_Hidden_Agendas.html
Elite Controllers & Hidden Agendas
Who is George W. Bush?
BY SUSAN BRYCE
He grew up as a very rich child with powerful parents. He partied from high
school until he was 40 then went cold turkey on drugs and alcohol. His
business career was marked by mediocrity or failure that nonetheless
resulted making him millions of dollars thanks to the political allies of
his father, who happened to be the US President. He was elected 46th
governor of Texas mostly because of his family name and his dad’s cronies.
He found God and became a Christian. Now, George W. Bush is the 43rd
president of the United States.
The Bush administration is a combination of Cold War warriors, big business
bureaucrats and ideologues, harvested from the Ford, Nixon and Reagan
governments. As veterans of past Republican administrations their thinking
reflects a bygone era, particularly with respect to social policy, the
environment and nuclear defence. Many of Bush’s appointees are pals from
his days as Governor of Texas, or are members of influential insider think
tanks such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies. This article provides a brief analysis of the
key players in the ‘Bush team’, their backgrounds, their policies and
their likely agendas over the next four years.
President George Walker Bush
Bush’s name is a familiar one in the ranks of America’s top leadership:
George W. Bush is the oldest son of George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st
president. The only other set of father-son presidents came early in US
history when John Quincy Adams, son of the second president, John Adams,
became the sixth president in 1825. Bush Jr. attended Eastern elitist
schools, in this case Andover Prep, and Yale. According to a Newsweek
profile, he “went to Yale but seems to have majored in drinking at
the Deke House.” He became a member of the secretive Skull & Bones society
in 1968.
George W. Bush joins a recent parade of state governors (Carter, Reagan,
and Clinton) who have moved up to the highest office in the country. Bush
was elected Governor of Texas in 1994. He and his brother Jeb Bush (elected
in Florida in 1998) were the first brothers to be simultaneous governors
since the Rockefellers. Before becoming Governor of Texas, George Bush was
involved in the Texan oil scene, where he founded an oil company, Arbusto
Energy, Inc. (Arbusto is the Spanish word for bush.) The company floundered
in the early 1980s when oil prices dropped. Fifty investors, who were
mainly family friends, sunk millions to help bail the company out. Nearing
collapse, Arbusto was purchased by Spectrum 7 Energy Corporation in
September 1984. Despite a poor track record, the owners made Bush Jr. the
president and gave him 13.6% of the parent company’s stock.
The Spectrum 7 oil firm company was owned by two staunch Reagan/Bush (dad
was then vice president) supporters, who were also involved with the Texas
Rangers. After working on his father’s successful 1988 presidential
campaign, Bush assembled a group of partners that purchased the Texas
Rangers baseball franchise in 1989. He sold his stake for $14.9 million –
while Texas governor. Not bad, considering his initial investment was
$600,000 of borrowed money. Speaking after the sale, Bush told the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram: “When it is all said and done, I will have made more
money than I ever dreamed I would make.”
In 1986, the Harken Energy Corporation bought Spectrum 7’s 180-well
operation. In 1990, Harken Energy was granted a contract to drill for oil
off the coast of the Gulf state of Bahrain, shunting aside the oil giant
Amoco, even though the company had no experience in offshore operations.
Suggestions that the Bahrain government was attempting to curry favour with
the US president, George Bush Snr, were denied.
A Harken Energy director was invited to participate in private White House
briefings on Middle East policy, and in May 1990 Harken learned that
Washington was considering an oil embargo of Iraq.
In June, Bush Jr. conveniently sold 212,000 of his Harken shares, raking in
more than $848,500. In August, US intelligence agencies, in full propaganda
mode, reported that Iraqi troops had invaded Kuwait and the value of
Harken’s shares dropped 25%.
During the 2000 presidential election campaign, various allegations about
Bush’s past misdemeanours surfaced. They include: an alleged conviction for
drunk driving; an allegation that Bush halted investigation of a campaign
contributor’s huge funeral home company; that he pulled strings to avoid
Vietnam and got favourable treatment; and that he used drugs, then tried to
cover it up.
During his campaign, President-elect Bush made a big point of travelling
around the country and lecturing youngsters on staying celibate, sober and
drug free. At one thank-you banquet for his campaign staff, Bush reportedly
spoke to a lady, who by a brief comment she made, indicated she was a
Christian. She was with her 16-year-old son. Bush asked the son if he was a
believer, too. When the son answered that he didn’t think so, Bush asked
“Do you mind if I tell you how I came to know Christ as my Savior?” Bush
then pulled up a chair and witnessed to the boy for 30 minutes, even
leading him in the sinner’s prayer.
And as governor of Texas, Bush attacked his predecessor for allowing
leniency toward first-time drug users, and pushed a no tolerance policy
that sent casual cocaine users to prison. During his campaign, he
proclaimed that drug users “need to know that drug use has consequences.”
In answer to questions about drug use, Bush says it doesn’t matter what he
did “in his youth,” because the question is “have you grown up” and “have
you learned from your mistakes.”
The 43rd president of the US is an unwavering proponent of trade
liberalisation and a strong US military. Although he has pledged to curtail
the use of US military power for purposes short of major wars, he is
forging ahead with the US ballistic missile defence shield, following in
the hawkish footsteps of his father. Shortly after his inauguration, George
W. Bush told reporters: “We will work to defend our people and our allies
against growing threats of missiles, information warfare, the threats of
biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. We will confront the new threats
of a new century… we will begin creating the military of the future – one
that takes full advantage of revolutionary new technologies. We will
promote the peace by redefining the way wars will be fought.”
During his presidential campaign, Bush worked to silence his critics. Not
since Richard Nixon has a major presidential candidate been so quick to
prevent the free speech of his opponents. When asked about one critical web
site, Bush told the press, “There ought to be limits to freedom. We’re
aware of this site, and this guy is just a garbage man, that’s all he is.”
His campaign reportedly bought up over 200 anti-Bush domain names including
“bushsucks.com” and “bushbites.com” before the presidential election.
Colin Powell: Secretary of State
After alleged cover-ups in Vietnam and in the Iran-Contra affair, Powell
has once again managed to pull the prestige of the military rank above any
scandal to become Secretary of State. After 35 years in the US Army, Powell
took up the position of General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 1989
to 1993. As a General, he rose to superhero status during the Gulf War. His
famous quip about the Iraqi army, “We are going to cut it off, and then we
are going to kill it,” impressed some of the fact starved journalists, who
later described his Gulf War performance as “masterful.” For Powell, the
armed forces are a gleaming and expensive elite, to be maintained at vast
cost but not to be dirtied by any deployment, let alone peacekeeping. The
“Powell Doctrine” focuses upon how to fight wars and when to fight them –
with minimal casualties. Powell, a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations, is believed to be one of the architects of the US military’s
Joint Vision 2010 (previously reported in New Dawn No. 59).
Powell has come out of retirement to take up post as Secretary of State.
During retirement, he wrote a best-selling autobiography and launched a
career as a public speaker, addressing audiences across the United States
and overseas. During his acceptance press conference, Powell lectured about
his foreign policy priorities and made the case forcefully for a defensive
shield to become “an essential part” of the nation’s security. Bush stood
mutely along side, while Powell offered his vision for the future.
It is said that Powell does not advise, ‘he insists.’ His comments about
Russia demonstrate the Bush administration’s commitment to a unipolar
world: “Our relations with Russia must not be dictated by any fear on our
part. For example, if we believe the enlargement of NATO should continue,
for example, and we do believe that, we should not fear that Russia will
object. We will do it because it is in our interest and because
freedom-loving people wish to be part of NATO. Instead, we should deal with
Russia’s objections and find a way to address them.”
Powell’s son, Michael, has been made Chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission.
Condoleeza Rice: President Bush’s National Security Adviser
Rice served on the National Security Council under the previous Bush
administration. From 1989-1991, she was a director and then senior director
of Soviet and East European Affairs and was later named special assistant
to the National Security Affairs Advisor.
Rice has written or collaborated on several books, including Germany
Unified and Europe Transformed (1995), The Gorbachev Era (1986), and
Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984).
Upon her arrival in Washington in 1986, she worked on nuclear strategic
planning at the Joint Chiefs of Staff as part of a Council on Foreign
Relations fellowship. Rice’s membership of the Council on Foreign Relations
continues in the tradition of having a CFR member hold the NSA top spot (in
recent years Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, and Zbigniew Brzezinski have
held the post). In addition to her CFR membership, Dr. Rice is also a
member of the Aspen Institute’s Strategy Group. She has served as a
Professor and provost at Stanford University and as a fellow of the Hoover
Institute.
Speaking about her appointment, Rice said: “George W. Bush will never allow
America and our allies to be blackmailed. And make no mistake; blackmail is
what the outlaw states seeking long-range ballistic missiles have in mind.
It is time to move beyond the Cold War. It is time to have a president
devoted to a new nuclear strategy and to the deployment of effective
missile defenses at the earliest possible date.”
Donald Rumsfeld:
Secretary of Defense
Rumsfeld served as Secretary of Defense in the Ford administration (26
years ago). He recently chaired two high-profile study commissions on
ballistic missile defense and the security of space-based infrastructure.
The commissions concluded that “rogue” nations could threaten the United
States with ballistic missiles sooner than analysts had predicted. The
commission’s report is now one of the most influential documents in modern
American military planning. It led the Clinton administration to propose
its own limited version of a national missile defense system.
Rumsfeld is former Republican congressman, and is a former ambassador to
NATO from 1973 to 1974. He completes a national security team (including
the Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Powell) that shares
the dream of continuing with President Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” program.
During the Reagan Administration, (which cut funding to education, health,
income security and overseas aid programmes to make way for defence),
Rumsfeld served as an adviser to the US Departments of State and Defense
and as a member of the President’s General Advisory Committee on Arms
Control.
Rumsfeld served as Chairman and chief executive officer at General
Instrument Corporation, from 1990 to 1993. He was chief executive officer,
president, and later chairman of G.D. Searle & Company, from 1977 to 1985.
Paul O’Neill:
Secretary of Treasury
Another Ford administration veteran, O’Neill worked in the Office of
Management and Budget from 1967 to 1977, rising to deputy director. He was
a multimillionaire shareholder and CEO from 1987 to 1998 and Chairperson of
Alcoa Inc. from 1987 to 2001. Most recently, he was chairman of the RAND
Corporation, the Los Angeles-based think tank and front for the CIA. He is
also a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. O’Neill built his
business reputation at Alcoa by focusing on core business and engaging in
ruthless cost cutting. From 1977 to 1978, O’Neill was involved with
International Paper Company, eventually rising to president. Although
O’Neill is a long time friend of Federal Reserve head Alan Greenspan, it is
believed that he does not have sufficient knowledge to challenge
Greenspan’s judgement if necessary. Other candidates for Secretary of
Treasury were Walter V. Shipley, former chairman of Chase Manhattan
Corporation; Donald B. Marron, chairman of the Paine Webber Group; and John
M. Hennessy, former chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston. O’Neill, an old
colleague of Dick Cheney’s, was apparently the pick of the crop.
Robert Zoellick:
United States Trade Representative
Zoellick worked on the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) at the
Treasury Department under President Reagan, and on the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the State Department during the previous Bush
administration. Zoellick is a past president of the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies, the influential think tank which sets the agenda
for US government policy areas such as energy, the global information
infrastructure, and trade relations.
In a gushy report about Zoellick, Australia’s national daily newspaper, The
Australian, praised him as “an almost ludicrous over-achiever” and the
“man many believe to be the brainiest, [and] intellectually the most
formidable in the new administration of President George W. Bush.” The
Australian named Zoellick as the likely successor to Colin Powell. Zoellick
is a founding member of the Australian-American Leadership dialogue, and
last year was granted a private audience with Prime Minister John Howard.
Zoellick’s recent article in the CFR publication Foreign Affairs advocated
a US free trade agreement linking Latin America and the Asia Pacific region.
Donald Evans:
Secretary of Commerce
Evans has been a life-long friend of George W. Bush and his appointment as
Secretary of Commerce is seen as reward for his involvement in Bush’s
election
