http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHI202C.html

Money to get power, power to protect money

by Larry Chin OnlineJournal 2/1/2002
Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG),  globalresearch.ca,2/21/2002

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Part I: Motto of the Medici family

In portraying Enron as a "scandal," and as an isolated case of overheated capitalism and "unusual political influence," the American corporate media and congressional investigators are studiously avoiding the truth: Enron, like many multinational corporations, has functioned as an operational arm of the US government, and as a weapon of economic, political, and territorial hegemony. The case exposes an almost unspeakable and terminal malignancy at the heart of world politics, and global capitalism itself.

Cold Warriors in Suits

In a "free market world" in which (1) the goals of the state, corporations, and the national security apparatus (intelligence agencies and military) are indistinguishable, (2) these three groups plan and conduct operations cooperatively, and (3) government and business elites (linked by longtime social ties) move seamlessly between public and private sectors, the hydra that is Enron is nightmarishly uncontroversial -and quintessentially American.

Enron CEO Kenneth Lay was a Pentagon official during the Vietnam War. Another Enron board member who facilitated Enron's most egregious violations overseas, Frank Wisner, Jr., has intimate CIA ties and is the son of former CIA Deputy Director Frank Wisner, Sr., who was present at the creation of the CIA.

Enron's symbiotic relationship to the CIA/Pentagon-based Bush/Cheney oligarchy is well documented. As a pioneer of energy deregulation during his administration, George H.W. Bush virtually created Enron, and paved the way for its meteoric growth. And, as David Walsh (www.wsws.org) wrote, "to speak of "connections" or "intimate ties" between Enron and the Bush regime nearly misses the point. To a large extent, the present administration is an extension of the Enron board of directors. This government, one might say, is Enron in office, not simply because numerous Bush cabinet members and other appointees (and other leading Republicans) have been employed in one capacity or another by Enron, but more profoundly in the sense that the social types found in Enron's boardroom and in leading government posts in Washington are interchangeable."

As a corporate agent and beneficiary of US and western military and intelligence operations, Enron is also no more an aberration than the United Fruit and Standard Fruit companies, whose dominance of Central America during the 1960s depended on cooperative operations with the CIA, the Pentagon and organized crime.

More modern examples abound.

American International Group, the insurance giant, has long been tied to the CIA and the military, and its board (not coincidentally) also includes Enron director Frank Wisner Jr.

Citigroup over the years has been repeatedly charged with money laundering. Citigroup's board includes John Deutch, former CIA Director, Robert Rubin, former Treasury secretary and intimate friend to Ken Lay (who personally and financially intervened to bail out the collapsing Enron), and retired Executive Director of the CIA Nora Slatkin.

Then there is Enron's corporate cousin, Halliburton, which was headed by Dick Cheney from 1995 until he became vice president. The company provides "support services" to the military and oil industries, living off of US wars and "counter-insurgency" operations in Algeria, Angola, Bosnia, Burma, Croatia, Haiti, Kuwait, Nigeria, Russia, Rwanda, and Somalia and elsewhere.

Corporate quasi-agents like Enron are effective fronts in implementing the policies of the ruling elite. Among the goals are (1) securing and controlling of natural resources (oil, natural gas, electricity), (2) maintaining economic, geopolitical, and military advantage, and (3) controlling populations through the stifling of dissent, the elimination of political opposition, and the destruction of democratic reform movements.

Seen within this broad framework, Enron's activities are not only inherent manifestations of the ruling order, but official policy.

Enron at Home: Extortion and Racketeering for Bush and Gang

While media coverage and congressional inquiries have dwelled on the fraud, accounting irregularities, swindled mutual fund managers and stock jockeys, and ripped off pension fund owners, the most sinister aspects of Enron's operations remain cloaked.

Through manipulation of energy distribution, Enron was effective in subverting and controlling the politics and pocketbooks of entire populations within the US and overseas.

One of Enron's first acts on behalf of the present Bush administration was the manipulation of the California energy grid, which essentially blackmailed the state. California is a Democratic stronghold and "hotbed of liberal dissent" that opposed the installation of George W. Bush in the White House. California's once burgeoning economy was derailed, and its damaged Democratic political leadership was sent scrambling into months of damage control. So emasculated were the Democrats that they were unable to oppose Bush on the rest of his extreme right wing agenda. This delighted Bush and Cheney, who (on Ken Lay's advice) not only refused to assist, but also blamed California for "its own failures" and blocked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commision (FERC) from intervening. Enron made a fortune.

Today, California remains a hostage to the Enron/Bush scam, locked into expensive long-term energy contracts that will sap its resources and fleece consumers for years to come. Democrats throughout the state appear vulnerable to losing seats to Republicans in 2002.

As reported by David Lazarus in the San Francisco Chronicle (1/30/02), memos of conversations between Lay and Dick Cheney provide ample evidence of Lay's insider status in the Bush White House: he essentially dictated the administration's ruthless response to California -and perhaps the rest of the energy policy.

The California "energy shortage" became George Bush's national rallying cry for more deregulation, drilling, building new power plants and systematically gutting environmental regulations. The Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and other protected lands, and the California coast, have been targeted for drilling.

There is evidence that the California "crisis" was entirely manufactured. Several investigations into the scam have begun.

Not content simply to deregulate energy markets, Enron deregulated futures markets, making itself exempt from government oversight and from fraud laws. This maneuver, headed by Wendy Gramm (who moved back and forth between the Chicago Board of Trade and the Enron board) and assisted by Phil Gramm (who pushed Enron-friendly changes in legislation in Congress), was tantamount to the company giving itself permission to launder massive amounts of money. Which it did.

Enron, Bush administration officials and Enron-funded right-wing "think tanks" such as the American Enterprise Institute, the American Council for Capital Formation (where Ken Lay is a director), the Institute for Policy Innovation (founded by Dick Armey) collaborated to lift restrictions on offshore tax havens. This blocked a multi-year 30-nation crackdown on the abuse of offshore tax havens led by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

Today, thanks to Enron, billions of dollars of mystery money are sheltered in thousands of phantom offshore accounts, in 874 Enron subsidiaries.

Enron's Past Overseas Adventures: Collusion and Exploitation

Where there has been warfare (led or funded by the US), there have been capitalists ready to profit from it, regardless of the cost in human lives. Where there is oppression, corporations are there to cut deals with dictators and corrupt finance ministers. Enron was a master at this game, working alongside operatives of the Bush and Clinton administrations.

a.. In 1988, George W. Bush pressured Argentina's public works minister to award Enron a contract to build a natural gas pipeline by invoking the name of his father, president George H.W. Bush. The contract was eventually awarded to Enron when Carlos Menem, a friend of the Bush family, became president.

b.. Operation Desert Storm secured the Iraqi oil field of Rumaila for western interests, expanding the boundaries of Kuwait, doubling Kuwaiti oil output for American and British oil companies. In 1993, with James Baker, Robert Mosbacher and former operations director of the Joint Chiefs Thomas Kelly on the Enron payroll, the three former Bush administration officials, along with George H.W., Neil and Marvin Bush pressured Kuwaiti officials to award Enron a contract to rebuild the Shuaiba power plant, which was destroyed during the war. The contract was awarded to Enron, even though Enron's price for supplying power was significantly higher than that of other bidders.

c.. Enron hired former US Ambassador to India Frank Wisner, who subsequently used CIA influence to help Enron win a $2.8 billion contract for the Dabhol power plant, the biggest international investment since India opened its economy in 1991. When thousands of local residents, including acclaimed journalist Arundhati Roy, protested the plant, Enron hired Indian police to beat and arrest opponents of the project. A detailed Human Rights Watch analysis of the human rights violations of Enron and the US government can be found at www.hrw.org/reports/1999/enron/enron9-0.htm .

d.. According to Enron's web site, as of January 2002, the company is in the early stages of developing a natural gas pipeline on India's west coast in Maharashtra.

e.. In 2001, as vice president, Dick Cheney spoke to Indian government officials about the Dabhol project. His justification: the plant was financed in part through the US government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

f.. According to an investigative series on the notes of the late Ron Brown by WorldNetDaily.com, Enron became a major contributor to the Democratic National Committee (after the heavily Enron-financed George H.W. Bush re-election effort failed in 1992). Members of the Clinton administration, particularly Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, routinely negotiated deals for Enron and other big donors.

g.. In 1994, Brown participated in a US business trade mission in Indonesia. Documents obtained using the Freedom of Information Act shows that Brown assisted Indonesian dictator Suharto and his son in a kickback scheme involving US tax money and the construction of the Paiton Power Plant. Enron was awarded a contract. This project was funded in part by the Export-Import Bank (EXIM), which also financed $4 billion in gas deals for Enron. EXIM has ties to Robert Rubin, a longtime friend of Kenneth Lay and Enron from his Goldman Sachs days.

h.. Also in part from generous DNC contributions, Enron received Clinton administration help in the marketing of Russian gas in Europe. Ken Lay and Boris Brevnov of Unified Electricity Systems of Russia signed a 10-year strategic alliance during the 1998 World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland. The press release quotes Lay: "We are very optimistic that the rapidly liberalizing markets in Russia, Europe, and Central Asia will create new electricity trading and marketing opportunities for both our companies."

i.. When Frank Wisner was the US Ambassador to the Philippines (1991-92), Enron was negotiating to manage the two Subic Bay power plants. Wisner helped Enron win the deal and began to manage the plant in January 1993. The plants cost the Philippine National Power Corporation (NPC) eight cents a kilowatt-hour -20 percent more than NPC charged customers. The entire NPC board resigned in protest.

j.. In 1995, Enron signed an agreement to build a gas pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa, to develop a gas field in southern Mozambique. Anthony Lake, president Bill Clinton's National Security Advisor, and the US Agency for International Development pressured the Mozambican government to sign with Enron.

Part II: Enron, the Bush administration, and the Central Asian war  

Most experts agree that the Caspian Basin and Central Asia are the keys to energy in the 21st century. Said energy expert James Dorian (Oil & Gas Journal, 9/10/01), "Those who control the oil routes out of Central Asia will impact all future direction and quantities of flow and the distribution of revenues from new production."

America wants the region under total US domination

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The Caspian Basin has an estimated $5 trillion of oil and gas resources, and Central Asia has 6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 10 billion barrels of undeveloped oil reserves. Interconnecting pipelines are the key to accessing and distributing oil and gas to European, Chinese and Russian markets.

Policy planners have devoted years to this agenda. A report published in September 2001 detailing a conference held at the Brookings Institution in May 2001 provides clear evidence that the exploitation of Caspian Basin and Asian energy markets was an urgent priority for the Bush administration, and the centerpiece of its energy policy.

The report states that "the administration's report warned that 'growth in international oil demand will exert increasing pressure on global oil availability' and that developing Asian economies and populations—particularly in China and India—-will be major contributors to this increased demand" and that "options for constructing gas pipelines east to Asia from the Caspian have been discussed for the last decade."

For years, Enron (along with Unocal, BP Amoco, Exxon, Mobil, Pennzoil, Atlantic Richfield, Chevron, Texaco, and other oil companies) has been involved in a multi-billion dollar frenzy to extract the reserves of the three former Soviet republics, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.

According to Project Underground (11/7/99), former Soviet, KGB and Politburo members are profiting from oil riches, along with "a formidable array of former top Western Cold Warriors, drawn principally from the cabinet of George [H.W.] Bush." The dealmakers include James Baker, Dick Cheney, Brent Scowcroft, and John Sununu. Also cashing in on the deals are former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen (close friend of Ken Lay and longtime recipient of Enron funding) and Zbigniew Brezezinski.

Brezezinski, a leading member of the Council on Foreign Relations and arguably the most influential policy planner in the world, spearheaded the American effort to destabilize the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1970s. He is a consultant to BP Amoco. His recent book, "The Grand Chessboard" is a virtual blue print for a war and balkanization of Central Asia.

According to Alexander's Oil & Gas Connections (10/12/98), Enron signed a contract in 1996, giving it rights to explore 11 gas fields in Uzbekistan, a project costing $1.3 billion. The goal was to sell gas to the Russian markets, and link to Unocal's southern export pipeline crossing Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Turkmenistan (where Enron's project was based) and Azerbaijan are closely allied with Israeli military intelligence. Yosef Maiman, a former Israeli intelligence agent, is the official negotiator for energy development projects in Turkmenistan.

Enron recently conducted feasibility studies for a $2.5 billion trans-Caspian gas pipeline to be built jointly with General Electric and Bechtel. Enron's goal was to link this pipeline to another line through Afghanistan.

As described in many accounts, notably the recently published "Osama Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth" by Jean Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasique, a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) consortium led by Unocal had plans for a 1,005 mile oil pipeline and a 918 mile natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. This project stalled because of the political instability in Afghanistan.

In August 2001, George W. Bush revived negotiations with the Taliban.

Writer William Rivers Pitt notes that, "intense scrutiny has shaken loose two e-mails sent by Enron's Ken Lay to his employees in August of last year. In them, Lay waxes optimistic about the strength and stability of his company, and exhorts his employees to buy into the company's stock program."

Pitt believes that, "while many observers view this as the gasping lies of a drowning criminal," Lay's messages must be considered in light of the timing: His last e-mail was sent on August 27, about the same time as the final Taliban meeting with the Bush administration. Was Kenneth Lay anticipating a piece of a new pipeline deal, and an Enron contract, courtesy of George W. Bush?

After the Taliban refused the Bush administration's "carpet of gold," America dropped its "carpet of bombs" on Afghanistan, allegedly in retaliation for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Was Ken Lay also anticipating a war, and a way to profit from it?

Former Unocal lobbyist Hamid Karzai now heads a bombed and gutted Afghanistan. Bush's US envoy is Zalmay Khalizad, another former Unocal representative, who helped draw up the plans for the original CentGas pipeline.

The US has established four new permanent military bases, throughout the region, including a new one in Afghanistan. Recently, Uzbekistan, hosted dozens of members of the US House of Representatives and the Senate. The region will remain a zone of perpetual violence and conflict, and plunder.

If Enron had not made the mistake of collapsing, Kenneth Lay and his team would be in the thick of it.

Enron, Halliburton, Bush . . . bin Laden?

At the web site Rumor Mill News (www.RumorMillNews.com), a journalist named "Phoenix" has laid out business links that tie Enron to the bin Laden family. These connections, which have been independently verified by Michael Ruppert (www.copvcia.com), play out as follows:

1. Osama bin Laden's family business, the Saudi Binladin Group, is a major construction company. Saudi Binladin Group was an investor in the Carlyle Group. Carlyle's directors include George H.W. Bush, and James Baker. George W. Bush's firm Arbusto Energy was funded by an investment from Texas investment banker James Bath, who was also the investment counselor for the bin Laden family. Bath had connections to the CIA, and was involved with the Iran-Contra, savings and loan, and BCCI scandals.

2. One of Saudi Binladen's joint venture partners is H.C. Price Company.

3. H.C. Price is a major builder of pipelines, and is involved in large projects, including two projects for Enron: the Florida Gas Pipeline and the Northern Border Pipeline running from the US/Canadian border from Montana to Illinois.

4. In 1996, Dresser Industries and Shaw Industries merged their pipecoating businesses to form Bredaro-Shaw Group. H.C. Price became part of Bredaro-Shaw.

5. Halliburton acquired Dresser in 1998. George H.W. Bush's father, Prescott, was the managing director of Brown Brothers Harriman, which previously owned Dresser. Dresser Industries gave George H.W. Bush his first job in 1948.

6. Dick Cheney orchestrated the Dresser and Bredaro-Shaw acquisitions.

7. Both Halliburton, and its subsidiary Brown & Root, have deep ties to the CIA and the military. The company has been involved in US military conflicts in Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Chechnya, Pakistan, Colombia and Rwanda. Brown & Root builds oil rigs, pipelines, wells, and nuclear reactors.

It does not appear to be a simple case of coincidence that Saudi Binladin, a long time business partner with the Bush family, also has a partnership with a Dick Cheney-affiliated Halliburton that works with Enron.

The cover-up begins

In their book The Outlaw Bank, Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne wrote of BCCI, "It was a conspiratorialist's conspiracy, a plot so byzantine, so thoroughly corrupt, so exquisitely private, reaching so deeply into the political and intelligence establishments of so many countries, that it seemed to have its only precedent in the more hallucinogenic fiction of Ian Fleming, Kurt Vonnegut or Thomas Pynchon. As tales of its global predations were splattered across headlines all over the world, its apparent influence reached almost absurd proportions."

The scope of Enron's influence has reached well into the absurd, if not beyond. And there are many more Enrons out there, waiting to be blow open.

In describing the system that breeds Enrons, professor Michel Chossudovsky of the University of Ottawa (CovertAction, Fall 1996) wrote:

"Global crime has become an integral part of an economic system, with far reaching social, economic and geopolitical ramifications . . . the relationship among criminals, politicians, and members of the intelligence establishment has tainted the structures of the state and the role of its institutions . . . this system of global trade and finance has fostered an unprecedented accumulation of private wealth alongside the impoverishment of large sectors of the world population, and the prospects for change are dim. Meanwhile, the international community turns a blind eye until some scandal momentarily breaks through the gilded surface."

In light of congressional "investigations" headed exclusively by committee chairmen who have received Enron monies, weeks of FBI foot-dragging, continued White House secrecy, no independent counsel, and media complicity in White House damage control efforts, the Enron trail has already begun to grow cold.

The American corporate media has done its best to look the other way. This is no surprise, since Enron dumped handsome sums into the pockets of media moguls, and conservative journalists such as Lawrence Kudlow, Peggy Noonan, William Kristol and others.

Cronies and cohorts are meeting. Patsies and fall guys have been designated. Lies are being fabricated. Fifth Amendment mantras will be repeated.

As was the case with Watergate, BCCI, Iran-Contra, and the savings and loan scandals, it is not too cynical to expect the Enron hearings to expose only enough malfeasance to silence the public, while leaving the massive system intact. The masterminds and the largest beneficiaries are about to slip into the shadows.

The American empire is built on a thousand Enrons. It will exhaust every means to avoid implicating itself, even as it drowns in the cesspool of its own creation, dragging thousands of innocent people down with it.

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Copyright  Larry Chin.  2002. Reprinted for fair use only. Larry Chin was  a freelance journalist and an Online Journal Contributing Editor.