Guest Blogged by BRAD BLOG D.C. Correspondent Margie Burns
Looking into the combination high-level and shadowy backstory of Marc Rich, pardoned unpardonably by former President Clinton on the latter’s last day of office, will throw further light on the longterm Libby-Cheney relationship.
While this little item below went rapidly down the memory hole, back in early 2001 (very early) the incoming Bush administration made little noise (very little, very quickly ceased) about revoking Rich’s pardon. No public emphasis by the administration that Libby, the new chief of staff for Cheney and Special Assistant to Bush, had recently been Marc Rich’s attorney for twelve years.
The following short 2001 article was published in Globes Publisher Itonut, ‘Israel’s Business Arena’ [online]…
Bush administration may revoke Marc Rich pardon;
The loophole: Marc Rich has not been personally served with the pardon.
Vice President Richard Cheney: The Justice Department is looking into the issue. Congress will also examine the affair.
BYLINE: Ran Dagoni, Washington
BODY:
The Bush Administration is looking into the possibility of revoking the pardon granted by former President Bill Clinton to Marc Rich, a billionaire holding US and Israeli citizenship, who fled the US, and has been living as a fugitive from justice in the Swiss town of Zug for 17 years.
Clinton pardoned Rich at the end of his term, following intercession by Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit, and other Israelis. Rich donated millions of dollars to Israeli cultural institutions and hospitals, and according to some reports, was also involved in enhancing Israel’s security interests.
Clinton’s decision to pardon Rich provoked public anger, which intensified after it turned out that Rich’s former wife was a major contributor to the Democratic Party, and donated to Hillary Clinton’s Senate election campaign. This prompted the new Bush Administration to examine the issue. “Newsweek” reports that Bush Administration legal experts have succeeded in finding a way to revoke the pardon without undermining the presidential prerogative in this respect.
A White House official confirmed that the Administration was reviewing the spate of pardons issued by Clinton on his last day in office. “Our lawyers are examining all information on the pardons,” the official was quoted as saying by “The Washington Post”.
Vice President Richard Cheney’s comments in a television interview cast doubt on whether the Administration will indeed try to use the theory that pardon and arrest warrant are similar in that they must be personally served on the individual concerned to challenge the validity of Rich’s pardon.
Published by Israel’s Business Arena on 29 January, 2001
Talk about a story with no legs. For some reason, it seems to have gone nowhere.
One notes with sorrow but no surprise that Cheney’s television interview apparently did not remind the public that Cheney’s incoming chief of staff, I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, was coming onboard the administration fresh from a 12-year stint as Rich’s attorney.
Note: To be fair, the fact that Libby was among Rich’s lawyers was reported by the MSM — to some extent. Checking all transcripts for December 2000 through February 2001, there are 1) 1,000+ hits for ‘Marc Rich’; 2) 250 hits for ‘Marc Rich’ in combination with ‘Cheney’; and 3) exactly 50 hits for ‘Marc Rich’ combined with ‘Cheney’ and ‘Libby’ added. Even Fox News mentioned the item — exactly 3 times, out of 171 hits on Fox for ‘Marc Rich’ in these months. Two of those mentions were to emphasize Libby’s denial of any involvement in the pardon; the other to note that Libby had been subpoenaed by Republican Rep. Dan Burton’s Congressional committee (see below) looking into the matter
So, a question to revive – or ask for the first time? – about the Marc Rich pardon: behind the scenes, did incoming Vice President Cheney support Rich’s pardon? Did Cheney help Libby get the job with Rich in the first place? Did Cheney help Libby bail just at the juncture when leaving Rich would give Libby plausible deniability on the Clinton pardon?
Regrettably, candor from either the Clintons or Bush-Cheney on this question is not a given.
But looking at the underlying situation, realistically we should consider the question. After all, just starting with common information, we already know that Libby is historically regarded as “Cheney’s Cheney.†Libby had worked under Cheney – Undersecretary of Defense to Cheney’s SecDef – in earlier years, going into corporate life as Cheney did in the out-of-power 90’s, returning to government officialdom when Cheney did. Shortening this narrative somewhat, basically Libby moved from service with Cheney to service with Rich back to service with Cheney.
Is there any realistic possibility that Libby would have repped a figure like Rich, without Cheney’s approval? Or that Marc Rich could have been in the running for a pardon, partly via Libby’s representation, without Cheney’s knowledge? Or that Cheney would have taken/kept Libby under his wing in the new George W. Bush administration, if Cheney had heartily disapproved of the Marc Rich-Scooter Libby relationship?
Shortly after the Bush administration came into office, Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN) began conducting hearings into the Rich pardon. Asked why Burton discontinued the hearings, press secretary Clark Rehme said in a short telephone interview that the “bottom line†was that the presidential pardon power is “not reversible†– it’s a power on which there are “no checks and balances.†Rehme added that Rich, who had been living abroad, had already said in interviews that he had no plans to return to the U.S. Generally it seems to have looked unlikely, to the public, that there would be any further movement on the Rich case.
As with the Iran-Contra scandal, the whole Marc Rich story is looking like another unsavory instance of unholy collaboration linking the Bush-Clinton-Bush administrations. One of the first things Clinton did after getting into the White House was shut down further congressional investigation of Iran-Contra. One of the last things Clinton did on leaving the WH was pardon Rich, linked to Iran-Contra. One of the first things the new lockstep Bush admin did after getting into the WH was shut down investigation into Marc Rich, while making a big public stink about Clinton’s purported relationship with Rich’s wife, a Dem donor as well as a NYC socialite.
And now Bush 43 has commuted all prison time for Lewis Libby, Cheney’s man and Marc Rich’s lawyer, in a defensive crouch against an investigation into the CIA leak – which, btw, has the giant footprint of Richard Armitage, longtime Cheney man, one of the Plame leakers par excellence – and another alumnus of Iran-Contra, all over it.
How long will we keep paying for the wholesale behind-the-scenes conversion of our intelligence service from defensive/protective intelligence gathering to invasive/sleazy clandestine ops?
The logrolling continues…
Excellent article, and for not leaving the Clintons off the hook, either. That’s why we should vote for Gravel or Kucinich. And notice Bill Clinton always “hangin’ around” Bush 41…notice when Carter says something about Bush, that’ is “breaking tradition” (the CMSM tells us), but they never say that when either Clinton bashes Bush or Bush bashes Clinton. Ever notice that?
But, Carter says something about Bush, and we have CMSM news stories, “Carter breaking time-honored tradition of presidents not speaking out against other presidents.” I hope Carter does it again, just to prove this again.
It is indeed a convolute and corrupt swamp! For more information about some really gruesome corruption causing some upstanding federal employees to be whistleblowers, please go to: http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com
Flyover_27
How can there be a revolution if we don’t know who to revolt against? 16 minute video
Brad, great report. Those are fascinating connections. Do you have a personal theory of why Clinton pardoned Rich? Obviously it had something to do with Israel… a favor to Israel… but I have not seen anything that suggests a plausible explanation for the pardon. Did Clinton get a payoff? I find that hard to imagine. Why should he get his hands dirty with such a thing just as he leaves office?
Cheney’s fingerprints are all over the major league lies told to americans.
He says al Queda was and is operating in Iraq, and has even indicated that they bombed the mosque that started the major escalation of the Sunni Shia fighting.
We shall see.
Turkey is accusing the Kurdish PKK of terrorism in Turkey, and says the PKK is operating in Kurdish northern Iraq.
Turkey is said to be preparing to invade Iraq:
(Briebart, emphasis added). Don’t do as we do but do as we say is another Cheney fingerprint. An “incursion” is a wimpy way to say invasion.
Now ask yourself if al Queda is in Iraq and operating as Cheney has said, why are they not blamed for the “terrorism” and not the PKK?
If al Queda is as smart as Cheney portrays them, all they have to do is bomb in Turkey and make it look like the PKK did it. Cheney says that worked in Baghdad in the mosque bombings after all.
Turkey would invade Iraq and the war casualties would escalate. And US troops could be sitting ducks as even more nationalities begin to target practice on them.
No?
Clinton is part of the Bush Crime Family. He made his bed with them when he allowed them to fly cocaine into Mena Arkansas. Poppy Bush is running this show. Cheney is Juniors manager. These people are so corrupt they may not let an honest patriot hold power. They are the same guys that tried to hire Gen. Smedly Butler to lead a coup against the White House. Brown Brothers Harriman was one of these Wall Street interest. Prescott Bush and his father in law, Herbert Walker, ran the Brown Brothers bank. They were Hitlers American Bankers and inherited Hitlers blood money. They killed Kennedy brothers. This is the Military Industrial Complex that Dwight Eisenhower warned would take our freedom. They have put people in high places that I believe the Bush family has dirt on, guaranteeing favored results or else.
Check out this Denver Post article written by justice department lawyer.
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_6308408
I just found out that Scooter Libby was the attorney representing Marc Rich through the ’80s and 90’s. And ex-wife Denice Rich made some major contributions. To the campaigns of….
I don’t like engaging in conspiracy theories, so I try to stick to the facts:
Patrick Fitzgerald–you know–the guy who prosecuted Libby for the alleged crime of outing Valerie Plame as a (wink wink) CIA ‘operative’–the fellow who knew all along that it was Richard Armitage that done the deed–well…Fitzgerald was lead prosecutor for the fugitive Marc Rich.
Yup, ole Fitz was the lead prosecutor and Scooter Libby was the lawyer representing Marc Rich.
More than a little interesting, dontcha think?
COMMENT #4 [Permalink]
… Ralph said on 7/9/2007 @ 3:06 pm PT…writes “Brad, great report. Those are fascinating connections. Do you have a personal theory of why Clinton pardoned Rich?”
Try oil-for-food scandal w. Saddam himself.
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/003217.php
http://rednecktexan.blogspot.com/2007/07/sacre-bleu.html
Methinks there is a LOT more to this story than we know. Too bad there are no more invesigative journalists anymore in America.
I repeat: Scooter Libby was Marc Rich’s attorney for cripes sake. And Fitz was the prosecutor!
Its good to have low friends in high places.
One (of many) thing that should be done is roll the CIA back into the military where it belongs. That may help to slow down a lot of this flavor of rouge activity.