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| OFF: More details on the Jimmy Carter and Jack Kemp Connections |
| 2005-01-21 |
| Former President Jimmy Carter was a target of the clandestine lobby campaign launched by an Iraqi-American businessman who admitted he was paid millions of dollars to undermine U.S. policy toward Iraq, it was revealed yesterday. Virginia-based oilman Samir Vincent earlier this week became the first person to plead guilty in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal. He had several contacts with the former Democratic president in a bid to weaken and eventually repeal sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime, investigators said. Contacts with Vincent dated back to 1999, when Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, hosted a delegation of Iraqi religious leaders at their home in Plains, Ga. The Iraqis were in the country to lobby American religious leaders — including the Rev. Billy Graham — against U.N. sanctions on Iraq, imposed after Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Vincent organized the trip. Later that year, Carter disclosed that he was trying to send his son, Chip, as well as Billy Graham's son, Franklin, to Iraq to "give publicity to the plight of the people in Iraq who are suffering." Carter, who was in Washington to attend President Bush's inauguration yesterday, could not be reached for comment. Vincent testified in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday that he was paid millions of dollars by Saddam's regime for lobbying. Among Vincent's American contacts was former GOP vice-presidential nominee and ex-New York Rep. Jack Kemp, who acknowledged working with him on a proposal to ease the economic sanctions if Iraq would readmit U.N. weapons inspectors. In 1999, Kemp took those proposals to then-Defense Secretary William Cohen — and again in 2001, to Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Washington lawyer Lanny Davis, who was speaking for Kemp. In his discussions with Powell and Cheney, Kemp said he wanted to go to Baghdad to pitch his plan with the younger Graham, who is an associate of Carter, Davis said. Kemp was rebuffed. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 Curioser and curioser. Jimmah, Kemp, Graham Jr, Marc Rich: talk about a ship of fools.... Who else, Robert Blake? |
| Posted by: lex 2005-01-21 10:21:28 PM |
| #1 In 1999, Kemp took those proposals to then-Defense Secretary William Cohen — and again in 2001, to Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Washington lawyer Lanny Davis, who was speaking for Kemp. In his discussions with Powell and Cheney, Kemp said he wanted to go to Baghdad to pitch his plan with the younger Graham, who is an associate of Carter, Davis said. Kemp was rebuffed. jeesh. How much were they paid? Raises my opinion of Clinton just a bit. So it was the younger Graham. Hmmmm. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-21 2:27:10 PM |