ADVENTURES With the MAD ARMENIAN - Part 2

Monday, August 8, 2011

Bargain for Marcos : State Dept. Cable Hints He Would Lose Alleged Loot Over Fraud Case

-BLACKVAULT

 OPEN SOURCE    US/1; ATTN: HST/2; ex-MP/1; IG/1

[ed.note: “Tell those Motherf**kers I’m coming after them,” screamed Judge Abe Sofaer to Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Bill Remple, who immediately called to warn us. We hurriedly cleared out any supposedly ‘classified’ or SOURCE SENSITIVE data, including all suspected narcotics paraphernalia, rusting pornography film cans, and about 9,500 pages of documents, all told.

In less than an hour, Golden Retrievers Bugsy, and Red Dog, brother DHM, and US/1 had booked, er..vacated the premises. Quickly crossing state lines--at a minimum hoping to cause delay and make any issuance of federal subpoenas/warrants cross-jurisdictional.

  Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee Burned in Effigy

After Malone's 1st Washington Post article, Scandal Almost Sank Secret Cambodia War, Ben Bradlee was burned in effigy outside the US Embassy in Bangkok—despite his legendary Watergate coverage--it was a first for him....

“They have the ROGER CHANNEL…” Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence (INR) Morton Abramowitz metaphorically bellowed in a TS/SCI/ (SAP-code-word)ROGER.CHANNEL cable the next day, Halloween.

But at 0730 the next morning, a telephonic check with observant neighbors revealed no dramatic police type activity, and then US/1 called Remple to say that “no DIPSEC or FBI special agents” had descended on his Georgetown home as anticipated, though US/1 had had “all the semen forcibly removed from [his] body.” Remple's laughter was a little too loud.

Judge Sofaer went on to become a much ‘maligned’ head of the US Marshal’s WITSEC Program and later still as representative for LIBYAN money on the Pan Am 103 TERROR case. Real estate records pulled at the time he was still Chief Legal Counsel of the State Department revealed Sofaer to already be a wealthy man.]

U.S. Debates Plea Bargain for Marcos : State Dept. Cable Hints He Would Lose Alleged Loot Over Fraud Case

October 11, 1988                                          WILLIAM C. REMPEL and RONALD J. OSTROW | Times Staff Writers

The State Department is pressuring federal prosecutors to allow former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos to negotiate a plea agreement before a possible indictment on multimillion-dollar fraud charges in the United States, according to an internal department cable obtained by The Times.

The document, however, indicates that any plea agreement acceptable to U.S. authorities would require the deposed dictator to forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars in assets allegedly looted from the Philippine Treasury before he was driven into exile in Hawaii in 1986. Such an agreement could allow Marcos and his wife Imelda to avoid any possibility of terms in U.S. federal prisons.

'Seek to Embarrass'

The cable also expresses concern that an indictment may prompt a vindictive Marcos to "seek to involve and embarrass" U.S. and Philippine officials by making allegations of improper or illegal conduct, "however unfounded," in an attempt to adversely affect relations with the current Philippine government. It did not elaborate.

<Investigative Reporters

<The text of the document was made available to The Times on Monday by Washington-based investigative reporters Scott Malone and Mark Perry, who said that they received it anonymously in the mail. Malone has reported extensively on Marcos for television and magazines. The authenticity of the cable was confirmed independently by The Times.>

The lengthy and detailed message was relayed from the State Department's chief legal counsel, Abraham D. Sofaer, to other top department officials, including U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Platt in Manila, in a classified cable. The document reflects some of the difficult internal Administration debate over legal and political conflicts that have marked the criminal investigation of the former Philippine leader and his wife, Imelda.

Indictment Arguments

For example, the State Department had argued to limit the indictment to alleged criminal acts that occurred after Marcos fled to Honolulu in February, 1986. But prosecutors on the staff of U.S. Atty. Rudolph Giuliani in New York insisted that the only way to recover an allegedly ill-gotten fortune in Manhattan real estate and fine art is to charge Marcos with acts of fraud that began during his tenure as president of the Philippines and continued after he came to Hawaii.

State Department officials finally accepted the prosecutors' argument on condition that the indictment be carefully drawn to emphasize post-revolution conduct and that public statements by Justice Department officials, including Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh, would "make clear that Marcos was being prosecuted because of his illegal conduct after he came to the U.S. ," according to the cable.

Also, prosecutors and diplomatic advisers disagree over when to initiate plea bargaining. The State Department wants to give Marcos "a last chance, prior to indictment," to reach a settlement. But federal prosecutors prefer to indict first to gain added leverage in negotiations with the ousted Philippine president.

'Stand Firm'

"Justice has presented no good reason why we should not continue to insist on offering Mr. Marcos a chance to reach a voluntary plea agreement prior to indictment," the cable said. "Sofaer strongly believes that if we stand firm, we can work out a way of doing this with Giuliani which would not harm Justice's prosecution interests and would give President (Reagan) a substantial degree of protection from being criticized for allowing Marcos to be prosecuted for prior activities."

In one of several recommendations outlined in the cable, the State Department said: "President Reagan should be advised of the decision to indict (if one is made) and the charges, and thereby afforded an opportunity to exercise his executive authority." This was apparently intended to leave the White House with the option of vetoing an indictment.

Sources familiar with the investigation in New York have said U.S. officials are concerned that Marcos may threaten to disclose politically damaging information about his dealings with the federal government to pressure the White House to block prosecution.

'Thoroughly Discredited'

But Filipino Ambassador Emmanuel Pelaez said: "In the Philippines, Mr. Marcos is so thoroughly discredited that he has no credibility whatsoever. I do not know about the American government, but the Philippine government has nothing to fear about anything Mr. Marcos could say. I don't see how anything he says could harm U.S.-Philippine relations."

The cable also reveals that the State Department is concerned that Marcos may be attempting to destabilize the current government of the Philippines. It did not provide any details about such activities, but The Times has reported that a separate federal grand jury in Hawaii is investigating allegations that Marcos has attempted to aid anti-government forces in the Philippines in violation of U.S. neutrality laws.

Investigative Reporters

The text of the document was made available to The Times on Monday by Washington-based investigative reporters Scott Malone and Mark Perry, who said that they received it anonymously in the mail. Malone has reported extensively on Marcos for television and magazines. The authenticity of the cable was confirmed independently by The Times.

The cable makes a number of other significant findings about the State Department's position on the Marcos case:

-- That the White House offer of safe haven in Hawaii did not include any immunity in regard to U.S. laws and that "he should be subject to prosecution for such violations."

-- That, before any indictment is issued, the government of the Philippines must agree to a formal waiver of head-of-state immunity for Marcos and his wife.

-- That it is important to make the offer to plea bargain even if Marcos does not accept it, indicating that the government is concerned about setting a proper precedent on U.S. dealings with such dictators.

"Prosecution of Mr. Marcos . . . could set a precedent (that) would have a negative impact on our ability to influence other heads of state who may be similarly situated to leave power," the cable said.

State Department officials initially opposed including in a Marcos indictment charges based on actions he took while in office. The opposition was based on grounds that he was invited to the United States and that prosecuting him for such acts would undercut U.S. ability to pressure other "similarly situated" heads of state to leave power.

Prosecutors argued that limiting the charges to alleged obstruction of justice since entering the United States would bar indictment of Marcos under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute. The charges under that statute would carry with them authority to seek forfeiture of Marcos' New York real estate and other assets.

Justice Department officials agree that prosecuting Marcos solely for activities before he arrived in the United States would be improper, the cable said.

Outlines of Compromise

As a result, outlines of a compromise appeared in the cable. The Justice Department would make clearer in the indictment that Marcos is not being charged solely for actions he took while still president. Thornburgh "is also willing to make a public commitment to use his authority under the RICO statute to compensate the victims (including principally the government of the Philippines and U.S. mortgagors) out of any assets recovered," it said.

"We should accept Justice's conclusions on the question of limiting the indictment," the State Department document said. "Based on their assessment of the proposed prosecution and forfeiture possibilities, it appears that limiting the indictment would eliminate the chief benefit of prosecution--forfeiture of assets--but would do little to avoid our other concerns."

The Justice Department's "willingness to cast the indictment and any public statements as resulting from Mr. Marcos' continuing wrongful activity while in the U.S." clearly alleviates, but does not eliminate, a significant concern of diplomatic officials.

The cable notes that the department's concern is offset by assurances from the attorney general that such prosecution is necessary to attempt "recovery of wrongfully obtained assets."

'Exceeds the Mortgages'

The cable said that Giuliani told Sofaer he had rechecked the value of two of the four Marcos properties involved and that their value "far exceeds the mortgages." Other Marcos properties and bank accounts that prosecutors would seek to forfeit adds up to "a large surplus" that could be recovered for the Philippine government.

While citing the risk that prosecution could fail, the cable reported that Justice Department officials have concluded "after extensive review that the evidence is sufficient to prevail. (Giuliani has 'guaranteed' success.) We have no way of independently assessing this question."

Petition Rejected

In a related development, a Philippine court in Manila rejected Monday a petition by Marcos to return home and answer corruption charges. The court ruled that Marcos' return was a political question beyond the reach of the court and should be resolved by President Corazon Aquino.

Justice Romeo Escareal issued the ruling a month before the court begins a pretrial hearing on allegations that Marcos received millions of dollars in kickbacks from Japanese companies during his 20-year rule. Marcos could challenge the ruling in the Philippine Supreme Court.

Aquino has barred Marcos' return from exile in Hawaii, calling him a threat to national security.

Also Monday, an army spokesman denied newspaper reports that army dissidents backed by politicians loyal to Marcos planned to launch a coup attempt in November.

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-10-11/news/mn-3757_1_state-department

[ED.NOTE: MARCOS WAS EVENTUALLY INDICTED OVER THE OBJECTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, WHICH WAS ALSO IS OFFICIAL IMMIGRATION STATUS: “GUEST OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. MARCOS DIED BEFORE HIS TRIAL. HIS CO-CONSPIRATORS, IMELDA “WHERE’S MY SHOES” MARCOS AND SAUDI ARMS DEALER ADNAN “WHERE’S THE IRANIAN’S TOW MISSILES” KHOSSOGGI, WERE BOTH ACQUITTED.”

Three Months after the above LA Times article, SECSTATE George SCHULTZ WROTE ONE OF HIS LAST OFFICIAL MEMOS:

http://blacknetintel.blogspot.com/p/blackvault.html

[Information contained in BKNT E-mail is considered Attorney-Client and Attorney Work Product privileged, copyrighted and confidential. Views that may be expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of any government, agency, or news organization.]

Posted by W. Scott Malone at 2:23 PM

http://wscottmalone.blogspot.com/2011/08/bargain-for-marcos-state-dept-cable.html

---------------------------

22 December 2012

WP: CIA complains about depictions in Osama bin Laden movie ‘Zero Dark Thirty’

- OPEN SOURCE

VS/[redacted]; US/1; ATTN: HST/2 SFTT/2; NSNS/2

“David Ignatius, Chief of Station" - VS/[redacted]

Saturday, December 22, 2012

By Greg Miller

 

The CIA on Friday said that a Hollywood movie portraying the hunt for Osama bin Laden “departs from reality” in significant ways, and emphasized that despite assistance it provided to the filmmakers, the agency had no control over the final product.

In an unusual letter to CIA employees, acting Director Michael Morell said that the highly anticipated film, “Zero Dark Thirty,” leads viewers to believe that a “few individuals” were behind the hunt for the al-Qaeda leader, instead of the “hundreds of officers” who were involved over the course of a decade. He also rejected the film’s depiction of the CIA’s interrogation program — and the implication that it helped extract valuable information from detainees…

[Information contained in BKNT E-mail is considered Attorney-Client and Attorney Work Product privileged, copyrighted and confidential. Views that may be expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of any government, agency, or news organization.]

 

50,000 UNSTOPPABLE WATTS ...

-  OPEN SOURCE

US/1; ATTN:  FOR ALL THOSE BRAVE SOULS WHO TESTED THE THEORY THAT ANTHRAX IS ODORLESS..

Get More: 

Clutch - "50000 Unstoppable Watts"

"Anthrax, Ham Radio, and Liquor"

The BlackNET collective offers our warmest regards during Holiday season.

For Dr. Frank Anthrax Aerolsolizer, OLSON.  May he someday lay in PEACE.

 

BlackVAULT - W. Scott Malone: Bush and the Bakker Connection --On His Way to the White House, the Vice President Wooed the Preacher

-  OPEN SOURCE

US/1; ATTN:   

December 18, 1988, Sunday, Final Edition 

By William Scott Malone

A QUICK QUIZ: Which candidates for the Republican presidential nomination made their personal relationship with Jesus Christ a part of their quest for the White House?

Televangelist Pat Robertson was one of them, but that's easy. There's at least one other: One candidate whose spiritual life had not previously surfaced despite his years of public service, but who told reporters he sat around watching The PTL Club "from time to time," and that when it came to giving money to broadcast preachers like Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, he "certainly wouldn't be opposed to it."

It was the same candidate who, when meeting privately with evangelical church leaders, told them that "Jesus Christ is my personal savior."

The same candidate whose advisers received hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from PTL. The same candidate, in fact, who won the nomination and later the election: George Bush, the pork-rind-munching, country-music-listening, Christian ecstatic from Kennebunkport.

George Bush's interest in Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker went well beyond occasionally enjoying their old TV show. Back in November 1985, when the most worrisome blip on Bush's campaign radar screen seemed to be Pat Robertson's probable candidacy, and when The PTL Club was the most-watched religious show in the country, Bush made a pilgrimage to Charlotte, N.C., to meet with the Rev. Bakker.

Marlin Fitzwater, then Bush's spokesman, said that the two men "discussed their shared Christian beliefs and the possible 1988 candidacy of evangelical Pat Robertson." No doubt. What Bush wanted from Bakker was his endorsement. In 1984, Bakker, together with fellow evangelists Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart,  had joined in registration efforts of the American Coalition for Traditional Values, an organization which later claimed to have signed up some 2 million Christian voters. 

That fall, Bakker endorsed his first presidential candidate -- Ronald Reagan. 

Born-again Christians reportedly gave Reagan nearly one out of every five votes he received that year, nearly half his margin of victory. The lesson of 1984 was not lost on Bush. Bakker, for his part, moved one step closer to his dream of ultimate respectability -- a position in a Bush White House, exactly what was being dangled in front of him by key Bush advisers.

Bakker recalled the 1985 meeting with Bush, which took place in a private suite at the Charlotte Plaza Building, during a recent interview in Charlotte.  "I spent an hour with him," said Bakker, who has since been indicted by a federal grand jury on 24 counts of wire and mail fraud. Bush, thought Bakker, "was a regular guy," an impression Bush seems to have wanted to foster; the vice president went to the trouble of constructing his own barbeque sandwich in front of Bakker's then-regal entourage. 

Did Bush want a political alliance with Bakker? "He did before," Bakker says. "He doesn't now." It would have been a marriage of convenience, and one that Bush seemed anxious to consummate. Even so, Bakker's ties to the Bush campaign were hardly limited to meeting the candidate himself. At about the time Bakker was breaking bread with Bush, Bakker also put three Bush advisers on the PTL payroll -- at a cost of over $ 200,000 in PTL funds.

Although utilizing such charitable funds for political purposes would be illegal under U.S. tax law, a determination as to whether any services performed for PTL by the Bush campaign advisors would constitute "political purposes" has not been addressed by either the Justice Department or the Internal Revenue Service.

The Bush-Bakker connection appears to date from the late 1985 meeting. Bush, speaking in the syntax for which he has become famous, characterized it as a "very enjoyable, very friendly, no-agenda kind of a meeting."

The following January, Tammy Faye met privately with Barbara Bush at the vice president's official Washington residence. PTL Master Card bills showed that Tammy Faye and her entourage spent over $ 8,300 on hotel bills alone during their Washington stay, which lasted only a few days.

A little over a month after that, in March 1986, Bakker held a series of political meetings with Doug Wead. Wead was then a frequent PTL guest, an occasional PTL Club guest host, and, as it happened, the paid religious liaison for the George Bush campaign. Wead helped Bush meet with as many as 1,000 evangelical leaders, many of them in one-on-one conclaves. Wead and Bakker met repeatedly, sometimes at the Heritage USA headquarters outside Fort Mill, S.C., and more often at Bakker's Palm Desert, Calif., retreat, to discuss the possibility of Bakker endorsing Bush in 1988.

According to Don Hardister, PTL's former chief of security and Bakker's personal bodyguard for seven years, who was present during most of the confidential discussions, the possibility of Bakker himself becoming a White House aide during a Bush administration was also discussed. "I was looking forward to working at the White House also," Hardister recalled. "Jim Bakker would have been the new Billy Graham," insisted Hardister. "And he would have gotten [a White House position] without any question."

Wead denied discussing a White House position with Bakker.

Wead was also supplementing his income with funds from the PTL Club. He was paid $ 75,000 by Bakker in 1986 to write a book to be entitled "Anatomy of a Smear," detailing Bakker's claims that he had been the target of an elaborate conspiracy between the Charlotte Observer newspaper and the "godless" Federal Communications Commission. 

The FCC, with jurisdiction over PTL's Canton, Ohio, television station, had launched an investigation of Bakker's potentially fraudulent on-air fund-raising schemes after a 1979 Charlotte Observer series on the diversion of money raised for PTL foreign mission projects.

Bakker didn't get much for the money he paid Wead. Despite a mass-mailing of glossy PTL pamphlets annoucing the forthcoming "Anatomy of a Smear," no such book was ever published. Wead later said that the Bakkers had rejected three complete manuscripts he submitted to them because they failed to flatter them enough. Hardister said "Wead only provided five or six chapters, which was nothing -- not $ 75,000 worth."

Wead did, however, help spread PTL's largesse around to other key Bush operatives, including Bush's then-retired press secretary, Pete Teeley. In October 1985, Wead introduced Teeley to Bakker. Bakker promptly retained Teeley as PTL's "Washington liaison" for $ 5,000 per month, a sum later doubled to $10,000 per month. By the time this arrangement between Teeley and PTL ended 18 months later, Teeley had collected a total of $ 120,000.

What was Teeley doing to earn that kind of money? According to Hardister, it was Teeley who arranged the Bush-Bakker conclave that took place the next month. "Teeley also kept teasing us with a vice presidential visit to Heritage U.S.A., which would have been much more high-profile," Hardister said. Teeley denies Hardister's story. Asked who did arrange the November 1985 meeting, Teeley says he doesn't know.

"We discussed the whole area of political connections," Teeley later said of his work for Bakker. And what political advice did he give PTL? "My advice to Bakker was they should not involve themselves in that area . . . . I didn't think it was in their best interest." (It was advice Bakker apparently ignored in continuing to pay Teeley, who would return full time to the Bush campaign in 1987.)

The only specific thing Teeley said he accomplished for his $120,000 fee was the recommendation that Bakker hire Dean Burch as his Washington attorney. PTL was planning to buy another TV station, and it needed some heavy political and legal artillery. A former FCC chairman and Republican National Committee head, Burch is a long-time friend of George Bush.

According to the still-confidential minutes of PTL board of directors meetings, Bakker wasted no time in following this bit of Teeley advice. The minutes state that on Nov. 12, 1985, four days after Bakker's private "no-agenda" meeting with the vice president, Burch was hired by unanimous vote.  The fees paid to Burch have not been made public, but his advice, essentially, was that PTL should hold off any action until after the 1988 election. "Jim wanted to challenge the FCC," recalled Hardister. "But Burch cooled him down, and got the FCC off our back. Burch advised us to wait until Bush got into office -- things would be better" at the FCC. 

Burch, who declined to comment last week, had earlier told reporters that "Bakker . . . [was] concerned that representations that PTL had made to the FCC would prevent them from buying stations."

Those "representations" had been made during a two-year (1979-1981) investigation of Bakker's on-air fund-raising techniques. At its conclusion, FCC staff attorney Lawrence Bernstein wrote a confidential report documenting how Bakker had misappropriated some $ 350,000 in funds specifically raised for PTL foreign missions.

The staff report offered an even more chilling portrait of Jim Bakker's integrity and truthfulness, the two most important requisites to holding an FCC license. The report showed that Bakker was flatly contradicted under oath 81 times. He was contradicted by the sworn testimony of former PTL officers 27 times, by PTL documents 18 times, and by his own testimony and video-taped statements a jarring 36 times.

In December 1982, after a two-year delay, the FCC voted 4-to-3 to allow PTL to quietly sell its Canton station and thus avoid public hearings. One month later, PTL video cameras were whirring as President Reagan delivered a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Washington. To loud applause, the president sang the praises of PTL's "Love Centers," as a beaming Jim Bakker peered over his shoulder on the stage. In March 1983, then-assistant attorney general Lowell Jensen signed a formal Justice Department letter declining to bring any charges or to conduct a further investigation of possible perjury or financial fraud by the PTL management.

"Despite compelling evidence of improprieties," according to Bernstein, who later resigned from the FCC over the PTL case, both the FCC and the Justice Department "apparently succumbed to political pressure in deciding to let PTL escape punishment." Bernstein's report and the supporting documentation would not see the light of public scrutiny for another three years. According to Hardister, the "vindicated" Bakker became even more active politically and broadened his contacts with George Bush.

On March 19, 1987, Bakker announced that he would leave PTL as a result of his sexual tryst with former church secretary Jessica Hahn. Fellow evangelist Falwell would take over during his "absence." The following morning Falwell

received a private phone call of support from Bush.

Throughout the scandal that ensued, Bush managed to distance himself completely from PTL. Teeley went back on staff as Bush's campaign spokesman. Wead continued as Bush's religious liaison, stationing operatives in hundreds of fundamentalist churches in the South to report weekly on primary opponent Pat Robertson. Burch was mentioned as a possible attorney general. Teeley and Wead are also under consideration for high-level positions in the new Bush administration.

If not for the Jessica Hahn scandal, Jim Bakker might soon also have been sitting behind a new White House desk. Two weeks before his recent indictment, Bakker was attributing his downfall to a wide-ranging conspiracy between government agents and his evangelistic competitors. "Somebody wanted the religious voting bloc smashed, and it was smashed -- it's gone."

During a recent Sunday service which the Bakkers held in a Charlotte roller-skating rink, the still-boyish Bakker railed -- in a fiery preaching style reminiscent of his early sawdust-and-tent days -- against the media and government interference in church affairs, especially his own. Between his thunderous outbursts, Tammy Faye performed numbers from her latest album. They raised $ 20,000 in less than five minutes from the 200 or so assembled faithful and promised to be back on TV by January.

Asked after the sermon about his current opinion of the new president-elect, whose autographed picture Bakker once hung proudly in the lobby of PTL's headquarters, Bakker said: "I just hope he still believes in separation of church and state." When questioned if he had gotten his money's worth from the $200,000 to $ 300,000 he paid Bush advisers Teeley, Wead and Burch, Bakker raised his eyebrows: "Where did you come by those names?" When pressed further, Bakker would only say, "I'd rather not cast any stones."

William Scott Malone, a Washington reporter, conducted the investigation for the January 1988 PBS "Frontline" documentary "Praise the Lord." Contributing to this report was Mark Ethridge III, former managing editor of the Charlotte Observer, who shared the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for exposing PTL.