The triangular trade in early American history involved slaves picked up from the African coast, transported to the Caribbean to be exchanged for sugar, and the sugar then transported to the American colonies to be exchanged for rum. The triangular trade in modern times involves the exchange of some third world raw material (oil, gold) or agricultural product derivative (coca processed into cocaine, or opium processed into heroin), for first world armaments and high technology, facilitated by cash or a cash-like intermediary which is laundered through banking or financial institutions. Does the current Whitewater investigation simply involve a turf war, a battle for market share, in the modern triangular trade? Does one component of this war consist of a feud between families, reminiscent of the Hatfields and the McCoys? Think of the parallels between Arkansas and Pittsburgh. A. Bill Clinton, with the financial backing of Don Lasater and Jackson Stephens, ran Little Rock like a Mafia don.Finally, consider the case of Jim Norman, Senior editor at Forbes whose article Fostergate, about the Vince Foster case, was killed by Steve Forbes, through the influence of Caspar Weinberger, Publisher Emeritus, whose ex-company Bechtel Corporation got the contract to build the PC2 petrochemical complex south of Baghdad, which is the center of Iraq's chemical weapons program. Jim Norman kept his job, however, and was permitted to publish the article elsewhere. It appeared in the August 1995 issue of Media Bypass Magazine. Caspar Weinberger is one thing. Messing with Mellon Bank is another. Jim Norman now faces the Hobbesian choice of losing his job or taking a leave of absence (with no return guarantees). His sins? He sent a letter to Mellon Bank and a memo to his editor Jim Michaels. First the letter to Mellon Bank. "12 August 1995 "Margaret Kirsch Cohen "Dear Margaret: "It has been brought to my attention that on July 16, 1993, four days before the death of White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster, his sister and Justice Dept. Assistant U.S. Attorney, Sheila Anthony, effected a wire transfer from a branch or affiliate of Mellon Bank in the amount of $286,000 'and change' to her sister-in-law, Lisa (Elizabeth Braden) Foster. "I would like to request the following information. "From what account were these funds paid? If these funds came from Ms. Anthony's own account, when and from where did they originate? Who had signatory authority over these accounts? Was a trust account involved? If so, who are the beneficiaries and who is the trust officer? Who at Mellon Bank authorized this transfer? . . . "Thank you for your prompt response, by letter and fax to 212-620-1873. "Respectfully yours, "James R. Norman "cc: Rep. James Leach Rep. William F. Clinger, Rep. Newt Gingrich, James Hamilton, attorney" This letter is said to have generated numerous phone calls to Steve Forbes. Now the memo, which led to the choice of unemployment or an unpaid leave of absence. "16 August 1995 "to: Jim Michaels "Jim: ". . . I feel like I should update you on some developments that are steadily corroborating key elements of the [Vince Foster] story. Indeed, since the article has run in a little magazine called Media Bypass, the story has taken on 'legs' and is about to get significant attention. I'd still urge Forbes to take advantage of its lead and print the story. Here's why: "1.) Since Forbes decision not to print Fostergate, solid evidence has emerged from credit card and airline frequent flier records that VWF was making periodic one-day trips to Switzerland. This has been reported in the London Sunday Telegraph. "2.) A staffer on Jim Leach's House Banking Committee has confirmed, on tape, that VWF had a Swiss bank account. "3.) Foster's former executive assistant, Deborah Gorham, has testified under oath in a private deposition that Foster had her put two inch-thick NSA binders in Bernie Nussbaum's safe. This establishes beyond a doubt that Foster had access to sensitive NSA documents. In fact, my sources say one of the binders contained presidential authentication codes required to authorize the use of nuclear weapons or other significant military action. A copy of her sworn statement is attached. Foster was not on the routing list for such sensitive documents, did not have a high enough security clearance for them, and must have gotten them from someone in or close to the oval office. "4.) Gorham has also told investigators for Kenneth Starr that on the day before he died, Foster received a document related to Systematics. That document disappeared from his office after his death. This is from a very credible source close to Starr's investigation, corroborated by other sources. "5.) Systematics was clearly part of a massive illicit money laundering operation, according to a report being prepared for Leach's committee (A copy of the preliminary introduction is attached) "6.) Although Systematics attempted to prevent the publication of Fostergate in Media Bypass, the company (Alltel) has not even bothered to demand a retraction of anything published in the story. Indeed, I have been told by at least four sources that senior officials of the company are now hiring criminal legal defense attorneys, and that Alltel itself is quietly up for sale. The WSJ has offered to help pick up Media Bypass' legal tab if they are sued (which is unlikely). "7.) Rep. Bob Dornan, head of the House Intelligence Committee, says he plans to read Fostergate into the congressional record. I'm doing 2-3 hours a night of talk-radio interviews. This stuff is hot on the Internet. "8.) If you have any doubts about the ability of the CIA's Fifth Column to raid foreign bank accounts and withdraw funds, just ask Caspar Weinberger. Having obtained an encrypted code (KPFBMMBODB) for an unknown Swiss account, I gave it to [name omitted], who either gave it to one of his colleagues or personally decrypted the number and hacked his way into the account at Union Bank of Switzerland in Berne. They removed $2.3 million, and then left a note with the decrypted account number in the account holder's mailbox in Maine. It was Cap's. The total take from his various Swiss accounts, I'm told is in 'eight digits.' "The source of this account number was the trunk of arms/drug smuggler Barry Seal's car. A copy of documents from a suitcase in that trunk is attached. The clear implication is that Caspar Weinberger, while Sec. of Defense, was taking kickbacks on drug and arms sales. "A co-signatory on this account appears to be connected with (a relative of) Howard Metzenbaum, the retired senator from Ohio. We are talking about by-partisan payola. Which helps explain why Congress is so squeamish about investigating this stuff. "HOWEVER: Newt Gingrich has now ordered Rep. Clinger, head of the House oversight committee, to conduct hearings into the death of Vince Foster. Gingrich has publicly stated that to believe Foster died of a simple suicide as officially stated requires 'gullibility to the point of stupidity.' . . . "Pouring gasoline on this fire is the revelation over the past weekend that Lisa Foster, Vince's wife, received a mysterious $286,000-plus payment, which came through Foster's sister Sheila Anthony, an Assistant Attorney General at the time, just four days before Foster's death. This clearly smacks of a hush-money payment. And apparently Foster wouldn't take the bait, despite being forced into a tight financial bind from the loss of his Swiss funds and probably from picking up the tab on all sorts of incidental Clinton campaign expenses. Faced with the likelihood he would be the fall guy for Hillary's sale of high-level nuclear code secrets to the Israelis (through Foster), he apparently threatened to dump the whole mess in Bill Clinton's lap at a one-on-one meeting set for Wednesday morning, July 21, 1993. But Foster never lived that long. . . . "Jim, we are sitting on the most important story of the past 50 years. And one way or another, it's going to come out in a massive way. I wish Forbes would stand up and do its journalistic duty, no matter what bogus claims of national security may be invoked. This is corruption of the highest order. "I have read in the Baltimore Sun that your official explanation for not running the story was concern over some of my sources. That was a legitimate concern in the early stages of this effort, and I shared that concern. But as time has passed and corroboration mounts, you cannot continue to use that excuse. As I said when I first delivered this story: Forbes has become a little bit pregnant. Either it is going to birth this troublesome baby or it is going to have one hellovan abortion on its hands. The questions as to why Forbes has refused to run this story are going to mount and mount, and I have no effective answer. It is getting harder and harder to bite my tongue and refrain from disclosing the real reason this story was killed, as revealed by a certain high level official with the company: that it was Cap's doing. Frankly, it is the only plausible reason I've heard so far, and a disheartening one. This enterprise has come face-to-face with a crucial ethical problem. How it handles it will reflect for a long time not just on Forbes Magazine, but also on the man whose name is on the cover. "I sincerely urge you to reconsider and to do what is right. "Jim Norman x215" In conclusion, I have just one question for Mr. Jim Michaels: Mr. Michaels: Do you really think burying this story does credit to a former member of Wild Bill Donovan's Office of Strategic Services (OSS)? I think you have one hell of an abortion on your hands.
|
