Leslie
07-14-2008, 09:19 AM
It's a pretty interesting story, seems some lobbyists are pimping out the current administration. Here's an excerpt:
“Who does he want to meet with in Washington?” asked the American. Dos replied: “Well of course, maybe the president of the United States, vice-president Cheney, to speak maybe directly to explain the situation in central Asia . . . To give his side of the story. These kind of things.”
“I think that some things could be done,” said Payne, adding that seeing Bush himself might be more difficult. With barely a pause, he continued:
“I think that the family, children, whatever [of Akayev], should probably look at making a contribution to the Bush library.
“It would be like, maybe a couple of hundred thousand dollars, or something like that, not a huge amount but enough to show that they’re serious.”
His mention of George W Bush’s proposed new library was significant. The privately funded facility, properly named the George W Bush Presidential Center, will be built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and act as the president’s lasting legacy.
Establishing private libraries, which act as archives for presidential papers and are often incorporated with museums, is common practice for outgoing US heads of state.
However, the source of their funding has proved highly controversial, since, unlike US political campaigns, they are allowed to accept foreign donations. Suspicions of payments being made with strings attached have long circulated. Bush’s library had until now escaped such criticism.
What Payne did not know was that the third person at the Lanesborough meeting last Monday was an undercover Sunday Times reporter. Nor did he know that the meeting was being recorded.
Video (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4322719.ece)
“Who does he want to meet with in Washington?” asked the American. Dos replied: “Well of course, maybe the president of the United States, vice-president Cheney, to speak maybe directly to explain the situation in central Asia . . . To give his side of the story. These kind of things.”
“I think that some things could be done,” said Payne, adding that seeing Bush himself might be more difficult. With barely a pause, he continued:
“I think that the family, children, whatever [of Akayev], should probably look at making a contribution to the Bush library.
“It would be like, maybe a couple of hundred thousand dollars, or something like that, not a huge amount but enough to show that they’re serious.”
His mention of George W Bush’s proposed new library was significant. The privately funded facility, properly named the George W Bush Presidential Center, will be built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and act as the president’s lasting legacy.
Establishing private libraries, which act as archives for presidential papers and are often incorporated with museums, is common practice for outgoing US heads of state.
However, the source of their funding has proved highly controversial, since, unlike US political campaigns, they are allowed to accept foreign donations. Suspicions of payments being made with strings attached have long circulated. Bush’s library had until now escaped such criticism.
What Payne did not know was that the third person at the Lanesborough meeting last Monday was an undercover Sunday Times reporter. Nor did he know that the meeting was being recorded.
Video (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4322719.ece)