[R-G] McCain and the International Republican Institute

[Anthony Fenton]

June 9, 2008

Promoting Iraqi Occupation for "a Million Years"
McCain and the International Republican Institute

By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
http://counterpunch.com/kozloff06092008.html

Though Arizona Senator John McCain seldom talks about it, he has  
gotten much of his foreign policy experience working with a cloak and  
dagger operation called the International Republican Institute (IRI).   
Since 1993, McCain has served as Chair of the outfit, which is funded  
by the U.S. government and private money.  The group, which receives  
tens of millions of taxpayer dollars each year, claims to promote  
democracy world-wide.  On the surface at least, IRI seems to have a  
rather innocuous agenda including party building, media training, the  
organization of leadership trainings, dissemination of newsletters,  
and strengthening of civil society.

The hottest country in which IRI currently operates is Iraq.   
According to the IRI’s own web site, since the summer of 2003 the  
organization “has conducted a multi-faceted program aimed at promoting  
the development of democracy in Iraq. Toward this end, IRI works with  
political parties, indigenous civil society groups, and elected and  
other government officials. In support of these efforts, IRI also  
conducts numerous public opinion research projects and assists its  
Iraqi partners in the production of radio and television ads and  
programs.”

By law, IRI must operate independently of the Republican Party.   
However, a former institute grant recipient, Ghassan Atiyyah, the  
Director of the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy, said he  
parted ways with the IRI over his criticism of the Bush  
administration's handling of the war.  In 2004 Atiyyah, who pressed  
for a secular, liberal government in Iraq, received $116,448 from  
IRI.  "Instead of promoting impartial, better understanding of certain  
ideas and concepts, they [the IRI] are actually trying to further the  
cause of the Republican administration," Atiyyah said.  Though Atiyyah  
said IRI never asked him to censor his views, it became clear to the  
Iraqi that the two parties disagreed politically.  When his funding  
ran out, neither pursued the relationship. "It is a civilized  
divorce," he said. (Atiyyah eventually fled Iraq for Britain after his  
life was threatened).

Who is Running IRI?

Such criticisms aside however, IRI’s overall mission statement on its  
Web site fundamentally strains credibility.  How can the IRI, which is  
caught up in an incestuous political web with the power elite in  
Washington and U.S. corporations, claim to be an agent of positive  
change in Iraq?  Although officially non-partisan, IRI is closely  
aligned with the Republican Party.  Dick Cheney received the  
organization’s Freedom Award in late 2001.  Other winners have  
included Condoleezza Rice, Ronald Reagan, Lynne Cheney, Colin Powell,  
and Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai.

IRI's leadership spans the spectrum of center right, far right, and  
neoconservative factions of the GOP.  Most of the organization’s staff  
and board have links to right-wing think tanks, foundations, and  
policy institutes.  Former Iraq proconsul Paul Bremer, the disastrous  
colonial administrator who used to wear a blue blazer and hiking  
boots, sits on IRI’s Board of Directors.

Also sitting on the board is Randy Scheuneman, a former member of the  
neo-conservative outfit Project for the New American Century.   
Scheuneman had long-standing ties to the Iraqi National Congress or  
INC, a loose coalition of Iraqi dissidents and opposition groups  
headed by the Iraqi flim-flammer , Ahmed Chalabi.

Shady Scheuneman’s ties to McCain go way back even before IRI.  In  
2000, he served on the Arizona Senator’s foreign policy team during  
McCain’s unsuccessful presidential bid.  Like McCain, Scheuneman was  
also active in the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which helped  
push for official government as well as public support for the  
invasion of Iraq after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Meanwhile, a who’s who of corporate America chips in to IRI including  
Blackwater Training Center, part of Blackwater USA.  In 2005-6 the  
company donated $30,000 to IRI.  Though Blackwater has fallen under  
scrutiny as a result of the company’s shooting of 17 people including  
women and children, the State Department recently decided to renew the  
firm’s contract.

For Blackwater, the benefits of supporting McCain and IRI are clear:  
already the Arizona Senator has declared his intention to stay in Iraq  
“for a thousand years or a million years” if necessary.  Behind the  
scenes, Blackwater is surely praying for a McCain victory in November:  
Charlie Black, McCain’s chief adviser and a successful Washington  
lobbyist, has represented the mercenary outfit as well as Chalabi.   
Black’s connection to Chalabi began in 1999 and continued up until the  
invasion of Iraq in 2003.

McCain, IRI and Chevron

Though George Bush has scoffed at suggestions that the invasion of  
Iraq had anything to do with oil, recent press reports give some  
credence to such claims.  In April, Chevron announced that it was  
involved in discussions with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to increase  
production in an important oil field in southern Iraq.  The  
discussions were aimed at finalizing a two-year deal, or technical  
support agreement, to boost production at the West Qurna Stage 1 oil  
field near Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.

It turns out that Chevron, like Blackwater, has donated to McCain’s  
IRI.  What’s more, since McCain solidified his position as the GOP’s  
nominee, Chevron Chairman David O'Reilly gave $28,500 to the GOP.   
Meanwhile lobbyist Wayne Berman, McCain’s National Finance Co- 
Chairman, counts Chevron as one of his principal clients.

According to Progressive Media USA, a Washington, D.C.-based non- 
profit, the Arizona Senator has benefited handily from Big Oil.   
McCain has taken in at least $700,000 from the oil and gas industry  
since 1989.  In Congress, the Arizona senator has worked tirelessly to  
advance the interests of the oil industry.  For example, McCain’s tax  
plan gives the top five oil companies $3.8 billion a year in tax  
breaks.  McCain meanwhile has voted against reducing dependence on  
foreign oil, has twice rejected windfall profits tax for Big Oil, and  
has voted against taxing oil companies to provide a $100 rebate to  
consumers.

McCain, IRI and Lockheed Martin

As if these corporate ties were not enough, IRI has also accepted  
money from Lockheed Martin, the world’s #1 military contractor.  The  
firm has been a McCain donor, giving more than $13,000 through its PAC  
to the Arizona Senator in 2006.  According to the Center for Public  
Integrity, lobbyist Vin Weber, one of McCain’s top political advisers,  
counted Lockheed Martin as one of his most important clients.

Early on, Lockheed saw that it could benefit from the war in Iraq.   
The company’s former vice president, Bruce Jackson, even chaired the  
Committee for the Liberation of Iraq.  There, he found common cause  
with Scheuneman, the group’s President, and McCain, the “honorary co- 
chair.”  Jackson also worked with Scheuneman through The Project for  
the New American Century, a group that the Lockheed man directed  
personally.

Jackson goes way back in GOP circles.  Between 1986 and 1990, when he  
was working in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Reagan  
and George H.W. Bush administrations, he served under Dick Cheney.  He  
also worked under prominent neo-conservatives such as Paul Wolfowitz  
and Richard Perle.  In 2000, he chaired the Republican Party  
Platform's subcommittee for National Security and Foreign Policy when  
George W. Bush ran for president.

Jackson was also involved in corralling support for the Iraq war from  
Eastern European countries, and even went so far as to help to write  
their letter of endorsement for military intervention.  Not  
surprisingly, Lockheed also had business relations with these  
countries. In 2003 Poland shelled out $3.5 billion for 48 F-16 fighter  
planes which it was able to purchase with a $3.8 billion loan from the  
U.S.

During the start of the Iraq invasion, Lockheed Martin’s F-117 stealth  
attack fighters were used to “shock and awe” the population.  Jackson  
is now working on McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, serving on the  
Senator’s foreign policy advisory team.

The mainstream press has completely failed to analyze McCain’s long  
term involvement in the Iraq imbroglio.  If they were to delve too  
deeply, the corporate pundits would have to confront the uncomfortable  
truth that the military-industrial complex and the oil industry have  
played an integral role in the invasion and occupation.  Surrounding  
the whole affair are shady figures such as Black, Scheuneman and  
Jackson and unscrupulous companies like Chevron, Blackwater and  
Lockheed Martin.  At the center of the vortex are none other than IRI  
and John McCain.

Nikolas Kozloff is the author of Revolution! South America and the  
Rise of the New Left (Palgrave-Macmillan)