From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: Background to IRAQ-GATE (1)  KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, BNL AND IRAQ
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 20:30:12 GMT

From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai) 
Subject: Administration Support of Iraq 

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Date: Tue, 7 Jul 92 23:02:25 PDT 
From: Pink Noise <pinknoise@igc.org> 
To: harelb@math.cornell.edu 
Subject: Tilt towards Iraq 
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I've gradually been scanning in Henry Gonzalez' speeches from the 
Congressional Record. The photocopies his office sent are not too 
good, so it's slow going.  Here's one complete one, distribute widely! 

[Congressional Record May 2, 1991 H2762-2765] 

################################################################## 

        KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, BNL AND IRAQ 
         
        The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. GONZALEZ] is recognized for 
60 minutes. 
        Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, during a special order last week, 
I revealed that Henry Kissinger was a paid member of the Banca 
Nazionale del Lavoro Consulting Board for International Policy. 
Mr. Kissinger held this position during the height of the 
biggest banking scandal in United States historyQ$4 billion in 
unreported loans to Iraq by the Atlanta branch of BNL. This week 
I will reveal some new information regarding Mr. Kissinger and 
his relationship with BNL. I will also include in the RECORD a 
detailed list of Mr. Brent Scowcroft's stock holdings. 
         
        MORE ON KISSINGER AND BNL 
         
        In order to learn more about Mr. Kissinger's role at 
BNL, committee investigators contacted an attorney representing 
BNL in the United States and asked him to contact BNL in Rome. 
The BNL employee in Rome told BNL's attorney the following: 
         
        Mr. Kissinger has been a member of the BNL International 
Advisory Board since 1985. Mr. Kissinger is paid $10,000 for 
appearing at an Advisory Board meeting and he is paid extra for 
speaking at BNL functions. It is important to bring these facts 
out because BNL is owned by the Italian government. In effect, 
Mr. Kissinger's fees are indirectly paid for with Italian 
taxpayer money. 
        Banking Committee investigators were also told that Mr. 
Kissinger may still be a member of BNL Advisory Board. His term 
does not expire until next month. This information conflicts 
with what Mr. Kissinger was quoted as stating in a Financial 
Times article on April 26. In that article Mr. Kissinger stated 
that he resigned from BNL's advisory board on February 22, 1991. 
I will write BNL and Mr. Kissinger in order to clear up this 
discrepancy. 
         
        Mr. Kissinger went on to state in the same Financial 
Times article: 
         
        I resigned earlier this year because I don't want to be 
connected, I don't want to be asked about this sort of thing. 
         
        But it should be noted that Mr. Kissinger supposedly did 
not resign his BNL post until over 18 months after the BNL 
scandal became public in August 1989. 
        Another interesting point to note is the timing of Mr. 
Kissinger's supposed resignation from BNL on February 22, 1991. 
That date is just days before the Justice Department announced a 
347 count indictment against the former employees of BNL after 
an exhaustive 18-month investigation. This is quite a 
coincidence. 
         
        BNL ACTUALLY A CLIENT OF KISSINGER ASSOCIATES 
         
        BNL was actually a client of Kissinger Associates at the 
same time BNL's former employees in Atlanta were providing Iraq 
with billions in unreported loans. This solidifies Mr. 
Kissinger's link to BNL and raises the question of whether Mr. 
Kissinger had knowledge of the BNL loans to Iraq. 
        As I stated last week, many Kissinger Associates clients 
were doing business with the Iraqis as a direct result of the 
unreported $4 billion in BNL loans to Iraq. Volvo, whose 
chairman serves on the Kissinger Associates board of directors, 
was doing big business in Iraq and it was the beneficiary of BNL 
loans. 
        BNL was also the largest participant in the $5.5 billion CCC 
program for Iraq. Between $800 and $900 million in BNL loans to 
Iraq were guaranteed by the CCC. BNL was also the second largest 
participant in the Export-Import [Eximbank] program for Iraq. 
Over $50 million in BNL loans to Iraq were guaranteed by 
Eximbank. Through these programs it became common knowledge in 
the export community that BNL was Iraq's prime banker in the 
United States. 
        I also reported last week that Mr. Lawrence Eagleburger had 
ties to BNL. While he was serving as president of Kissinger 
Associates, Eagleburger was a board member of a Yugoslavian bank 
that had a substantial and even incestuous relationship with 
BNL. BNL was a main factor in the growth of that Yugoslavian 
bank's operations in the United States. 
        Despite the many linkages between Kissinger Associates and 
BNL, Mr. Kissinger still maintains that he had no knowledge of 
the $4 billion in BNL loans to Iraq. 
        The fact that BNL was a client of Kissinger Associates also 
solidifies the link between BNL and two very high ranking Bush 
administration employees, NSC Director Brent Scowcroft and 
Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. Mr. Lawrence 
Eagleburger and Mr. Brent Scowcroft were both high ranking 
employees of Kissinger Associates during the period BNL was a 
client of Kissinger Associates. In other words, part of their 
paychecks was derived from fees paid by BNL. 
        The fact that BNL was a client of Kissinger Associates also 
raises the question of how Mr. Eagleburger and Mr. Scowcroft 
reacted to the BNL scandal once it became known to them in the 
fall of 1989. I wonder if either thought it necessary to recuse 
himself from making decisions on Iraq once the BNL scandal was 
uncovered? 
             
                                                COMMITTEE ON BANKING, 
                                                FINANACE AND URBAN AFFAIRS, 
                                                Washington, DC, May 2,1991. 
         

Conf? 
Xref: sparky talk.politics.misc:50918 alt.politics.clinton:9724