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Fri 2 May, 2003 01:37 pm
Here's an interesting-sounding book by a business writer, published less than a month ago. Have you had a chance to read it?
The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group, by Dan Briody
Quote:
From the inside flap -- quoted on Amazon's website:
To the outside observer, the Carlyle Group-one of the largest private equity firms in the world-may seem like just another company trying to maneuver its way through the complex world of finance and investing. But there is more to this organization than meets the eye. With $14 billion under management, an employee roster that reads like a who's who from the worlds of business and politics, and hundreds of defense, aerospace, telecom, and healthcare companies in its portfolio, the Carlyle Group operates within a powerful and profitable world known as the iron triangle-a place where industry, government, and the military converge.
But, for the Carlyle Group, doing business at the murky intersection of Washington politics, national security, and private capital has come at a price. According to some, the Carlyle Group is a company that epitomizes corporate cronyism, conflicts of interest, and war profiteering-and they may be right.
In The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group, award-winning business journalist Dan Briody closely examines the dealings of this group and explores the high-powered individuals who make up a company which is enigmatically self-described as "a vast interlocking global network." You'll go inside the Carlyle Group and watch how deals are made and governments swayed to accept the Carlyle way. And you'll learn how questions abound when you're playing for keeps.
Witness how the Carlyle Group:
· Profited from the September 11th terrorist attacks and continues to profit from the ongoing war on terrorism
· Pried open the wallets of Saudi Arabia and South Korea through the whirlwind business trips of former President George Bush
· Liquidated holdings from the estranged family of Osama bin Laden only after news reports revealed the company's association with the family
· Went into overdrive to save the outdated Crusader howitzer which was being built by United Defense-a Carlyle company
· Was born through the Great Eskimo Tax Scam-a tax loophole used by cofounders Stephen Norris and David Rubenstein that has since been sewn up
· Found what would become their identity-defense contracting-with the help of former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci
Full of clandestine meetings, quid pro quo deals, bitter ironies, and petty jealousies, The Iron Triangle is a penetrating investigation that will lead you into a world that few could ever imagine.
About the Author
DAN BRIODY is an award-winning business journalist who has written for Forbes, Wired, Red Herring, and the Industry Standard. Briody is credited with breaking the story on the Carlyle Group. Since Red Herring published his article "Carlyle's Way," Briody has appeared on numerous radio and television programs to discuss the Carlyle Group and has become a primary source for other journalists covering this story.
Here's what one reviewer says: "If a Ludlum novel had a CIA hitman, the father of the president and the world's biggest terrorist's brother sitting down together at a company meeting while the Trade Center was being bombed; and then went on to disclose that the company had invested in companies that specialize in anthrax clean-up, airport security devices, and defense equiptment - it would be considered far fetched. This brave book says it is real. It is Bush, Baker, Carlucci, Levitt and bin-Laden in the scariest book in print."
Wow! It's something a novelist would love to have dreamed up and written about. Who
are these people, one wonders?
I heard about this book for the first time today on "conspiracy radio," assumed it was a pot-boiler, but it turns out to be legit. We all know Carlyle is there. For example, today Bush II went to a defense company to talk about "jobs." The company chosen was UDI. UDI is a Carlyle company. But what grabbed me (and made me go looking for the book-- and finding it's legit) was something new that I hadn't heard and it worried me: Carlyle is gradually brokering a takeover of the media.
Am hoping someone here will have read the book and can clue us in...
If Carlyle tries to take over the media, they'll have Murdoch to contend with. No small task!
From what I heard, they're buds. Here's a quick 'n' easy - an online interview (audio) with the author, Dan Briody...
http://www.webactive.com/webactive/pacifica/demnow/
Oh, jeez. Murdoch and the Carlyle Group are one big happy family? That IS scary!
Heard about this on 'conspiracy radio' myself, haven't had a chance to read the book....but plan to...
I don't know, D'art -- just what I heard on the radio. Needs confirmation. Which media and how and with whom. I'm listening right now to the interview.
"They buy into heavily regulated industries and then use their political clout to deregulate..."
Michael Eisner, Disney.
Colin Powell.
George Soros.
Biggest presidential conflict of interest -- in history? Bush I working for the defense industry while Bush II is in office and at war.
I've been seeing things about these people a long time. I for one do not believe they are good for America in the present unregulated state.
Okay - here's one. In New York City, Fox (owned by Murdoch, who has both Foxnews on cable and on broadcast tv, and also owns the New York Post (a daily paper), was granted a license a while ago to own still more of the media in the area. This despite the fact that there are apparently some rules and regulations about how many and how big one can claim ownership for. And the chairman of the FCC? Michael Powell, sone of Colin.
Now, could this be a club they hold over Powell's head? His son's job (Michael is not considered to be that good in his job)? Or does he hold it? He's not part of the Carlyle Group, but something strange is going on with him and the Bush administration.
There are some who think the Carlyle group will eventually collapse under its own weight, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Sounds like some interesting reading.
Here's the link to the Red Herring article from which the book was developed:
http://www.redherring.com/vc/2002/0111/947.html
Here's where Colin Powell's son, head of the FCC, is facilitating Carlyle's media takeover:
Quote:[...] Frank Washington, the CEO of System Integrators Inc. until the Sacramento newspaper-software company was sold in June 2000, heads a new company these days called Moon Shot Communications. And his new goal is to make a lot of money in the next several years by buying TV stations across the country, waiting for their value to increase, and then selling them to the highest bidders.
Washington believes the stations will command higher prices if the Federal Communications Commission loosens rules limiting the number of broadcast TV stations a media company can own in the same market -- a change he expects to happen over the next few years.
The change would uncork a consolidation-driven buying frenzy like the one that began in radio 10 years ago. By buying now and selling later, Moon Shot would try to pocket some fat capital gains.
Washington and four partners are working with investors and the Carlyle Group of Washington, D.C., a major private-equity firm, to line up stations they might buy. They figure they can assemble groups of TV stations for good deals now, by purchasing TV stations owned mostly by small companies outside large U.S. markets. Washington counts on the sellers not seeing the same potential in their properties that he does.
The potential buyers once the rule changes, he says, include radio, cable, newspaper and other media companies.
Eventually, he predicts, a handful of companies will probably own all the TV stations across the country. [...]
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2001/11/26/newscolumn1.html
I would suggest that if anyone believes in the power of prayer, now is a good time. There is a blueprint for domination, scoffed at by many who make accusations of "conspiracy" like it is a made-up word. I keep coming back to the PNAC (that's their website), this new and good book about the Carlyle Group, Bechtel...and all the people involved. The same circle of friends appears in all, and the names are not new; they are the same.
What I pray for may not be the most charitable thing in the world, but I believe it is one of the most practical.
On a very slightly brighter side, things don't always go to plan. Clinton got in despite all those armies arrayed against him, and then he stayed in. The situation in Iraq is going to pot, and it's beginning to look like they won't be able to piece it together. The group itself is beginning to fray, and Iraq is a good place to see it. Garner, Rumsfeld's man, against Bremer, State's man are having an obvious bout, while nothing gets done and the Iraqis themselves are slowly regaining their country. Meanwile, the American army in Iraq, is doing very little to get themselves accepted there, which will eventually tarnish the fearless leader's reputation.
When these guys go, as they surely will, who will replace them? Everything I read about them indicates such a closely knit society. They are highly suspicious of outsiders, and let no one in. And, if the Iraqi war is any indication, occasionally their planning is so short-sighted they defeat themselves.
There is an old saying - common to many people and many languages -- man proposes, god disposes.
In other words, Tartarin, while I agree with you on all of this, I know that nothing lasts forever. And these people are getting older (and greedier). Something will happen.
Feeling vengeful, Mama J, I don't want them to just leave (though I'd settle for that), I want them to Pay For Their Sins!!
Actually, having been listening to fringe radio while driving home just now, and being impressed by the tenacity of the "Constitutionalists," I think we'd do well to rake through Congress very thoroughly during the next two elections. I'd like to see a Bush defeat, of course, one which not only brings ignominy to the administration but which plucks from office the worst in Congress. I'd like to see the good ol' Republicans, the ones who have been embarrassed by their party for about eight years, get a fresh deal. There are a number of Dems I like to see disappear. And I'd like to see the products of the Wellstone Foundation efforts getting in. And, if there is a Santa Claus, I'd like to see a large majority of Americans repudiating -- politically and economically -- the huge corporations which have been keeping their dirty guys in office for so long...
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