| Visiting Duke law professor and Dean for America alum Zephyr Teachout has a piece up at HuffPost on the
money trail that leads from the state of Pakistan straight into Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Excerpt (emphases mine):
...unlike the other leading Democratic presidential hopefuls, Edwards and Obama, [Clinton] has accepted tens of
thousands of dollars from Pakistan's lobbyists, Cassidy & Associates. Its founder, Gerald Cassidy, long ago
maxed out his donations to her.
According to the Foreign Agents Registration Act website, Pakistan recently hired Cassidy and Associates for a one-year,
$1.2 million/year contract. The Cassidy contract with Pakistan makes for good reading. For the $1.2 million, "target audiences
will be identified for critical message reception," and Cassidy will inventively move beyond pushing pieces in the mainstream
media, also focusing on blog outreach. In other words, Cassidy will shill and propagandize for one year, and use its
contacts in Washington -- presumably including Clinton -- to ensure that the billions in aid are not diminished,
regardless of what the government does to its citizens and its elections. According to The Hill, Pakistan's lead
lobbyist is Robin Raphel, who served in the Clinton administration.
While not prohibited by law, accepting such a donation necessarily raises questions about the effect this relationship -- and
similar ones -- will have on her policies in the White House towards Pakistan should she win the 2008 contest, or in the
U.S. Senate should she not.
Obama's statement yesterday on the state of emergency in Pakistan:
Senator Obama condemns the decision by President Musharraf to invoke a state of emergency. President Musharraf has
broken his pledge to his own people and to the world to move toward democracy. Pakistan is a critical ally of the United
States against terrorism, a nuclear weapons state, and an important nation in South Asia and within the broader Muslim
world. It is in the interests of the Pakistani people and the United States to see our ally move toward democracy, as more
authoritarian government will only mean more instability, more discontent, and more extremism in Pakistan.
The United States must be clear and unequivocal: President Musharraf should reverse this declaration, respect the decision
of the Supreme Court, and hold free and fair elections for parliament in January. At the same time, the United States must
move beyond the Administration's failed policies of promoting stability over democracy, which has undercut our efforts to
root out terrorists in Pakistan. We must start with a serious review of our investments in Pakistan to make sure that U.S.
assistance is supporting democracy, not repression; and to ensure that concrete action is being taken against terrorism
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, so that al Qaeda terrorists who threaten America do not continue to have a
safe-haven.
Still waiting on a statement from Clinton. |
