense and infrastructure contracts. The kingdom also has sticks to go with those carrots. Saudi Arabia has about US$1 trillion on deposit in US banks, and the same in the stock market, according to CIA agent Baer. A large withdrawal would devastate the US economy."
From : Asia Times, Ashraf Fahim
House of Bush, House of Saud, Craig Unger

House of Bush, House of Saud, Craig Unger

"For what it's worth, the Washington Post continues to report that 12% of the stockholders in the Carlyle Group are members of the Saudi Royal Family. Does anyone out there know the effect of pepper on heart tissue! Wouldn't that be a great way to off people! to "heart attack" them just like the Saudis do to their embarrasing princes of the Royal Family! YOu can't taste ANYTHING in Dr. Pepper except the "pepper"? Is that a public recipe? You'll never guess who I saw today...."A FAISAL". I'd like to make some just for me. I wonder if Tony Blair's eats alot of pepper! This is all just rhetorical disinformation...just like the phrase, "I'm a uniter...not a divider"! "
From : Memes

United for Peace and Justice is organizing a national protest against the egregious war profiteering by Halliburton, KBR, CSC/Dyncorp, Bechtel, and The Carlyle Group for February 24. These companies have somewhere around 300+ offices around the country, so there's probably one near you. There's also a Global Day of Action scheduled for March 20 - the one-year anniversary of the Iraq tragedy.
From : Ddjangowire

February 27, 2004 - Vought, Carlyle Group and local jobs

“ Vought Aircraft Industries is expected to announce Thursday that it plans to move aircraft manufacturing work, and probably more than 1,000 jobs, from California and Tennessee to Dallas and Grand Prairie.” Vought is owned by the Carlyle Group.
From : Star Telegram, Bob Cox

February 26, 2004 - Flash Back on Bushes, Saudis, Bin Ladens and The Carlyle Group

"Some question the Democrats' credibility on defense and the War on Terror, but in reality, George W. Bush is the one we should be questioning. Both before and after 9/11 his performance was unsatisfactory -- in large part because of his close ties to the Saudis. The 9/11 attacks were led, manned, and funded by Saudis, and Bush's war in Iraq was a diversion which had nothing to do with fighting terror. "
Read extracts…
From : John Jemerson

“The Silvester scandal goes to the ethical core of Rowland's administration. A slew of well-connected businessmen, Democrats and Republicans, received finders' fees for securing millions of dollars in state pension fund investments. One of those businessmen, Wayne Berman, is a leading fund-raiser for Rowland's Republican Governor's Association and President George W. Bush. When Silvester left office in the beginning of 1999, Berman gave him a job after Berman allegedly received $900,000 from the Carlyle Group in return for getting Silvester to invest state pension dollars in one of the group's Asian portfolios. Berman's lawyers denied any wrongdoing, according to press accounts.”
“Wayne Berman, founder of Berman Enterprises and formerly managing partner of American Mercantile Group, is a consultant specifically in new opportunities, international financing strategies, and strategic relationships. His clients include the Carlyle Group. Mr. Berman served in the Bush administration as assistant secretary of commerce for policy, where he was the principal adviser to Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher and was the official U.S. government liaison to all foreign business groups.”
From : New Haven Advocate, Dan Levine

"Former SEC chair Arthur "squeaky clean" Levitt in recent "unprepared" comments to an investors board meeting in Pasadena defended his decision to join The Carlyle Group as senior adviser after leaving the SEC in 2001, saying further that he'd been a consultant to Carlyle before President Clinton appointed him securities chief in 1993. America 's longest serving SEC chair also admitted he was "taken by total and absolute surprise" by what he termed the "greatest threat to our markets" -- the mutual funds scandal."
"The Carlyle Group is a private equity group. It's a group that I was a consultant for before I went to Washington. I knew David Rubenstein, who I understand has been out here to talk to this board. And I knew Frank Carlucci because he served on the board of the American Stock Exchange with me."
"Mutual Funds Scandal. And probably the greatest damage to our markets in my judgment -- the greatest threat to our markets in recent years has been the scandal that appeared in the mutual fund market. I was taken by total surprise. Total and absolute surprise. From my years at the SEC, I felt that mutual funds of America were really a part of a system that was fairly regulated and really cared for investor interest. I'm not sure when the problems developed [emphasis added] . But I suspect it was part of the overall hype of the runaway market that caused so many of these aberrations…"
From : Ocnus.net, Suzan Mazur

"The White House is declining to make public the financial histories of the commissioners President Bush appointed to investigate American intelligence failures. Administration officials say the arrangement has helped to attract the best-qualified people for the panel, but critics say the White House's refusal to disclose financial information raises questions about potential conflicts of interest that could cloud the commission's work. (…) Also on the panel is Lloyd M. Cutler, a prominent Washington lawyer who has served in several Democratic administrations. The firm he founded, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, has done work for the Carlyle Group, a large Washington equity firm that has used former President George Bush and other well-connected Republicans to advance its interests in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Mr. Cutler said in an interview, however, that he had not personally represented the Carlyle Group."
From : US Labor Against War

Civil rights lawyers sued the New York Police Department on behalf of 52 people arrested at an anti-war protest, the latest in a series of lawsuits nationwide challenging police conduct at rallies opposing the U.S.-led war on Iraq. The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court charged the NYPD "unlawfully arrested peaceful protesters and detained them for excessively long periods (some were held for up to 12 hours)" after the April 7, 2003, rally outside The Carlyle Group, they accused of war profiteering.
At the April demonstration in New York, an ad hoc group of activists called "M27 Coalition" rallied outside an affiliate of the Carlyle Group, which has ties to the defense industry. New York activists organized one of the largest anti-war demonstrations on Feb. 15, 2003, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets five weeks before the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq over its purported stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. No weapons stockpiles have been found.
From : Reuters, Grant McCool

Anti-War Protestors in front of the Carlyle Group in New York

William Hartung, author of How Much Are You Making on the War, Daddy ? : A Quick and Dirty Guide to War Profiteering in the Bush Administration, devotes a chapter to the Carlyle Group, the defense investment firm that has George Herbert Walker Bush on retainer and former Secretary of State James Baker as a senior counselor. The group openly trades on its still-viable political connections. "Without its ability to give investors the impression that it has inside dope on the direction of U.S. government policy that no other firm can get, there would be no rationale for the Carlyle Group to exist," Hartung writes.
From : AlterNet
How Much Money Did You Make on the War, Daddy ? William D. Hartung

How Much Money Did You Make on the War, Daddy ? William D. Hartung

We didn't know how to understand recent buyings of domain names including stop-carlyle by the Carlyle Group (read our note). Il seems that our website upsets the Carlyle Group everyday a bit more, because they don't' accept to see the truth about themselves revealed on the Web. So, the Carlyle Group has decided to “stop” Stop Carlyle (it will never end…funny…). We wouldn't be surprised to see soon our website offline because of the pressures made on our website host. By buying all the domain names stop-carlyle, the Carlyle Group wants to stop us from publishing on the Web.
So if you appreciate our website, tell us. Send your support by email. We will forward your support to our web host and to the Carlyle Group.
Support us ! Write us !

February 11, 2004 - The Carlyle Group, the Ford Foundation and World Terrorism

“Is the Ford Foundation one of the world's premier sponsors of terrorism? US Senator Charles Grassely (D) Iowa, Chair of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, thinks the question is a fair one. That is precisely why he has called for congressional hearings into Ford funding of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that use the funds to support terrorism. (…)
The Ford Foundation's main Middle East charities are based in Cairo. One of the members of its board of directors is Afsaneh Beschloss of the Carlyle Group, which does extensive business with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis fund world terrorism and have financed much of the terrorism in Israel. They also finance Israel's destruction by laundering funds through the United States and Europe that go to leftist groups in Israel. Thus, the funding provided to the areas of the Holy Land by the Ford Foundation has usually been given with Arab interests in mind.”
From : FrontPageMagazine.com, Lee Kaplan

Ellen Mariani, 9/11 widow, lawsuit against George W. Bush. “Mariani says the key to the charges is George H. W. Bush and his government involvement as CIA director (1976-1977), vice president (1980-1988), and president (1989-1992), as well as his subsequent business relationships. The latter includes his association with the Carlyle group, an equity fund that deals with weapons manufacturing. (…) She maintains G.H.W. Bush's share in the Carlyle Group's defense-related profits will show similar appreciation since Bush launched the so-called "War on Terror. "”
From : Online Journal, Joyce Lynn

In this article, it is interesting to note how the journalist perceives the implication of The Carlyle Group in European politics, especially with former British Prime Ministers (John Major, and now Tony Blair). Extracts…
Lord Brian Hutton, a former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, and the man personally selected by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to investigate the alleged "suicide" of Ministry of Defense weapons of mass destruction expert Dr. David Kelly last year, has rendered his verdict on Blair and his "sexing up" a dossier on Iraq's capabilities to pummel London and Liverpool with a a chem-bio attack within a 45-minute timeframe. (…)Make no mistake about it, Hutton was picked by Blair to engage in a whitewash because of Hutton's own history of sycophantically shin-humping the conservative power structure in the United Kingdom. Hutton was a neocon long before the term became vogue. (…) Perhaps Hutton was promised the job of the next Governor of the Cayman Islands or the British Virgin Islands. More the better when Blair assumes a directorship for the Carlyle Group and has to rely on his old judge buddy to help move billions through Grand Cayman or Tortola bank front company accounts to oil companies in Iraq and Libya.
From: Online Journal, Wayne Madsen

February 6, 2004 - Carlyle Group Ready to Buy Stakes in Major Newspapers

Alex Jones published an article from London Observer about The Carlyle Group views over Hollinger. Extracts…
“A powerful banking group with close links to the Pentagon, which has also invested money on behalf of the Bin Laden family, is in talks to bail out beleaguered Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black. (…)The Carlyle Group, known as the Ex-Presidents Club because of the number of former world leaders it employs, is considering taking a stake in Hollinger International, which owns the Telegraph titles, the Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times, according to those close to the firm. (…)If Carlyle - which, despite being only 15 years old, manages more than $14 billion in funds on behalf of investors such as George Soros and the Bin Laden family (who are estranged from their son Osama) - does take a stake in Hollinger, questions are bound to be asked over the links between the two firms, both of which have powerful links to the military. Leading foreign policy hawks Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger sit on the Hollinger board. Black himself is a member of the secretive Bilderberg group, an organisation comprising the world's leading businessmen and politicians, which some have accused of being an alternative world government. (…)Shareholders are angry that tens of millions of dollars that Black and fellow directors took in 'non-compete' fees did not go to Hollinger. (…)Hollinger is the subject of an inquiry by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Investigators are keen to understand the company's relationship with Ravelston Corporation, which is privately owned by Black and has been the beneficiary of millions of dollars which shareholders say should be returned to them.”
Read More…
From : London Observer

We were surprised (but also amused) to see that the board of Carlyle bought, January 12 th 2004, these following domain names: www.stop-carlyle.com, www.stop-carlyle.net and www.stop-carlyle.org (and maybe more…). Is the Carlyle Group getting scared of the informations published on Stop Carlyle?
What will the Carlyle Group do with these websites? Is it only to block us from buying these domain names? Will they publish their own information pretending to be us? Will they finally criticize themselves? (Hum…no, let's forget about this option!)
To know who owns these websites: click here!
From: All Who Is (to know who's behind Websites)
PS: for all the fans, www.suck-carlyle.com is still available. Maybe Carlyle will buy it from you ?

“What do Hollinger, Parmalat and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. have in common ? According to political analyst Al Martin (author of "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider"), they are all part of a global fraud network that includes George Herbert Walker Bush and his Pilgrim Investment Trust, Henry Kissinger and Kissinger Associates, and Frank Carlucci and the Carlyle Group.”
In his column 'Assets & Liabilities of the Global Cabal's Fraud Network’, Martin writes that recent lawsuits have "alleged that Conrad Black, the renowned Bushonian Cabalist and member of the Kissinger Associates group, the Carlyle Group, and Bilderberger Group, had effectively bled Hollinger of all its assets and transferred those assets into offshore shells in discreet jurisdictions under his own control. This is the same method of fraud that Calisto Tanzi used in Parmalat."
"The Carlyle Group, which is Frank Carlucci, and the Blackstone Investment Group are virtually one and the same. Two different names, but they are virtually the same organization," he continues. "All they do is ride the crest of the waves of various frauds from country to country. Before the so-called Global Financial Crisis of 1998, Blackstone and Carlyle suddenly opened up an office in Jakarta. They didn't have an office in Jakarta before because they were very friendly with President Sukarto. Sukarto gave them all sort of inside capabilities to short, or sell short, the Indonesian rupiah which nobody really had the ability to do because the currency wasn't particularly liquid. They do on a large scale on a multi-billion dollar scale what Richard Hamil does on a multi-million dollar scale."
From : Al Martin Raw.com

EXCLUSIVE : February 2 , 2004 - Financial Holdings of The Carlyle Group in the Genoyer's Acquisition

Stop Carlyle ! has analysed all the financial holdings used by The Carlyle Group for the acquisition of Genoyer. More holdings in tax havens, and few surprises : among the shareholders, we found Crédit Agricole Indosuez, investment banks of Luxembourg and Italy concerned by the Parmalat Scandal (Société Européenne de Banque), but also the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) the Vatican's bank...

Download the Study (in french - PDF)

February 2, 2004 - Venture Capitalists See Opportunities For Investments In Homeland Security

“With the economy appearing to bounce back and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) signing contracts and spending money, financial experts are bullish on venture capital opportunities in the homeland security sector. "Overall, there certainly is heightened interest in the venture capital community," said Allan Thygesen, a managing director of The Carlyle Group (…). Carlyle is interested in investing in cargo security, which Thygesen called "perhaps the greatest unsolved problem" of homeland security. The company is "actively looking at a variety" of technologies for cargo scanning and "cargo visibility," such as a global trade visibility network that could read radio frequency identification tags. (…) Thygesen estimated that out of 19 deals that Carlyle's venture fund closed in the last two years, "three or four" had a strong homeland security focus and several others had a homeland security element. "That's just the venture fund, the bio funds have also been very active," he said. Some observers believe that once Congress approves Project BioShield it could spark venture capital investment in drug companies. BioShield is a $5.6 billion, 10-year effort to spur development of bioterror vaccines by creating a guaranteed federal market for vaccine manufacturers.”
From : Aviation Now, John M. Doyle.

Democrats are demanding investigations into what they call irregular contracting of the Bush administration for reconstructing Iraq.
“The contract was awarded by IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti, whose administration of the bureau was ethically troubled. (…) He left the IRS in 2002. He now works at the Carlyle Group, a private investment-equity firm staffed with influential Democrats and Republicans that, Washington Technology magazine says, also is one of the 40 biggest government contractors in information technology.”
From : Insight Magazine, John Berlau.

“I discovered that EG&G had been taken over by the Carlyle Group, an enterprise about which I knew nothing. Months later-and after exhaustive research-I begin my reports on the Carlyle Group, an almost secret society and a multibillion-dollar powerhouse about which almost no one knows anything. And that's exactly the way Carlyle wants to keep it.”
Read More...
From : The Catbird Seat

Kevin Phillips wrote a new book about the Bush family : "American Dynasty". He “is eloquent on the continuing fallout of American decisions, beginning in the 70's, to pour huge amounts of armaments into the tinderbox of the Persian Gulf and Middle East, into countries "menaced by religious and resource conflicts." He also raises disturbing conflict-of-interest questions about the Bush family's intertwining political and business relationships around the world, relationships embodied by Bush Senior's post-presidential affiliation with the Carlyle Group, a merchant bank with military-sector investments.”
From : Macaronies
American Dynasty, Kevin Phillips.

January 26, 2004 – Connections of Carlyle Group with Saudi Royal Family, Bin Laden Family and Bush Entourage

In his book, Richard Labévière (French journalist at RFI) focuses on relations between Al Quaida and the United States. In a chapter called “Waiting for the Binladengate”, the author explains the connexions between US financial interests and Saudis in financing radical islam. Labévière focuses on the Carlyle Group and its role in that financing.
From : Radio France

“The anthrax vaccine was initially pushed by President George Bush Sr., during his presidency, for the military. Now, under his son's presidency, an anthrax scare pervades as the vaccine is urged for the public. Bioport, the lone manufacturer of the anthrax vaccine, has as one of its major investors, the Carlyle Investment Group — one of the key supporters of both Bush campaigns. The family is also a member of the Carlyle Investment Group.”
From : FinalCall.com, Sultan Muhammad.

Anthrax vaccine, Bioport and The Carlyle Group. FinalCall.com

Carlyle Group hired Andrei Terekhov to help raise and manage a $300 million fund to buy companies in Russia, less than three months after the firm scrapped a plan to start one with Moscow-based Alfa Group.
From : Washington Post

“The Green Party of the United States is urging Americans to be skeptical of President Bush's list of proposals and claims of success during the past year in his January 20 State of the Union address. The real Bush victory, say Greens, has been a massive transfer of wealth and power from the American people over to major corporations, especially Halliburton, Bechtel, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, The Carlyle Group and other defense contractors, oil companies, insurance firms and HMOs, and drug manufacturers.”
From : Common Dreams

“The March 20 National Coalition” met again on Saturday January 17 to further discuss plans for March 20 protests taking place across the United States. Cities represented included New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. New York City : Assemble at 12 noon at Times Square. March to Bechtel, General Electric, The Carlyle Group and the United Nations.
Download Flyer (PDF)
From : International Answer

End the Occupation of Iraq. Bring the Troops Home. International Answer.

In the article “Huge Americans LBO Funds Big Winners in Europe in 2003”, the French financial newspaper Les Echos has published the Top 10 LBOs made in Europe in 2003.
From : Les Echos, Les Grands fonds LBO américains se sont taillés la part du lion en Europe l'année dernière, 19 janvier 2004.
Top 10 of LBO made in 2003 in Europe. Les Echos, 19/01/2004.

Top 10 of LBO made in 2003 in Europe. Les Echos, 19/01/2004.

La Tribune has published an interview of Jean-Louis Gergorin (executive vice-president of EADS) concerning foreign investments into sensitive firms. Jean-Louis Gergorin « would like to see the development of Business Intelligence by governments to arm France and Europe in this new kind of conflict (economic warfare between France and USA).”
“This legislation should be applied to all technologic investments. We must not limit these protections to the only defence sector, because today, national security is dependant of all high technologies.”
From : La Tribune, Pascal Junghans, January 19th 2004.

A Canadian group of artists United Colors of Carlyle published on their website these pictures of Jean-Pierre Millet, Europe Managing Director of Carlyle. European workers fight for their rights to preserve their jobs (See The Carlyle's Black List).
From : United Colors of Carlyle

Capturé dans une ferme de la région de Tikrit, Saddam Hussein prisonnier des Américains. Jean-Pierre Millet a enfin été libéré par l'ambassade américaine. Il avait été confondu avec l'ancien dictateur... United Colors of Carlyle

Aussi clair que ses objectifs... Jean-Pierre Millet, The Carlyle Group. United Colors of Carlyle

In July 2002, as Congress prepared to authorize creation of the Department of Homeland Security, Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, offered an amendment designed to bar the new department from granting contracts to American companies that incorporate overseas to dodge U.S. taxes. The amendment was denounced by the Republican leadership.
On July 31, 2002, when asked whether the practice of moving corporate headquarters to foreign tax havens should be outlawed, Bush replied: « I think we ought to look at people who are trying to avoid U.S. taxes as a problem. »
« Others taking advantage of lax offshore regulations and favorable tax rates include more obscure companies like The Carlyle Group (…) In August 2001, the firm filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission that revealed an interest in U.S. Technologies Inc., a venture capital firm based in Washington, D.C. Carlyle's stake in U.S. Technologies was held by eight limited partnerships based in the Cayman Islands, all of which listed their "principal business office" (…) »
From : Alternet, Charles Lewis, The Center for Public Integrity

Kevin Phillips (author of the new book American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush) wrote in the LA Times giving an overview of the Bush family's ties to Saudi oil concerns and the bin Laden family spanning four generations.
"There is no evidence to suggest that the events of Sept. 11 could have been prevented or discovered ahead of time had someone other than a Bush been president. But there is certainly enough to suggest that the Bush dynasty's many decades of entanglement and money-hunting in the Middle East have created a major conflict of interest that deserves to be part of the 2004 political debate. No previous presidency has had anything remotely similar. Not one.
Michael Moore's next movie, Fahrenheit 911, will cover similar terroritory, and is due out shortly before the election this November. The senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months after Sept. 11. The bin Ladens invested heavily in the Carlyle Group, which has its hands in a number of pies and is the 11th largest defense contractor even though it mostly buys failing defense companies and sells them for profits."
From : Jim Gilliam

Extracts from Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) : " James Baker is considered to be a good friend by the Saudis. Since 9/11, Saudi Arabia has had, to put it delicately, a public relations problem. Saudi Arabia has had to dodge allegations that it had a hand in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudi nationals."
" The families of the September 11 victims have instituted a trillion-dollar class-action law suit against the Saudi government. In the months ahead, dozens of Saudi citizens (including Khalid bin Mahfouz) and institutions (including National Commercial Bank) will have to respond to suits in New York and Washington, D.C."
" Baker Botts has a powerful permanent presence in Saudi Arabia. (...) Baker Botts is slickest when it comes to oil, but Baker himself has even wider interests. As senior counsel to the Carlyle Group, the investment firm long associated with Bush interests, Baker helps to oversee the operations of the nation's 10th-largest defense contractor, United Defense."
Read more...
From : Arutz Sheva - Israel National News

The Defense Department has reportedly launched an inquiry into high level military officials who have been hired by defense contractors over the past few years. Headed by the Pentagon inspector general's office, the probe will target big defense contractors that hire former government officials, including The Carlyle Group, according to the report. Investigators are seeking to determine whether dozens of Defense Department officials complied with federal requirements that prevent them from participating in private sector contracts before moving to the private sector.
From : New York Post, Bridget Harrison

“Saddam Hussein was being kept as a prisoner in a grave-like hole, called by a top U.S. Military Officer as a "spider hole", where Saddam himself could NOT get out. Saddam Hussein was being kept as a prisoner by surrogates, including Saddam's relatives as CIA contract employees, for CARLYLE GROUP. "
Read Extracts from the article...
From : Rense

"Among the ventures rumored to be in the running for billion dollar contracts to redevelop post-war Iraq is The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm with a number of aerospace & defense interests that just so happens to be managed by a team of former US Government personnel including James Baker, Jerome H. Powell, Richard G. Darman and former British Prime Minister John Major."

"The anti-globalization movement brings with it an understanding of the global economy, and it is applying its corporate analysis to militarism issues in new ways. Corpwatch, U.S. Labor Against the War, Public Citizen, United for a Fair Economy, the World Policy Institute and others are producing corporate profiles and documenting deep connections between the Bush administration and the major beneficiaries of war such as Boeing, Bechtel, Halliburton and the Carlyle Group."

"“The formation and training of the Iraqi army, Iraqi paramilitary forces and the Iraqi police will not be done by the U.S. military, but by private contractors like Vinnell, Kroll and DynCorp,” Singer said in a phone interview. (Vinnell is a subsidiary of the Carlyle Group, whose leaders include former President George H.W. Bush, as discussed in Dan Briody’s published book, “The Iron Triangle.”)"

The Journalist Greg Palast (author of "Best Democracy Money Can Buy") realized an interview about James Baker in Iraq.
"Defending the Saudis.. and he has his new office in the white house. Other connections .. he's the general counselor for the Carlyle group, 10th biggest arms dealer."
Listen the Audio (Quicktime .mov file)

Stop Carlyle ! has realised a short Press Review in english of James Baker linked to The Carlyle Group.
Read More...

December 13, 2003 - Al Bawaba's view on The Carlyle Group

The middle east newspaper, Al Bawaba, focuses on the proposal of Carlyle to acquire Hollinger International. The journalist insists on the links between the US administration, defence lobbys...
Read Extracts from Al Bawaba

Disinfopedia has realised a short article about the Carlyle Group extract from Hoover's Online.
The Carlyle Group is described as a "military-industrial complex". It also makes a summary of the Founding Partners and Senior Advisors.
From : Disinfopedia ; Hoover's Online

Stop Carlyle has decided to list all the firms victims of the offensive strategy of the Carlyle Group, with the number of dismissals of each. We also analysed the technics of the US fund, that we called : “the predation cycle” of Carlyle.
See the Carlyle’s Black List...

Formers employees of Opto Speed contacted Stop Carlyle to inform us that their society has been filed for bankruptcy, after their investors, Carlyle and ABN Amro stopped providing capital.
Read Full Article…

The french magazine realized a 4 pages article about The Carlyle Group (see the french comments) : "Carlyle : A Fund Very Special".
Read some extracts in english...

Paul Silvester, former state Treasurer, has been sentenced to more than four years in prison on federal corruption charges. Silvester admitted leading a corruption scheme in which he invested state pension money in exchange for cash and jobs for his associates.
The four investment firms named by Silvester now seem likely to escape a similar fate. “Perhaps the most powerful is the Carlyle Group, a Washington-based "merchant bank" whose advisers include former President George H.W. Bush. Silvester authorized investments of more than $123 million with Carlyle and testified that he arranged for the firm to pay a $1 million "finder's fee" to Wayne L. Berman, a Washington lobbyist who was one of President George W. Bush's biggest campaign fund-raisers.”
Read full article
From : Journal Inquirer ; MSNBC

Open Secrets (the website of the Center for Responsible Politics) made articles about The Carlyle Group. According to the Website, The Carlyle Group has a "potential lobbying prowess".
Furthermore, it adds "the Carlyle Group is not registered as a lobbying agent in Washington, though according to records filed with the U.S. Senate, many of its subsidiaries, including United Defense, boast lobbyist payrolls of more than $1 million annually."
Full Article

December 5, 2003 - The Carlyle Group involved in a study of Amnesty International

Amnesty International realised a study that the governments of the G8 authorize unparalleled levels of arms and related assistance to the world's armed forces and law enforcement agencies, but often to those who persistently commit gross human rights violations - equipping them, emboldening them and rewarding them. This report refers to companies including The Carlyle Group.
Read : A Catalogue of Failures: G8 Arms Exports and Human Rights Violations

Philip J. Berg, Esquire, announced today that he, attorney for Ellen Mariani, wife of Louis Neil Mariani, who died when United Air Lines flight 175 was flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9-11 at a news conference regarding the filing of a detailed Amended Complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on 11/26/03 in the case of Mariani versus President Bush and officials including.
Mrs. Mariani was the first victim family member to bring civil action regarding the events of 911 against United Airlines. Since then, the "truth" of 911 has not been forthcoming and Mrs. Mariani, for the good of her country, now seeks the truth via this courageous action under the RICO Act.

Extracts : "There are significant business ties that will be proven between Defendants and OBL's family which raise serious conflict of interest and other matters wherein "failing to act and prevent" the "911" attacks have benefited Defendants.
Reports have emerged and will be confirmed through discovery that The Carlyle Group, the giant U.S. defense contractor until recently employed Defendant and former President GHB. Hence, the "Bush Family" and other Defendants financial profiting by war goes to the heart of Plaintiff's RICO Act claim (…)".
From : The Scoop

You Have Been Lied To 9-11 Bush Did It ! 9-11/WTC Bush's Reichstag Fire

According to NewsMax, saudi press cheers over media tycoon Conrad Black's problems with the SEC and investors in his Hollinger International publishing group (Chicago Sun-Times, London Telegraph, Jerusalem Post...)." The Carlyle Group"interest in controlling the Telegraph group is big." It would be a new help of Carlyle to the Saudis since Baker Botts (James Baker law firm) defends saudis against families of the victims of 9/11.
The Tip and William Bowles fear this control of Carlyle over the medias : "Seriously though, this is the last thing we need, ultra-conservative power brokers owning even more of the world's media outlets".
From : NewsMax ; The Tip ; William Bowles
Read the article of William Bowles

EXCLUSIVE : December 1st, 2003 - Networks of the "Carlyle Connections" in France

Stop Carlyle ! has realised a map of the networks of the Carlyle Group in France. There are 6 categorys : lawyers, public relations, banks, strategy, consulting...
See the networks online... (in french)
Download the PDF : Networks of Carlyle in France (in french)