ustxtxb_obs_1992_07_04_50_00009-00000_000.pdf

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD HOUSE H 2549 April 25, 1991 United States-Iraq relations. The chairman of the Business Forum was Mr. A. Robert Abboud, former chairman of First Chicago Bank, former president of Occidental Petroleum, and until recently, chairman of First City Bank in Houston, Texas. In other words, he was well wired into the U.S. business community. To say that the Business Forum was U.S. Government-sanctioned would be going too far. But the Business Forum did play a key role in United StatesIraq commercial relations. Many of the companies dealing with Iraq, industrial and agricultural alike, received loans from BNL. Since the Eximbank would not provide loans to finance the Iraqi industrialization effort, the Iraqis turned to BNL as a source of loans for large and small projects alike. During the remainder of my time I would like to talk about Kissinger Associates, Lawrence Eagleburger and Brent Scowcroft. I will explore the relationship of Henry Kissinger and Lawrence Eagleburger to BNL which loaned $4 billion to Iraq. I will also talk about several interesting links between Mr. Scowcroft and Mr. Eagleburger and companies involved with Iraq. Again, I am merely exploring the interlocking relationship between these people and United States policy toward Iraq. This special order will also offer the public a view of the role of Kissinger Associates. HENRY A. KISSINGER Henry Kissinger, one of the bestknown and most powerful Presidential advisors of the post-war era, began his political career in 1956 as a consultant on military affairs. He advised many executive branch organizations including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Security Council, and the Department of State. In 1969, he became President Nixon’s National Security Adviser, and in 1973 Nixon named him Secretary of State. He held that post until 1977. Kissinger remains active as a foreign policy analyst and consultant. In 1989, Mr. Kissinger was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board [FLAB]. Members in this elite club are permitted access to highly classified information and members actually advise the President directly on intelligence issues. In 1982, Mr. Kissinger founded Kissinger Associates with offices in New York and Washington. It is said that the firm analyzes political risk and international economic trends to help clients make concrete business decisions. Several of the Kissinger Associates clients are also members of the United States-Iraq Business Forum. KISSINGER ON BNI. INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD Henry Kissinger was in fact a paid member of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Consulting Board for International Policy. Mr. Kissinger held this position during the height of the big gest banking scandal of all time was $4 billion in unreported loans to Iraq by the Atlanta branch office of BNL. Other former or current employees of Kissinger Associates had links to Iraq. ALAN STOGA Alan Stoga is a former economist at First Chicago Bank and is currently a director of Kissinger Associates. Mr. Stoga is said to be an expert in country risk analysis and international finance. He has been interested in the Middle East for many years and has made numerous visits to the area. Mr. Stoga worked as the chief economist of the international division at First Chicago Bank. The chairman of the First Chicago at that time was A. Robert Abboud, the current chairman of the United States-Iraq Business Forum. Mr. Stoga is a friend of Marshall Wiley, the Business Forum founder, and he spoke at Business Forum functions. In June 1989, Mr. Stoga, Mr. Wiley and Mr. Abboud, visited Iraq with other members of the United StatesIraq Business Forum. They met with Saddam Hussein who purportedly expressed an interest in expanding commercial relations with the United States. Many Kissinger Associates clients received United States export licenses for exports to Iraq. Several were also the beneficiaries of BNL loans to Iraq. LAWRENCE S. EAGLEBURGER Lawrence Eagleburger, Deputy Secretary of State, has held many positions of international influence, in both the public and private sectors. Eagleburger started his political career in 1957 as a Foreign Service Officer. In this capacity, he represented the United States in Honduras for 2 years, and in Yugoslavia for 4 years. Then in 1969, Henry Kissinger became Nixon’s national security advisor, and Eagleburger served as his executive assistant. After working as a political advisor to NATO in Belgium, and as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of Defense, Eagleburger rejoined Kissinger at the State Department, again as his executive assistant in 1973. In 1975, he was named Deputy Under Secretary for Management at the State Department. Eagleburger was appointed Ambassador to Yugoslavia during the Carter administration and served in that capacity from 1977 to 1981. He has remained a close ally of Yugoslavia. Under President Reagan, Eagleburger became Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, and held this position from 1981 to 1982. Subsequently, he served for 2 years as Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs. Before assuming his current position as Deputy Secretary of State in 1989, he served as President of Kissinger Associates Inc., a political consulting firm oganized by Henry Kissinger. EAGLEBURGER CLIENTS During his confirmation process Mr. Eagleburger identified a number of prominent clients of his at Kissinger Associates. Mr. Eagleburger was a director of ITT, Alcatel, Bethlehem Rebar, Global Motors, Mutual of New York, Josephson International, and Best Mart. Mr. Eagleburger was also a director of LBS Bank from 1986-1990. LBS Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of one of the largest banks in Yugoslavia. Global Motors, Inc. was the corporation established in the United States to distribute the Yugoslavian-made small compact car called the “Yugo.” Global Motors filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1989. A creditor filing suit against the investment bank acting as financial advisor to Global listed Mr. Eagleburger as a defendant in that suit. The Yugoslavian maker of the Yugo is a firm called Zavodi Crevna Zastava Yugoslavian arms industry and its main clients include Iraq, Libya, and other Eastern European nations. As a longtime loyal supporter of Yugoslavian interests, Mr. Eagleburger was instrumental in helping both Global Motors and LBS establish their United States operations. He was not alone. As we shall see, BNL had a very substantial, and even incestuous relationship with LBS. TFIE BNL-LBS NEXUS After Iraq, BNL’s largest foreign customer was Yugoslavia. BNL had loans to various Yugoslavian entities as well as a very special relationship with LBS wholly-owned subsidiary of the Yugoslavian bankLjubljanska Banka. Ljubljanksa Banka is the second largest bank in Yugoslavia with $7.1 billion in assets as of year-end 1990. In 1986, with the help of Mr. Eagleburger, LBS opened a State-chartered bank in New York City called LBS BankNew York. BNL was responsible for a significant amount of the growth of LBS while Mr. Eagleburger was on its board. During an examination of BNL in 1989, the Federal Reserve stated that between 1986 and August 1989: BNL fueled a significant amount of LBS’s growth in the U.S. with 20 percent to 25 percent of LBS’s business from BNL. The first transaction between LBS and BNL was a credit facility established in October 1986, 3 months after LBS opened in New York. BNL also maintained a bank account at LBS. The majority of the business between the two entitiestotaling tens of millions of dollarsinvolved the LBS purchase of loans originated by BNL. Some of those loans involved Iraq. Other loans purchased by LBS included BNL loans to Cargill. Cargill is now under investigation for violating the Trading with the Enemy Act involving the BNL-financed sale of Cuban sugar. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 9