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Tag Archive: Sudan

Abramoff Sought to Aid Sudan:

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We know that Jack Abramoff worked with (for) the South African apartheid government; took the corrupt kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko as a client; helped the anti-Semitic Prime Minister of Malaysia gain access to President Bush; and lobbied on behalf of the autocratic dictator of Gabon. I guess it makes sense that he would go all the way and attempt to lobby for a government actively committing genocide. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Two eyewitnesses say that former lobbyist Jack Abramoff proposed to sell his services to the much-criticized government of Sudan to help improve its abysmal reputation in the United States, especially among Christian evangelicals who were campaigning against human rights violations in the troubled African nation.

 

Khidir Haroun Ahmed, Sudan's ambassador to the United States, said in an interview that Abramoff proposed a multimillion-dollar lobbying contract in late 2001 but that the proposal was "never seriously considered" by the Sudanese. He declined to elaborate.


Two eyewitnesses say that former lobbyist Jack Abramoff proposed to sell his services to the much-criticized government of Sudan to help improve its abysmal reputation in the United States, especially among Christian evangelicals who were campaigning against human rights violations in the troubled African nation.

 


Khidir Haroun Ahmed, Sudan's ambassador to the United States, said in an interview that Abramoff proposed a multimillion-dollar lobbying contract in late 2001 but that the proposal was "never seriously considered" by the Sudanese. He declined to elaborate. 

Abramoff and his spokesman both deny that the meeting, which took place in Abramoff’s skybox at FedEx Field, occurred as Khidir claims. However, a former associate of Abramoff’s has backed up the Sudanese ambassador’s claims:

According to the lobbyist's former associate, Abramoff sat with the ambassador in the skybox and described an elaborate and costly plan to blunt the effect of pressure from Christian groups with money and travel, two of the methods Abramoff frequently deployed in his Washington lobbying campaigns.

 


He said some of the money would be sent to the Christian Coalition and some would be spent encouraging Christian leaders to visit Sudan and talk with the government. Other money would be spent on a grass-roots campaign to promote a better image of the country in the United States.

 


The former associate said Abramoff repeatedly told the ambassador that he would arrange for his friend [Ralph] Reed to push the idea with Christian groups. 

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