http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/2/28/193656/344
So, security concerns aside (should security be taking a back seat here, really?), there are some really questionable dealings going on. It's not surprising that Cheney wants to bring more opacity to executive branch dealings - many of their dealings are marginal at very best.Controversy surrounding the DP World deal has been framed as us versus them but the money trail tells a different story and leads to the one person not concerned about national security: George W. Bush. Despite claiming to have no prior knowledge of the deal, it stands to reason that as major shareholders in the Carlyle Group, the Bush family must have been aware of the impact this deal would have on one of its major investments - a company called CSX Transportation. DP World owns the $1.5 billion freight terminal division of CSX Transportation, operator of the largest rail system in the Eastern USA, and there are at least two important connections between CSX and the Bush family:
* The former chairman and CEO of CSX Transportation is John W. Snow. Snow was appointed in 2003 to be Secretary of the United States Treasury by George W. Bush. In his role, Snow is also the chair of CFIUS, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the body that oversees large transactions in the USA involving foreign companies to ensure they are not national security threats. This would appear to be a major conflict of interest since Snow no doubt stands to reap significant stock gains as a result of the deal. Yet Snow did not recuse himself from the review process and his committee approved the DP World deal on January 17, after conducting an abbreviated 30-day review instead of the 45-day investigation required by law. Little difference, it seems, the additional 15 days would likely have made.
* The global investment firm Carlyle Group owns a majority interest in CSX Lines domestic container shipping. Carlyle Group made a name for itself by working behind the scenes, influencing global events to serve the needs of their elite investors. Their reach extends into aerospace, telecommunications, defense contracting, Iraq rebuilding and foreign policy. Executives and shareholders in Carlyle, a $13.5 billion company with offices just spitting distance from the White House, include former president George H. W. Bush, former British Prime Minister John Major, Colin Powell and former State and Treasury Secretary James Baker. Carlyle also boasts ties to another important family: the bin Ladens. According to a Wall Street Journal article from 2001:
"A Carlyle executive said the bin Laden family committed $2 million through a London investment arm in Carlyle Partners II Fund, which raised $ 1.3 billion overall. ... So far, the family received $1.3 million back in completed investments and should ultimately realize a 40% annualized rate of return, the Carlyle executive said. ... But a foreign financier with ties to the bin Laden family says the family's overall investment with Carlyle is considerably larger. He called the $2 million merely an initial contribution. "It's like plowing a field," this person said. "You seed it once. You plow it, and then you reseed it again.""
