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THE BUSH, KHASHOGGI, HARRIMAN (AND THERESA LEPORE) DATA DUMP.

LePORE, KHASHOGGI, BUSH AND HARRIMAN.
by "Robert " © 2000
First published by Rumor Mill News list - site: http://www.rumormillnews.com/

The Wall Street Journal of December 1st, 2000 page one states:

"`Madame Butterfly' Theresa Le Pore wasn't always an embattled Palm Beach ballots chief. In the 1980s she moonlighted as a flight
attendant on private planes owned by Saudi weapons dealer Adnan
Khashoggi, a middleman in Reagan administration arms sales to Iran." 

Theresa Le Pore designed the infamous Butterfly  Ballot in Palm Beach Florida.

The Plot Thickens as they say, or does it? Time will tell. Pamela Harriman was married to Randolph Churchill before she married Averell Harriman.  Averell Harriman was the partner in Brown Brothers, Harriman, with Prescott Bush, the father of former President Bush, & with George Herbert Walker, former President Bush's grandfather. The "W" in George W. Bush stands for Walker.  Pamela's son was named after his grandfather, Winston Churchill.  Pamela's son, Winston's  alleged former mistress was Soraya Khashoggi, who was the former wife of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. Small world isn't it? Khashoggi was also allegedly deeply involved with former President Bush in the
Iran-Contra Affair.  I have not had time to check out all of the links below but would hope we would all research as well as we can any relationships between any or all of the parties mentioned. Click.

Ms. Le Pore is the designer of the infamous so-called "Butterfly Ballot" that resulted in 3,000 Gore voters inadvertently voting for Buchanan in Palm Beach County & 19,000 more Gore voters mistakenly double punching for both Gore & Buchanan in an attempt to vote for Gore. I believe those 22,000 votes rightfully belong to Al Gore as do Florida's 25 electoral votes & the Presidency.  We of course were told that Ms. Le Pore was a Democrat, but in the material below she is found speaking on Immigration & sounding very anti-immigrant to put it mildly. Click.

Below are some of the many references any search engine on the internet can take you to regarding Bush & Khashoggi  Click.

THE MARWAN MYSTERY. Click.

HILL AND KNOWLTON AND THE CIA. Click.

KHASHOGGI, BUSH HARRIMAN SOURCES PART 1.

Sources: The Churchill Society London: Mr Churchill, whose former mistress Soraya Khashoggi, the former wife of arms dealer Adnan... http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/wscminor.html
The Times Newspaper: 19th February 1997  By Andrew Pierce & Tom Rhodes. WINSTON CHURCHILL who spent most of his life living in the shadow of his glamorous mother Pamela  Harriman, was left $10 million (6.2 million pounds) in her will it was disclosed yesterday."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/dom/970915/princess.outside_lokin.html.
Outside Looking In: ... to Saudi Arabia. The company took off, and not long after, al
Fayed married Khashoggi's sister Samira, who gave birth to Dodi in 1955. He divorced her after" ... "Article24b.htm ... to prove, but Richard Taus, former FBI agent, states that Al Fayed and Khashoggi were connected to the Iran/Contra scandal through Castle Securities. Castle ..".
http://paranoiamagazine.com/24Article2.htm
"of Europe. Dodi Fayed, beloved of Lady Diana, is a cousin of Adnan Khashoggi, a CIA asset involved in sales of arms to Iran-he and Oliver North. Adnan".. http://www.konformist.com/vault/lady-di/lady-di-notes.txt Bush book: Chapter -2- ... invasion of Poland, beginning World War II. The Nazi army had been equipped by Flick, Harriman, Walker and Bush, with materials essentially stolen from Poland. ...  http://www.tarpley.net/bush2.htm  [More results from www.tarpley.net]
R T Mark: Bush and WWII | May 15-May 25 | Letters | GWBush. ... ... invasion of Poland, beginning World War II. The Nazi army had been equipped by Flick, Harriman, Walker and Bush, with materials essentially stolen from Poland. ... http://www.rtmark.com/bushhitler.html http://www.kmf.org/williams/bushbook/bush_book.txt
... vehicles were fueled by oil pumped from Baku wells revived by the Harriman/ Walker/Bush enterprise. Three years later, nearly a year after the Japanese attack ... 
http://www.kmf.org/williams/bushbook/bush_book.txt  [More results from www.kmf.org]
New Page 2 ... vehicles were fueled by oil pumped from Baku wells revived by the
Harriman/Walker/Bush enterprise. Three years later, nearly a year after the Japanese attack ...  http://www.patrickcrusade.org/new_page_2.htm  [More results from
www.patrickcrusade.org] World Trade Organization / GATT Bush and WWII page
... invasion of Poland, beginning World War II. The Nazi army had been equipped by Flick, Harriman, Walker and Bush, with materials essentially stolen from
Poland. ...
http://www.gatt.org/bushhitler.html
George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Part 1 of 8
... vehicles were fueled by oil pumped from Baku wells revived by the Harriman/ Walker/Bush enterprise. Three years later, nearly a year after the Japanese attack ... 
http://www.padrak.com/alt/BUSHBOOK_1.html  [More results from www.padrak.com]
Elkhorn Document ... the Harriman Fifteen Corporation, run out of Walker's office. The directors of this company were Averill Harriman, Bert Walker, and Prescott Bush. .
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3751908d3af4.htm
eGroups : di_state_prov Messages :Message 27 of 31 ... run out of Walker's office. The directors of this company were Averill Harriman, Bert Walker, and Prescott Bush. . A 1934 congressional investigation alleged ... 
http://www.egroups.com/message/di_state_prov/27  [More results from www.egroups.com]
The Elkhorn Manifesto Part V ... run out of Walker's office. The directors of this company were Averill Harriman, Bert Walker, and Prescott Bush. . . . " In a
November 1935 article in ...  http://www.wealth4freedom.com/Elkhorn5.html  [More results from www.wealth4freedom.com] ... issue in 1928 was underwritten by Roland (Bunny) Harriman and Prescott Bush while GH Walker was president of the WA Harriman firm. Prescott Bush served on the ... 
https://newsmakingnews.com/lmharvardpart3.htm  [More results from
newsmakingnews.com] MAI-NOT: 21782 ... Corporation, run out of Walker's office. The directors of this company were Averell Harriman, Bert Walker, and Prescott Bush. In a November 1935 article in ...
http://mai.flora.org/forum/21782
SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA ... the Harriman Fifteen Corporation, run out of Walker's office. The directors of this company were Averill Harriman, Bert Walker, and
Prescott Bush. . . . ...
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/randy/swas5.htm  [More results from www.emperors-clothes.com] The Real Reasons Part 3 ... the Harriman Fifteen Corporation, run out of Walker's office. The directors of this company were Averill Harriman, Bert Walker, and Prescott Bush. . . . ...
http://www.hemp-cyberfarm.com/htms/conspiracy/conspiracy3.html
eScribe: War and Politics: Message: [W&P] Manchurian ... ... at The beginning in a sense. Brown Brothers Harriman (the firm Prescott Bush & George Herbert Walker Bush's grandfather George Herbert Walker had been partners ...
http://www.escribe.com/politics/wap/m17904.html
History of the New World Order in the 20th Century ... that of the world government." 1924 -- George Herbert Walker Bush born in Milton, Massachusetts. "Bunny" Harriman brings Prescott Bush into US Rubber Company ...
http://www.illuminati-news.com/20th_century.htm
The Draheim Report: ... Republican Presidential candidate Bush's great-grandfather, Bert Walker, helped organize the Harriman investment in the Hamburg-America Line of ships, of which ... http://www.lpdallas.org/features/draheim/dr991216.htm
history of new world order ... 1924 -- George Herbert Walker Bush born in Milton, Massachusetts. "Bunny" Harriman brings Prescott Bush into US Rubber Company in New York.... http://home.no.net/boreg/Hoax/nwo.htm  Weblog: ... By 1930, Bert Walker (George Bush's Grandfather) and Averell Harriman helped build Madison Square Garden, Walker had been named New York State Racing ...
http://www.detours.org/weblog/
NewsFlash! "Skull & Bones" movie opens up Bush's coffin!! ... It's common knowledge that Skull & Boners like Herbert Walker, Grandaddy Bush, and Averell Harriman, all backed Adolf Hitler and the Huns in their bid to ... 
http://www.freeworldalliance.com/newsflash178.htm  [More results from
www.freeworldalliance.com] Chronology, ... Market Operations. 1924 George Herbert Walker Bush born in Milton, Massachusetts. "Bunny" Harriman brings Prescott Bush into US Rubber Company in New York. ... http://www.trufax.org/chrono/crc.html

KHASHOGGI, BUSH HARRIMAN SOURCES PART 2.

The Wall Street Journal of December 1st, 2000 page one states: " 'Madame Butterfly' Theresa Le Pore wasn't always an embattled Palm Beach ballots chief. In the 1980s she moonlighted as a flight attendant on private  planes owned by Saudi weapons dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a middleman in Reagan administration arms sales to Iran."
Below are some of the many references any search engine on the internet can take you
To on Bush & Khashoggi George Bush's "Heart of Darkness"-Minerals and Africa
... arms-for-drugs investigation and other trails leading to Vice President Bush, Khashoggi became too hot for the Canadian partnership, and the Khashoggi group's ... http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/bushgold.htm
El Andar: Los Amigos de Bush ... high and mighty including George W. Bush, who called his father, the president ... associate of Egyptian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a friend of Razl Salinas, and ...
http://www.elandar.com/bush/amigos.html
Pete Brewton - pp.209-210 & 224-227 ... Prison he wrote a letter to President Bush dated August 1, 1989, to which ... Tiny Rowland, Ashraf Marwan and Adnan Khashoggi, his partner, deeply involved in such ... 
http://www.webcom.com/~pinknoiz/covert/brewton.html
Diagram of US Policy / Afghanistan http://www.pir.org/gifdir/mds68.html [More
results from www.pir.org] David Hoffman Collection ... 6/86 [Chronology of Bush Involvement in Iran-Contra] [Fuller Deposition] Fuller-"Reconstruction" [empty folder] [Iran-Contra / Adnan M. Khashoggi] Iran-Contra ...
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/find/Doncol1/hoffman.html
http://www.federal.com/sep25/Is ... by the Washington Weekly supports the involvement of George Bush by linking him to arms-dealer Adnan Khashoggi, Richard Secord, and CIA asset John Hull, whose ...http://www.federal.com/sep25/Is timeline ... and Bush meet. May 8 North informs Poindexter of offer for Contra aid. May 14 - August Financing the arms deal: Ghorbanifar gives Khashoggi post-dated ... 
http://www.english.schule.de/state_of_the_union/group7/project/timeline.htm [More results from www.english.schule.de] Participate
... Brewton's book "The Mafia, CIA, and George Bush"  George Dubya's
dealings ... bank that provided financing to Adnan Khashoggi around
the time of arms for ... http://www.gwbush.com/letsept3.htm
Walsh Iran / Contra Report - Part I Iran/contra: The ... ... and the Iranians would not reimburse him. Khashoggi and his associates who had loaned ... in Jerusalem, Nir briefed Vice President Bush on the status of the Iran ...  http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/part_i.htm  [More results from
www.fas.org] Aviation Home Page ... Amer Khashoggi's NAJACO World Flight: World Flight in a Cessna Grand Caravan, landing ... Tom Claytor
http://www.najaco.com/Aviation/Aviation.htm
Mae Brussell's World Watchers International CD Catalogue: Part ...  ... Shadowy network of importance. Nazi links. Bush connections. Shadowy network of arms ... REAGAN and the SWAMI, SULTAN, KHASHOGGI. 1980 ELECTION STOLEN BY REAGAN ... http://www.maebrussell.com/Mae's%20CDs%20Part%203.html Steve's Political Page ... say that the GOP does it, too. Reagan and Bush had gun runners and money-launderers in the White House, too (anyone remember Khashoggi?). Is that a defense of ... http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1131/april.html Participate
... Saem bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's relatives) one of the families owned a  Saudi bank that provided financing to Adnan Khashoggi around the time of arms ... 
http://www.gwbush.com/letsept3.htmThe Consortium ... day as Tillman's call about the "Bush people," Hashemi boasted to fellow Iranian ... Cyrus Hashemi, Saudi financier Adnan Khashoggi and an Iranian intelligence man ... 
http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile3.html  [More results from
www.consortiumnews.com] ... stay this simple. For example, the BCCI-Bush- Noriega- connection to drug smuggling ... arms deals. I remember the name Khashoggi. It was about Iran-Contra.'. http://www.aci.net/kalliste/part10.htm
Drug War: SETCO ... Marcello, Beebe, Renda, Mischer, Lyon, Khashoggi, Murchison,
Helliwell, Hernandez-Cartaya, Charles ... President Bush's Federal
Housing Administration Commissioner ...  http://www.drugwar.com/setco.htm  [More results from www.drugwar.com] Arms Control_Reports: hcrep ... prompted by pressure put on the Bush White House by a bipartisan grouping ... like the legendary Saudi middleman Adnan Khashoggi or an amoral freelance broker like ...
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/hcrep.html
http://www.cdi.org/ArmsTradeDatabase/Arms_Industry/Welfare_for_Weapons
_Dealers_The_Hidden_Costs_of_the_Arms_Trade.txt ... prompted by pressure put on the Bush White House by a bipartisan grouping ... like the legendary Saudi middleman Adnan Khashoggi or an amoral freelance broker like ...
http://www.cdi.org/ArmsTradeDatabase/Arms_Industry/Welfare_for_Weapons
_Dealers_The_Hidden_Costs_of_the_Arms_Trade.txtArticle24b.htm
... family: Jay Rockefeller and George W. Bush represented their families respectively.
The other ... in the scandal was Adnan Khashoggi. At the time, Khashoggi,
an ... http://paranoiamagazine.com/24Article2.htm ... a shot-across-the-bow of George Bush's New World Order, and [makes] clear that ... deals with the likes of Adnan  Khashoggi with links to the http://www.mega.nu:8080/conspiracy/sovereignty.html
Web Page Matches   (21 - 40 of about 70) http://home.snafu.de/tilman/faq-you/celeb.txt
... being married by Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (2nd wife) Sources: On Lamia & Ali ... and a crony of former president George Bush. Of course, it was Bush's Tax ...  http://home.snafu.de/tilman/faq-you/celeb.txt ... various business deals, including one with Adnan Khashoggi through which he ended up owning the ... by the White House because George Bush knew him.  He said that he ... http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a7804.htm
Teflon? The Iran-Contra Scandal (Morgana's Observatory) ... to unravel, threatening both the Reagan and Bush presidencies in the process. ... Albert Hakim, and Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi. But if the truth proved hard ...
http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/reagan.htm International Man of Mystery: Who Is Maurice Strong? ... various business deals, including one with Adnan Khashoggi through which he ended up owning the ... by the White House because George Bush knew him.  He said that he ... http://www.afn.org/~govern/strong.html
NR Feature Article September 1, 1997 ... various business deals, including one with Adnan Khashoggi through which he ended up owning the ... by the White House because George Bush knew him.  He said that he ... http://www.iahf.com/strong.html
ARCHIVE 4 ... of the Mainland Savings scandal: arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi,
James Bath (a business associate of George W. Bush, recruited to the
CIA by George, Sr,), Martin ... https://newsmakingnews.com/archive4,24,4,29,00.htm
INTRODUCTION ... failed Denver S & L where Neil Bush had been an officer]," he
said. ... on BCCI accounts held for Adnan Khashoggi, and international
arms merchant and factotum for ...  http://www.lycaeum.org/books/books/last_circle/circle!.htm  [More results from www.lycaeum.org] beebe ... Halper, co-founder with fellow George Bush supporter Harvey McLean of Palmer National ... HK Beebe; business partner with Adnan Khashoggi; an associate of John H ...  http://www.jailhurwitz.com/beebe.html  [More results from www.jailhurwitz.com]
The Konformist - Daddy's Little Princess ... Allegedly, Khashoggi funneled $1 million of his funds into Trickie ... state more verified) report are that George Bush molested her and her daughter while strung ... http://www.konformist.com/jonbenet.htm
FLIGHT 111 - PLANE CRASH - NOVA SCOTIA ... savings and loans swindles, drugs  Bush,  Ollie North, etc. ... Also, Adnan Khashoggi's name has been associated with http://www.greatdreams.com/crash.htm
Archives: Daniel Sheehan Speech ... Iranians? Who is this who Khashoggi says, is the man who first ... Intelligence Agency in 1976 under George Bush, when he was the
director of ... http://www.conspire.com/sheehan.html Public Relationships
... of influence, such as Vice President Bush's chief of staff Craig Fuller, and ... 1986, Saudi Arabian arms broker Adnan Khashoggi hired Hill and Knowlton and Gray ...
http://mediafilter.org/caq/Hill%26Knowlton.html Lonrho Hotels Kenya - Ol Pejeta Ranch House ... law, Roussel, and in due course Adnan Khashoggi, who used the
ranch house as ... 2 swimming pools; Floodlit waterhole; Bush lunches; Riverside dinners; Bush breakfasts; ... http://www.lonrhohotels.com/pejeta/
The Octopus ... Russbacher who claims to have flown Bush, William Casey-the CIA
chief-and ... House.  http://www.umsl.edu/~skthoma/khashoggi.htm, the NSA, and ...
http://www.esotericworldnews.com/octopus.htm eGroups : biosonic Messages :Message 871 of 895 ... transformed during similar bloodfests, including, "Bush and
his two sons Adnan Khashoggi. http://www.egroups.com/message/biosonic/871  [More results from www.egroups.com] Hill & Knowlton ... of influence, such as Vice President Bush's chief of staff Craig Fuller, and ... 1986, Saudi Arabian arms broker Adnan Khashoggi hired Hill and Knowlton and Gray ... 
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/LIE/HK/HK2.html Ol Pejeta Ranch House ... Roussel, and in due course Adnan Khashoggi, who used the ranch house as ... 2 swimming pools, Floodlit waterhole, Bush lunches, Riverside dinners, Bush breakfasts ...  http://www.classicsafaris.com/Country%20Lodges/oldpejeta.htm
Web Page Matches   (41 - 55 of 55) http://www.textfiles.com/humor/top10.txt ...
1. To the Opera, James. President Bush's Top 10 Gaffes While in Europe ... to dangerously lower their standards. Adnan Khashoggi's Top 10 Money-Saving Tips - July ...  http://www.textfiles.com/humor/top10.txt  [More results from www.textfiles.com]
Peter Dale Scott: Bibliography ... D.109a "Khashoggi a Key Operative-Irangate Spotlights CIA Network of Influence ... D.130 "George Bush, the Iran Arms Deals, and Oil." Article for Pacific News ... http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pdscott/bib4.html  [More results from socrates.berkeley.edu] The Corporate Web ... and international arms merchant Adnan Khashoggi. Melanie Munk, wife of Barrick Gold's ... of the United States, George Bush, chairman of Power Corporation, Paul ... 
http://webhome.idirect.com/~rouleau/bcorp.htm  [More results from webhome.idirect.com] FIRM - Discussions - February 6, 2000 - March 4, 2000
... be back where we were when George Bush was president, that is, hanging in the ... claims he was offered financing by Adnan Khashoggi, http://www.homevideo.net/FIRM/archives/arch17.htm [More results from
www.homevideo.net] Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force ... Institution-burglary/firebomb; Buchanan, Patrick; Bush, George; Buzhardt, J. Fred;
Camden ... Juliana, James [and George Meany]; Khashoggi, Adnan; Kissinger, Henry; Krogh ...  http://www.nara.gov/research/oic/wspf.html  [More results from
www.nara.gov] BCCI, Bank of crooks and Criminals International ... figures as Noriega, Saddam, Marcos, Adnan Khashoggi, the PLO, and the ... was coined by Robert Gates, George Bush's designated CIA Director. Three years ...  http://www.dcia.com/bcci.html  [More results from www.dcia.com] . When people like George Bush talk of "a
gentler, kinder nation ... friend.  His favorite Uncle was Adan Khashoggi, the billionaire arms dealer from Saudi ...  http://www.plp.org/cd97/cd910.html  [More results from www.plp.org] Secret Agent Men... who helped support the contras, including Adnan
Khashoggi of Iran-contra fame. ... government. In 1990, then-President George Bush made Inman his acting chair of ... http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/archives/97/lede-11.5.97-1.shtml
[More results from www.ocweekly.com]US$8.25. KESSLER, RONALD Khashoggi:
the story of the World's richest man. ...  http://freespace.virgin.net/john.o_donoghue/biography.htm
[More results from freespace.virgin.net]
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/10/britain.diana/ "Fayed and the princess are said to have met about 10 years ago, when he played polo against her ex-husband, Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne. Fayed's uncle is well-known Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi; his father, Mohamed Al Fayed, was at the center of a corruption scandal that helped lead Britain's Conservative Party to defeat in May's election."
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9811/18/elephant.gift/index.html
"U.N. elephant statue draws guffaws for being too long on realism Donors also included Saudi arms tycoon Adnan Khashoggi, The Friends of L. Ron Hubbard"
http://msanews.mynet.net/MSANEWS/199709/19970904.3.html "Subject: MER:
Diana - The Saudi Connection At American University in Washington, D.C., there is a very large building with the name ADNAN KHASHOGGI writ large for all to see.  Former Arab League Ambassador Clovis Maksoud has his office nearby. 
It's also quite an embarrassment however.  Once praised as an international businessman, Khashoggi is now known to have been an international arms salesman and a swindler working closely with the Saudi Royal family as an intermediary.  Criminal indictments and law suits galore are now associated with his name.  AU
took his money before the crash, and remains stuck with his name, though rumors abound the university has been looking for some other wealthy patron to make a new deal with. The family fortune of Emad Mohamed "Dodi" el-Fayed can be traced not
to Egypt, but rather to the two sources of Muslim cash and unbridled corruption in our era - the Saudi royal family and the Sultan of Brunei. Indeed, the main reason Dodi's father has been unable to obtain British citizenship and wasn't even sure he'd be able to bury his son in England, can be traced back to his very shady business dealings
where he repeatedly lied about the source of his funds and on whose behalf he was acting. The connection to the Saudi royal family is through Dodi's mother, the
sister of Adnan Khashoggi.  And irony of ironies, much of the money that has built the Mohamed Fayed empire and that however indirectly contributed to the death of
the Princess of Wales, so known in recent days for her anti-land-mines and humanitarian efforts, began as commissions and profits from arms sales."
The Bush FBI call in which Bush (the former US President) is alleged To have called the FBI 2 HOURS BEFORE JFK  was killed on November 22nd, 1963.
First & most easily you can go to THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH: Richard Case Nagell & the Assassination of JFK Trade Paperback, 824 Pages, Carroll & Graf Publishers, Incorporated, October 1993 ISBN: 0786700297 Author: Russell, Dick
http://search.borders.com/fcgi-bin/db2www/search/search.d2w/Details?&m
ediaType=Book&prodID254128 The page # there is page 710 & it states that George Herbert Walker Bush & James Parrott, the man Named by Bush as planning to kill JFK in Houston, later that week "were political enemies", Parrott is Also described in the book above as "an active member of Houston's Young Republians." Another of many sources for the Bush call to the FBI 2 hours BEFORE JFK was killed is The July/August 1992 issue of Spy Magazing, Page 39 ISSN 0890-1759 5 Union Square West, NYC 1003 In that story, by David Robb Parrott was already known to the Secret Service for similar threats to JFK as of 1961,  yet here was Bush reporting Parrott to the
FBI, 2 hours BEFORE  JFK  was killed. Some additional    Required Reading  on related subjects is listed below Please read 2 very important books on
Iraq:     http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/009175
1713/o/qid"2383370/s r=8-3/002-8351151-8562413 REPUBLIC OF FEAR: THE INSIDE STORY OF SADDAM'S IRAQ by Samir Al-Khalil Paperback (1991) DIANE Publishing Co; ISBN: 0091751713 SPIDER'S WEB : THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOW THE WHITE HOUSE ILLEGALLY ARMED IRAQ by Alan Friedman ASIN: 0553096508 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/055309
6508/qid"2562139/sr 1-19/002-8351151-8562413
SPANNING THE CENTURY : THE LIFE OF W. AVERELL HARRIMAN, 1891-1986 by Rudy Abramson ASIN:0688043526
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688043526/qid=930850198/sr=1-8
/002-4147058-1764039 One of the most interesting books I have read is
EVERY SPY A PRINCE : The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community by Dan Raviv,Yossi Melman ASIN: 0395581206
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0395581206/qid"0850834/sr=1-4/0
02-4147058-1764039
You can read more about former US President George Bush's father &
grandfather & about the late Averell Harriman in: THE SECRET WAR AGAINST THE JEWS John Loftus With Mark Aarons  Paperback, 636pp. ISBN: 0312156480 Publisher: St. Martin's Press, Inc. Pub. Date: April 1997" above from:    
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid
3LK6KVG95O&mscssid
LAST INVESTIGATION: A Former Federal Investigator Tells What Insiders
Know About the Assassination of JFK Trade Paperback, 464 Pages, Thunder's Mouth Press, October 1994 ISBN: 560250798http://search.borders.com/fcgi-bin/db2www/search/search.d2w/
PLAUSIBLE DENIAL by Mark Lane Our Price: $23.00 Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours. Hardcover - 393 pages (December 1, 1991)
Thunder's Mouth Pr; ISBN: 1560250003 Above from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560250 003/o/qid"2390668/sr
=8-1/002-8351151-8562413
See also a book which presents an abundance of information on the JFK
assassination THE DEATH OF A PRESIDENT William Raymond Manchester : Hardcover, 710pp. ISBN: 0883659565 Publisher: Budget Books Service, Inc. Pub. Date: September 1996
fromhttp://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=3
LK6KVG95O&mscssid=P1QAM3VR7VSH2GEB0017QRP4P8X30AL7&pcount=0&srefer=&is
bn 83659565
GEORGE BUSH: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT
Trade Paperback, 270 Pages, Hippocrene Books, Incorporated, November 1990
ISBN: 0870529420 Author: Green, Fitzhugh
http://search.borders.com/fcgi-bin/db2www/search/search.d2w/Details?&m
ediaType=Book&prodID728767

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju43144.000/hju43144_0f.htm

    Ms. LEPORE. Good afternoon.

    Mr. SMITH. I apologize in advance, again.

    Ms. LEPORE. No problem.

    Thank you for the opportunity to speak in favor of H.R. 1428. My name is Theresa LePore. I'm the supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County, FL, and I've worked in the Palm Beach County elections office for more than 26 years now. So I understand the importance of the accuracy of the voter registration records. I'll briefly summarize my testimony, which has already been entered in the record.

    Under Florida law, the only items required on a voter registration application to be accepted is the name, residence address, date of birth, and signature of the applicant. The Social Security number and telephone number, if it is supplied, is not made part of the permanent record for publication under the Privacy Act.

    In the recent legislative session, the Florida Legislature passed into law a provision for a central voter file to be administered by the Florida Division of Elections. This will take effect January 1, 1998. It will not be a real-time file, but rather a file that will be updated by all 67 Florida counties on a periodic basis.

    The creation of this central voter file will enable the Florida Division of Elections to try to determine if duplicate registrations exist, meaning people that have registered in more than one Florida county, as well as to cross-check felony records, mentally-incompetent records, and death records. The Social Security number as an addition to this file would enable them—will assist in this process.

    In Florida, convicted felons cannot be registered to vote unless their civil rights have been restored, and persons declared mentally incompetent cannot be registered to vote unless their competency has been restored.

    Now we understand that this would not be a foolproof method, as persons wanting to fraudulently register to vote could do so and could provide a fraudulent Social Security number, but this would be a tool for us to verify, perhaps by checking the INS and Social Security records, if we get information that this person may not be a legitimate person.

    As a county that's considered part of south Florida, where the immigrant population is on the rise, being able to verify citizenship status would be a tremendous help. There have been many cases in south Florida where illegal immigrants have been caught in possession of voter registration cards, particularly in Dade and Broward Counties, and is moving north to Palm Beach County, for identification purposes to get in and out of the country.

    There has also been a problem with illegal immigrants using the voter registration card as identification purposes in seeking employment. Palm Beach County is very diverse. We have very wealthy people along the coast to middle class in the central part of the county and agriculture in the western part of the county. In the agricultural section, the sugarcane fields and farms, they employ a lot of people from Central and South America, as well as the islands, to come over. A lot of them make an attempt to get a voter registration card to use as identification on their I–9 forms. So we're not necessarily saying these people are voting, but it is a strong possibility that they are.

    In 1996, there was a constitutional amendment on the ballot for the sugar tax. I don't know if you all have heard about that or not, but we know that the sugar people had registered a tremendous amount of voters to vote in support of that. Now we don't know if all of those were legal or not. We'd like to hope that they are, but that was just one point to mention.

    I would like to mention a case recently, within the last few years, in Dade County, FL, which was similar to what has happened in Orange County, CA, but on a much smaller scale, where absentee ballots were issued to people that were not U.S. citizens. This particular candidate had gone and had these people registered to vote under Motor Voter Act because you don't have to show any identification or anything under that, and gotten absentee ballots, and it was challenged in court. Now the Dade County supervisor of elections had a horror story because they did check the records against INS and, as has been told already to you, the INS records are not accurate records. They do not have people listed on there that are U.S. citizens born in the United States. So he had a publicity nightmare where all these people, they were saying, were not part of the—or were not legally registered to vote when, in fact, they were naturalized—or they were U.S. citizens by birth. So we must understand that although this would not solve the problem, it would merely be a tool for the elections officials to be able to try to verify and maintain accurate records.

    Thank you.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. LePore follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THERESA LEPORE, SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL

    I have worked in the Palm Beach County, Florida, Supervisor of Elections Office since June 10, 1971. I was elected as Supervisor of Elections in November of 1996. During my years in the Elections Office, I have seen the number of registered voters grow from approximately 200,000 in 1971 to 531,735 in January of 1995 to 610,538 in April of 1997. As you can see, the Palm Beach County voter Registration rolls increased by almost 79,000 registered voters in just over two years, due mostly as a result of N.V.R.A.

    Under Florida Law, the following items are required before the Supervisor of Elections can accept a voter registration application: Name, residence address, date of birth and signature. The Social Security Number and other pertinent information is optional. Florida has a prohibition on the release of the Social Security Number (if supplied by the applicant), telephone number (if supplied by the applicant), and signature.

    In the recent Legislative Session, the Florida Legislature passed into Law a provision for a ''central voter file'' to be administered by the Florida Division of Elections which will take effect on January 1, 1998. This would not be a ''real time'' file, but rather a file that would be updated by all 67 Florida Counties on a periodic basis. The creation of the ''central voter file'' will enable the Division of Elections to try to determine if duplicate registrations exist (voters registered in more than one Florida County) as well as to cross check the Felony records, mentally incompetent records and the death records. Although not full-proof, adding the Social Security Number on the file would assist in this process. (Note: In Florida, convicted Felons may not vote unless their Civil Rights have been restored and persons declared mentally incompetent by the Courts may not vote unless their Competency has been restored.)

    As a county that is considered in ''South Florida'' where the immigrant population is on the rise, being able to verify citizenship status would be a tremendous help. Although it is understood that neither the Social Security Administration nor the Immigration and Naturalization Service has a comprehensive record of all current legal U.S. citizens, it must be noted that this system would not be fool-proof. It would, however, enable jurisdictions to make an attempt to check the status of voters and potential voters on an ''as-needed'' basis.

    In summary, I feel that it would be beneficial to require that the Social Security Number be part of the voter's record to assist elections officials in trying to maintain accurate records. However, in light of the admittance of the Social Security Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service in not having comprehensive records of all current U.S. citizens, I would not want either the elections officials nor the public to be lured into a false sense of security in thinking that this will solve the ''problems'' of fraudulent registrations, especially with regard to non-U.S. citizens being registered. It would be virtually impossible to obtain the Social Security Number of all registered voters and match that to the S.S.A. or I.N.S. files.

   
                           Public Relationships:
                       Hill & Knowlton, Robert Gray,
                                and the CIA
                                      
                             by Johan Carlisle © 

   From the Spring 1993 issue of CAQ (Number44)
                                      
   [INLINE] Public relations and lobbying firms are part of the revolving
   door between government and business that President Clinton has vowed
   to close. It is not clear how he will accomplish this goal when so
   many of his top appointees, including Ron Brown and Howard Paster, are
   "business as usual" Washington insiders. Ron Brown, who was a lobbyist
   and attorney for Haiti's "BabyDoc"Duvalier, is Clinton's Secretary of
   Commerce. Paster, former head of Hill and Knowlton 's Washington
   office, directed the confirmation process during the transition period
   and is now Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the White House.
   After managing PR for the Gulf War, Hill and Knowlton executive Lauri
   J. Fitz-Pegado became director of public liaison for the inauguration.
   
   The door swings both ways. Thomas Hoog, who served on Clinton's
   transition team, has replaced Paster as head of H&K's Washington
   office.
   
   Hill and Knowlton is one of the world 's largest and most influential
   corporations. As such, its virtually unregulated status, its
   longstanding connections to intelligence agencies, its role in shaping
   policy, and its close relationship to the Clinton administration
   deserve careful scrutiny. 
   
   In Turkey, "in July 1991, the same month President George Bush made an
   official visit there, the body of human rights worker Vedat Aydin was
   found along a road. His skull was fractured, his legs were broken, and
   his body was riddled by more than a dozen bullet wounds. He had been
   taken from his home by several armed men who identified themselves as
   police officers. No one was charged with his murder." De- spite
   hundreds of such "credible reports" acknowledged by the State
   Department, documenting use of "high-pressure cold water hoses,
   electric shocks, beating of the genitalia, and hanging by the arms,"
   Turkey reaps the benefits of U.S. friendship and Most Favored Nation
   status. "Last year Turkey received more than $800 million in U.S. aid,
   and spent more than $3.8 million on Washington lobbyists to keep that
   money flowing." Turkey paid for U.S. tolerance of torture with its
   cooperative role in NATO, and its support for Operation Desert Storm;
   it bought its relatively benign public image with cold cash. Turkey's
   favorite Washington public relations and lobbying firm is Hill and
   Knowlton (H&K), to which it paid $1,200,000 from November 1990 to May
   1992. Other chronic human rights abusers, such as China, Peru, Israel,
   Egypt, and Indonesia, also retained Hill and Knowlton to the tune of
   $14 million in 1991-92. Hill and Knowlton has also represented the
   infamously repressive Duvalier regime in Haiti.
   
   On October 10, 1990, as the Bush administration stepped up war
   preparations against Iraq, H&K, on behalf of the Kuwaiti government,
   presented 15-year-old "Nayirah" before the House Human Rights Caucus.
   Passed off as an ordinary Kuwaiti with firsthand knowledge of
   atrocities committed by the Iraqi army, she testified tearfully before
   Congress:
   
   "I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital...[where] I saw the Iraqi
   soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where
   15 babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the
   incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor
   to die."
   
   Supposedly fearing reprisals against her family, Nayirah did not
   reveal her last name to the press or Congress. Nor did this apparently
   disinterested witness mention that she was the daughter of Sheikh Saud
   Nasir al-Sabah, Kuwait's ambassador to the U.S. As Americans were
   being prepared for war, her story- which turned out to be impossible
   to corroborate -became the centerpiece of a finely tuned public
   relations campaign orches- trated by H&K and coordi- nated with the
   White House on behalf of the government of Kuwait and its front group,
   Citizens for a Free Kuwait.
   
   In May 1991, CFK was folded into the Washington-based Kuwait-America
   Foundation. CFK had sprung into action on August 2, the day Iraq
   invaded Kuwait. By August 10, it had hired H&K, the preeminent U.S.
   public relations firm. CFK reported to the Justice Department receipts
   of $17,861 from 78 individual U.S. and Canadian contributors and $11.8
   million from the Kuwaiti government. Of those "do- nations," H&K got
   nearly $10.8 million to wage one of the largest, most effective public
   relations campaigns in history.
   
   From the streets to the newsrooms, according to author John MacArthur,
   that money created a benign facade for Kuwait's image:
   
     "The H&K team, headed by former U.S. Information Agency officer
     Lauri J. Fitz-Pegado, organized a Kuwait Information Day on 20
     college campuses on September 12. On Sunday, September 23, churches
     nationwide observed a national day of prayer for Kuwait. The next
     day, 13 state governors declared a national Free Kuwait Day. H&K
     distributed tens of thousands of Free Kuwait bumper stickers and
     T-shirts, as well as thousands of media kits extolling the alleged
     virtues of Kuwaiti society and history. Fitz-Pegado's crack press
     agents put together media events featuring Kuwaiti "resistance
     fighters" and businessmen and arranged meetings with newspaper
     editorial boards. H&K's Lew Allison, a former CBS and NBC News
     producer, created 24 video news releases from the Middle East, some
     of which purported to depict life in Kuwait under the Iraqi boot.
     The Wirthlin Group was engaged by H&K to study TV audience reaction
     to statements on the Gulf crisis by President Bush and Kuwaiti
     officials. "
     
   All this PR activity helped "educate" Americans about Kuwait-a
   totalitarian country with a terrible human rights record and no rights
   for women. Meanwhile, the incubator babies atrocity story inflamed
   public opinion against Iraq and swung the U.S. Congress in favor of
   war in the Gulf.
   
   This free market approach to manufacturing public perception raises
   the issue of:
   
     whether there is something fundamentally wrong when a foreign
     government can pay a powerful, well-connected lobbying and public
     relations firm millions of dollars to convince the American people
     and the American government to support a war halfway around the
     world. In another age this activity would have caused an explosion
     of outrage. But something has changed in Washington. Boundaries no
     longer exist.
     
   One boundary which has been blurred beyond recognition is that between
   "propaganda"-which conjures up unpleasant images of Goebbels-like
   fascists-and "public relations," a respectable white collar
   profession. Taking full advantage of the revolving door, these
   lobbyists and spinmeisters glide through Congress, the White House,
   and the major media editorial offices. Their routine manipulations--
   like those of their brown shirted predecessors--corrode democracy and
   government policy. H&K's highly paid agents of influence, such as Vice
   President Bush's chief of staff Craig Fuller, and Democratic power
   broker Frank Mankiewicz, have run campaigns against abortion for the
   Catholic Church, represented the Church of Scientology, and the
   Moonies. They have made sure that gasoline taxes have been kept low
   for the American Petroleum Institute; handled flack for Three Mile
   Island's near-catastrophe; and mishandled the apple growers' assertion
   that Alar was safe. They meddle in our political life at every turn
   and apparently are never held accountable. Not only do these PR firms
   act as foreign propaganda agents, but they work closely with U.S. and
   foreign intelligence agencies, making covert operations even harder to
   control.
   
   In the 1930s, Edward Bernays, the "father of public relations,"
   convinced corporate America that changing the public's opinion--using
   PR techniques--about troublesome social movements such as socialism
   and labor unions, was more effective than hiring goons to club people.
   Since then, PR has evolved into an increasingly refined art form of
   manipulation on behalf of whoever has the large amounts of money
   required to pay for it. In 1991, the top 50 U.S.-based PR firms billed
   over $1,700,000,000 in fees. Top firms like Hill and Know- lton charge
   up to $350 per hour.
   
   PR firms manipulate public and congressional opinion and government
   policy through media campaigns, congressional hearings, and lobbying.
   They have the ability and the funds to conduct sophisticated research
   for their clients and, using inside information, to advise them about
   policy decisions. They are positioned to sell their clients access and
   introductions to gov- ernment officials, including those in
   intelligence agencies. Robert Keith Gray, head of Hill and Knowlton's
   Washington office for three decades, used to brag about checking major
   decisions personally with CIA director William Casey, whom he
   considered a close personal friend.
   
   One of the most important ways public relations firms influence what
   we think is through the massive distribution of press releases to
   newspapers and TV newsrooms. One study found that 40 percent of the
   news content in a typical U.S. newspaper originated with public
   relations press releases, story memos, or suggestions. The Columbia
   Journalism Review, which scrutinized a typical issue of the Wall
   Street Journal, found that more than half the Journal's news stories
   "were based solely on press releases." Although the releases were
   reprinted "almost verbatim or in para- phrase," with little additional
   reporting, many articles were attributed to "a Wall Street Journal
   staff reporter."
   
   While some PR campaigns are aimed at the general pub- lic, others
   target leadership, either to persuade them or to provide them with
   political cover. On November 27, 1990, just two days before the U.N.
   Security Council was to vote on the use of military force against
   Iraq, while the U.S. was extorting, bullying, and buying U.N.
   cooperation, Kuwait was trying to win hearts, minds, and tear ducts.
   "Walls of the [U.N.] Council chamber were covered with oversized color
   photographs of Kuwaitis of all ages who reportedly had been killed or
   tortured by Iraqis. ...A videotape showed Iraqi soldiers apparently
   firing on unarmed demonstrators, and witnesses who had escaped from
   Kuwait related tales of horror. A Kuwaiti spokesman was on hand to
   insist that his nation had been `an oasis of peaceful harmony' before
   Iraq mounted its invasion." This propaganda extravaganza was
   orchestrated by Hill and Knowlton for the government of Kuwait. With
   few exceptions, the event was reported as news by the media, and two
   days later the Security Council voted to authorize military force
   against Iraq.
   
   THE INTELLIGENCE CONNECTION The government's use of PR firms in
   general, and Hill and Knowlton in particular, goes beyond ethically
   dubious opinion manipulation. It includes potentially illegal proxy
   spying operations for intelligence agencies. "H&K recruited students
   to attend teach-ins and demonstrations on college campuses at the
   height of the Vietnam War, and to file agent-like reports on what they
   learned," according to author Susan Trento. "The purpose was for H&K
   to tell its clients that it had the ability to spot new trends in the
   activist movement, especially regarding environmental issues." Richard
   Cheney (no relation to former Secretary of Defense Cheney), head of
   H&K's New York office, denied this allegation. He said that H&K
   recommends that its clients hire private investigative agencies to
   conduct surveillance and intelligence work. But, Cheney admitted, "in
   such a large organization you never know if there's not some sneak
   operation going on."
   
   Former CIA official Robert T. Crowley, the Agency's long-time liaison
   with corporations, sees it differently. "Hill and Knowlton's overseas
   offices," he acknowledged, "were perfect `cover' for the
   ever-expanding CIA. Unlike other cover jobs, being a public relations
   specialist did not require technical training for CIA officers." The
   CIA, Crowley admitted, used its H&K connections "to put out press
   releases and make media contacts to further its positions. ...H&K
   employees at the small Washington office and elsewhere, distributed
   this material through CIA assets working in the United States news
   media." Since the CIA is prohibited from disseminating propaganda
   inside the U.S., this type of "blowback"- which former CIA officer
   John Stockwell and other researchers have often traced to the
   Agency-is illegal. While the use of U.S. media by the CIA has a long
   and well-documented history, the covert involvement of PR firms may be
   news to many. According to Trento:
   
     "Reporters were paid by the CIA, sometimes without their media
     employers' knowledge, to get the material in print or on the air.
     But other news organizations ordered their employees to cooperate
     with the CIA, including the San Diego-based Copley News Service.
     But Copley was not alone, and the CIA had `tamed' reporters and
     editors in scores of newspaper and broadcast outlets across the
     country. To avoid direct relationships with the media, the CIA
     recruited individuals in public relations firms like H&K to act as
     middlemen for what the CIA wanted to distribute.
     
   This close association and dependence upon the intelligence community
   by reporters has created a unique situation which has shielded PR
   executives and firms from closer scrutiny by the media and Congress.
   According to Trento, "These longstanding H&K intelligence ties and
   CIA-linked reporters' fears that Gray might know about them might
   partially explain why Gray has escaped close media examination, even
   though he was questioned about his or his associates' roles in one
   major scandal after another during his long Washington career."
   
   Over the years, Hill and Knowlton and Robert Gray have been implicated
   in the BCCI scandal, the October Surprise, the House page sex and drug
   scandal, Debategate, Koreagate, and Iran-Contra. In October 1988,
   three days after the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI)
   was indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring with the Medellin
   Cartel to launder $32,000,000 in illicit drug profits, the bank hired
   H&K to manage the scandal. Robert Gray also served on the board of
   directors of First American Bank, the Washington D.C. bank run by
   Clark Clifford (now facing federal charges) and owned by BCCI. Gray
   was close to, and helped in various ways, top Reagan officials. When
   Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger's son needed a job, Gray hired
   him for $2,000 a month. "And when Gray's clients needed something from
   the Pentagon, Gray and Co. went right to the top." Gray also helped
   Attorney General Ed Meese's wife, Ursula, get a lucrative job with a
   foundation which was created by a wealthy Texas client, solely to
   employ her.
   
   ROBERT KEITH GRAY- PRIVATE SPOOK? Robert Keith Gray, who set up Hill
   and Knowlton's important Washington, D.C. office and ran it for most
   of the time between 1961 and 1992, has had numerous contacts in the
   national and international intelligence community. The list of his
   personal and professional associates includes Edwin Wilson, William
   Casey, Tongsun Park (Korean CIA), Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Anna Chennault
   (Gray was a board member of World Airways aka Flying Tigers), Neil
   Livingstone, Ro- bert Owen, and Oliver North.
   
     "Most of the International Division [of Gray & Co.] clients," said
     Susan Trento, "were right-wing governments tied closely to the
     intelligence community or businessmen with the same associations."
     
   In 1965, with Gray's help, Tongsun Park, had formed the George Town
   Club in Washington. According to Trento:
   
   Park put up the money and, with introductions from Gray and others,
   recruited "founders" for the club like the late Marine Gen. Graves
   Erskine, who had an active intelligence career. Anna Chennault became
   a force in the club. Others followed, and most, like Gray, had the
   same conservative political outlook, connections to the intelligence
   world, or `congressional overtones.' Gray's ties to right-wing Asians
   like Chennault and Park had deep roots. Gray had been critical of
   Eisenhower [when he was appointments secretary for Eisenhower] for
   never being partisan enough. Perhaps that is why Gray embraced
   wholeheartedly the powers behind the China Lobby. One reason Gray was
   attached to the lobby was that they had long been behind the funding
   of Richard Nixon's various campaigns.
   
   Tongsun Park was an "agent of influence," trained by the Korean
   intelligence agency, which was created by and is widely regarded as a
   subsidiary of the CIA. The George Town Club has served as a discrete
   meeting place where right-wing foreign intelligence agents can
   socialize and conduct business with U.S. government officials.
   
   Robert Gray has also been linked with former CIA and naval
   intelligence agent Edwin Wilson, although Gray denies it. In 1971,
   Wilson left the CIA and set up a series of new front companies for a
   secret Navy operation-Task Force 157. Wilson says that Robert Gray
   "was on the Board [of Directors]. We had an agreement that anything
   that H&K didn't want, they would throw to me so that I could make some
   money out of it, and Bob and I would share that."
   
   THE GRAY AREA BEHIND HILL & KNOWLTON Gray's connection to Iran-Contra
   has never been fully examined. Notably, the Tower Commission, Reagan's
   official 1986 investigation, all but ignored it. In 1983, Texas
   Senator John Tower had declined to seek reelection thinking he had a
   deal with Reagan to become Secretary of Defense. After Weinberger
   decided to stay on in the second Reagan term, Tower found himself
   without a job. In 1986, his friend Robert Gray offered him a position
   on the board of directors of Gray and Co. Shortly thereafter, Tower
   was asked to head the presidential inquiry. Not suprisingly, the Tower
   Commission kept Gray and Co. out of the investigation, in spite of the
   facts that several key players in the scandal had worked for Gray and
   Co., and Gray's Madrid office was suspected of involvement in the
   secret arms shipments to Iran.
   
   Despite large gaps in the official inquiry, it has been established
   that Robert Owen, Oliver North's messenger and bagman, worked for Gray
   and Co. after leaving then-Senator Dan Quayle's staff in 1983. Owen
   worked primarily with Neil Livingstone, a mysterious figure who claims
   to be a mover and shaker in the intelligence world but who is
   described as a "groupie." Livingstone worked with Ed Wilson, Air
   Panama, and as a front man for business activities sponsored by the
   CIA and Israeli intelligence. Owen and Livingstone traveled frequently
   to Central America to meet with the Contras in 1984. An interesting
   footnote to Iran-Contra is that in 1986, Saudi Arabian arms broker
   Adnan Khashoggi hired Hill and Knowlton and Gray and Co. to milk
   maximum publicity out of his major donation to a $20.5 million sports
   center, named after him, at American University.
   
   THE FOURTH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT The pattern of influence peddling and
   insider abuse is clear. The potential for real reform is less obvious.
   Despite his stated intention to restrict the influence of lobbyists
   and PR manipulation, Clinton's reforms are viewed with cynical
   amusement by those in the know. Although newly restricted from
   directly lobbying their former agencies, retiring government officials
   can simply take jobs with PR firms, sit at their desks, and instruct
   others to say "Ron, or Howard, sent me." Nor does the updated Foreign
   Agents Registration Act have real teeth. The act-legislated in 1938
   when U.S. PR firms were discovered working as propagandists and
   lobbyists for Nazi Germany-is rarely enforced. While it requires
   agents of governments to register, it omits requirements for agents of
   foreign corporations, who often serve the same interests.
   
   And if loopholes for lobbying are comfortably large, public relations
   activities remain totally unregulated and unscrutinized by any
   government agency. Given the power and scope of PR firms, their track
   records of manipulation, their collusion with intelligence agencies,
   and their disregard for the human rights records and corporate
   misdeeds of many of their clients, this lack of oversight endangers
   democracy. Careful regulation, stringent reporting requirements, and
   government and citizen oversight are essential first steps in
   preventing these giant transnationals from functioning as a virtual
   fourth branch of government.