From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sat Apr 04 2009 - 16:26:30 EST
The Smooth Criminal Transition from Bush/Cheney to Obama
Corrupt new administration deepens and expands systemic criminalization
and war agenda
by Larry Chin
Global Research, April 4, 2009
To sober, clear-eyed observers of history and political deception, the
ascension of Barack Obama held the promise for unprecedented new
dangers: a revitalized New World Order, led by the Anglo-American
empire’s neoliberal criminal faction and an iconic, deceptive new
facilitator; and a continuation of Bush/Cheney criminality and war,
under smarter and much more effective management.
Now, just months into their tenure, the Barack Obama administration has
more than fulfilled the promises he made to his elite constituency,
deepening the mass destruction of Bush/Cheney, while charming its
victims all over the world into enjoying their own demise.
The empire’s facilitator
Beneath his seemingly boundless charisma and charm, Barack Obama has
always been an utterly ruthless politician. He has been a compromiser
who has danced with the darkest forces of political and criminal power,
while winning over common people; a consensus-abiding chameleon and a
“pragmatist”. Obama is the true model of what George W. Bush only
claimed to be: “a uniter, not a divider”.
The signs were clear from the early days of the presidential contest
that Obama was, like every presidential candidate, a handpicked puppet.
His cadre of national security and foreign policy advisors included the
most notorious war criminals, intelligence/security “advisors” and
corrupt think tank assets in the world. His campaign was bankrolled by
Wall Street, and big corporations. His policy agenda was taken from the
playbook of the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations and
the Trilateral Commission. Both neoliberal (and neocon) elite power and
money coalesced behind Obama, as his political rivals dropped off.
Obama’s record in the US Senate was one of general complicity with
Bush/Cheney and the status quo, including enthusiastic support of the
consensus "war on terrorism" deception and the big 9/11 lie. Former US
congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has described how, in her encounters with
Obama, the senator from Illinois repeatedly refused to act in opposition
to Bush/Cheney policies. Time again, during his days in the Senate, and
throughout the presidential campaign, Obama has not only fully supported
the Bush/Cheney administration on the Patriot Act, and the wholesale the
militarization and criminalization of the United States.
Immediate destabilization
The naïve, the hopeful and the ignorant have continued to harbor
fantasies about “change”, even as Obama promptly destroyed every single
hope, starting with the composition of his administration. He hand
picked a transition team, and then a cabinet consisting entirely of
legendary war criminals and corrupt elites, each more malodorous and
corrupt than the next. From Iran-Contra participant Robert Gates and war
criminal Richard Holbrooke, to Hillary Clinton and an economic advisory
team comprised of the architects of Wall Street destruction, including
Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, and new Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner.
Under Geithner and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, the Ponzi
scheme that is Wall Street, the wholesale robbery of the American people
begun by Alan Greenspan, Bernanke, and Bush/Cheney Treasury Secretary
Hank Paulson has not only continued unabated, but has metastasized with
each new bailout, and every new fraud orchestrated by Geithner.
While the people on “Main Street” have continued to suffer a new Great
Depression without real assistance from the Obama administration, the
New World Order’s financial coffers continue to fill with stolen US
taxpayer money. No relief for the impoverished, while the administration
“bails out” banks and Wall Street, under such frauds as the "Public
Private Partnership Program". Leaving the wolves in charge of the
financial henhouse, Geithner and the Obama administration authorized
Congress to toss out securities pricing standards on “toxic assets”.
(Also see this op-ed, and the piece by Arthur Leavitt, former head of
the SEC, and the Carlyle Group.) Essentially, the Obama administration
is simply going to let the banks and financial institutions, that
created the crisis with their massive Ponzi schemes, determine how they
wish to price their own “toxic assets”.
This move, not surprisingly, sparked a huge Wall Street rally. Some even
hailed it as the end of the crisis.
A criminal stimulus plan
Obama’s so-called stimulus package is yet another Trojan horse. As
exhaustively and incisively detailed by Michel Chossudovsky in
“America's Fiscal Collapse”:
“This is a ‘War Budget’. The austerity measures hit all major federal
spending programs with the exception of: 1. Defence and the Middle East
War: 2. the Wall Street bank bailout, 3. Interest payments on a
staggering public debt.
“The Obama stimulus program constitutes a continuation of the Bush
administration's bank bailout packages. The proposed policy solution to
the crisis becomes the cause, ultimately resulting in further real
economy bankruptcies and a corresponding collapse of the standard of
living of Americans.
“Both the Bush and Obama bank bailouts are intended to come to the
rescue of troubled financial institutions, to ensure the payment of
‘inter-bank’ debt operations. In practice, large amounts of money
transit through the banking system, from the banks to the hedge funds,
to offshore banking havens and back to the banks.
“What we are dealing with is the fraudulent transfer and confiscation of
lifelong savings and pension funds, the fraudulent appropriation of tax
revenues to finance the bank bailouts, etc. To understand what has
happened: follow the money trail of electronic transfers with a view to
establishing where the money has gone.
“What is at stake is the outright criminalization of the financial
system: ‘financial theft’ on an unprecedented scale.
“The monetary system, which is integrated into the State budgetary
process, has been destabilized.”
AIG: Obama strikes back for the empire
The Obama administration’s most telling criminal hand was revealed in
its handling of American International Group (AIG), one of the largest
beneficiary of the “bailout” frenzy. The Obama-AIG conspiracy, which
continues to unfold, is also the least well understood.
While popular “outrage” has been channeled (by the corporate media,
Obama, and Congress) to focus on the least important symptoms of the
problem---bonuses paid to AIG executives---the greater crime that is AIG
itself has gone unnoticed. As was the case with Enron, and with every
action of Bush/Cheney, the AIG “outrage” is another “limited hangout”
and cover-up.
AIG is not “too big to fail”. It is simply too important a repository of
dirty money and dirty secrets to be exposed. Barack Obama and his
administration know this.
AIG, one of the largest pools of investment capital on earth, is also
one of the largest launderers of drug money and illegal funds for covert
operations. Mike Ruppert’s investigation "AIG" (From The Wilderness,
August 14, 2001) exhaustively deconstructed AIG, exposing continuing
connections to covert operations, narcotrafficking, money laundering,
and AIG’s central role in the Wall Street/Washington power nexus.
AIG’s involvement to US covert operations stretches back to World War
II, in its roots as C.V. Starr, the intelligence-related proprietary
founded by OSS agent Cornelius Vander Starr. The Starr proprietary was
connected to CIA/OSS figures Paul Helliwell and Tommy Corcoran. The
notorious CIA fronts connected to C.V. Starr, including Civil Air
Transport, Sea Supply, and Air America/Pacific Corp were exposed by
Peter Dale Scott in his book Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in
Afghanistan, Colombia, and Indochina.
It is also a huge financial “pass-through”, whose counter-parties
include Goldman Sachs and (not surprisingly) the same major financial
institutions that are the top recipients of the US government’s TARP
bailout.
It is no surprise that Barack Obama is the top recipient of AIG funds.
AIG’s money also lines the pockets of other members of the Obama
administration, and prominent members of Congress, including Senator
Christopher Dodd, who has been accused of a sweetheart deal aiding AIG.
The man in the shadows
AIG’s former CEO, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg remains a pivotal figure
connected to the institution, which he has fought against, sued, and
publicly lambasts the officials in charge of his former company, his
“baby”.
Greenberg is a member of world planning groups (Council on Foreign
Relations, the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission) and the
Heritage Foundation, a former candidate for CIA director (1995). He is
longtime friend of the Bush family. So well-connected is Greenberg that
he was considered as a nominee for CIA director by Bill Clinton in 1995.
The profile of Greenberg in the June 20, 2005 edition of Time magazine,
"Down But Not Out", details Greenberg’s career as a government asset,
foreign policy guru, and strongman.
In 2005, while still heading AIG, Greenberg was the target of multiple
investigations into the orchestration of sham transactions, the
inflation of reserves, illegal stock trades, deception, and book-cooking
in an investigation by Eliot Spitzer, who declared that AIG was “a
black box run with an iron fist by a CEO who did not tell the public the
truth”. Spitzer’s probes of AIG, and other Wall Street malfeasance, was
subsequently and conveniently stopped in its tracks, when Spitzer became
entangled in a prostitution scandal.
Although Greenberg was forced to resign as CEO and chairman of the AIG
board, he remains to this day, the CEO of Starr International (SICO) and
C.V. Starr, the private holding companies that control billions in AIG
stock. It is the Starr companies constitute the conglomerate’s original
roots as an intelligence-related proprietary. In other words,
Greenberg remains in charge of the heart of AIG.
Was AIG manipulation behind Wall Street rally?
For the past few weeks, the US stock market has enjoyed a robust rally,
despite otherwise nightmarish economic news. One of the factors that
sparked this rally was the news that major banks such as Citigroup, JP
Morgan Chase and Bank of America---banks that were reportedly on the
verge of collapse, and subsequently major recipients of TARP bailout
funds---posted profits in January and February 2009.
How was this possible?
A report by Tyler Durden, citing an anonymous insider trader involved
with AIG trades, reveals that manipulation fraudulently transferred US
taxpayer money to AIG’s counter-parties---the top banks and financial
institutions---with AIG as the “pass-through”. The profit report sparked
a market rally that comes at the expense of US taxpayers.
The complete report (thanks to Jenna and the Mike Ruppert Blogspot for
this find) is damning and startling:
Exclusive: Big Banks' Recent Profitability Due to AIG Scam?
Excerpt:
“AIG, knowing it would need to ask for more capital from Treasury
imminently, decided to throw in the towel, and gifted major bank
counter-parties with trades which were egregiously profitable to the
banks, and even more egregiously money-losing to the U.S. taxpapers, who
had to dump more and more cash into AIG, without having the U.S.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner disclose the real extent of this---for
lack of a better word---fraudulent scam.
“…What this all means is that the statements by major banks, i.e. JP
Morgan Chase, Citi, and BofA regarding abnormal profitability in January
and February were true, however these profits were a) one-time in nature
due to wholesale unwinds of AIG portfolios, b)entirely at the expense of
AIG, and thus taxpayers, c) executed with Tim Geithner’s (and thus the
administration’s) full knowledge and intent, d) were basically a
transfer of money from taxpayers to banks (in yet another form) using
AIG as an intermediary [my emphasis-LC].
“For banks to proclaim their profitability in January and February is
about as close to criminal hypocrisy as is possible. And again, the
taxpayers fund this “one time profit”, which causes a market rally, thus
allowing the banks to promptly turn around and start selling more
expensive equity…also funded by taxpayers’ money flows into the market.
If the administration is truly aware of these events (and if Zero Hedge
[the name of the author-LC] knows about it, it is safe to say Tim
Geithner also got the memo), then the potential fallout would be
staggering once this information makes the light of day….
“This wholesale manipulation of markets, investors and taxpayers has
gone on long enough.”
Bush/Cheney’s war is also Obama’s war
On March 27, 2009, Obama launched his “new strategy for Afghanistan”.
This new strategy is a continuation and expansion of the Bush/Cheney war
plan, hatched in the wake of the false flag operation of 9/11, utilizing
the identical “war on terrorism” and 9/11 lies as justification.
As articulated by Obama:
“I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and
focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and
Afghanistan and to prevent their return to either country in the future.
That is a cause that could not be more just.
“I remind everybody, the United States did not choose to fight a war in
Afghanistan. Nearly 3,000 of our people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001,
for doing nothing more than going about their daily lives.”
The consensus "Al-Qaeda" deception is not only alive and well under
Obama, it is now the justification for a surge of 21,000 US troops into
Afghanistan, massive covert operations throughout Central Asia and the
Middle East, and an even more aggressive “war on terrorism”. This is the
conquest of the “Grand Chessboard” that the Anglo-American elites wanted
to execute after 9/11, but “squandered” due to the Bush/Cheney
administration’s “fumble” in Iraq.
Obama, who is making the rounds with the G-20 leadership as this report
goes to press, will not fumble with a war that is consistent with the
“war on terrorism” goals that he has articulated for years, and promised
to deliver (to his New World Order “bosses”) throughout his campaign.
As detailed by Michel Chossudovsky in “The Democrats endorse the "Global
War on Terrorism": Obama "goes after Osama”, the Obama promise is more
perpetual war:
“9/11 constitutes for Obama the main justification for waging a
humanitarian war in the Middle East and Central Asia. In this regard,
his position does not differ from that of the Bush administration.
“Withdraw from Iraq, but remain in Afghanistan. Confront Iran, challenge
Russia…Apart from the rhetoric of ‘bringing the troops home’ from war
torn Iraq, which may or may not be carried out, what distinguishes the
Democrats from the Republicans?
“A more articulate, knowledgeable and charismatic President?
“A more dignified and diplomatic approach to US foreign policy?
As a pacifying and unifying icon, Obama was positioned to perpetuate the
cover-up of the American Empire’s crimes, and retrieve the “squandered
opportunity” presented by the false-flag operation of 9/11: a world
united behind imperial war.
“An opportunity to the US ruling elite to ‘present a different face to
the world that could revive illusions to its democratic pretensions, not
only internationally but within the United States as well.’…
“A spurious and counterfeit ‘humanitarian’ approach to Empire, which
serves to mask the truth and gain popular support.
“A less reckless Commander in Chief, who has an understanding of
geopolitics and is capable of taking foreign policy decisions. A more
carefully thought out military agenda than that experienced during the
Bush administration? But no substantive shift in direction.
“A means to quelling mounting dissent and opposition to the ruling
corporate establishment by providing the illusion that the Democrats
constitute a Real Alternative.
“A means to sustaining the illusion that African-Americans can move up
the social ladder in America and that their fundamental rights are being
upheld.
“A means to undermining real progressive movements by further embedding
civil society organizations, trade unions and grass roots organizations,
not to mention “Leftist” intellectuals into the realm of the Democratic
Party.
“A distraction from the extensive war crimes committed under successive
US administrations.
“A ‘human face’ to war and globalization?”
A call to resist
As this writer warned in “Obama: return to elite status quo”, written
shortly following Obama’s victory:
“…the arrival of Obama as the new imperial figurehead of the
Anglo-American empire is not a victory of, or for, the people. It will
not signify a dramatic upheaval, in any way, and by no means is any sort
of revolution at hand. This election was a necessary rotation of
management, scripted at the highest levels of the Anglo-American elite.
“The “change” that a Barack Obama presidency will bring to America and
the world will be one of style, not substance: a return to the centrist
corporate globalism of the Clinton and Carter eras, complete with
regurgitated Democratic Party elites from those administrations, and new
neoliberal politicians touting similar ideologies.
“…The velvet gloves will be slipped back over the iron fists, but the
fists will still be wielded aggressively. Within months, the global
conquest that Bush-Cheney started will resume under the vastly more
convincing and adored Obama, who has consistently stated his intention
to intensify the war in Afghanistan, and “kill ‘terrorists’” across the
Middle East.”
For those who have spent the past eight hellish years opposing and
resisting the crimes of Bush/Cheney, prepare yourselves for worse: the
“friendliest” fascism, and the most dangerous stealth messenger in
history.
Larry Chin is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global
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