BLOOMBERG LIES
`I Am Not Running,'
Only Dripping Copiously
by Jeffrey Steinberg
Do not be bamboozled by the Bloomberg non-announcement on Feb. 28, in a New York Times op-ed, that he is "not running" for President. Look at the reality and hold it up against what Lyndon LaRouche has been saying for months. The financial system is already collapsed. It is doomed—this year. And under these circumstances, the City of London-centered financial oligarchy, and its Wall Street allies, have designated Felix Rohatyn's favorite fascist, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as their man to be installed in the White House in January 2009.
When, last Autumn, everyone was touting former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as the top choice for the GOP Presidential nomination, LaRouche declared, that the Giuliani candidacy was dead in the water, based on Giuliani's crime-tainted dossier and the wide public exposure of his corruption. Giuliani was built up to be shot down, and to take down several other candidates with him. Now Barack Obama is being set up to follow in Giuliani's steps by the same people. LaRouche was right about Giuliani, and he is right about Obama and Bloomberg.
Over the past week, the real news is that London has launched its attack on Obama, in a number of news stories, typified by the Feb. 26 London Times story by James Bone and Dominic Kennedy, headlined "Mansion 'Mistake' Piles the Pressure on Barack Obama." London, typified by Times owner Rupert Murdoch, has the file on Obama, and it has signaled that it is ready to pull the plug on him—but only after Obama has completed his final assignment: the elimination of Hillary Clinton from the Democratic Party Presidential race. Then, all hell will break loose.
The London-led attack on Obama, which has been telegraphed, but not yet launched, is the key to getting Rohatyn's favorite candidate, Bloomberg, in. London has everything it needs to pull the trap door on Obama, just as LaRouche has been warning for months.
The Rezko Can of Worms
The Feb. 26 London Times story focused on Obama's relationship with indicted Chicago businessman Antoin (Tony) Rezko, and Anglo-Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi. Auchi, one of the wealthiest men in England, has been a business partner of Rezko since 2003, and between April 2005 and April 2007, loaned Rezko at least $18 million. In court filings, Rezko claimed that he was in debt to Auchi to the tune of over $29 million, indicating that the Rezko-Auchi story has yet to fully surface.
The first of the loans, for $3.5 million, was, according to the Times, made on April 28, 2005, and officially recorded a month later, just weeks before Rezko's June 15, 2005 joint real estate purchase with Sen. Obama. "The money transfer," the Times wrote, "raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain's wealthiest men, helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago. A company related to Mr Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr Obama's bagman Antoin 'Tony' Rezko on May 23, 2005. Mr Auchi says the loan, through a Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million. Three weeks later, Mr Obama bought a house on the city's South Side while Mr Rezko's wife bought the garden plot next door from the same seller on the same day, June 15." Senator Obama has admitted that he went to Rezko, seeking help in the house purchase, and has subsequently described it as a "bone-headed" mistake. At the time of the real estate deal, it was an open secret in Chicago that Rezko was under Federal investigation on a range of political corruption charges—for which he was later indicted.
On Feb. 28, CQ Politics, the online newsletter of the Congressional Quarterly, picked up on the Auchi-Rezko-Obama saga, in a piece by columnist and noted Republican Party strategist Richard Whalen. "A new headache for Senator Obama has surfaced that could have a devastating impact on his presidential campaign," Whalen reported. Whalen quoted from the London Times account, adding, "We know less about Barack Obama and his political connections than we have known about any other candidate for the presidency in the past half century.... Obama's media honeymoon," Whalen continued, "may be over. A veteran journalist who covers Obama regularly provides this snapshot: 'He's not at all as he appears on television. He's cold, distant and tightly wound. But when the red light goes on the TV cameras, he's all charm and self-discipline in his choice of words.'
"This story is not going away," Whalen concluded. "The Rezko-Auchi connection is sure to trigger overdue press scrutiny when Rezko's trial begins on March 3. Obama's name could figure in the trial although he is not accused of any wrongdoing."
Indeed, the media scrutiny has barely begun, and already, other damning scandals are bubbling to the surface. The day after the Whalen column was posted, Washington Times national security correspondent Bill Gertz published his own take on Obama's "Auchi connection." Gertz cited a 2004 Pentagon report, which described Auchi as a billionaire, "who, behind the facade of legitimate business, served as Saddam Hussein's principal international financial manipulator and bag man." Auchi has denied the Saddam ties, and says that his brother was executed by Saddam.
The report to the Pentagon's Inspector General was triggered by allegations of corruption at the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which administerd the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 2004. As quoted by Gertz, Auchi was accused in the report of "unlawful activities working closely with Iraqi intelligence operatives to ... arrange for significant theft from the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program to smuggle weapons and dual-use technology into Iraq," and to "organize an elaborate scheme to take over and control the post-war cellular phone system in Iraq."
Furthermore, according to the Gertz account, Auchi was linked in the Pentagon document to British intelligence. Auchi has denied all the allegations in the Defense Department probe, although his links to "former" top MI6 officials are confirmed by a search of public records of his companies and the Anglo-Arab Organization he founded.
EIR has confirmed that the Pentagon did release a "copy of a report published by the USD/ITS, investigating the role of Nadhmi Auchi and Dan Sudnick in mobile phone licensing under the CPA in Iraq." Several attempts by EIR to interview Auchi, about his business ties to Rezko and the Pentagon report, have not been answered.
The Scandal Will Grow
Tony Rezko is scheduled to go on trial on March 3, on a range of corruption charges, implicating prominent Illinois politicians. Barack Obama's name will come up during the trial, and the scandal will continue to grow in intensity. London's use for Obama only goes so far as to destroy Hillary Clinton. Should he succeed in that mission, he is next—whether he and his top campaign advisors know it or not.
This is the political story of the day. London will bring down Obama, and pave the way for Bloomberg—despite his claims that he is "not running." John McCain, the current Republican frontrunner for the nomination, is already showing severe signs of strain. This is not surprising for someone who would be the oldest elected President in U.S. history, if he were to win in November. McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and is a cancer survivor. His choice of Vice President will be carefully scrutinized. He may not make it to November.
Well-placed Washington sources also reject the idea that Bloomberg is out of the race, describing Bloomberg's announcement as a "repositioning." They say that the obstacles to a third party or independent run are formidable, and that Bloomberg is now being positioned to be the nominee or the Vice Presidential running mate, in either the Republican or Democratic Party. The day before Bloomberg's Times op-ed, the Washington Post's Al Kamen hyped the idea that Bloomberg is a top pick to be the running mate for either John McCain or Barack Obama, according to a survey of his readership! And both the New York Daily News and Newsmax columnist Armstrong Williams have touted the idea that Obama would do well to tap Bloomberg as his number two.
The very day that Bloomberg was ostensibly "bowing out," Josh Greenman wrote a gushing editorial in the Daily News, titled "Barack Obama's dream ticket: Mike Bloomberg for vice president." Greenman began, "If he rides the wave all the way to the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama could do himself a huge favor by picking a prominent New Yorker to round out a dream ticket. No, not Hillary Clinton. Think about this: Vice President of the United States Michael Bloomberg."
The reality, however, is that with Obama set up to take a fall; and McCain in poor health, the remaining wild card is Hillary Clinton, who is by no means out of the running.
As LaRouche has warned, there is no certainty whatsoever in the Presidential election brawl. Between now and election day in November, the financial crash will accelerate, through a series of shocks to the system. The United States will be a very different place by the time the nominating conventions occur and the votes are cast.
And if fascist SOBs like Felix Rohatyn and George Shultz are allowed to have their way, their new Mussolini, Michael Bloomberg, will be in. If that happens, one of the people who can be blamed for the treachery is Rohatyn's pawn, Nancy Pelosi, who has played a filthy role, in setting up her own Democratic Party, as well as the nation, for a fascist hell.
