Condi's killer friends
April/19/06 07:49 PM
Mr. President,
Condi meets with some pretty unsavory characters these days. Take Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for instance.
Is she setting up another extraordinary rendition camp in Equatorial Guinean? Because she is talking to the right guy for that. Their oil makes them very likable, and it speaks volumes about our foreign policy with dictators.
"Good morning. Welcome. I'm very pleased to welcome the President of Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang. We will have a full set of discussions about our bilateral relationship, about some innovative social programs that USAID is involved with and about the range of regional issues that we both confront. So thank you very much for your presence here. You are a good friend and we welcome you," Condi said on April 12, 2006.
Obiang executed his uncle and seized power in a 1979 coup. Powell's State Department condemned them regularly for human rights violations, including torture, beatings, abuse and deaths of prisoners and suspects.
He has been called one of the most brutal, most corrupt dictators in the world, a dictator who could be lunatic Kim Jong Il's little brother without the nukes.
Equatorial Guinea is about the size of Maryland and has a population of about 521 000, but government officials receive most of the money from the oil reserves estimated at 1.28-billion barrels.
The US had once frozen bank accounts belonging to Obiang and his family worth hundreds of millions of dollars after the funds were discovered in American bank accounts.
The IMF and the World Bank have cut Equatorial Guinea off from many aid programs since 1993, because of corruption and mismanagement.
They are no longer eligible for concessional financing because of their newly discovered large oil revenues.
Then they found oil, and now they are your friend.
American oil companies rushed into the small country. According to the Washington Post, the companies formed business ventures with government officials, hired Obiang's companies, and rented property from government officials and their relatives while most of the population remains destitute.
Most of the citizens live on about $1 a day. Three of four residents suffer malnutrition. Sounds like a future model for the United States; big companies and government officials get richer while the number of poor people continues to grow.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Exxon Mobil Corp., Amerada Hess Corp., Marathon Oil Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp., Devon Energy Corp. and CMS Energy Corp., Vanco Energy Co., and last but not least, mr "locked and seriously loaded." Cheney's company Halliburton Company for illegal business practices.
It might sound quaint like the Geneva Convention but under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, it is against the law to bribe foreign officials for obtaining or keeping business.
Coincidentally the enforcers of this law your Justice Department and SEC, could not provide statistics to the Post on the number of oil companies that have been accused of violations. A Justice Department spokesman said no officials wanted to discuss enforcement of the act.
Imagine that.
You criticize other countries about their human rights when it is politically convenient but accept so many of them readily when they are pliable oil-rich dictators.
Anyway you cut it you really boosted President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's image in Africa.
Congratulations, on demoting Rove and firing McClellan. McClellen actually had less credibility that you have.
I did not receive the normal thank you for writing auto-response from the White House.
Condi meets with some pretty unsavory characters these days. Take Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for instance.
Is she setting up another extraordinary rendition camp in Equatorial Guinean? Because she is talking to the right guy for that. Their oil makes them very likable, and it speaks volumes about our foreign policy with dictators.
"Good morning. Welcome. I'm very pleased to welcome the President of Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang. We will have a full set of discussions about our bilateral relationship, about some innovative social programs that USAID is involved with and about the range of regional issues that we both confront. So thank you very much for your presence here. You are a good friend and we welcome you," Condi said on April 12, 2006.
Obiang executed his uncle and seized power in a 1979 coup. Powell's State Department condemned them regularly for human rights violations, including torture, beatings, abuse and deaths of prisoners and suspects.
He has been called one of the most brutal, most corrupt dictators in the world, a dictator who could be lunatic Kim Jong Il's little brother without the nukes.
Equatorial Guinea is about the size of Maryland and has a population of about 521 000, but government officials receive most of the money from the oil reserves estimated at 1.28-billion barrels.
The US had once frozen bank accounts belonging to Obiang and his family worth hundreds of millions of dollars after the funds were discovered in American bank accounts.
The IMF and the World Bank have cut Equatorial Guinea off from many aid programs since 1993, because of corruption and mismanagement.
They are no longer eligible for concessional financing because of their newly discovered large oil revenues.
Then they found oil, and now they are your friend.
American oil companies rushed into the small country. According to the Washington Post, the companies formed business ventures with government officials, hired Obiang's companies, and rented property from government officials and their relatives while most of the population remains destitute.
Most of the citizens live on about $1 a day. Three of four residents suffer malnutrition. Sounds like a future model for the United States; big companies and government officials get richer while the number of poor people continues to grow.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Exxon Mobil Corp., Amerada Hess Corp., Marathon Oil Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp., Devon Energy Corp. and CMS Energy Corp., Vanco Energy Co., and last but not least, mr "locked and seriously loaded." Cheney's company Halliburton Company for illegal business practices.
It might sound quaint like the Geneva Convention but under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, it is against the law to bribe foreign officials for obtaining or keeping business.
Coincidentally the enforcers of this law your Justice Department and SEC, could not provide statistics to the Post on the number of oil companies that have been accused of violations. A Justice Department spokesman said no officials wanted to discuss enforcement of the act.
Imagine that.
You criticize other countries about their human rights when it is politically convenient but accept so many of them readily when they are pliable oil-rich dictators.
Anyway you cut it you really boosted President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's image in Africa.
Congratulations, on demoting Rove and firing McClellan. McClellen actually had less credibility that you have.
I did not receive the normal thank you for writing auto-response from the White House.