International American Products Inc./IAP: A DU investigation thread

[bobthedrummer]

Year after year many DUer's have been way out front when it comes to researching the stories that the captive MSM ignored since the installation of the Decider's administration.

The corruption and crimes of Bush administration connected individuals and organizations have often been documented here, often reading like indictments, well before any mention (if any) by the MSM or any action by law enforcement, the judiciary or Congress oversight authorities.

The Walter Reed "scandal" is again only the tip of an iceberg.

A couple of DUer's pointed out the involvement of IAP in the Walter Reed outpatient tragedy-yet we need to really add to the data about who and what IAP is about and demand accountability and PROSECUTION.

Here are the threads that linked IAP to Walter Reed
one started by appleannie1
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x328133
and another by CorpGovActivist
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x342039

I started doing a little bit of research about IAP and it expanded well beyond a cursory look into what can best be handled as a collaborative effort by those DUers that "give a damn".

Here is a background profile on IAP from The Center for Public Integrity
http://www.public-i.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro&ddlC=26

This background profile led to so many other facts that your help is requested. Some of the connections of IAP to other individuals and networks are highly disturbing. In no particular order IAP is connected to the UK based G3 Systems Ltd; Johnson Controls; DynCorp; and CACI:
IAP&CACI
http://news.corporate.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20061222/22dec20061144.html

The recently retired 33rd Commandant of the USMC, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, joined IAP's Board of Directors on February 1, 2007
http://www.fcw.com/blogs/archives/comingsandgoings/2007/02/iap_worldwide_s.asp

The US Army's Daniel J. Roh also held that position
http://www.iapws.com/Newsroom/Newsroom_details.aspx?id=2

Cerberus is connected to IAP

Cerberus Hidden Empire (BusinessWeek.org)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b3953118.htm

What else is IAP about??? What can you add to this thread???

Fair use cited on all links

[Emit]

1. Former Treasury Secretary John W. Snow is chairman of the New York hedge fund that owns IAP

Subthread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=341609&mesg_id=342679

Posted on this OP: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=341609&mesg_id=341609

Edited to add another subthread from that:
CorpGovActivist (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-05-07 07:29 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. See the Campaign Cash...
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00414425

The Cerberus connection will help Waxman in another area of oversight: bringing Federal regulation to hedge funds.

- Dave


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=341609&mesg_id=342901

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. Dan Qualye is also on the board

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus_Capital_Management
http://www.iapws.com/Newsroom/Newsroom_details.aspx?id=69

[bobthedrummer]

5. Thanks ThoughtCriminal-I was able to fix a link in my OP about Daniel J. Roh

based on your IAP address.

[bobthedrummer]

3. Thanks for contibuting, Emit-I'm checking out Gen. Hagee's friendship with Trent Lott. eom

[Emit]

4. Profile of CEO Feinberg of Cerberus Capital

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b3953114.htm

[Octafish]

40. Cerberus may be interested in buying Chrysler...

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070306/BUSINESS01/703060320/1014

Sounds like they got a lot of money to burn.

[bobthedrummer]

44. There's Cerberus's "rival" too-The Blackstone Group also has money to burn.

Peter G. Peterson has quite a history and is another "privatization" spark plug that really branched out after serving Nixon, Kissinger and the CFR so well.

[Emit]

65. GMAC'S Subprime Stake May Hurt Cerberus

GMAC'S SUBPRIME STAKE MAY HURT CERBERUS
By RODDY BOYD


March 5, 2007 -- The subprime mortgage market collapse just might give private-equity titan Cerberus a headache for the forseeable future. As the headlines mount about woes in the subprime sector, Park Avenue-based Cerberus' 51 percent stake in GMAC - the owner of a massive subprime mortgage portfolio - is looking increasingly problematic.

With its GMAC stake, Cerberus also got one of the largest subprime players: a lender named ResCap Capital. Cerberus, along with Citigroup and Aozora Bank, acquired the GMAC stake in November for $7.9 billion.

The deal seemed a masterstroke at the time: GMAC parent General Motors, reeling from troubles at its core auto unit, got billions in cash and dividends from the deal.

Cerberus, meanwhile, scored what was seen as one of the crown jewels of the financial world, an asset that reliably threw off billions in cash and earnings. But ResCap could sharply reduce GMAC's luster. ResCap has $57 billion in subprime loans on its books as of Sept. 30, or a staggering 77 percent of a $73 billion portfolio.

For Cerberus investors, it's scary enough that giant mortgage lenders like HSBC were bloodied from greater-than-expected losses in subprime surprises. But a look deeper into ResCap's financials indicates their prime business has no shortage of risks.

~snip~

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052007/business/gmacs_subprime_stake_may_hurt_cerberus_business_roddy_boyd.htm

And this may impact Cerberus' Bank Leumi deal, a deal some folks do not want to occur -- see post below.


Obtained from LexisNexis -- no link:

"New York Post" reported yesterday that , the subprime mortgage market collapse just might give private-equity titan Cerberus a headache for the foreseeable future.

If the report is correct, it is not clear how this will affect the Bank of Israel's decision on whether to grant the Cerberus Capital Management LP-Gabriel Capital Management consortium a control permit for Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI). A decision is due this week. If the Bank of Israel decides to grant the consortium a control permit in principle, Cerberus will be able to undertake the necessary steps demanded by the regulator to obtain the permit by May 24. On this date, the consortium's option to acquire an additional 10.1% of Bank Leumi will expire. After the expiry, Cerberus will not be able to put together a controlling core for the bank, and will have to reduce its holding to just 5%.

In an unusual move, Cerberus senior managing director Mark Neporent responded to the report, and told Globes, We believe that the report in the New York Post will have no impact on the Bank of Israel's decision on Cerberus, because the report is inaccurate and utterly wrong. Of course, this is only a belief, because we have no way of knowing how the Bank of Israel will decide.

~snip~ (recap of NYP article here -- Emit)

Sources familiar with the Cerberus-General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) deal told Globes that the report in the New York Post was full of errors and inaccuracies. The takeover of GMAC was not leveraged, but wholly equity-based, which means that all of the New York Post's calculations about apparent losses by Cerberus are wrong. The sources added that, under the contract between General Motors and Cerberus and its partners, General Motors is responsible for all of Residential Capital LLC's (ResCap) financial liabilities and losses through the end of 2006. They also claim that the proportion of subprime mortgages in ResCap's portfolio was far lower than 77%. In addition, the subprime mortgages relate only to mortgages granted in 2006, when mortgage companies eased loan terms.

Published by Globes , Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 6, 2007

Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007

LOAD-DATE: March 7, 2007

[leveymg]

50. Guess who's a Cerberus investor? Donald Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld was an investor in Cerberus (and may still be), according to his 2001 financial disclosure forms. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b3953110.htm

[leveymg]

48. Cerberus holding Leumi Bank privatized Israeli banks - IAP privatized VA hospitals

Strange symmetry to this, isn't there? Perhaps, no coincidence to any of it. Here's why. You have to read a seminal neocon document written in 1997 for then-Israeli PM Netanyahu by the guys who went on to run the Office of Special Plans (OSP), Feith, Wurmser, and Perle. That paper, "A CLEAN BREAK: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" -- http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm -- lays out a battle plan for conquering the Mid-East, starting with Iraq, then Lebanon, on to Syria, and then, finally, regime change in Iran. The point of all this isn't just military conquest, and the elimination of regional threats, it's actually to set the preconditions for a PRIVATIZED Israeli economy, and the "clean break" is with Israeli's social-democratic past.

The rush to privatize many of the functions of the Pentagon, including the VA system, is really the same strategy. Create a series of wars that expand the military, and then privatize them. That, in short, is what has been going on here. It's military Keynesianism turned into a killing and maiming machine for profit. Here's the article about the conflict surrounding the Serberus-Leumi group privatizing the Israeli banking system:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:RhAPCyu8hiMJ:www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/831861.html+Cerberus+Gabriel+Israel&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&ie=UTF-8

Leumi on the way to going global

By Nehemia Shtrasler

A historic decision will be made next week. The Bank of Israel will announce whether it approves the sale of Bank Leumi to the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium. This would mark the end of the long process of privatizing Israel's banking system.

As early as November 2005 a tender was issued for the bank's sale, and it was won by Cerberus-Gabriel. The consortium offered to pay NIS 4.62 billion for a controlling stake of 20 percent in the bank - a very high price indeed. But the consortium failed to close the deal because the Bank of Israel did not approve its becoming a controlling partner.



Advertisement

The decision will now be made by the Bank of Israel Governor, Professor Stanley Fischer, who has said in internal meetings that this is one of the most difficult decisions he has been asked to make. At those same meetings, Rony Hizkiyahu, the new Supervisor of Banks, said that he wished the problem with the New York branch of Bank Leumi were resolved because then there would be no obstacle to selling the bank to the consortium. Indeed, this is the only problem that is keeping Cerberus-Gabriel from Bank Leumi, the subsidiary in New York.

According to American law, the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium will not be able to hold the bank in New York because it is invested in non-financial sectors. According to American rules, it is not permitted to have industrial and real estate holdings and also a bank - out of concern for possible conflict of interest.

During those same internal meetings at the Bank of Israel a number of proposals were put forth for a solution to the problem. For example, to sell Leumi New York, and in its place set up a financial entity that could offer business loans but not be able to accept deposits or offer retail banking services. The problem is that such a financial firm will not operate under the supervision of the Federal Reserve (because it is not a bank). As for Israeli supervision, it will not be easy to keep an eye on a company that is situated so far away.

SNIP

Indeed, the deal went through and the regulatory obstacles removed to the privatiziation that is pushed by Prime Minister Olmert, one of the leading proponents of the scheme, as this article makes clear:

http://www.fundstreet.org/2005/12/cerberusgabriel.html
December 13, 2005
Cerberus-Gabriel hedge fund buys stake in Leumi Bank
Israel is on its way to privatization. The banking sector is amongst the first ones to take a step in this direction. Bank Leumi was in the market recently and attracted bids from several players. Bidder names include strategic investors like Lev Leviev, IDB and Bill Davidson and also financial contenders like UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citibank. However the winner was an American Hedge fund, Cerberus-Gabriel.

Cerberus-Gabriel has purchased 9.9% of the shares of the bank. The purchase of this stake was for approximately $500 million. The fund also has the option of buying an additional 10.01% in the bank. This will bring the total shares quantum to 20% and is roughly valued at $1 billion. This option of additional purchase has to be utilized with in the next one and a half years.

Ehud Olmert, Finance Minister of Israel, is reportedly quite satisfied with the outcome. He feels that this is a positive development and will help the over all Israeli economy. He is amongst the top promoters of privatization move. In his statement he also mentioned that the purchase will ensure healthy competition between the banks and will definitely contribute a lot to the local market.

Another person quite happy with the development is Yaron Zelekha, the treasury's accountant-general, who led the tender. He sees it as fulfillment of the promise made to the people of Israel about privatization of the entire banking system in 2005.

[Emit]

57. Thank you. Yes, "liberalizing its economy..."

I am familiar with "A Clean Break..." and, in retrospect, had always read that document with an interest not only in the military strategy it promotes but also with an interest in what the economic strategy implied. When I was reading all of the articles related to the sale of Leumi, "A Clean Break..." did come to mind -- especially when I read about the history of the Israeli government purchasing the banks' stocks from the public 20+ years ago:

Bank stock crisis (Israel 1983)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Bank stock crisis was a financial crisis that occurred in Israel in 1983, during which the stocks of the four largest banks in Israel collapsed, and were nationalized by the state.

~snip~

The Crisis
In the beginning of 1983 a crisis occurred in the free stock market (all the non-bank stocks), and large supplies in all market sectors forced the banks to invest very large sums of money maintaining their stocks' stability. During the months of January through March some regulators, among them the Minister of Treasury, Aridor, and the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Mendelbaum, approached the banks several times, trying to get them to gradually reduce their adjustments. Although some bank managers realized they could not continue this for long, they did not stop. Fearing a market collapse, Ministry of Treasury officials kept knowledge of this from the public.

~snip~

On October 5 the stock exchange again opened with large supplies, and on October 6, 1983, nicknamed "Black Thursday", was an onslaught of sales. It was clear a collapse was a matter of days at most, since the banks declared that day they would be unable to absorb additional supplies without government assistance.

That night, in a meeting in Aridor's home, it was decided that the government would purchase the banks' stocks from the public, to prevent the lose of their investments. On Sunday, October 9, the stock exchange remained closed, and stayed closed till October 24. In the meantime a devaluation of 23% was executed. The stocks sold by the public were bought by the Bank of Israel at an average loss of 17%. 35% of the stocks' value was lost.

~snip~

The Results
The immediate consequences of the crisis were the loss of a third of the public's investments in them, the acquisition of the banks by the government, at a total cost of 6.9 billion US Dollars, and the nationalization of the major banks (Leumi, Hapoalim, Hamizrachi, Discount, and Clali).

~snip~

The government later sold some of the banks to private investors, selling Bank Hapoalim in 1996, Hamizrachi in 1998. The government also sold a major part of its stock in Discount bank in 2006, and of Leumi in 2005.

In the first years of the 2000s decade some of the commission recommendations were finally performed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_stock_crisis_(Israel_1983)



From "A Clean Break..."

Israel has a large problem. Labor Zionism, which for 70 years has dominated the Zionist movement, has generated a stalled and shackled economy. Efforts to salvage Israel’s socialist institutions—which include pursuing supranational over national sovereignty and pursuing a peace process that embraces the slogan, "New Middle East"—undermine the legitimacy of the nation and lead Israel into strategic paralysis and the previous government’s "peace process." That peace process obscured the evidence of eroding national critical mass— including a palpable sense of national exhaustion—and forfeited strategic initiative. The loss of national critical mass was illustrated best by Israel’s efforts to draw in the United States to sell unpopular policies domestically, to agree to negotiate sovereignty over its capital, and to respond with resignation to a spate of terror so intense and tragic that it deterred Israelis from engaging in normal daily functions, such as commuting to work in buses.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government comes in with a new set of ideas. While there are those who will counsel continuity, Israel has the opportunity to make a clean break; it can forge a peace process and strategy based on an entirely new intellectual foundation, one that restores strategic initiative and provides the nation the room to engage every possible energy on rebuilding Zionism, the starting point of which must be economic reform.

~snip~

Israel can make a clean break from the past and establish a new vision for the U.S.-Israeli partnership based on self-reliance, maturity and mutuality — not one focused narrowly on territorial disputes. Israel’s new strategy — based on a shared philosophy of peace through strength — reflects continuity with Western values by stressing that Israel is self-reliant, does not need U.S. troops in any capacity to defend it, including on the Golan Heights, and can manage its own affairs. Such self-reliance will grant Israel greater freedom of action and remove a significant lever of pressure used against it in the past.

To reinforce this point, the Prime Minister can use his forthcoming visit to announce that Israel is now mature enough to cut itself free immediately from at least U.S. economic aid and loan guarantees at least, which prevent economic reform. (Military aid is separated for the moment until adequate arrangements can be made to ensure that Israel will not encounter supply problems in the means to defend itself). As outlined in another Institute report, Israel can become self-reliant only by, in a bold stroke rather than in increments, liberalizing its economy, cutting taxes, relegislating a free-processing zone, and selling-off public lands and enterprises — moves which will electrify and find support from a broad bipartisan spectrum of key pro-Israeli Congressional leaders, including Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

~snip~

http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm

[bobthedrummer]

83. Nochi Danker and his group want to overcome Cerberus but the Antitrust

office in Israel is saying it will object to that. The Danker group has cited keeping Zionism and nationalism among ownership as one of it's chief concerns for considering purchasing Bank Leumi.

What a tangled web indeed.

"Antitrust will object to Leumi sale to Nochi Danker"
by Ora Coren and Rarn Dagan
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/835464.html

Fair use cited.

[appleannie1]

87. Thank You it made DailyKos yesterday

[leveymg]

6. Geez, guys. Anyone sending all this to the MSM?

This is GREAT STUFF! Please cross-post this over at Dkos, too. DU researchers do good work!

[bobthedrummer]

7. Help us out, Mark, I don't have the tech like you do. eom

[leveymg]

8. I've gotta run to work now. But, I can give you some e-mail

addresses in a couple hours. I'll just post it at this thread. Keep at it!

Maybe some others here have a media contact list they can share?

[blm]

62. I hope so - people should contact their local papers and email these links.

This story is a NATIONAL story that can get local play.

[Emit]

9. I'm assuming folks have seen this info, but just in case

Maybe I'm backtracking here a bit, but, this came up in another discussion on the topic at another site I post at:

~snip~In the letter, Waxman charged that the Army used an unusual process to award a five-year, $120 million contract to manage the center to a company owned by a former executive of Halliburton, the scandal-prone government contractor once operated by Vice President Dick Cheney.

In 2004, the Army determined that Walter Reed's federal employees could operate the medical center more efficiently than IAP Worldwide Services, which is operated by the former Halliburton executive, Al Neffgen, Waxman wrote. After IAP protested, the Army "unilaterally" increased the employees' estimated costs by $7 million, making IAP appear cheaper, Waxman said. Rules barred Walter Reed employees from appealing the decision, Waxman wrote, and in January 2006 the Army gave the contract to IAP.

According to an internal memo written by a senior Walter Reed administrator and obtained by Waxman, the decision to outsource to IAP led the center's skilled personnel to leave Walter Reed "in droves," fearing they would be laid off when the contractor took over. In the last year, Waxman found, over 250 of 300 government employees left the center. The lack of staffing put patient care "at risk of mission failure," warned an internal Army memo obtained by the congressman.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/03/waxman_to_force.html

Originally posted on this site (more details initiated by and discussed with 'MariAngela' at PBS -- she's an investigative one, too! You'll see my posts over there on this subject and others, too.): http://discussions.pbs.org/viewtopic.pbs?t=71669&postdays=0&postorder=asc&topic_view=&start=0

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. UnBossed.com has some good data on execs and contributions

http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1356

I was about to start digging at Open Secrets, but it appears they have already done most of that leg-work. Also good bio info on execs.

[ClassWarrior]

11. DU Five Star Media Contact List... here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=8816&mesg_id=8816

Start writing, DUers!

NGU.

[halobeam]

12. ooo yeah! 5th rec and happy to do it!!

I've been waiting for more about this...

side question, is IAP at all tied to SAIC?

[leveymg]

14. Someone might want to check the SEC filings for cross-ownership and Boards

Go to SEC Edgar: http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

[halobeam]

22. thank you ....

see my post 19

[ThoughtCriminal]

13. HalliburtonWatch.org

Best to go to the primary sources, but advocate sites save time and include links:

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

Specifically:
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/reed.html

Neffgen was a senior executive with Halliburton when it was serving contaminated food at military dining halls and providing the troops in Iraq with bathing water soiled with human fecal matter. Nevertheless, in January 2006, the army gave Neffgen's company a $120 million "cost-plus" contract for support services and facilities management at Walter Reed hospital.

[leveymg]

16. CorpGovtActivist knows A LOT about Halliburton

He used to work for them. Someone might want to call him in on this.

[bobthedrummer]

15. Often the spouses and other family members are involved when it comes to doing "business"

I know Silke B. Hagee is the wife of Michael W. Hagee and that they own a fine $1.3mn dollar home and that Dana McBride is the wife of IAP founder Doyle McBride and that they make a lot of PAC contributions but what else do we know about IAP principals?

I also wonder if all these folks make use of their class distinctions and are involved with other IAP partners, for instance, the UK based G3 Systems Ltd families like the Ashursts, Ponds, Coustans and Wildmans?
G# Systems Ltd Management
http://www.g3-systems.co.uk/aboutManagement.htm

[hang a left]

17. I don't know if this helps but here is a social diagram for Hagee

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?_HAGEE_MICHAEL_%28GEN%29

[bobthedrummer]

18. IAP acquired Johnson Controls World Services in 2005,

at that time Johnson Controls World Services was a leader in staffing to the US military.

Here's a bit more on some of the IAP partners-they sure make a lot of profit, hence "money trumps peace"
IAP Worldwide Services Inc. (from google finance)
http://finance.google.com/finance?cid=8893543

fair use cited

[halobeam]

19. Interesting that team members of SAIC are Johnson Controls...

is this the same Johnson Controls?

Members of SAIC's Team include Johnson Controls, Inc., of Cape Canaveral, Fla.,

If so, here's the link. http://investors.saic.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=193857&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=893814&highlight=

[Emit]

25. I don't know - there might be a relation

(disclaimer -- we have a bad flu in my house today and I'm a little under the weather, so, my mind is working veeerrrry slowly -- can someone here verify this find? TX, Emit)

Johnson Controls Announces Agreement to Sell its World Services Subsidiary

15 Feb 2005

Johnson Controls, Inc., has announced an agreement to sell its Johnson Controls World Services Inc. (JCWS) subsidiary to IAP Worldwide Services, Inc. based in Irmo, South Carolina.

JCWS, which has its headquarters in Cape Canaveral, Florida, provides the U.S. government with base operations and contingency support, logistics, and workforce management and temporary personnel services.

IAP will pay approximately $260 million in cash for JCWS, subject to normal adjustments. JCWS had sales of approximately $770 million in fiscal 2004. The parties expect to complete the transaction in the next few weeks.

~snip~


While Johnson Controls is exiting the federal base operations, contingency support, and temporary personnel businesses, the company said it will continue to provide federal government customers with its full range of services, including integrated building automation systems, security solutions, and energy management, including energy savings performance contracts, as well as maintenance and repair of building systems.



“The federal government continues to be a key market for Johnson Controls,” said John Kennedy, president of the controls group of Johnson Controls. “This transaction enables us to focus resources on our core strengths in systems integration and building services and solutions for both federal and commercial non-residential buildings where we have the greatest ability to create value for our customers."

The Johnson Controls on SAIC's website is based in Milwaukee:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:ABbgorBAMPwJ:https://guardian-tech.saic.com/idetech/default.asp%3Fmodule%3Dwhoweare+SAIC+Johnson&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/

Johnson Controls, Inc.
5757 N. Green Bay Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53209
Phone: [phone]


But the above-noted article says that Johnson Controls, Inc. "has announced an agreement to sell its Johnson Controls World Services Inc." ... "which has its headquarters in Cape Canaveral, Florida..."

So, they sold a subsidiary?


_________________________________________________________________________________________
Also:
IAP's "Corporate Heritage," from their own website:

Who We Are

Corporate Heritage

IAP has decades of experience serving our country, our troops, our first responders, our astronauts and more – both at home and throughout the world.

IAP’s heritage dates back more than 50 years to building and operating America’s first space launch complex at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Our namesake – International American Products (IAP) – was founded in 1990 amid a growing government services market. IAP soon became a leading provider to the U.S. military of contingency and logistic support operations.

Today IAP Worldwide Services, Inc. is a leading government contractor, providing support services and expertise to the U.S. Department of Defense; other U.S. government departments and agencies; and state and foreign governments. We offer extensive experience and comprehensive capabilities across a global footprint.

IAP Through the Decades

1953 – Pan American World Airways, Inc. is awarded a contract to manage the U.S. Air Force Florida Missile Test Range. In the ensuing years, operating through a subsidiary called Pan Am World Services, Inc., the company operates numerous Department of Defense contracts at locations stretching from Europe and the Middle East to Diego Garcia and Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands.

1989 – Johnson Controls, Inc. acquires Pan Am World Services, Inc.

1990 – International American Products (IAP) is formed in Irmo, S.C. by former Army logistician Doyle McBride as the United States prepares for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Over the next 15 years, IAP Worldwide Services grows significantly by specializing in rapid response logistics, procurement and contingency services on a global scale.

May 2004 – Cerberus Capital Management, L.C., a New York-based private investment group, becomes majority owner of IAP Worldwide Services, Inc.

March 2005 – IAP acquires Johnson Controls World Services, an international leader in facility management operations, contingency support, and technical services, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Readiness Management Support. The acquisition significantly diversifies IAP’s business mix and customer base.

March 2006 – IAP acquires G3 Systems Ltd, a British company that provides logistics, contingency, engineering, project and facility management services in the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East.

http://www.iapws.com/who/heritage.aspx

[Emit]

27. Yes, it is related. I confirmed it with this press release

Johnson Controls Completes Sale of Its World Services Subsidiary


Johnson Controls logo. (PRNewsFoto)

MILWAUKEE, WI USA 04/23/2003




MILWAUKEE, March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Johnson Controls, Inc.
(NYSE: JCI) today announced it has completed the previously announced sale of
its Johnson Controls World Services Inc. (JWCS) subsidiary to IAP Worldwide
Services, Inc.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030423/JCILOGO )
IAP, based in Irmo, South Carolina, paid approximately $260 million in
cash for JWCS, subject to adjustments.
Johnson Controls said that although it has exited the federal base
operations, contingency support and temporary personnel businesses, it
continues to provide federal government customers with a wide range of
services, including integrated building automation systems, security solutions
and energy management services, which includes Energy Savings Performance
Contracts, as well as the maintenance and repair of building systems.
~snip~

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-30-2005/0003291820&EDATE=

Johnson Controls sold its subsidiary, Johnson Controls World Services Inc. (JWCS), to IAP.

Edited to add, and SAIC is partnered with the Johnson Controls of Cape Canaveral, Fla. which is the subsidiary sold to IAP:

The program was awarded to the team led by San Diego-based SAIC, with teammates MRI and Johnson Controls of Cape Canaveral, Fla. ...

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:0xzNXOimLbkJ:www.mriresearch.org/AboutMRI/Innovations/Innovations11.pdf+SAIC+Johnson&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=12&gl=us

[Emit]

30. More on that: Johnson Controls to sell division / World Services helps manage space center

Johnson Controls to sell division
World Services helps manage space center
By AVRUM D. LANK

Johnson Controls Inc. said Friday it is selling a division that helps keep the Kennedy Space Center running - the same company that took some controversial pictures of the launch of the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia launch. ...

IAP Worldwide Services Inc. in Irmo, S.C., is paying Glendale-based Johnson Controls $260 million for Johnson Controls World Services Inc. Johnson Controls World Services, which is based in Cape Canaveral, Fla., also provides support services for other government bases and has annual sales of about $770 million. Some of the military support duties the company provides include work force management and temporary personnel services.

~snip~

Johnson Controls World Services hit the news after the Columbia exploded upon re-entry to the Earth on Feb. 1, 2003, killing the seven astronauts on board. Johnson Controls World Services cameras took photos of the launch - pictures that were slightly out of focus. It was later determined that a piece of insulation fell off the shuttle during launch, causing damage that contributed to the crash.

The pictures from those cameras were used during the investigation. The company said at the time that during the launch the cameras "were fully operational and in compliance with government expectations." The company still has the contract, Ponczak said.

...(IAP) It's a private company owned by Cerberus Capital Management in New York City, providing support for government operations. In a statement, Doyle McBride, IAP's vice chairman, says the deal will give the company more than $1 billion in government contracts.

~snip~

http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/feb05/301137.asp

[bobthedrummer]

108. Johnson Controls partial chronology leads to Cheney withholding data

about the secret national energy meetings and the GAO pursuit of that that resulted in a lawsuit filed 9-6-2001.

It gets even more weird since Halliburton via BRSP was awarded contracts at NASA's Houston Johnson Space Center in 1997
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/news/releases/1996_1998/c97-b.html

Also in 1997 Johnson Controls was awarded a service contract at Los Alamos National Laboratories
http://www.lanl.gov/news/index.php/fuseaction/home.story/story_id/1583

IAP was a partner to these deals.

The GAO was involved in a 2002 dispute between Johnson Controls and Dyn Corp over the service contracts at Johnson Space Center and the GAO General Counsel Anthony H. Gamboa decided in favor of Dyn Corp.
http://www.pubklaw.com/rd/gao/2002/B-289942.html

Anthony H. Gamboa and the GAO had pursued Richard Cheney for information about those secret national energy meetings all the way into court (because that is our money) in the first week of September 2001
http://cryptome.org/cg-v-vp-comp.htm

The 9-11-2001 attacks changed the priority of just about everything and more secrecy ensued.

Oh yeah, as another weird side bar, former Johnson Controls World Services exec. Greg Kahler is working for IAP on several Naval bases of Washington in something called the Kitsa Economic Development Alliance/KEDA
http://www.kitsapeda.org/default.asp?ID=56

I'm tired, and need to get some sleep so that I can watch the House Oversight Committee hearing about the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity.

Maybe someone can use this research-because it is IAP related in this post and it is important.

Fair use cited on all links.

[Emit]

20. Dan Quayle is chair of new Leumi owner Cerberus-Gabriel

www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=645933
Dan Quayle is chair of new Leumi owner Cerberus-Gabriel
Ha’aretz 11/16/2005
Cerberus is chaired by former U.S. vice president Dan Quayle. — The Cerberus-Gabriel group was led by Gabriel president J. Ezra Merkin, assisted by CPA Avi Berger, the general manager of the Kesselman & Kesselman accounting firm, and attorney Yaakov Ne’eman. Stephen Feinberg, 45, a Jew from New York and the wunderkind of the hedge funds world who, within 20 years, turned a $10 million fund into a holding company whose companies have combined sales of $30 billion a year, is the founder and manager of Cerberus Global Investment.

www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000029666&fid=980
Experts: Ultimate owners of Leumi unclear
Globes 11/16/2005
Banking sources: US investor disclosure regulations will cause Cerberus-Gabriel problems.— Ministry of Finance officials have declared a great victory in the Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) tender, but banking specialists are not so enthusiastic. They say that the victory wasn’t so great: the buyers (Cerberus Capital Management LP and Gabriel Capital Management) are too anonymous, their business isn’t transparent enough, and, most of all, the saga is far from over…these owners have specific problems in connection with operating a bank in the US, and they are looking for indirect ways to operate there, perhaps without a banking license.


(Can't get that top link to work yet -- Globe link requires registration and installation of their software. Found these links from: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:0b_1KEnb01UJ:www.williambowles.info/isrl-pal/vtjp/2005/vtjp_1105/vtjp_171105.html+Cerberus-Gabriel+Capital+defense&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us )

Also, on a separate note:

Market in shock: Cerberus-Gabriel group paid 16% premium over market value for Bank Leumi

15.11.2005 | 09:10
Eytan Avriel




With Ram Dagan and Reuters

The Cerberus-Gabriel Capital consortium sent the entire banking establishment and market into shock by crushing the competition with a massive premium to buy the controlling interest in Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI ).

Cerberus Global Investment-Gabriel bought a 9.99% stake in Bank Leumi before dawn Tuesday with an NIS 2.474 billion bid, Israel Radio reported.

Cerberus Gabriel bid 17.50 shekels per share, a 16% premium over Leumi's closing share price on Monday of 15.09 shekels. The NIS 2.5 billion price was a vast 54% above its shareholders' equity.

A corollary to the deal is an option to buy another 10.01% stake in Leumi, though exercise is contingent on a slew of regulatory approvals. The purchase of the 9.99% interest was not.

Altogether New York-based Cerberus-Gabriel will be paying NIS 4.62 billion if it decides to exercise the option.

Despite the fears that Leumi would wind up in the hands of a financial investor, which would treat Israel's second-biggest bank as a cash cow to be milked and dumped, the Cerberus-Gabriel group's interest is strategic: it actually wants to keep the bank and run it. It is fully expected to exercise its option to wind up with a 20% interest in the bank, assuming it receives the requisite regulatory nods.

Finance Minister Ehud Olmert said in a statement that the sale of such a large stake in a major Israeli bank at a record price to a strategic investor will strengthen the competition in the banking industry and contribute to the domestic capital market.

~snip~

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:CSuYcc0MxmcJ:www.themarker.com/eng/archive/printfriendlyArc.jhtml%3FElementId%3Dea20051115_01e%26origin%3Dibo+Bank+Leumi+Cerberus+Gabriel&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[Emit]

39. More on Quayle's involvement of Cerebus' purchase of Israeli Bank Leumi

~snip~

He's especially valuable when offshore politicians are involved. It was Quayle, for instance, who met with then-Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this summer about Cerberus' interest in buying Israel's 26.3% stake in Bank Leumi, Israel's second-largest bank. His first task after joining Cerberus in 2000 was wooing Japanese officials nervous about the firm's bid for the former Nippon Credit Bank. His longtime ties to Japan paid off, and Cerberus eventually bought a controlling stake in the bank, now renamed Aozora Bank Ltd., in 2003. "Quayle has given a broad sense of credibility to Cerberus," says Yoshihiko Miyauchi, chief executive of Tokyo-based ORIX Corp. (IX ), a financial-services provider that also has a stake in Aozora. "Having a respectable person like Quayle earns the trust of people who doubt the company." ~snip~

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b3953117.htm

[Octafish]

42. Best laugh all day, Emit. Thanks!

"Having a respectable person like Quayle earns the trust of people who doubt the company."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!

Good read, all around.

[Emit]

47. Quite funny, wasn't it? n/t

[Emit]

21. Rep. Jerry Lewis get $100,00 in One Fundraiser from Cerberus Capital Management

Rep. Jerry Lewis get $100,00 in One Fundraiser
By Matt Kelley
USA TODAY The fundraiser, which took place July 7, 2003, and the subsequent vote illustrate the kind of relationship between congressman and contributor that's under increased scrutiny in the nation's capital.

~snip~

Both Lewis and the investment company, Cerberus Capital Management, benefited from the relationship. Eighteen months after the fundraiser and the House vote, Lewis won the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee. He acknowledges that the fundraising efforts of Cerberus “played a very significant role” in winning the post. The ties between Cerberus and Lewis, a 14-term congressman from Redlands, Calif., have not been publicly examined before.

~snip~

Created in 1992, Cerberus is a hedge fund, a type of private investment group that's not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. ...

~snip~

In 2003, Cerberus owned more than $140 million in stock and bonds of the bankrupt telecommunications giant WorldCom, financial records show. Its stake in the company, which had filed for bankruptcy protection the previous year, was large enough that a Cerberus executive joined the board of directors of MCI, the company's post-bankruptcy name. ... MCI has been a major subcontractor since 2000 on an $8.8 billion project to build a secure computer network for the Navy and Marines. ...The committee report noted the program's cost overruns, schedule delays and management foul-ups in its report accompanying the 2003 defense spending bill, also sponsored by Lewis. That report called for more and better testing of the program before more computers were added to the network.

Lewis himself had criticized the Navy-Marine computer project in October 2002, telling The Washington Post he was not satisfied with its progress. He also said he was concerned about MCI's involvement. “When you have a big piece of the pie in trouble, it just gums up a process that already has great difficulty,” he said. ... Other members of Congress were pushing the federal government to ban MCI from any future contracts because of the $11 billion accounting scandal, which eventually landed former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers a 25-year prison term. MCI now has about $2 billion in annual revenue from government contracts, and the Navy project remains one of its biggest.

On May 16, 2003, the House Armed Services Committee voted to cut 10% of the Navy project's $1.6 billion budget for the upcoming year. Federal lobbying records show that two months earlier, Cerberus hired its first lobbyist, the powerhouse firm Patton Boggs. ... The firm's lobbyists for Cerberus included Laurence Harris, a former FCC staffer who would join MCI's board of directors that August; retired Marine colonel John Garrett; and Marcus Dunn, a former aide to two members of the House Armed Services Committee. ...Cerberus paid Patton Boggs $1.1 million for lobbying from 2003 to the middle of 2005, the last date that records are available. Separately, Cerberus hired former senator Jake Garn, a Utah Republican, as a lobbyist for $410,000 over the same period, lobbying records show.

~snip~

http://cache.zoominfo.com/cachedpage/?archive_id=0&page_id=1738504194&page_url=%2f%2fwww.thesoapboxroadshow.com%2f2105.html&page_last_updated=10%2f3%2f2006+6%3a47%3a37+AM&firstName=Stephen&lastName=Feinberg

[Emit]

23. Lewis is tied to Cunningham

Lewis Surfaces in Probe of Cunningham
(Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2006, Pg. 1)
Federal prosecutors have begun an investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, government officials and others said, signaling the spread of a San Diego corruption probe. The government is looking into the connection between Lewis and his longtime friend Bill Lowery, who is a lobbyist and a former congressman from San Diego. As chairman of the Appropriations panel, Lewis has earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts for many of Lowery's clients, one of the sources said.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:lTuSq0zdBaoJ:www.emilitary.org/forums/index.php%3Fshowtopic%3D2531%26mode%3Dthreaded+Bill+Lowery+IAP&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us

See also:

Duke and Dusty's Dirty Deeds!

~snip~

The case has many wondering where it will go next after a dizzying week in which the name of Rep. Jerry Lewis, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, surfaced in the probe and the home of the outgoing executive director of the CIA was searched.

~snip~

Earlier in the week, Lewis, R-Redlands, issued pointed denials of any wrongdoing after it was disclosed that prosecutors have opened an investigation into his dealings with Bill Lowery, a former congressman from San Diego who served with him on the Appropriations Committee before leaving Congress in 1993. Now a lobbyist, Lowery's clients included ADCS Inc., a San Diego defense contracting firm founded by Wilkes.

Lowery has donated nearly a half-million dollars to Lewis' political action committee since 2000.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:1Nk0foxfdHsJ:ginasmith.typepad.com/gina_on_gina/current_affairs/index.html+Michael+Hagee+Jerry+Lewis&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

[leveymg]

26. Gonzales fired Carol Lam, the US Attorney who was working that case.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had to go into closed session yesterday to talk about an ongoing TOP SECRET investigation that stems from the Cunningham case. Three Hill Commitees received a load of documents from DoJ, and are just beginning to hold public hearings into the unlawful dismissal of Lam. http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/emanuel-tangles-with-doj-on-lam-dismissal-2007-02-08.html; http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070112-9999-1n12lam.html ; http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0605/S00125.htm

This most likely is related to contracts that MZM had with CIA, including one that led to the falsification of data about aluminum tubes shipped to Iraq that allegedly were going to be used to reconstitute Saddam's nuclear program. That's right, those aluminum tubes, the one's that were falsely used by WHIG to justify the invasion of Iraq.

[Emit]

41. !

Yes! OMG. I was following that yesterday on CSPAN -- didn't get to catch it all -- and didn't even quite get the connection here until your post. Thanks for connecting that in my mind -- it's all so huge, but with so many dots to connect.

[Octafish]

105. The Congressman and the Hedge Fund

Nothing illegal when the bribe--er, donation is not used to buy a vote.

The Congressman and the Hedge Fund

By Matt Kelley
USA Today
Thursday 19 January 2006



Rep. Jerry Lewis says Cerberus' fundraising efforts helped him win the House Appropriations' chair but insists he did nothing improper. (Photo: Gerald Herbert, AP)

One day after a New York investment group raised $110,000 for Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis, the House passed a defense spending bill that preserved $160 million for a Navy project critical to the firm. The man who protected the Navy money? Lewis.

The fundraiser, which took place July 7, 2003, and the subsequent vote illustrate the kind of relationship between congressman and contributor that's under increased scrutiny in the nation's capital.

A fellow California Republican, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, resigned in November after admitting he helped steer Pentagon contracts to two of four businessmen who paid him more than $2.4 million in bribes. Former top GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty last month to using gifts and political donations in a conspiracy to bribe public officials. Both investigations continue.

Nothing is illegal about government contractors giving political money to lawmakers who help them, unless both sides agree to exchange campaign donations for votes.

Lewis, 71, insists he did nothing improper. "I'm darn sensitive to make certain we keep arm's length from certain efforts" by political donors to influence legislation, Lewis said.

Both Lewis and the investment company, Cerberus Capital Management, benefited from the relationship. Eighteen months after the fundraiser and the House vote, Lewis won the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee. He acknowledges that the fundraising efforts of Cerberus "played a very significant role" in winning the post. The ties between Cerberus and Lewis, a 14-term congressman from Redlands, Calif., have not been publicly examined before.

In the opinion of Larry Noble, executive director of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, the timing of the fundraiser within days of a favorable vote "looks like influence buying." Noble is a former chief lawyer for the Federal Election Commission.

CONTINUED...

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/48/17066

The Military Industrial Congressional Complex makes for a mighty big stomach, feasting at the taxpayer's trough.
It's topped only by the take of the Unitary Executive.

[conscious evolution]

24. SEC Filings search link.

Here is a link to the Securities and Exchange Commissions search engine for Corporate filings.
http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html

You can use this to find a lot of 9info on publicly traded corps.Things like who owns significant blocks of stock and what companies are owned by the target corporation.
Her are the results for Cerberus: http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=cerberus&CIK=&filenum=&State=&SIC=&owner=include&action=getcompany
The first thing that jumps out at me is the fact that all of their filings are what are called paper generated filings. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1287483/999999999706032716/9999999997-06-032716.paper
The fact that their filings are not available on the SEC website says to me they are trying to hide stuff.(RegDex is the abbreviation used for when a corp goes IPO.)For a listing and description of the SEC Forms go to this page on the SEC site: http://www.sec.gov/info/edgar/forms/edgform.pdf .Forms 3,4&5 are for people and institutions buying large blocks of stocks.

Form 3 Initial statement of beneficial
ownership of securities
Form 4 Statement of changes in beneficial
ownership of securities
Form 5 Annual statement of changes in
beneficial ownership of securities


I hope this is useful to everyone.

PS Thank CorpGovActivist for this.He and IdesofOctober provided info on this search engine back in the fall.It is a very valuable research tool.

[BluePatriot]

28. IAP's CFO possible link to Iraq projects

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=358860&mesg_id=361247

*posted in other thread
**edit to paste in content

Fluor has a giant stake in Iraq Reconstruction, maybe 3rd behind Halliburton/Bechtel.

http://www.iapws.com/who/leadership.aspx

Chief Administrative Officer & Chief Financial Officer
James Jennings is a highly accomplished finance expert in the maintenance, engineering, and construction industry. Jennings was with Fluor Corporation for 30 years, and most recently was CFO of Williams Group International. He has also held senior level leadership positions in the development, implementation, and monitoring of accounting policies and procedures in addition to working directly in project accounting in the United States and internationally.

"project accounting" eh?

http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2007/01/leahy-details-war...

Fluor Corp., paid $8.5 million to the Defense Department in 2001 to settle charges it improperly billed the government for work benefiting its commercial clients, according to published reports. Fluor and AMEC created a joint venture that has $1.7 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq's electricity, water, sewer and trash removal infrastructure.

(p.s. my co. subcontracted on this Fluor/Amec venture, and one of their field admin guys was pretty "creative" but he has since quit)

Best I can do!

[conscious evolution]

29. Isn't Flour part of KBR?

I seem to remember seeing where Flour-Daniels was a subsidiary of KBR.

[BluePatriot]

34. Don't think so per Google

They are very similar companies though. Don't know how Fluor has been flying under the activist radar so long. Their involvement in gov projects is smaller than that of Halliburton, but it's still in the hundred million dollar range or more.

[Emit]

31. "Is it not a conflict of interest ... Snow who had access to int'l stock ... joined a hedge fund?"

"Is it not a conflict of interest that the ex Treasury Secretary Johhn Snow who had access to international financial(stock ?)transactions through due to that bureaucracy's spying on('terrorists')through SWIFT,etc. has left to join a hedge fund ?"

Interesting comments here (another disclaimer--I have no clue what this website is about):
http://www.kycnews.com/message_board_detail.asp?id=55681&page=3

and here:

http://www.kycnews.com/message_board_detail.asp?id=55829&page=1

[Emit]

32. Extensive NYT article Cerberus/IAP/etc.

~snip~

Through another company it controls, I.A.P. Worldwide Services, Cerberus is poised to become one of the Army’s largest contractors in Iraq. ... All told, Cerberus has a controlling interest in more than 45 companies that employ more than 250,000 people and generate $50 billion in revenue each year, more than the sales of Microsoft, Motorola or PepsiCo. The fund has earned an average annual return of about 22 percent over the last seven years, according to its marketing materials, and Institutional Investor magazine estimated that Mr. Feinberg took home a $75 million paycheck in 2004...

~snip~

Although many backers of Cerberus say Mr. Feinberg, 46, is known for his loyalty to investors and partners, his analytical savvy and his creative takeover strategies, the fund’s tactics in the bare-knuckled and risky arena of distressed-debt investing have given Cerberus its share of bruises. Court documents detail legal brawls in which investors accuse Cerberus of orchestrating secretive deals that transgressed legal and ethical boundaries, accusations the firm denies...

~snip~

Some of those more secretive tactics, however, drew complaints and lawsuits. In 2000, Cerberus invested $42 million in the debt of WSNet Holdings, a small provider of satellite television programming. Over the next two years, according to shareholder lawsuits, Cerberus forced the company into bankruptcy by secretly buying up the bonds of companies WSNet hoped to acquire and forbidding WSNet executives from pursuing deals. Through bankruptcy proceedings, the fund tried to take control of the company, lawsuits contend. The suits also contend that Cerberus installed directors at WSNet who maximized Cerberus’s profits at the expense of other stakeholders. The claims were settled for a relatively small amount in 2005, by which time Cerberus had recouped its initial investment in WSNet, according to the lawsuits.

~snip~

In 2000, when Coram declared bankruptcy, the company’s executives proposed a restructuring plan that would give total ownership to Cerberus and other bondholders. Coram’s equity investors, including the real estate magnate Sam Zell, would have gotten nothing. Mr. Zell and other shareholders then discovered that the company’s chief executive, who helped propose the plan, was secretly receiving nearly $1 million a year from Cerberus, in addition to his Coram salary, according to court documents. A federal bankruptcy judge ruled that a conflict of interest existed.

~snip~

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/business/yourmoney/24hedge.html?ex=1324616400&en=f6d8424906ae665f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[Emit]

33. Snow's comments on hedge funds

~snip~

"The real policing of these pools of capital are the investors," Snow said Monday during his first interview since joining Cerberus, which is based in New York. Any government promise to increase scrutiny would create "a real risk of moral hazard that implies, 'Don't worry. Now the government is watching over you and there aren't any problems.'"

The comments clash with demands from lawmakers including Charles Grassley, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, for regulation of hedge funds after the collapse in September of Amaranth Advisors, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, which lost $6.6 billion betting on energy prices. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also studying potential insider trading by hedge funds.

Snow joins the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, in defending the U.S. government's approach to hedge funds, which are private pools of capital that allow managers to participate substantially in the gains produced by the money invested.

The funds, open mostly to wealthy institutions and individuals with at least $1 million to invest, have provided needed liquidity for capital markets, Snow said.

In a letter dated Oct. 16, Grassley, an Iowa Republican, told Snow's successor, Henry Paulson Jr., that hedge funds pose too big a risk to the U.S. pension system. He asked the Treasury to find ways to improve their transparency.

The SEC is increasing its focus on insider trading after finding suspicious buying and selling of shares by hedge funds before corporate merger announcements, Christopher Cox, the SEC chairman, said on Oct. 18.


~snip~

The Treasury, reacting to the rapid growth of hedge funds, started an examination of their effect on financial markets under Snow's tenure.

~snip~

Hedge funds attracted $44.5 billion from wealthy investors and institutions in the past three months, the most in one quarter since at least 2003. Net deposits beat the previous record of $42.1 billion in April through June, according to Hedge Fund Research in Chicago.

~snip~

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/31/bloomberg/bxfund.php

[bobthedrummer]

35. KICK and thanks to all that have contributed so far-especially Emit!

:hi:

[Emit]

36. Here's a 'little' IAP Newsletter with an interview with Neffgen

It's called IAP The Federal Edge.

Articles about IAP and Katrina, Rita, Kuwait, Iraq, etc. The Q & A with Neffgen is on p.9 and 10:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:sFeVazgNomQJ:www.iapws.com/Newsroom/pdfs/IAP%2520Federal%2520Edge%2520Oct%252005.pdf+Johnson+Controls+of+Cape+Canaveral,+Fla+IAP&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

pdf: http://www.iapws.com/Newsroom/pdfs/IAP%20Federal%20Edge%20Oct%2005.pdf

[Jcrowley]

37. K&R n/t

[Emit]

38. Kadima (led by Ehud Olmert) is Tool of Oligarchs ... Cerberus-Gabriel

Forbes Reinforces Claim That Kadima is Tool of Oligarchs

by Ezra HaLevi


(IsraelNN.com)
According to the report, the business groups are controlled by the following families: Sami Ofer, Nochi Dankner, Shari Arison, the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium, Charles Bronfman, Yitzchak Tshuva, the Saban group, Lev Leviev, Matthew Bronfman, Tzadik Bino, the Borovich family, and Eliezer Fishman. The 12 families own 60 percent of the aggregate market value of all Israeli public companies (excluding the even larger Teva Pharmaceutical Industries), Forbes reported.

The report goes on to say that the families have constructed their empires, which consist of Israel's largest companies, using organizational structures that have long ago been done away with in the Western world.

The report explains that the groups have an inordinate amount of control over Israel's economy, political leaders and media due to the structuring of their holdings as pyramids – meaning several layers of companies each own others beneath them but are all beholden to the leading families. Such a phenomenon was eliminated in the US in the early 20th century through restrictions on ownership and the double taxation of dividends a company paid its owner company.

~snip~

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/101391

[Emit]

43. Leumi Bank was/is embroiled in money laundering? Embezzlement?

First, see posts 20 and 39 for reference

This appears to precede the acquisition of the Bank by Cerberus:

Bank Leumi reveals names of secret customers

Dozens of European millionaires are shocked as Israel Police ask them to testify at trial of Bank Leumi clerk accused of theft. Existence of their accounts should be confidential, they say, but police claim testimonies reveal these accounts as being un-kosher
Buki Naeh


Dozens of the world's richest are facing charges in their countries and might have to fork out millions to their governments after Bank Leumi , Israel Police and the State Prosecutor's Office exposed their secret bank accounts to charge a local clerk of embezzelment.


According to a report by the Tel Aviv Fraud Unit, the money was probably "not kosher and possibly laundered."

The bank was reluctant to hand over to the police and court the list of names for fear that the bank would lose the customers' trust and money. Eventually the bank did give them the list so that they could charge the clerk who, according to the bank, embezzled money.

Zahava Bason (57) from Yehud has been working in the central branch of bank Leumi for 30 years. Among her responsibilities were the accounts of dozens of foreign residents. According to the indictment, Bason abused her power, stole from these accounts and received bribes from the account owners. ~snip~

And, on a side note:

Harsh Allegations

Police to look for criminal aspect in Leumi affair / Aviram Zino

Prime Minister Olmert allegedly committed bribery offenses in tender for sale of bank's controlling shares. On Sunday evening, following discussion held in State Prosecutor's Office, meeting participants decide police will check whether criminal investigation should be launched ...

Both articles:

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3359463,00.html

[bobthedrummer]

45. Ehud Olmert is in more trouble over this than the Lebanon incursion. n/t

[leveymg]

49. Ok - Let's recap: a corrupt Israeli PM - has a stake in a corrupt Israeli bank- owned by a corrupt

Wall Street hedge fund - which owns a corrupt US defense contractor - which contributes to corrupt GOP Congressmen - who also receive money from another corrupt defense contractor - that defense contractor produced faulty intel under contract to a corrupt CIA Assn't Director - that faulty intel was used to justify a corrupt US Administration's case for invading Iraq - that was planned and executed by corrupt neocons inside DoD who had written a proposal years earlier to wage wars to privatize the Israeli economy.

Are we missing anything here? Ah, yes, Rumsfeld was an investor in Cerberus (and may still be), according to his 2001 financial disclosure forms. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b3953110.htm

[Emit]

51. It might get weirder than that, even. Apparently, Olmert wanted his buddies to purchase the bank

Daniel Abrams and Frank Lowy: http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/10375.htm


Frank Lowy and Larry Silverstein were the lease holders of the WTC property, apparently.
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:P1OA8zVjOioJ:www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3601/is_52_47/ai_77615383+Silverstein+Properties+Lowy+Westfield+America+99-year+leases+WTC&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us


Here's the Port Authority's Press Release on the sale: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:Rtx3kGM0fl8J:www.panynj.gov/pr/pressrelease.php3%3Fid%3D80+Silverstein+Properties+Lowy+Westfield+America+99-year+leases+WTC&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us


More links here, so many associated with 9/11 links: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c2coff=1&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Silverstein+Properties+Lowy+Westfield+America++99-year+leases+WTC+&spell=1


For more on Westfield and the Lowys:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:E8_4OFS3GRIJ:www.westfield.com/corporate/about/board/+Peter+S.+Lowy+Frank&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[bobthedrummer]

52. It's weird by design, it's becoming much clearer now thanks to folks like us, Emit. n/t

[Emit]

61. Oddities galore

So sorry for going off topic here, but I just find this bolded statement below in this article really odd.

It's an article detailing Olmert being under investigation for selling his house to US billionaire Daniel Abrams, one of the two persons noted in the post above that Olmert wanted to buy Bank Leumi.

Attorney: 'Olmert Jerusalem home sale was strictly kosher'

By Uri Blau, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters

Former justice minister Ya'akov Ne'eman, who brokered Ehud Olmert's 2004 sale of his home to an offshore company controlled by an American billionaire, said Wednesday that the disputed deal was "strictly Kosher."

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss is looking into the sale of Acting Prime Minister Olmert's house in Jerusalem to an offshore company registered in the British Virgin Islands. His lawyers told Haaretz that the man behind this company is the American billionaire Daniel Abrams, who has made contributions in the past to Olmert and other politicians.

~snip~

The comptroller also plans to look into Olmert's ties to Abrams, who contributed NIS 193,000 to Olmert ahead of Olmert's campaign in the Jerusalem mayoral elections. Lindenstrauss is already investigating a $120,000 contribution from Abrams in 2004 to Shimon Peres' campaign for the Labor Party primaries last November.

... Olmert did report the sale to the state comptroller, but failed to inform him that the company which purchased the house belonged to Abrams.

On Wednesday, Ne'eman, a prominent attorney who was justice minister and later finance minister under then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahun in the late 1990s, told Army Radio:

"The sale was made at market value. This deal was strictly Kosher. The intrusion of this deal into an election campaign is, in my view, an illegal attempt to harm a public figure."

~snip~

Asked about the fact that Abrams lives abroad and not in Israel, Ne'eman replied "Everyone in the United States understands that a day will come that the Messiah will come, and apartment prices will rise greatly, and therefore it's worthwhile to invest in Jerusalem housing."

~snip~

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=685607&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

[Emit]

63. "...Bank Leumi must not be delivered into 'non-Zionist hands.'"

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/835034.html

...Shlomo Eliahu, who controls the Eliahu insurance group, Union Bank, and owns 10 percent of Bank Leumi, gave a rare interview.

He claimed, quite expressively, that Bank Leumi must not be delivered into "non-Zionist hands." The Cerberus investment fund, explained Eliahu, is acting to get Bank of Israel approval to buy the outright controlling interest in Bank Leumi, but it doesn't meet the criteria, Eliahu claimed. Those criteria include the requirement that at least 50 percent of the controlling interest be held by "real" companies, not money management funds.

Therefore, there is no question about it: Cerberus' request must be denied, he ruled. When dealing with wily market foxes like Dankner and Eliahu, nothing is coincidental. Everything is orchestrated.Both realized that the Bank of Israel has delayed giving its stamp of approval to Cerberus time and again.

The central bank is experiencing a genuine conflict about the fund, they reason. It seems that a permit for Cerberus could be arranged by relying on convoluted legal reasoning and cutting corners - and Governor Stanley Fischer would like to do so, but the Supervisor of Banks and perhaps the central bank's legal department are less keen about the idea.

Indeed, the central bank is genuinely and seriously conflicted. It fears that if no controlling interest is created at Leumi, the state will simply continue to control the bank, which they do not see as a good thing. ... Eliahu and Dankner smelled the fear and understood that their time had come.

It was precisely the right time for Eliahu to rise up and declare that Cerberus was unkosher (legally and emotionally/nationalistically) and for Dankner to signal the Bank of Israel not to worry, if he has to, he can sell Clal Insurance at the snap of a wallet and free himself to buy Bank Leumi.

Eliahu may not want to increase his Leumi stake beyond 10 percent. But if Dankner buys 10-15 percent, together they will have enough to gain true control over Israel's second-biggest bank.

~snip~

[blm]

56. And weirder - Want to bet that Marc Rich fits into this? Moneylaundering and BFEE

goes hand in hand.

[bobthedrummer]

59. A primetime kick.

It's weird indeed.

[Emit]

97. Interesting article @ previous incident of embezzlement

albeit, prior to Cerberus entering the picture, still noteworthy, perhaps:

Simply wrong? Very wrong

The massive embezzlement that bled Trade Bank to death shook the Israeli banking establishment to its core. ... But two years ago there was another case of embezzlement, several times larger than the Trade Bank case, and no less dangerous to the Israeli banking establishment. Namely, the larceny at Bank Leumi (Switzerland).

~snip~

The scale of the Bank Leumi Switzerland embezzlement is something else altogether. In its financial statements for 2001, Bank Leumi stated that the sum stolen is no more than 153 million Swiss francs, or NIS 485 million ¿ twice the amount lifted from Trade Bank. ... But this week the Swiss magazine Weltwoche published a different assessment... that the vanishing sum is 300 million Swiss francs, or NIS 950 million. Now, that's about four times the amount embezzled from Trade Bank, and twice what Leumi declared.

~snip~

Trade Bank was a piddling operation with dubious reputation. Leumi is Israel's second-largest bank. It is the biggest bank in terms of overseas activity, and the bank that foreigners most identify with Israel. Tens of thousands of Jews living in South America, the United States, France, England and Germany (and Israelis too) maintain accounts in Leumi's global network of branches. Tens of thousands more, maybe hundreds of thousands, maintain "Patach" accounts ¿ deposits denominated in foreign currency ¿ at Leumi.

~snip~

Hence, harm to Leumi's good name is much more serious than the outright collapse of Trade Bank. Also, all too many questions remain open about the Leumi affair. Who was arrested? Who was questioned? What happened to other executives at the bank? To its auditing systems? Were conclusions reached in the corridors of power? Did anybody accept responsibility? ... You won't find any answers in Leumi's financial statements. And the part of the public that doesn't read the financial press, including Leumi clients, hasn't even heard of the whole affair. Isn't Leumi "lucky" that the grand theft happened so far away! not at its headquarters in Tel Aviv.

~snip~

No less worrisome is the effect these scandals will have on Israel's banking establishment. Jews living outside Israel have deposited billions in Israel's banks over the years. That has been a key source of foreign currency for the nation. If the feeling spreads that Israel's banks aren't stable, because of the Trade Bank collapse or because of improper handling of major embezzlements thanks to Leumi, they might think twice about keeping their wealth in Israel.

http://www.themarker.com/eng/archive/arc_article.jhtml?ElementId=ea20020608_01e

[bobthedrummer]

98. Who could make this stuff up-what a terrible mess!

It opens even more questions-there is economic warfare and destabilization going on in the most unlikely places like here and in Israel and the UK, nations that have participated in joint ventures of destabilization against others historically.

That reminds me of a thread started by seemslikeadream on 12-29-06
"CIA Accused of Bank Heist"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2995319

Also-researching Hawk Associates Inc. is yielding some real pay dirt, but this takes patience.

[Emit]

99. Tedious!

One story leads to another -- it is a maze, either by design or happenstance.

DUer ftr23532 made a huge post last year related to BAWAG -- the bank in Austria that Cerberus bought in Dec '06 and of which Snow is on the board:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x125911


It will take patience to go thru that thread. And, at the risk of having this current thread sent to the basement, I will refrain from posting details from that thread until I go over it and determine whether it has any relevant information to the topic at hand -- which, has become a large topic, btw!

Edit -- Austria, not Australia -- it's an Austrian bank! (I knew that...tedious stuff)

[Emit]

46. List of Defense Contractors in Iraq. Afghanistan

Windfalls of War (WOW):

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:9n6Ui_we4rcJ:www.publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx+International+American+Products+Inc.+defense+contracts&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

Here's what it said of IAP:

International American Products Inc.
Iraq -- $508,340,616.42 -- DoD 11/15/2002 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $29.5 million worldwide contract to IAP for electrical supplies and services, of which $14.3 million was used during Operation Iraqi Freedom and the remainder was used in Afghanistan. In September 2003 this contract's value increased by $494 million (for a total of $523.5 million) to rebuild Iraq's electrical infrastructure and train the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity. It is a five-year contract. http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/report.aspx?aid=131

[Emit]

53. IAP: $25.8M over 5 Years for Base Ops Support at Walter Reed

I'm sure this info is contained in one of the original links in your OP, but, for the record:

$25.8M over 5 Years for Base Ops Support at Walter Reed
Posted 14-Nov-2006 03:01
Related stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Medical, Other Corporation, Support Functions - Other
Also on this day: 14-Nov-2006 »
IAP World Services in Cape Canaveral, FL received a $25.8 million cost-plus-award-fee contract for Base Operations Support at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Work will be performed in Washington, DC, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 3, 2011. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on June 4, 2003, and 1 bid was received by the U.S. Army Medical Command at Fort Sam Houston, TX (W81K04-07-C-0003).

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006/11/258m-over-5-years-for-base-ops-support-at-walter-reed/index.php

[Emit]

54. The IRS's deal with IAP -- wow, the things one finds!

Where Privatizing Walter Reed Meets Privatizing the IRS
Thanks to operculum for her research on this story.

The IAP Worldwide connection with Walter Reed has not been in the MSM, but is no secret for unbossed readers. And unbossed readers know that we have been keeping our eyes on the push to privatize IRS debt collection. It’s always nice when you can multi-task your obsessions.

So how about looking at IAP’s connection with privatizing the IRS - and, believe it or not, failing miserably at doing the job.

~snip~

IRS Privatizing Lost Revenue

Last December, Consumer Affairs reported:

The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) planned upgrade for its fraudulent refund detection system was so badly botched that the agency gave away as much as $318 million in refunds for fake returns last year, according to a recent government report.

~snip~

. . .
The OIG's report, remarkably, failed to identify the contracting agencies responsible for the upgrade, referring to them as "Contractor 1," "Contractor 2," and "Contractor 3." Nevertheless, the report blasted both the contracting agencies and the IRS for not properly documenting the upgrade, paying attention to costs, and ensuring smooth continuity of operations.

And who might one of those mystery companies be?

According to InformationWeek, one was Computer Sciences Corporation, but IAP had its fingers in a nearby pie as well. link

The Internal Revenue Service is shelving a plan to outsource to a private contractor the management and maintenance of more than 100,000 desktop computers at offices across the country.

The IRS says halting the plan is unrelated to its poor track record for managing large outsourcing. "We realized that this would be a huge and complex undertaking, and we've decided to pull back," says a spokesman. The IRS had been in preliminary talks with vendors, but no deals had been signed.

The IRS has reason to pause. In its most recent foul-up, the agency issued more than $318 million in refunds on phony returns last year because of a botched software project that had been outsourced to Computer Sciences Corp., a government report released earlier this year concluded.

The IRS also is delaying a separate plan to outsource the handling of paper tax returns to a contractor. Under a revised plan, the tax agency is reducing from seven to two the number of processing centers handed off to IAP Worldwide Services by December. IAP is now scheduled to take control of the remaining centers in June. "The January to April tax season is prime time for us, and we didn't want any interruptions," the spokesman says. The IRS's deal with IAP is valued at $103 million over five years, and the agency expects savings of $25 million to $30 million."

http://www.unbossed.net/index.php?itemid=1367

Much, much more at link.
(This blogsite is doing a kickass job on this IAP/Walter Reed scandal)

[blm]

55. What the mainstream media is just too lazy and underinformed to dig up for themselves.

Or ..... their publishers won't allow them to.

[Emit]

58. IAP President Dave Swindle Named to Army Science Board

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: October 6, 2006


IAP President Dave Swindle Named to Army Science Board

Cape Canaveral, Florida – David Swindle, President of IAP Worldwide Services, Inc.,
has been appointed by the Secretary of the U.S. Army to the Army Science Board, an
advisory committee that provides Army leadership with independent, unbiased technical
advice on national security issues.

Swindle was appointed to a three-year term to the board, which includes members from
the private sector, academia, retired flag officers and representatives of government
agencies outside the Department of Defense. The board provides the Army with a
resource of scientists, engineers, technologists and operational experts as well as
business, policy and managerial specialists.

“Dave’s appointment to the Army Science Board is recognition of his broad experience
and credentials,” said IAP Chairman Dave Myers. “We are confident that his leadership
abilities and extensive knowledge will provide a solid complement to the expertise of its
distinguished members.”

Swindle, a registered professional engineer in seven states, has served as an advisor on
several governmental organizations. He currently is a member of the Department of
Energy’s Environmental Management Advisory Board, which provides advice regarding
the department’s environmental management program. He also has been an active
advisor on international nuclear safeguards and treaty verification.

~snip~

http://www.csa-dc.org/documents/SwindleArmyScienceBoardRelease_100606_000.pdf
http://www.csa-dc.org/news/membersnews.asp

Also:

He currently serves as a senior technical advisor to the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs.

http://www.iapws.com/Newsroom/pdfs/IAP%20Federal%20Edge%20Jun%2005.pdf

~snip~

Mr. Swindle has participated in international inspections in Iraq as an expert in environmental monitoring for non-proliferation and on-going monitoring verifications, and serves as a technical advisor to the International Atomic Energy Agency as well as numerous Federal agencies on verification/monitoring technologies and approaches for application in selected countries. Mr. Swindle served for 8 years following a congressional sponsorship and appointment to DOE’s Environmental Management Advisory Board (EMAB), which advised the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management on policy and technical issues facing cleanup of radioactive and DOE sites. In April 2004, Secretary of Energy Abraham reappointed Mr. Swindle to the EMAB. During his tenure with
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 2

the EMAB, he chaired the Contracting and Management Committee; was a member of the Technology Development and Transfer Committee, the Worker Health and Safety Committee, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Safety and Health Performance Measures. Mr. Swindle currently serves as a senior technical advisor to the Department of Defense’s Assistant to the Secretary of Defense; Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs, and as an advisor to the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Special Capabilities on Measurements and Signals Intelligence (MASINT) applications. He chaired the Critical Infrastructure Protection Strategy Review Group for the Office of Homeland Security’s Senior Director for Preparedness and Prevention, serves and the senior technical advisor to the OHS (now Homeland Security Council) Working Group of Radiological Dispersion Device (RDD)/Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) Preparedness. He also served for 1 year as the Senior Technical Advisor to the Office of Homeland Security/National Security Council’s Select Review Group for RDD/IND preparedness, prevention, response and recovery, and has chaired the OHS technical review group on Biological Defense Preparedness. He has recently been nominated for a seat on the Army Science Board. He has served on several advisory boards including the University of Colorado’s College of Engineering Advisory Board, and has participated in numerous communications and events with members of the U. S. Congress. He has over 100 technical publications to his credit. ~snip~

http://www.em.doe.gov/pdfs/Swindle_BIO_2-06.pdf

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:31Ds8mJO8gwJ:www.em.doe.gov/pdfs/Swindle_BIO_2-06.pdf+Dave+Swindle+senior+technical+advisor+to+the+Assistant+to+the+Secretary+of+Defense+for+Nuclear,+Chemical+and+Biological+Defense+Programs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[DemReadingDU]

60. bookmarked!

[Jcrowley]

64. Great info

thanx

:hi:

[bobthedrummer]

66. Getting beyond the "weirdness": funds that were supposed to help wounded troops get "lost"

and may have wound up in the hands of private venture capitalists with direct and indirect ties to the Bush administration, the Project for a New American Century, former Defense Policy Board members, and even weirder connections both here and abroad.

IAP is only part of the tip of an iceberg that leads to corruption on a scale almost beyond belief.

It is certainly beyond my limited technical skills, that's why the contributors to this thread are so vital.

One example of this weirdness was noted several times up thread-the purchase of Ehud Olmert's house by Daniel Abrams (and we aren't going off-topic here, the complexity of the movement of money that was supposed to provide for the care and treatment of US military at Walter Reed and elsewhere is related to many seemingly isolated events).

Daniel Abrams worked for many years at PepsiCo (PepsiCo=Donald M. Kendall-he was a great friend of Nixon and Kissinger, he even got a coup in Chile that benefited his profits).

Mr. Abrams made some career moves and was the financial director for Xenova Group PLC. Xenova is a company that could have products and services useful to outpatients as this SEC document attests.
http://www.secinfo.com/d13XCc.15z.d.htm

Mr. Abrams left Xenova Group PLC and was appointed Chief Financial Officer of UK based Cambridge Display Technology/CDT in September 2005.

CDT is very involved in organic semiconductors and the US Army provides a lot of funding into this industry through the US Display Consortium/USDC as this Organics Electronics Conference website details.
http://www.oec-europe.com/persp_overview.htm

Cambridge Display Technology was acquired by others, including Hillman Capital and Kelso & Co.

Hillman Capital's Gerald P. Hillman once was a big part of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, especially in the lead up to the Iraq war, which was a war of choice.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=90&sid=200

The Chairman of the Defense Policy Board at that time was Richard Perle who formed a venture capital group with Henry Kissinger and Gerald P. Hillman called Trireme Partners.

Don't forget that Kissinger Associates is heavily involved with IAP, as noted numerous times up thread.

Antiwar.com's Justin Raimondo did an excellent job of tracking some of this "weirdness" and I found an article that connects much of this together (including that venture capital financial guy Mr. Daniel Abrams that wanted to discuss purchasing Israel's second largest bank with then Israel's financial official Olmert but wound up buying his house; as well as some details about Hillman Capital and Kelso).

From April 15, 2005 here is Raimondo's article
"Cashing in on the Bush Doctrine"
http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=5562

Btw, antiwar.com published an article today by Rep. Ron Paul
"The Scandal at Walter Reed"
http://antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=10642

Whoever can add to what this "weirdness" is about based on what we've been researching for a few days now please do so. The people and organizations that put their financial health above the dead and wounded-that was so aptly stated by the Decider when he said "money trumps peace" have names and histories and all kinds of connections that need transparency now.

And they must be held accountable for their crimes.

Thanks to all so far-let's keep this DU investigation thread going over the weekend.

on edit: Fair use cited for all links

[Emit]

67. Bob, I think the Daniel Abrams is S. Daniel ABRAHAM of Slim Fast fame

... The whole story is based on the fact that Olmert sold his spacious and luxurious Jerusalem apartment to US Jewish “slim fast” billionaire Daniel Abrams for a grand sum of $2.7 million. At first eyebrows were raised at the price, but after checking with some Jerusalem real estate agents it was learned that it was certainly within market value. Next the press claimed that the scandal lies in the fact that Olmert does not have to vacate the apartment for several years and he is paying rent to Abrams for that period. ...

See: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:_TR0qOn05sEJ:www.ipcri.org/files/weekisfeb24-06.html+US+Jewish+businessman+Daniel+Abrams&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us

It's the spelling of the last name that might be in error, even in the Israeli articles.

ABRAHAM, S DANIEL
WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33401
SLIM FAST FOODS
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:I3y_0cmpYYAJ:query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_ind/2003_S0NY00188/1/A/+Slim+Fast+Daniel+Abrams&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=us

I have some info on him that I looked into yesterday. Just thought I'd put this out there. The articles in the Israeli press mentioned that he lives in Palm Beach and that he's a business magnate/billionaire. He also has been tied to an investigation related to giving improper campaign funds to Peres:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:mtnppu3WyMYJ:www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3324367,00.html+palm+beach+florida+daniel+abrams&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=63&gl=us

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:YZevl50KPS8J:www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php%3Fid_article%3D600+Daniel+S.+Abrams+billionaire&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=20&gl=us



Also, there might be a connection between a "Daniel S. Abrams" and Cerberus through a business transaction - but, I don't think it's the same guy -- I'll have to look at my notes and these links to piece it together.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:JE41pAvHIVgJ:www.secinfo.com/d11MXs.vPKm.htm+daniel+abrams+cerberus&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=13&gl=us

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:FYu7TsMNQaEJ:sec.edgar-online.com/2005/03/16/0001047469-05-006685/Section18.asp+IStar+LNR+Property+Corporation+Cerberus+Capital+Management&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

Abrams/Abraham/Abrahams is also listed as:
Slim Fast founder F. Daniel Abraham and S. Daniel Abrahams:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Slim+Fast+founder+F.+Daniel+Abraham+&btnG=Google+Search

http://www.google.com/search?q=Slim+Fast+Daniel+Abrams&hl=en&c2coff=1&start=10&sa=N

[bobthedrummer]

69. I might be looking at a different Daniel Abrams-but what I discovered

about him is factual. If this Daniel Abrams isn't the purchaser of Mr. Olmert's house I stand corrected, adding yet more "weirdness" to this tangled web.

on edit: another example that I spent some time at was if there is a relationship between IAP's Gen. Michael W. Hagee and the Texas RW fundamentalist James Hagee who has made many trips to Israel and is a favorite among the Pentagon's "Holy Warriors", apparently they share a name only.

[Emit]

71. Yup. I followed your links on Abrams and I see the connections.

I'm gonna check out Raimondo's pieces that you linked to. Thanks for this thread -- very informative.

Hoo, boy!

[Emit]

73. As far as the connection b/t S. Daniel Abraham and Cerberus -- here's a small one

Yeshiva University is a connection.


J. Ezra Merkin, of Gabriel-Cerberus, the consortium who is trying to/or did buy Bank Leumi is on the Executive Committee and one of the Honorary Trustees is S. Daniel Abraham
http://www.yu.edu/catalog/undergrad/catalog0204_men/d2_AdminBoards_wilf.htm

Cerberus and Gabriel are both hedge funds. Cerberus has $16 billion worth of assets under management and has a special fondness for putting money into banks. Its representatives visited Israel several times ahead of the tender and managed to cover their tracks by hinting that they weren't really interested in buying the bank.

The Cerberus-Gabriel group was led by Gabriel president J. Ezra Merkin, assisted by CPA Avi Berger, the general manager of the Kesselman & Kesselman accounting firm, and attorney Yaakov Ne'eman. ~snip~

I also read earlier that Abrahams, the one Olmert wanted to get the bid, wants to be part of the Gabriel-Cerberus consortium -- looking for that link now.

As does Lev Leviev:

...Diamond baron Lev Leviev, who among other things owns Africa Israel, also threw his hat into the ring. Though he lost the race, sources reported yesterday that he now wants to team up with the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium....

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=645933

A lot of these guys, like Lev Leviev and Abrahams, are in the list of Forbes' wealthiests and Forbes' Israel's wealthiest: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:kNr2tEEij5QJ:www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/9UWY.html+Slim+Fast+Daniel+Abrahams&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:p2o607r2gb0J:www.forbes.com/lists/2006/81/biz_06israel_Shlomo-Eliahu_Z49B.html+Shlomo+Eliahu&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us

[Emit]

68. If it is Daniel Abraham of Slim Fast fame, check this out

From:The Tools Of the Game

By Nora Boustany
Friday, February 10, 2006; Page A13

~snip~

Fete for a Foreign Minister

Tzipi Livni , Israel's new foreign minister, was the featured guest at a high-powered dinner party Wednesday given at the residence of the Israeli ambassador, Daniel Ayalon . Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff were seated on either side of Livni, who arrived after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Cheney , said Glenn Kessler , a Washington Post reporter who attended the event.

In a warm introduction, Ayalon noted that Livni, 47, had risen quickly in seven years to become a close adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , who suffered a stroke last month, and an important figure in the creation of the centrist Kadima party.

Other guests included Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), as well as Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.) and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.).

Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch , deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams and principal deputy assistant secretary Liz Cheney were also there, along with old Mideast hands Dennis Ross and Martin S. Indyk and other players such as F. Daniel Abraham, the founder of Slim Fast, and publisher and real estate entrepreneur Mort Zuckerman.

Livni concluded her Washington visit with a meeting yesterday with the national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley . President Bush unexpectedly dropped by and then took her aside for a half-hour, one-on-one session, an Israeli official said.

Ayalon joked that while Livni does not discuss some aspects of her career -- she was a Mossad agent before becoming a lawyer -- perhaps she had been more open with Negroponte.

~snip~

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/09/AR2006020902190.html

edited spelling

[Emit]

70. It does seem likely that it is Daniel Abraham

Check out this wiki entry regarding Abraham's book:

Ehud Olmert
"Danny Abraham is one of those unique people who, without any formal appointment, have dedicated their lives to search for peace in our region. He has played an imperative role over the years and has a fascinating story to tell."

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:JaUL4fIM_RkJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_is_Possible_(book)+S.+Daniel+Abraham+Ehud+Olmert+Israel&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

His book is:

Peace Is Possible: Conversations with Arab and Israeli Leaders from 1988 to the Present
by S. Daniel Abraham, Bill Clinton, President (Foreword by)

About this title: A first-hand personal account of American businessman and Slim Fast founder Danny Abraham's more than 15 years of peacemaking efforts in the Middle East and the reasons he believes peace is possible. For more than fifteen years, entrepreneur Danny Abraham, founder and former chairman of Slim Fast, chose to utilize his considerable resources to facilitate Mideast peace. Together with Utah Congressman Wayne Owens, Abraham made more than sixty trips to the Middle East between 1988 to 2002, meeting with Arab leaders Hosni Mubarak, Hafez Assad, Crown Prince Abdullah, and Yasser Arafat, and Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, and Ariel Sharon. Using his business experience with difficult negotiations, Abraham took an active behind-the-scenes role, setting up critical one-on-one meetings between key figures. He urged these leaders to articulate not what they "wanted," but what they "needed," to make peace, fostering significant advances in the peace process. Since Owens' untimely death in 2002, Abraham has continued to arrange peacemaking meetings on his own. Drawing from meeting transcripts, diary entries, and extensive handwritten notes, Abraham writes in the first person about these extraordinary, often private meetings, giving us rare "you are there" insight into historically significant events. In his pragmatic and hopeful book, he writes, "I am a great optimist, particularly about a region of the world that usually brings out people's most pessimistic inclinations--Israel and its neighbors." Foreword by President Bill Clinton. 16 page color photo insert, maps, chronology, index.
~snip~

http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?chunk=25&mtype=&qwork=9178002&page=1&matches=29&qsort=r&browse=1&full=1

[Emit]

75. Speaking of Kissinger, here's an interesting commentary from Slate on Hedge Funds

Look Who's Starting a Hedge Fund!

by Daniel Gross

Long before Washington even had a K Street, public servants have been cashing in via the private sector. Till recently, there was no better way to monetize government service that a late career switch to lobbying or law. But now there's a new business for the over-the-hill Washington player: hedge funds.

As Lynnley Browning reported in the New York Times last Friday, Richard Breeden, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is now a hedge-fund manager, complete with $500 million under management, a Cayman Islands registry, and an office in hedge-fund capital Greenwich, Conn.even though he "has no investing experience." Browning reported that, "Mr. Breeden is now perhaps the most senior former government official ever to run a hedge fund." ...But not for long. Last week, Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who has the same amount of investing experience as Breeden (zero)announced the formation of an emerging-markets hedge fund. Albright Capital Management is backed with $329 million in seed money from PGGM, a Dutch pension. Albright and Breeden are following what has become a well-worn path. In October, mammoth hedge fund/private-equity firm D.E. Shaw appointed Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers as a part-time managing director, and Cerberus Capital, another mammoth hedge-fund/private-equity firm, named departing Bush Treasury Secretary John Snow as chairman.

~snip~

Firms like Cerberus and D.E. Shaw, which started life as rapid-trading hedge funds, are evolving into asset managers that seek long-term returns by buying and selling entire companies. In many instances, the less-crowded foreign markets offer the most compelling opportunities. Cerberus' list of holdings includes regulated foreign companies such as Air Canada and banks in Japan and Germany. Given the political issues that frequently surround international investments, funds need gray-haired globe-trotters to smooth the way. (Here's how another Cerberus employee, former Vice President Dan Quayle, describes his role at the fund: "travels throughout the US, Europe and Asia to meet with the heads of investment banks, corporations, buyout shops, potential investors, and other business leaders.") ~snip~ Albright is taking it a step further. Former foreign-policy hands such as Henry Kissinger supply advice to hedge funds and Fortune 500 companies on how geopolitical events affect their investments. Albright is taking this practice a few rungs up the value chain. Rather than simply sell advice based on her experience and connections, she's selling investment-management services based on her experience and connections. Investment management has much higher profit margins.

As more big institutional investors such as pension funds allocate capital to hedge funds, we should expect more such career switches. By 2009, it wouldn't be surprising if investors were listening to sales pitches for CRAM (Condi Rice Asset Management), Dick Cheney's Buckshot Capital (sole holding: Halliburton), and the Stuff Happens Global Fund, an arbitrage operation run by Donald Rumsfeld.

No Link -- Acquire via LexisNexis
Copyright 2007 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Company, LLC.
All Rights Reserved
Slate Magazine

January 22, 2007 Monday

[Emit]

72. Wow! bobthedrummer, check this out...

Heads up. Here's what leveymg did with your thread! Great compilation. Have you seen it yet? I'm still going through it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=377023&mesg_id=377023

[Emit]

74. CBS Sold 7 of its local TV Stations to Cerberus last month

CBS Corporation to Sell Local TV Stations in Four Markets to Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.

Divestiture Includes Stations in Austin, Salt Lake City, Providence and West Palm Beach

Last Update: 2:43 PM ET Feb 7, 2007

NEW YORK, Feb 07, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX

CBS announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell seven of its owned television stations to Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. for $185 million. The sale includes stations in Austin, Salt Lake City, Providence and West Palm Beach, and is subject to FCC approval and other customary closing conditions. Cerberus worked with TV veteran Dick Reingold on the transaction, and Cerberus was advised by CobbCorp, LLC and Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC.
Stations included in the agreement (and their network affiliations) are:

- KEYE-TV, Austin, Texas (CBS);
- KUTV (TV), Salt Lake City, Utah (CBS) and its satellite station
KUSG(TV), St. George, Utah;
- WLWC (TV), Providence, Rhode Island (The CW);
- WTVX(TV), West Palm Beach, Florida (The CW); and two Low Power Stations
in the West Palm Beach DMA, WTCN-CA (MyNetwork TV) and WWHB-CA (TV
Azteca).


The CBS Television Stations group currently consists of 39 stations, including 21 CBS, 11 The CW, three MyNetworkTV and four stations not affiliated with major networks.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/cbs-corporation-sell-local-tv/story.aspx?guid=%7BF2DDC4DE-143F-4972-92AD-EC144CA3B879%7D&dist=TQP_Mod_pressN

Edited to add Cerberus' comments:

Cerberus was vague about its future plans for the stations. "We believe in the viability of local TV and believe it makes good investment sense," said Peter Duda, a spokesman for Cerberus.

From mediaweek.com, February 7, 2007

No Link -- Acquired via LexisNexis

[KoKo]

86. Good Grief! Can't someone start an Anti-Trust Suit agains them, Blackstone, Carlyle Group?

What the hell is going on out there? oops...forgot that Cerberus is named for the three headed dog who guards the gate to Hades. .......

Thanks for your research Bob!

[bobthedrummer]

88. This information is a collaborative effort KoKo01-and some other questions

keep getting asked and researched and broadcast.

Here's another example-why has this criminal administration "budgeted" $43Bn for biological weapons "research" yet failed to help meet the basic needs of our wounded troops?

This seems as good a place to repost this collaborative thread as any.

An archived thread started by kpete on 2-5-2007 mentions some of the same individuals and organizations found here and in levymg's thread in a different context ("money trumps peace").
They also should be researched by those of us that give a damn.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x128146

[appleannie1]

76. I post on another political board

and found the information I originally posted here while doing research on the Walter Reed scandal. I honestly feel that everything, that everyone, has taken to time to research and find should be sent to all the bloggers, ArmyTimes.com, and the Congress Critters now finally doing oversight work in DC. We NEED to make our voices heard. And our shouts should be that we have had enough. Talking about it is all well and good but we NEED to start taking action.

[bobthedrummer]

77. I couldn't agree more, appleannie1. That is the purpose of this thread. n/t

[bobthedrummer]

78. Former US Army Major General Kenneth L. Privratsky of Horizon Lines

deserves a closer look. He rose throughout his distinguished career to become the Commanding General in charge of Military Traffic Management, responsible for making sure that units had what they needed when needed.

He retired in Anchorage, Alaska where he became an executive of CSX Alaska, which was formerly Sea-Land.

CSX Alaska was purchased by The Carlyle Group in February 2003 and renamed Horizon Lines. Ken Privratsky, Horizon Lines VP and GM, was featured in a Alaska business article by Vanessa Orr in January 2004.
http://www.akbizmag.com/2004/Jan_04_big_business.htm

Of course we remember last year's federal raids on Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska); Alaska Senate leader Ben Stevens, and other officials related to VECO and BP influence.
http://www.adn.com/news/government/story/story/8142285p-8034601c.html

Since so many problems of faulty logistics have resulted in the deaths and injuries of US service people in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere perhaps Ken Privratsky could be helpful in providing some answers since he was in charge of that during his military career and worked closely with Mr. Rumsfeld.

Then there are questions about doing ethical business in the State of Alaska which certainly has a lot of military bases, including medical facilities, and many military families.

[bobthedrummer]

81. Let's not forget that IAP's owner Cerberus Capital's former SecTreas Snow was CSX CEO n/t

[stonebone]

79. keep up the good work

[bobthedrummer]

80. Certainly honorary former Rear Admiral Thomas F. Carrato could answer some questions

HealthNet hired him from MAXIMUS Federal Services, Inc a year ago as this Redorbit.com article stated
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/435136/health_net_hires_government_health_care_leader_for_business_development/index.html

Here's a June 2001 DoD announcement about Thomas F. Carrato
New Tricare Executive Director Named
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2001/b06072001_bt253-01.html

Fair use cited
edited for punctuation

[bobthedrummer]

82. Let's keep at this, it needs your input. n/t

[blm]

84. We're definitely on to a big story. Halliburton isn't moving its HQ from Houston

to Dubai because they're running a clean operation.

[bobthedrummer]

85. It's worldwide-UK:serious questions about the welfare of wounded UK troops

the growing scandal in Israel about the privatization of Bank Leumi, etc., etc.

That's why this is a collaborative effort.

[appleannie1]

89. Link to DailyKos story on this

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/10/21556/5045

[Emit]

91. "...Aozora Bank stands accused of having leaked credit info on ...1,000 customers to Cerberus"

...Quayle is the global chairman. Quayle's seat on the board of directors of Nippon Credit Bank (since renamed Aozora Bank) smoothed the way for Cerberus to take control of the Japanese bank.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:Fosihye8kUcJ:money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0702/gallery.powerlist.fortune/9.html+Nippon+Credit+Bank+board+of+directors+quayle&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

and

http://www.aozorabank.co.jp/english/about/corporate/overview/officer/index.html

...Earlier, Nikkei said Aozora Bank stands accused of having leaked credit information on upwards of 1,000 customers to Cerberus Group, The Nihon Keizai reported. Some of the data includes lists of assets, deposits, loan balances and creditworthiness of corporations and some well-to-do individuals. Cerberus wanted the information so it could determine that the bank's client base was reasonably sound. The paper said the Financial Services Agency wants a report from the officials involved about how it happened and just which data was compromised--and it may issue an administrative order to the bank for violation of the civil code.

http://www.kanai.net/weblog/archive/2003/01/10/13h47m33s

"After the sale of the Long Term Credit Bank to Ripplewood, it became very clear that the authorities wanted to see Japanese assets in Japanese hands," said Brian Waterhouse, a veteran bank analyst at HSBC Securities in Tokyo. "There are a lot of interested parties that do not want Cerberus to take a larger stake."

The tug-of-war for control of the bank took a turn for the bizarre Thursday when the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Aozora allowed Cerberus to view allegedly confidential data about the bank's customers. Aozora said it did nothing wrong and only allowed Cerberus to do due diligence any other bidder would require.

Cerberus, which is represented on Aozora's board by former vice-president Dan Quayle, also said it goes to great lengths to follow the letter of the law, and just wants a larger share of the bank to steer its business more effectively. "We are willing to make a big bet on Japan," says Bill Richter, the president of Cerberus Asia. "All we expect and hope for is a level playing field."

Though Japan's economy remains in a deep funk, Cerberus, like many foreign investors, say there are opportunities to make money using lending techniques common in the West.

The government denies any sinister plot exists to exclude foreign investors. "We don't care what nationality the investor is," said Hirofumi Gomi, the chief of the inspection bureau at the Financial Services Agency. "If we judge that a bidder is adequate, we will approve them."

~snip~

Still, for months, no Japanese investor wanted to buy Softbank's shares, even Orix Corp. and Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co., two Japanese Aozora shareholders with strong balance sheets. When Son, Softbank's president, said he did not mind if the buyer was a foreigner, he was hauled into a parliamentary committee to explain himself.

~snip~

The saga may come to a head in March, when the fiscal year closes. Softbank is in need of cash to pay off its bonds, so wants to close the deal quickly. Then again, the government appears to have infinite patience and knows that eventually, most foreigners go home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/10/business/10CND-AOZO.html?ex=1173758400&en=cb675f913f7c34a7&ei=5070


I'm going to see what happended with this -- this was back in '03...


Edited to add more detail

[Karenina]

90. But they will be sure to clean

all traces of their corruption in Houston.

[Emit]

92. Cerberus sold high speed computers to Iraq associated with its nuclear program

Cerberus sold high speed computers to Iraq:

Site: Al-Qaqaa - What Site Did: Developed explosive lenses for nuclear weapons - What the West Supplied: High-speed computers: Cerberus, Perkin Elmer Corporation (US)

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:dLBat751uE8J:www.iraqwatch.org/bulletins/vol2iss1jan03.htm+cerberus+weapons+iraq&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us

For more info on this connection, Google: cerberus+weapons+iraq

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cerberus+weapons+iraq

I can't find the original article from Die Tageszeitung, but there are several references to it. For example:

Leaked Report Says German and US Firms Supplied Arms to Saddam
- Tony Paterson, The Independent (UK), 19/12/02

Baghdad's uncensored report to UN names Western companies alleged to have developed its weapons of mass destruction. Iraq's 11,000-page report to the UN Security Council lists 150 foreign companies, including some from America, Britain, Germany and France, which supported Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programme, a German newspaper said yesterday. Berlin's left-wing Die Tageszeitung newspaper said it had seen a copy of the original Iraqi dossier which was vetted for sensitive information by US officials before being handed to the five permanent Security Council members two weeks ago. An edited version was passed to the remaining 10 members of the Security Council last night. British officials said the list of companies appeared to be accurate. Eighty German firms and 24 US companies are reported to have supplied Iraq with equipment and know-how for its weapons programmes from 1975 onwards and in some cases support for Baghdad's conventional arms programme had continued until last year.


"From about 1975 onwards, these companies are shown to have supplied entire complexes, building elements, basic materials and technical know-how for Saddam Hussein's programme to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction," the newspaper said. "They also supplied rockets and complete conventional weapons systems," it added. The five permanent members of the Security Council-the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China-have repeatedly opposed revealing the extent of foreign companies' involvement, although a mass of relevant information was collected by UN weapons inspectors who visited the country between 1991 and 1998. The UN claims that publishing the extent of the companies' involvement in Iraq would jeopardise necessary co-operation with such firms.


List of American firms that assisted Iraq's WMD programme



Honeywell (R,K)
Spektra Physics (K)
Semetex (R)
TI Coating (A,K)
UNISYS (A,K)
Sperry Corp. (R,K)
Tektronix (R,A)
Rockwell (K)
Leybold Vacuum Systems (A)
Finnigan-MAT-US (A)
Hewlett Packard (A.R,K)
Dupont (A)
Eastman Kodak (R)
American Type Culture Collection (B)
Alcolac International (C)
Consarc (A)
Carl Zeis -U.Ss (K)
Cerberus (LTD) (A)
Electronic Assiciates (R)
International Computer Systems
Bechtel (K)
EZ Logic Data Systems,Inc. (R)
Canberra Industries Inc. (A)
Axel Electronics Inc. (A)
-Die Tageszeitung (Berlin daily),18/12/02

There are various sources of this info:
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/iran_iraq_war_american_interest.php
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0315209
http://www.shalomctr.org/node/100

[bobthedrummer]

93. Sounds like a lot of things-including treason. Thanks Emit.

Fwiw, I'm currently looking at some of these investor relations companies involved in things like Homeland Security-businesses that include hedge fund management and offer wonderful opportunities to absorb and launder black budgets while hiding behind the shield of "protecting" people against terrorism.

One of the most interesting ones (so far) involves the various networks and clients of Hawk Associates, especially Project Bio Shield partner Homeland Security Capital Corp (HMSC traded OTC).

This is truly weird-the CEO of Hawk Associates, Frank N. Hawkins, Jr. bio states he was a clandestine operative for the DIA
http://www.hawkassociates.com/team.aspx

take a good look at them and their clients
http://www.hawkassociates.com/

Homeland Security Capital Corp.
http://www.hawkassociates.com/hmscprofile.aspx

It's like one of those fictional John LeCarre obscure spook networks, except this one is real.

Project Bio Shield and all their partners are getting close inspection by oversight authorities.

[Emit]

94. Can you decipher this?

I happened upon this when looking into John Snow+SWIFT+CIA:

&nonce=3

http://clo.complearn.org/clo/showexpnum/1157744911/experiments.html

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:fQQBqsJk8yoJ:clo.complearn.org/clo/showmonth/1157068801/experiments.html+Advanced+Systems+and+Technologies+Directorate+Boeing+Booz+Allen+Hamilton+CIA+Cerberus+Capital+Management&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us


ANd, ironically, that comment you just made:

"...offer wonderful opportunities to absorb and launder black budgets while hiding behind the shield of "protecting" people against terrorism..."

fits right into what I was looking into regarding Snow and the SWIFT thing -- The SWIFT issue fits right into that.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:_AV7nLi9IC8J:www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0623-06.htm+U.S.+Treasury+John+Snow+SWIFT+CIA&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us

[bobthedrummer]

95. That is one of the primary functions of these tangled webs.

It sure is nice when others contribute their research from these leads we look at (hint, hint).

[bobthedrummer]

101. Historically the dark side of investment relations includes black budget relationships.

There is no doubt about that (BNL, BCCI, Robert Lee Vesco, etc).

Fwiw, what started as a thread looking at the involvement of IAP in the unacceptable conditions at Walter Reed's outpatient programs has taken on mind blowing proportions when researching the possible connections of corruption and political patronage.

The "awarding" of contracts by the Bush administration, the "deregulation" of many industries, and the secrecy of classification systems can hide criminal activities behind the national security shield-yet that is a crime in itself.

Those "contracts" have been sub-contracted and sub-contracted to the extent that accountability seems "lost" for those that seek a redress of grievances or compensation for injuries.

Yet there must be transparency and accountability in respect to the effectiveness and performance of these privatization contracts.

A major problem is when the black budget is involved, yet even that, theoretically, does have some limited oversight. But this limited accountability doesn't apply to other countries or international corporations and financial institutions.

Many international rules, laws, agreements and treaties have been disregarded by the Decider and his inner circle.

And we, the people, aren't on the "need to know" lists of this administration. So some of us that want real answers research and investigate and share what we find with others and sometimes the knowledge grows into corrective action.

That said I'm going to share a little bit about this investment relations group Hawk Associates, Inc., some of their clients and a few related things.

I've discovered (by researching for a few hours) that there are many clients that used to be employed by Arthur Anderson; Booz, Allen, Hamilton; Enron; SAIC; CACI; Sandia; US Labs; various government agencies and service branches and a lot of troubled or failed businesses and financial groups.

Some of these clients are owners of businesses in places like Vietnam, (whose Asst. Deputy Director of Trade is facing corruption charges) China, Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Ukraine, and many other places that investors have been directed to by Hawk Associates.

Some of these clients are involved with promising new tech and medical companies working on cures for cancer, neurobiology, radio frequency live tissue bonding, radio frequency and wireless identification systems, new drugs and energy sources, microcap and other IT systems.

All Hawk Associates does is makes connections-they aren't licensed brokers or anything like that, they simply connect people with investment capital with others worldwide-and they take a lot of risks.

They also tend to maximize profit and minimize everything else. Many of their clients have patents, but a lot of these patents were granted outside the US and there are some patent infringement cases involved as well as serious concerns about many of the pharmaceutical and medical products and services.

For example there is Hawk Associates client NeoGenomics, Inc. that is involved with laboratory cancer genetics testing (approval for a new lab in Irvine California was recently granted).

They just hired Robert J. Feeney PhD as VP of Sales and Marketing.
NeoGenomics is currently a hot investment company.
http://www.hawkassociates.com/neogenomics.aspx

Robert J. Feeney left Cephalon to join NeoGenomics. Cephalon is in a bit of trouble over some of its products.
http://www.cephalon.com/

Mr. Feeney may or may not have been aware of that when he made some changes in his Cephalon stock
in 2005.
http://www.secinfo.com/d14tBk.zd.htm

There have been numerous complaints about all kinds of outsourced lab testing, I don't know if this company was involved in that or not, maybe someone could check that out.

Then there is the promising field of radio frequency live tissue bonding which Hawk Associates client Consortium Service Management Group Technologies,Inc/CTUM is involved with both here and in Kiev, Ukraine.

Yet there are several disturbing connections with real WMD's and radioactive material, companies like Bechtel and KBR and the other issues in CTUM's Ukraine partner United Engineering Corp
http://www.ctum.com/united_engineering.html
(btw-it should be obvious that Hawk Associates is "advising" consolidating many "former" intelligence and clandestine groups together with capital derived from God knows where imo likely black budgets).

There's Hawk Associates client Providential Holdings, Inc a merger & acquisition and investment company concentrated in Vietnam and Asia.
Popular Baby G, Inc stock is going public through Providential (a clothing and private label provider to retailers like Kohl's and Walmart) Jeff Gerson recently signed up with them
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=221648
hard to beat the labor costs in Vietnam...

In short-there seems to be something weird about Hawk Associates and their clients too and perhaps someone could check them out because it sure seems like a black budget network in many respects-but I could be wrong.
http://www.hawkassociates.com/

[bobthedrummer]

103. Perhaps Hawk Associates Inc. clients and partnerships managed to avoid the darkside

and the black budget networks that were certainly known to international law enforcement, Congressional Committees and many others.

The Threat From International Organized Crime and Global Terrorism (House International Relations Committee testimony 1997)
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1997_hr/hfa44990_0.htm

FBI Special Agent In Charge Honolulu Division Charles L. Goodwin 8-2-2004 Congressional testimony
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress04/goodwin080204.htm

I hope so, yet the warnings about the specific types of emerging criminal organizations and the regions where their influence was already well established are precisely the same as many of Hawk Associate Inc.'s investor relations.

Again I ask that DUers, particularly those that haven't contributed to this thread, take some time and post your research results or comments in a collaborative effort.

[Emit]

96. John Snow info

Some related info...

NEW YORK, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Communications Inc. today announced the election of John W. Snow, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, to the Verizon Board of Directors, effective Feb. 1, 2007.

http://john-snow-news.newslib.com/story/2755-3227372/

Marathon Oil Adds Former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow To Board - Update

Wednesday, September 27, 2006; Posted: 05:02 PM

(RTTNews) - Wednesday after the closing bell, crude oil and natural gas exploration company Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO | charts | news | PowerRating), formerly known as USX Corp., said former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow has been elected to the company's board of directors, effective immediately.

The Houston, Texas-based company said Snow previously served as a member of USX's board of directors from March 1995 through December 2001. The company disposed of its steel business through a tax-free distribution of the common stock of its then wholly owned subsidiary, United States Steel Corp. and changed its name on December 31, 2001.

http://john-snow-news.newslib.com/story/2755-3227355/

June 25, 2006 - 7:15 PM
CIA has access to Swiss transactions

The Swiss National Bank is on Swift's board of control The United States has confirmed it has been monitoring international financial transactions, including those in and out of Switzerland, for almost five years.

The Swiss government has remained quiet on the issue, but data protection experts and lawyers are concerned by Friday's revelations in the New York Times.


US Treasury Secretary John Snow defended the secret programme, carried out by the CIA and the Treasury, calling it "government at its best" and a valuable aid for fighting terrorism.

Snow confirmed that since just after the attacks on September 11 2001, the Treasury had been tapping into records of the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) for evidence of potential activity by terror groups.

~snip~
Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is a cooperative founded in 1973 and headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

The consortium operates a secure electronic messaging service used by some 7,800 financial institutions – including banks, brokerages and investment managers – to communicate with their counterparts in more than 200 countries.

A spokesman said the network handles some nine million transfer instructions and confirmations a day with a value of about $6 trillion (SFr7.5 trillion).

Two Swiss sit on the 25-man board.

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/top_news/detail/CIA_has_access_to_Swiss_transactions.html?siteSect=106&sid=6846423&cKey=1151302785000

__________________

On revealing classified information: US Treasury Secretary John Snow
A letter to the NYT editor from John Snow, Treasury secretary.
Dear Mr. Keller:

The New York Times' decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful to the security of Americans and freedom-loving people worldwide. In choosing to expose this program, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the aisle, including myself, the Times undermined a highly successful counter-terrorism program and alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their money trails.

Your charge that our efforts to convince The New York Times not to publish were "half-hearted" is incorrect and offensive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the past two months, Treasury has engaged in a vigorous dialogue with the Times - from the reporters writing the story to the D.C. Bureau Chief and all the way up to you. It should also be noted that the co-chairmen of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, met in person or placed calls to the very highest levels of the Times urging the paper not to publish the story. Members of Congress, senior US Government officials and well-respected legal authorities from both sides of the aisle also asked the paper not to publish or supported the legality and validity of the program.

Indeed, I invited you to my office for the explicit purpose of talking you out of publishing this story. And there was nothing "half-hearted" about that effort. I told you about the true value of the program in defeating terrorism and sought to impress upon you the harm that would occur from its disclosure. I stressed that the program is grounded on solid legal footing, had many built-in safeguards, and has been extremely valuable in the war against terror. Additionally, Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey met with the reporters and your senior editors to answer countless questions, laying out the legal framework and diligently outlining the multiple safeguards and protections that are in place.

You have defended your decision to compromise this program by asserting that "terror financiers know" our methods for tracking their funds and have already moved to other methods to send money. The fact that your editors believe themselves to be qualified to assess how terrorists are moving money betrays a breathtaking arrogance and a deep misunderstanding of this program and how it works. While terrorists are relying more heavily than before on cumbersome methods to move money, such as cash couriers, we have continued to see them using the formal financial system, which has made this particular program incredibly valuable.

Lastly, justifying this disclosure by citing the "public interest" in knowing information about this program means the paper has given itself free license to expose any covert activity that it happens to learn of - even those that are legally grounded, responsibly administered, independently overseen, and highly effective. Indeed, you have done so here.

What you've seemed to overlook is that it is also a matter of public interest that we use all means available - lawfully and responsibly - to help protect the American people from the deadly threats of terrorists. I am deeply disappointed in the New York Times.

Sincerely,
John W. Snow, Secretary
US Department of the Treasury

http://john-snow-news.newslib.com/story/2755-3227352/

"I think they (Cerberus) expect me to be in places like China and India where government approvals are required," he said.

~snip~

Among his biggest concerns from a U.S. investment standpoint is protectionism. Snow took aim at a bill sponsored by U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to impose an across-the board tariff on Chinese imports.

"It's worrisome that there's so much support for protectionist sentiment," he said.

http://john-snow-news.newslib.com/story/2755-3227374/

Cerberus CEO John Snow to join Bawag board
Last Updated: 15-December-2006 13:03:15

It said the former US Treasury Secretary will join the existing board of Bawag along with Austrian industrialist Hannes Androsch and representatives from Generali, the Oesterreichische Post and Wuestenrot.

Bawag chief executive Ewald Nowotny will maintain his position at the helm of the bank.

http://john-snow-news.newslib.com/story/2755-3227373/

[bobthedrummer]

100. "London's Cayman Islands: The Empire of the Hedge Funds" by Richard Freeman

via globalresearch.ca
More background on taking money out of a nation and putting it a corrupt sunny safe place
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=FRE20070311&articleId=5045

Fair use cited

[Octafish]

106. Super-Rich Hide Trillions Offshore

This is where I'm putting my money: Where no Bushie can steal it:

Super-rich hide trillions offshore

• Study reveals assets 10 times larger than UK GDP
• Exchequers deprived of hundreds of billions in tax

Nick Mathiason
Sunday March 27, 2005
The Observer

The world's richest individuals have placed $11.5 trillion of assets in offshore havens, mainly as a tax avoidance measure. The shock new figure - 10 times Britain's GDP - is contained in the most authoritative study of the wealth held in offshore accounts ever conducted.

The study, by Tax Justice Network, a group of accountants and economists concerned at the escalating wealth held in offshore locations, shows that the world's high-net-worth individuals earn $860 billion each year from their assets.

But there is growing alarm among regulators and campaigners because exchequers worldwide are missing out on at least $255bn of tax each year. Governments appear unable, or unwilling, to prevent the rich employing aggressive strategies to minimise their tax liabilities.

The OECD this weekend confirmed that international tax avoidance is a growing problem that troubles governments not just of rich countries, but middle-income ones as well.

'This is one of the defining crises of our times,' said John Christensen, co-ordinator of the Tax Justice Network and a former economic adviser to the Jersey government. 'One of the most fundamental changes in our society in recent years is how money and the rich have become more mobile. This has resul ted in the wealthy becoming less inclined to associate with normal society and feeling no obligation to pay taxes.'

James Jones, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, said: 'In this country, we have created a culture of tax avoidance. The current debate is pandering to a culture of consumption and avoidance. We need a much better debate than the political parties are currently giving us.'

CONTINUED...

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,11268,1446127,00.html

$11.5 trillion is a lot of moolah. Knowing who's involved, a lot of it represents ill-gotten gain.

[bobthedrummer]

110. Thanks Octafish, maybe they'll accept intellectual property in lieu of cash??? n/t

[bobthedrummer]

102. International time zone kick-for our friends overseas...

[bobthedrummer]

104. Ides of March kick

[ftr23532]

107. kick!

I can't believe I've missed this thread until now!

Here's an http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_3_27/ai_n9508593">interesting article on Cerberus taking over some public water utility services with its buyout of LNR.

[bobthedrummer]

109. Help us out a bit more, ftr23532. I'm kind of "bushed". n/t

[bobthedrummer]

111. Oversight hearing in about an hour- kick

[SpiralHawk]

112. k and r - with Gigathanks to all the DU researchers

outing the vast cabal of corrupt republicon cronies who are lying to America, stealing from America, weakening America, and enriching themselves.

We don't need no steenkin darkside occult cabal crony in the White House

[bobthedrummer]

113. A kick against all BFEE political operatives that are assigned to political websites

and a kick for the truth.

[blm]

116. Thankyou - it's becoming more apparent, too.

.

[ftr23532]

114. Here's some info on "The Feinberg Way"...

This is a revealing section of this http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b3953110.htm">Businessweek article:

...
This is a long way from traditional hedge-fund or even vulture-fund investing. In fact, Feinberg is breaking important new ground in the hedge-fund business. While many funds stick to a single, sharply focused strategy, Feinberg casts a wide net. Not content simply to trade securities the way other funds do or to assemble assorted companies for resale in the same way as many buyout firms, he's forging what looks more like an integrated industrial conglomerate than an investment firm. His secret weapon: a deep bench of 80 seasoned executives who troll the world for investment opportunities and stand ready to parachute in and run the companies he buys. Put all the elements together, says David M. Rubenstein, Carlyle Group co-founder and managing director, and "Feinberg may have perfected a new business model."

The Feinberg Way, like the methods of superfueled hedge-fund financiers such as Eddie Lampert and Wilbur Ross, has the potential to remake the corporate landscape as profoundly as the leveraged-buyout mavens, corporate raiders, and conglomerateurs did in earlier generations. With their access to huge amounts of cheap capital and ability to operate largely outside traditional markets -- and the view of regulators -- Feinberg and his cohorts could soon set their sights on even the biggest companies caught in a downdraft or struggling with change.
...

Great, we're possibly heading into economically turbulent times with a company like this on the ascendent...

[bobthedrummer]

115. Hmm-then there's news that the Arison Group has taken control of Israel's

Bank Hapoalim (the largest bank in Israel)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/838434.html

Who could help us out with some more research this weekend???

Fair use cited

[ftr23532]

117. here's something somewhat ominous given Cerberus' chare in GMAC

GM declared on Thursday that http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/automobiles/16auto.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">it found serious flaws in its accounting. :hide:

[bobthedrummer]

118. In 2004 the DoJ ordered libraries to destroy copies of documents and manuals

available to researchers and investigators following the money trails of networks.

After a FOIA request by researcher Michael Ravnitzky some manuals based on the destroyed material were released last year. The manuals are available at Russ Kick's memoryhole.com website. These tools are valuable to all citizens.

Why were library copies ordered to be destroyed by the DoJ in 2004???

Justice Department: 2006 Asset Forfeiture and Money-Laundering Manuals
http://thememoryhole.com/doj/2006_manuals.htm

Fair use cited.