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How the Bush Family is Profiting from the War
(MARGIE BURNS)
Close relatives of President George W. Bush continue to benefit financially from the Iraq invasion, as revealed by sources including regulatory filings. . . . St. Louis-based Engineered Support Systems Inc. (EASI), where William H.T. Bush, an uncle of George W. Bush, joined the board of directors in 2000, is a major military contractor. Following the 2000 election and 9/11, the company, which declined to comment for this article, has seen its federal contracts, revenues, and stock price increase. . . . Engineered Support Systems receives contracts from all branches of the military. The Defense Department listed EASI in its top 100 contractors in 2001, with $330 million in contracts; and in 2002, with $380 million in contracts. Estimates for 2003 are over $380 million. . . . As luck would have it, company products include "Field Deployable Environmental Control Units" (FDECUs) to deal with weapons of mass destruction. . . . On May 1, Engineered Support Systems announced the acquisition of its Maryland subsidiary, TAMSCO, the day President Bush made his televised flight-suit appearance to announce "mission accomplished" in Iraq. The following week, TAMSCO announced that it had begun technology support for US Army logistics operations in the Middle East, stating that this tech support began linking the US, Kuwait and Germany in February 2003. . . . The stock adviser service VectorVest, which puts out a daily list of 7500 American stocks ranked by value, safety and timing, has more than once ranked EASI stock first. Directors of the company including Bush's uncle received monthly consulting fees and options to buy stock at $28.42 per share. Company stock, which increased by 53% in two weeks after 9/11 and then tripled, now trades at $53. In January 2003, William Bush owned 33,750 shares. In January 2004, he owned 56,251 shares. Directors also own stock as a group. . . . Former president George H.W. Bush resigned in fall 2003 from the giant Carlyle Group, heavily into the military and security sectors, which received $677 million in contracts in 2002 and $2.1 billion in contracts in 2003. Carlyle recently sold $335 million in stock from its chief military subsidiary. . . . Neil M. Bush, a younger brother of George W. Bush, has obtained a $60,000-per-year contract from a principal in D.C.-based New Bridge Strategies, a private firm set up to generate contracts in Iraq. . . . A controversial $327 million contract awarded in January by the US Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq potentially benefited Winston Partners, the private investment firm of Marvin P. Bush. . . . Other companies in Winston Partners' portfolio, including AMSEC, where Bush's partner, L. Scott Andrews, sits on the board of directors, also benefit from federal contracts. The new CEO of AMSEC, Michael Braham, formerly worked for L. Paul Bremer, now head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. . . . These business links suggest that Chalabi, a London-based Iraqi exile, has ties to the White House along with his known ties to Vice President Cheney and the Pentagon. At a House Government Reform Committee hearing on Iraq contracts on March 11, some congressmen began to raise questions about private connections behind some of the contracts. However, committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., cut off the questions before witnesses could answer. . . . It looks more than ever as though Bush planned all along to invade Iraq, but whatever his motives, it is certain that the war benefits his own family.

Margie Burns, a native Texan, writes from Cheverly, Md. Email margie.burns@verizon.net. An earlier version of this appeared in the Prince George's County (Md.) Journal.

posted by LoZo 12:06 PM