Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: weazel on February 25, 2003, 08:00:15 PM
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Rumsfeld was on board Of Company That Sold North Korea two nuclear power plants.
Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defense, was on the board of technology giant ABB when it won a deal to supply North Korea with two nuclear power plants.
Weapons experts say waste material from the two reactors could be used for so-called “dirty bombs”.
The Swiss-based ABB on Friday told swissinfo that Rumsfeld was involved with the company in early 2000, when it netted a $200 million contract with Pyongyang.
The ABB contract was to deliver equipment and services for two nuclear power stations at Kumho, on North Korea’s east coast.
Rumsfeld – who is one of the Bush administration’s most strident “hardliners” on North Korea – was a member of ABB’s board between 1990 and February 2001, when he left to take up his current post.
Wolfram Eberhardt, a spokesman for ABB, told that Rumsfeld “was at nearly all the board meetings” during his decade-long involvement with the company.
However, he declined to indicate whether Rumsfeld was made aware of the nuclear contract with North Korea.
“This is a good question, but I couldn’t comment on that because we never disclose the protocols of the board meetings,” Eberhardt said.
“Maybe this was a discussion point of the board, maybe not.”
The defense secretary’s role at ABB during the late 1990s has become a bone of contention in Washington.
The ABB contract was a consequence of a 1994 deal between the US and Pyongyang to allow construction of two reactors in exchange for a freeze on the North’s nuclear weapons program.
North Korea revealed last year that it had secretly continued its nuclear weapons programme, despite its obligations under the deal with Washington.
The Bush government has repeatedly used the agreement to criticise the former Clinton administration for being too soft on North Korea. Rumsfeld’s deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, has been among the most vocal critics of the 1994 weapons accord.
Weapons experts have also speculated that waste material from the two reactors could be used for so-called “dirty bombs”.
Rumsfeld’s position at ABB could prove embarrassing for the Bush administration since while he was a director he was also active on issues of weapons proliferation, chairing the 1998 congressional Ballistic Missile Threat commission.
The commission suggested the Clinton-era deal with Pyongyang gave too much away because “North Korea maintains an active weapons of mass destruction programme, including a nuclear weapons programme”.
At the same time, Rumsfeld was travelling to Zurich for ABB’s quarterly board-meetings.
Eberhardt said it was possible that the North Korea deal never crossed the ABB boardroom desk.
“At the time, we generated a lot of big orders in the power generation business [worth] around $1 billion…[so] a $200 million contract was, so to speak, a smaller one.”
When asked whether a deal with a country such as North Korea – a communist state with declared nuclear intentions – should have been brought to the ABB board’s attention, Eberhardt stated:
“Yes, maybe. But so far we haven’t any evidence for that because the protocols were never disclosed. So maybe it was a discussion point, maybe not,” says Eberhardt.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clark, recently told “Newsweek” magazine that “Secretary Rumsfeld does not recall it being brought before the board at any time”.
It was a long time ago
Today, ABB says it no longer has any involvement with the North Korean power plants, due to come on line in 2007 and 2008.
The company finalised the sale of its nuclear business in early 2000 to the British-based BNFL group.
Yup, the "adults are in charge" in Washinton.
A deserter for President, a Vice President who traded with Iraq, a Secretary of Defense who sold nuclear technology to North Korea, and a boat load -o- Iran/Contra criminals in chimpys cabinet.
How much lower can chimpys regime sink?
Time will tell.
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So they sold them a nuclear power plant.
Glad he was able to undercut the french bid.
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saddam loves you weazel , he really does
BTW , lots of countries have nuclear power plants , and no nuke weapons
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Just so the rules are clear...
If it happens while Bush is in office, its Bush's fault.
If it happened while B.J. was in office, its everyone else's fault.
You know... looking at just one side of things really makes everything so clear.
Keep trolling weazel. You passed dipshit some time ago... now your moving towards a darwin award. I advise being very carefull around open flames.
MiniD
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Originally posted by Mini D
Just so the rules are clear...
If it happens while Bush is in office, its Bush's fault.
If it happened while B.J. was in office, its everyone else's fault.
You know... looking at just one side of things really makes everything so clear.
Keep trolling weazel. You passed dipshit some time ago... now your moving towards a darwin award. I advise being very carefull around open flames.
MiniD
No.
If it happens while Bush is in office, it's Clinton's fault.
If it happened while Clinton was in office, then it's Clinton's fault. Unless "it" was a good thing, in which case it was due to Reagan, the good charity of hard-working multimillionaire capitalists like our buddy Ken "Kenny Boy" Lay at Enron, Jesus, or sheer coincidence.
And don't forget Hillary! :mad: :mad: :mad:
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Just curious, Weazel how many board of directors have you been on and if so is it generally the board of directors responsibility for the day to day running of a business?
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Day to day? Of course not....
But a two hundred million dollar contract with anyone, let alone N. Korea, is known to the board of directors... absolutely.
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Milo,
Let's get together for some BBQ soon! And Toad and Rude can come to, if they really have to!
Cobra
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Dick Cheney has worked to profit from Iraqi oilfields "as rapidly as possible" since at least 1995.
In fact, one of the first deals he cut at Halliburton aimed to get first and controlling access to burning oil fields!
Cheney's deal helped assure Halliburton the first position in Iraqi oil fields after a war: fighting the fires.
Once in place, Halliburton would be positioned to service the ruined wells, no matter who wound up owning the oil.
Firefighting services gave Halliburton unique leverage in profiting from flaming Iraqi oil fields.
Bush & Cheney sure are *lucky* that 9-11 happened.
And:
Liar....Liar.....Pants on fire. (http://www.newsday.com/business/local/newyork/ny-e3142018feb23.story)
WJC appreciated your vote Mini-D.
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Ok Cobra, I will talk to the crew.
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Originally posted by weazel
Dick Cheney has worked to profit from Iraqi oilfields "as rapidly as possible" since at least 1995.
In fact, one of the first deals he cut at Halliburton aimed to get first and controlling access to burning oil fields!
Cheney's deal helped assure Halliburton the first position in Iraqi oil fields after a war: fighting the fires.
Once in place, Halliburton would be positioned to service the ruined wells, no matter who wound up owning the oil.
Firefighting services gave Halliburton unique leverage in profiting from flaming Iraqi oil fields.
Bush & Cheney sure are *lucky* that 9-11 happened.
And:
Liar....Liar.....Pants on fire. (http://www.newsday.com/business/local/newyork/ny-e3142018feb23.story)
WJC appreciated your vote Mini-D.
Hmmm... it all pales in comparison to a $200K land deal in Arkansas, don't cha think? I mean... really... we have to put things in perspective.
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I train people on the fundamentals of several different things here at work. I have a very good working knowledge of the system. I get PhDs as well as technicians who train on various different components. I tell each and every one of them this simple truth:
When you get caugh doing something wrong, the thing you should never do is point to someone else and say "what about them!?!" Not only were you busted, but you end up looking like a snivelling wuss too.
Weazel, you are a case study to support that belief.
MiniD
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I'll never understand why there is so much animosity towards Clinton as a President. He wasn't all that bad, and was involved in some of the trickiest situations of the last ten years - the fall of the SU, the break-up of Yugoslavia. His achievements in helping to broker the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland is often overlooked and forgotten. He gave getting the Middle East Tards talking a good shot and got further than anyone in recent history. The US economy prospered. He made cut-backs in the military - but with the fall of the SU, there was no longer any need for a large military. You'll find those cut-backs were in keeping with every member of NATO. All round, he was a master Statesman and did the job well.
So he had dubious moral character sexually - that's hardly new. And he was never found guilty of the charges brough before him.
There was a letter to the government in 1995 signed by Cheney and several other apparatchiks on behalf of a lobbyist group. It said that Iraq was an obstacle to stability and the oil-fields were key to the continued prosperity of the US.
This thing goes waaay back, and before this never-ending war on terrorism.
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Originally posted by weazel
The ABB contract was a consequence of a 1994 deal between the US and Pyongyang to allow construction of two reactors in exchange for a freeze on the North’s nuclear weapons program.
So the US gov't ok's sale of reactors to NK. Then ABB sells them reactor related stuff. NK misuses the stuff and this is somehow ABB's fault? I guess ABB is supposed to second guess the US gov't on matters of national security.
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Dowding, if you've got a source for that letter signed by Cheney I'd love to have it if possible?
Cheers.
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I am always amazed at people who swallow something hook, line and sink, yet refuse to even listen or consider a view that is at least somewhat supported, but goes against their personal beliefs.
What a way to live.
Me, I do my best to be objective. To change when I am shown to be wrong. And that means I must consider 'the other side'.
Regulars here will notice how I've gone from being a little left leaning to being libertarian during my time here - this is (in part) thanks to posters here I considered 'the other side', as well as other forums and books.
Remaining as objective as possible is the only way to true personal understanding and worldwide stability methinks. Of course like everyone else I fail at times, but at least I try. That cannot be said about everyone here.
:D
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I'll look for it CH3, it's definitely in existance and not some crack-pot conspiracy theory. The pressure group consisted of business people and politicians - I tried to remember the name, but I was distracted and have since forgotten it.
Found it, Richard Perle and Donald Rumsfeld were signatories and not Cheney. And it was written in '98. Doh! Either way, it is before 9-11 and after the original WTC bombings.
Open Letter to The President (http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/rumsfeld-openletter.htm)
I don't see any mention of links to terrorist organisations or Islamic fundamentalism.
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Originally posted by Dowding
I'll never understand why there is so much animosity towards Clinton as a President. He wasn't all that bad, and was involved in some of the trickiest situations of the last ten years - the fall of the SU, the break-up of Yugoslavia. His achievements in helping to broker the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland is often overlooked and forgotten. He gave getting the Middle East Tards talking a good shot and got further than anyone in recent history. The US economy prospered. He made cut-backs in the military - but with the fall of the SU, there was no longer any need for a large military. You'll find those cut-backs were in keeping with every member of NATO. All round, he was a master Statesman and did the job well.
So he had dubious moral character sexually - that's hardly new. And he was never found guilty of the charges brough before him.
There was a letter to the government in 1995 signed by Cheney and several other apparatchiks on behalf of a lobbyist group. It said that Iraq was an obstacle to stability and the oil-fields were key to the continued prosperity of the US.
This thing goes waaay back, and before this never-ending war on terrorism.
I liked Bill, I thought he was quite...human.
I never quite understood the fuss about his sexual antics, although I did understand the rabid desire to use it as a political device.
Tronsky
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Cheers mate :)
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I have a different view santa...
I'm alsways amazed at rabid political views. Someone can get pissed about people criticizing one pollititian, then set off on a journey to do the same to another polititian.
When all you do is sling mud, you've lost the right to be viewed objectively. Weazel passed that some time ago. Now he's pigpen.
My political views are quite in the middle and not based around the idea of idolizing one man. I always thought Clinton was a decent president, though one of the most self-serving ever. Some simply have a hard time believing that it really is a big deal if the president gets caught with his pants down around his ankles. It makes him less effective as a leader both in the country and abroad. People just fail to realize that no matter how much you criticize someone else, it won't take away from what happened then.
MiniD
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Clinton's faults were/are many and his sexual misconduct was only a small part of what Normal people dislike about him.
P.S. I put "Normal" in there to exclude weazel.
That boy ain't right!
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The ABB contract was a consequence of a 1994 deal between the US and Pyongyang to allow construction of two reactors in exchange for a freeze on the North’s nuclear weapons program.
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Gee Weaz,
Who was Prez in '94 ;)
I never quite understood the fuss about his sexual antics,
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I could have care less if Bill porked on a Poodle as long as he did it on his time and his property. As it was, he did it on my time, on my property. Any other scenario in either public or private work life would have seen the man fired immediately. Plus the cigar thing bordered on sick, from a cigar afficianados perspective.
Not to mention his lying about the whole damned thing to the American people via the press and the courts when involved in another disgusting lawsuit with a state worker on sexual misconduct.
Why didnt he just tell the press "mind your own damned business"...that would have earned a tonn of respect from me but no, he had to lie. What a failure of a human being.
Sad sad.....