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Frank Wisner: US Envoy's Business Link to Egypt
Obama scrambles to limit damage after Frank Wisner makes robust call for Mubarak to remain in place as leader.
Frank Wisner, President Barack Obama's envoy to Cairo who infuriated the White House this weekend by urging Hosni Mubarak to remain President of Egypt, works for a New York and Washington law firm which works for the dictator's own Egyptian government.
Frank Wisner, President Obama's envoy to Cairo who urged Hosni Mubarak to remain President of Egypt, works for a New York and Washington law firm which works for the dictator's own Egyptian government. Oddly, not a single journalist raised this extraordinary connection with US government officials - nor the blatant conflict of interest it appears to represent. Mr Wisner's astonishing remarks - "President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical: it's his opportunity to write his own legacy" - shocked the democratic opposition in Egypt and called into question Mr Obama's judgement, as well as that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The US State Department and Mr Wisner himself have now both claimed that his remarks were made in a "personal capacity". But there is nothing "personal" about Mr Wisner's connections with the litigation firm Patton Boggs, which openly boasts that it advises "the Egyptian military, the Egyptian Economic Development Agency, and has handled arbitrations and litigation on the [Mubarak] government's behalf in Europe and the US". Oddly, not a single journalist raised this extraordinary connection with US government officials - nor the blatant conflict of interest it appears to represent.
Mr Wisner is a retired State Department 36-year career diplomat - he served as US ambassador to Egypt, Zambia, the Philippines and India under eight American presidents. In other words, he was not a political appointee. But it is inconceivable Hillary Clinton did not know of his employment by a company that works for the very dictator which Mr Wisner now defends in the face of a massive democratic opposition in Egypt.
So why on earth was he sent to talk to Mubarak, who is in effect a client of Mr Wisner's current employers?
Patton Boggs states that its attorneys "represent some of the leading Egyptian commercial families and their companies" and "have been involved in oil and gas and telecommunications infrastructure projects on their behalf". One of its partners served as chairman of the US-Egyptian Chamber of Commerce promoting foreign investment in the Egyptian economy. The company has also managed contractor disputes in military-sales agreements arising under the US Foreign Military Sales Act. Washington gives around $1.3bn (£800m) a year to the Egyptian military.
Mr Wisner joined Patton Boggs almost two years ago - more than enough time for both the White House and the State Department to learn of his company's intimate connections with the Mubarak regime. The New York Times ran a glowing profile of Mr Wisner in its pages two weeks ago - but mysteriously did not mention his ties to Egypt.
Nicholas Noe, an American political researcher now based in Beirut, has spent weeks investigating Mr Wisner's links to Patton Boggs. Mr Noe is also a former researcher for Hillary Clinton and questions the implications of his discoveries.
"The key problem with Wisner being sent to Cairo at the behest of Hillary," he says, "is the conflict-of-interest aspect... More than this, the idea that the US is now subcontracting or 'privatising' crisis management is another problem. Do the US lack diplomats?
"Even in past examples where presidents have sent someone 'respected' or 'close' to a foreign leader in order to lubricate an exit," Mr Noe adds, "the envoys in question were not actually paid by the leader they were supposed to squeeze out!"
Patton Boggs maintains an "affiliate relationship" with Zaki Hashem, one of Egypt's most prominent legal firms. It was founded in 1953 and Zaki Hashem himself was a cabinet minister under Mubarak's predecessor, President Anwar Sadat, and later became head of the Egyptian Society for International Law.
By a further remarkable irony, one of Zaki Hashem's senior advisers was Nabil al-Araby, one of the 25 leading Egyptian personalities just chosen by the protesters in Tahrir Square to demand the overthrow of Mubarak. Nabil al-Araby, a former member of the UN's International Law Commission, told me yesterday that he ended his connection with Zaki Hashem three years ago and had "no idea" why Mr Wisner had come out in support of Mubarak's continued rule. He himself believed it was essential Mubarak make a dignified but immediate exit. "The head must go," he said.
When Frank Wisner joined Patton Boggs in March 2009, the company described him as "one of the nation's most respected diplomats" who would provide clients with "strategic global advice concerning business, politics and international law". The firm stated specifically that "it looks to Ambassador Wisner to use his expertise in the Middle East and India to assist its American and international clients."
Stuart Pape, managing partner at Patton Boggs, said at the time that "it is a real coup for the firm to have Ambassador Wisner - one of the most experienced and highly regarded diplomats - join our ranks... His in-depth knowledge of global politics and the international financial world is a huge asset for our clients."
We still do not know exactly what kind of "expertise" he has bestowed upon the dictator of Egypt. But his remarks at the weekend leave no room to doubt he advised the old man to cling on to power for a few more months. The vast network of companies with family connections to Mubarak's regime is, of course, one of the targets of the pro-democracy demonstrators in Egypt.
A spokesman for the State Department said he "presumed" Mrs Clinton knew of Mr Wisner's employment by Patton Boggs and the firm's links with the Mubarak government, but refused to comment on any conflict of interest for the envoy. A spokesman for Patton Boggs could not be reached yesterday.
42 Comments so far
Show AllGeorge Carlin -
The Real Owners Of America
6-24-8
"The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They've got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you hear. They've got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else."
"But I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that. That doesn't help them. That's against their interests. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago.
"You know what they want? Obedient workers people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork but just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And, now, they're coming for your Social Security. They want your fucking retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all, sooner or later, because they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club."
"This country is finished."
If **They** own everything including the government and judges, then why do **They** waste money employing lobbyists, unless manufacturing the lobbyists is a part of preseving the illusion of choice.
In fact the lobyists actually do the legwork and coordination for the the legislators, writing the documents and framing the legislation so that the "owned" senators and representatives don't even have to think.
Ah yes, images of retainers carrying their patrons in sedan chairs.
Lobbyists are slowly becoming extinct for the very reason you suggest.
What machines???
Carlin was on fire here, you can find the videos on youtube. "They don't give a fuck about you" Crude yet accurate.
Thanks for resurrecting Doc Carlin - here's some late cream to go on top
accountability, belief systems and swearing - in all senses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWiBt-pqp0E&feature=related
It's all here. This POS (as was his dad before him) is a walking democracy destroyer.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/7/the_empires_
bagman_us_ambassador_frank
agelbert, thanks for the link. I heard Amy this morning talking about Frank the ____.
Since I have read quite a bit recently about the CIA, I had remembered the name Frank Wisner in some fairly unflattering references.
So curiosity finally got the better of me and I cross checked the footnotes in the three books in which I had seen him (Sr. and/or Jr.) named, and wow!
It turns out that Frank Wisner Sr. and Jr. combined are footnoted more than 50 times in the following books, which are, you might say, somewhat critical of CIA games, and the people who play them:
"Secret Team" by Fletcher Prouty, the CIA / Pentagon liaison who set-up all the military service support for CIA covert ops, and then did a pre-internet Wikileaks on them.
"Legacy of Ashes" by Tim Weiner, which is the definitive unauthorized black history of the CIA.
"JFK and the Unspeakable" by James Douglass, which tells the story of the evolving Empire's, "the Unspeakable's", the national security state's, the CIA's, the "Secret Team's", reasons, methods, and actions in removing JFK from the chessboard.
Soooo, one has to wonder how the Obama administration, including Hillary 'war goddess' Clinton, would NOT have any idea that this spawn of Frank Wisner (and his more infamous father) had played "on the dark side" (as Cheney would call it) for the Empire, oh, say, for more than the last half-Century all over the world --- which just happens to be precisely the time-frame in which the disguised Empire really came into full global 'flower'? ---- although many of the flowers that the Empire planted during those years wilted and had to be plucked off.
This would seem to raise several intriguing questions about Frank Jr. and the Obama Team --- even perhaps whether Obama is in on the Secret Team?
Was Frank Jr's visit a pre-pruning examination of Mubarak?
Since Frank Jr. was not really working for the O-man, was he working for some other administration? Possibly contrary to the O-man?
Maybe the O-man is approaching his Bay of Pigs moment in this 'play' and being prepared for his 'close-up'?
Are there any terrorist missiles in Egypt?
And, perhaps, most importantly, where the hell is General LeMay?
Or, oh, stupid me. Maybe Frank Wisner is merely writing an Egyptian cookbook.
Best,
Alan
I touched on Wisners unsavory past in another thread. This guy is all sleaze and corruption. He sat on Enrons board during its Scandal AND on AIG's when it got its bailout.
If people want insight into the REAL power in America this is a Glimpse into who truly owns the Country and gives orders. Its not the Obama's.
From time to time those in power and who are the ones running things expose themselves and this is one of them.
OilyBomber says Baby Bush, the Repugs, BiPartisanship, fear of boogeymen Islamists, made him appoint corrupt corporatist Wisner.
I guess OilyBombers corporate friendly excuse would be true in this case.
Destroy democracy vote Repug or Dimo!
The cast of buffons who run our government continues to expand at the speed of light. The AmeriKKKan empire is nearing its end of days.
News in Huff Post - Jane Harman resigned Congress.
I wrote a response to some commenter who said she was doing it for the money:
"I don't think it had anything to do with money, the woman is quite wealthy - in fact the second wealthiest person in Congress . But then again, the wealthy always seem to want more. In any case, good final bye to a DINO. Also, the lady has one of those very special relationships with AIPAC. If one needs a nice summary of that, hop over to Wikipedia."
This probably won't pass their censors.
The reason I brought this up is that there was a byline at HP a few days ago with a headline "Merkel: Egypt Uprising Reminds Me Of Communist Fall" :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/05/merkel-egypt-communism_n_819082.html
The story had about 1/4 content on the musings of Angela and about 3/4 with the opinions of Frank Wisner. I wrote a comment about the misleading headline - I had really wanted to read what she had to say. I commented in effect that Wisner's remarks had no reason to be in the story, that he sounded like a hold-over from the Bush era, and asked rhetorically what business he had in Munich. Little did I know that the Obama Admin had sent him or the State Dept Head Mistress had invited him along. Needless to say, that comment didn't make it through the HP censors. Little did I know that it probably got nixed by the AOL censors. That will be my last comment there. Mr. Fisk's reporting has indeed been enlightening. I don't remember any of his writings appearing in HP.
Write happily for CD and shout "hallelujah" when what you write pops up in the comments, knowing that almost everything else you write will do the same. And stay away from HP, it's really gone to hell in a hat. Goodbye to HP editorials by Matt Taibbi and Cenk Uygur.
"So why on earth was he sent to talk to Mubarak, who is in effect a client of Mr Wisner's current employers?"
b/c the cia likes to know all of the details from every perverted angle.
----
as an aside... frank wisner looks a lot like jack nicholson when he portrayed the joker.
oh well. as they say, if the shoe fits wear it...
...peace...
And Jack's a great big reactionary, just like Wisner.
I love how the "Guys in the Ties" can have more than one job yet the little can't even get one. How much does an envoy get in his pay packet, and he is a lawyer and we know how much those weasles make, George Carlin is so right.
Dear Mr. Wisner:
Or , perhaps I should say, "Dr. Faustus."
You said that Mubarak needs to have time to "write his legacy."
HE has already written his 30 year legacy, WHICH IS WHY THE PEOPLE WANT HIM OUT!
As has been mentioned, your picture looks like Jack Nicholson, but I think its from the movie, THE SHINING!
Here's a clue, from one of the famous lines.." Here's Johnny!"
Find that "johnny" , stick your head in it, and FLUSH!
The Chamber of Commerce strikes again, and I am soooo tired of it. If the People of Egypt hate this country forever, I would not be surprised, and I would not blame them. EGYPT becomes the "PIECE" prize again.
I think this Egyptian crises has shaken America to actually show a flash of the skeleton of its structure, the veil just slipped to give a peak at the hidden government of the MIC.
What we may or may not understand is that someone like Mr. Wisner most probably gets his orders from the "top" and not second hand from the President or any of the other shop front lackeys like Sec. Clinton.
As Ezeflyer rightly quotes Carlin's excellent piece, America is not run by who we are told or who we think it is run by and certainly not by any principals of freedom nor democracy.
It might be very interesting to study the use of the position of vice president in this Egyptian crisis. I have long had the theory that in America the vice president is not only a spare tire, but he is most likely specifically chosen by the shadow government every time as the ultimate "insurance policy" that the president will do as he is told. (Something Kennedy was obviously not so good at.)
In the case of the Bush presidency, the guy was such an idiot that the VP actually had to be hands on and run a parallel office almost in the open. In the case of Obama, Biden is everything that the Zionists and the Corporatocracy need to protect their status quo in their hidden MIC government.
"As Ezeflyer rightly quotes Carlin's excellent piece, America is not run by who we are told or who we think it is run by and certainly not by any principals of freedom nor democracy."
.... by the consent of the governed IGNORant.
If Fisk is right, and Wisner advised Mubarak to hang on a few more months, does that mean that there is something afoot? Some US-backed counter stroke? I presume that 36 year veterans of the State Department do not simply drop statements of any kind by accident.
According to Der Speigel, there may be a plan to move Mubarak to Germany, Baden Baden for the benefit of his health, for the next few months while the VP takes care of the revolting Egyptians.
http://warincontext.org/2011/02/07/exile-in-germany-for-mubarak/
There is no such thing as a presidential envoy in a critical situation giving his personal opinion on anything! And why didn't Obama or Clinton fire his ass and let the public know he will no longer serve the government of the US in any capacity.
They had enough time to address this but didn't. It just goes to show these goons at the WH could not care less. They have made up their minds about how to use our tax dollars and have no need to give us any sort of account.
So, who still believes the Constitution of the US is an awesome document? It has NEVER been an awesome document. It was created in a very half-hazard way by the oligarchs then. It is quite possible that Ben Franklin wanted the people to participate and they had him under surveillance 24x7 to make sure he didn't say anything to the people. Ain't that awesome?!
When the Constitution mentions "We, the People" we must realize that they were talking about themselves: "We, the wealthy people who control this country!"
Why else would it be that ANY small advancement in this society comes after such an enormous struggle, ALWAYS!
This country has already become the very first UNDER-DEVELOPING NATION! Shouldn't that be enough to overthrow this system?! Oh, but the second you say to other Americans: "stop talking about it and let's DO SOMETHING" - you will see how quickly people disengage and disappear! No one wants to do anything, all scared shitless, even though many know exactly what is going on. So we continue getting screwed!
"The Land of the Brave and the Home of the Free" my ass!!! "The Land of the Bullied and Home of the Slaves who pay to serve their masters!". That's more like it!
the scumbags in DC always float multiple baloons to see which one stays up longest, and then quickly hide behind plausible deniability ("it was his personal opinion!"). god, they make me puke and stay thin.
Thanks once again to Robert Fisk!
Do we have any pictures of this freak praying with Obama?
That would scare the shit out of God, I imagine.
The unbelievable scope of privileged ill gotten gains and exceptionalism is its own toxic denial cocktail comin' back to haunt. Anyone in their right mind (and increasingly the numbers are promising) knows that when the extent of corruption reaches the epistemological resonance level, the prophetic balances (apocalyptica / revelations) begin to kick in - doesn't matter the color or texture of the costume your creator deity has been dressed up in. we're talking noumenal...
These people have bought their own bill o'goods, drunk their own kool-aid, with all the coloring agents, etc...
just by way of metaphor - I recall a teen-aged niece years ago getting fed up with the hypocrisy and dying her hair with kool-aid. She then procured a T-shirt reading 'pervert'. Those days and that kid's message went straight to my heart.
Does this crook look like Jack Nicholson to anybody else?
More like an evil Don Rickles
That was exacty my impression. Imagine the irony, the quintessence of evil disguised as a comedian.
The Joker_Heath Ledger in THE DARK KNIGHT.
Did you know how passionate, Jack Nicholson love Israel? I saw it in Youtube last year, or was it Jon Voight?
Frank Wisner Jr., Obama's envoy to Egypt, is a low life operator, just as his father, Frank Wisner Sr., was.
His father was CIA scum: he and the CIA enabled the 1953 toppling of Iran's democratically elected president, Mosadeq.
Deep and dark politics always at work in Empire's machinations.
In other words he's a first-class thug for empire; and economic hit man.
Thanks for the post, Ecoeng.
Wisner Jr. is the very definition of the "economic hitman" described in John Perkins' book. It's amazing how the fixers surface in a time of crisis for the elite. And he's connected to Obama/Hillary Clinton administration too. I've long stopped wondering how it could get much worse.
-TIA
first i thought, "how does such a stupid and ugly scumbag get to hold such powerful positions for so long?"
and then i quickly came to my senses, "Duh! how else?"
NYT backgrounder on Wisner provides additional perspective:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03wisner.html
This is another reason to be for ABO (Anybody But Obama) today. This president can't even send the right person to such a crisis. Give me a break!
AD
There you go! Today Wisner own opinion is now Obama's own opinion. How pathetic!