Kerry "Followed the Money" Before, Can Do It Again ( Madsen scoop)

Shalom

(832 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Nov-28-04 01:41 PM
Original message

Kerry "Followed the Money" Before, Can Do It Again ( Madsen scoop)

While Dems concerned over fraud fret that Kerry has not made a public move yet, remember he is a prosecutor by training, and used this to great effect in standing up to both political parties in his investigation into BCCI over 15 years ago. See link & excerpt at end of message....

You've got to believe he and his staff has sources that can help with the recent implication from Madsen that BCCI is still up to their old tricks, based upon the shit they uncovered on these criminals before.

And, by the way, instead of running Kerry down, study his resume, and acknowledge the battles he has fought for America, vs. the AWOL cowardly Nazi descendant, the cokehead commander-in-thief, the POS POTUS, GEORGE WALKER BUSHITLER.

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

from Washington Monthly - numerous sites confirm this info:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html

FROM DRUG LORDS TO LOBBYSISTS

Despite having helmed the initial probe which led to the Iran-Contra investigation, Kerry was left off the elite Iran-Contra committee in 1987. As a consolation prize, the Democratic leadership in Congress made Kerry the chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations and told him to dig into the Contra-drug connection. Kerry turned to BCCI early in the second year of the probe when his investigators learned that Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was laundering drug profits through the bank on behalf of the Medellin cartel.

By March 1988, Kerry's subcommittee had obtained permission from the Foreign Relations Committee to seek subpoenas for both BCCI and individuals at the bank involved in handling Noriega's assets, as well as those handling the accounts of others in Panama and Colombia. Very quickly, though, Kerry faced a roadblock. Citing concerns that the senator's requests would interfere with an ongoing sting operation in Tampa, the Justice Department delayed the subpoenas until 1988, at which point the subcommittee's mandate was running out.

BCCI, meanwhile, had its own connections. Prominent figures with ties to the bank included former president Jimmy Carter's budget director, Bert Lance, and a bevy of powerful Washington lobbyists with close ties to President George H.W. Bush, a web of influence that may have helped the bank evade previous investigations. In 1985 and 1986, for instance, the Reagan administration launched no investigation even after the CIA had sent reports to the Treasury, Commerce, and State Departments bluntly describing the bank's role in drug-money laundering and other illegal activities.

In the spring of 1989, Kerry hit another obstacle. Foreign Relations Committee chairman Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), under pressure from both parties, formally asked Kerry to end his probe. Worried the information he had collected would languish, Kerry quickly dispatched investigator Jack Blum to present the information his committee had found about BCCI's money-laundering operations to the Justice Department. But according to Blum, the Justice Department failed to follow up.

The young senator from Massachusetts, thus, faced a difficult choice. Kerry could play ball with the establishment and back away from BCCI, or he could stay focused on the public interest and gamble his political reputation by pushing forward.