PBS Frontline does a devastating account of the BAE/al-Yamamah bribery affair, featuring Reagan, Thatcher, Blair, both Bushes, Jimmy Carter, and Louis Freeh.
As part of the bribery, BAE sent $2 billion to accounts at the Riggs Bank in Washington controlled by Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, aka “Bandar Bush.” How much of that money went into the Riggs account controlled by Bandar’s wife, which made big payments to two of the “advance men” for 9-11?
Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Louis Freeh.
Frontline’s investigation of international bribery, through the lens of the BAE al-Yamamah case, may be the most compelling television I have ever seen. The fact that Louis Freeh is now Prince Bandar’s mouthpiece just puts the icing on the cake.
One question Frontline chose not to ask: How much of the $2 billion slush fund BAE put into accounts Prince Bandar controlled at the Riggs Bank (with one of the Bush uncles making sure no suspicious transaction reports were filed) went into the account of the Prince’s wife, which made substantial payments to two of the “advance men” for 9-11?
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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