----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 9:49 AM
Subject: Frank Wisner
Please note that Frank Wisner's son was on the Enron board if I
am
not
mistaken...
========================================================================
====
Wisner
works for AIG now.
http://www.enron.com/corp/pressroom/board.html
He's
not on the board now, see above, but....
The Power Elite: Enron and Frank
Wisner
by Vijay Prashad
On 28 October 1997, Enron Corporation
announced the entry of Frank G.
Wisner Jr. onto its board of directors. Most
of the business press did
not find this untoward and it certainly did not
emerge as part of the US
discussions on corruption at the highest level.
Frank Wisner, as we know
in India, was the US Ambassador from 1994 until this
year and his entry
into Enron must be seen in light of the scandal of Dabhol.
Enron, like
most US corporations, uses its close association with the state
(both
its elected and bureaucratic arms) for its own ends. US campaigns
are
financed by corporations whose money not only enables politicians to
win
elections, but it also buys businesses the state's power both
for
domestic subsidies and for the use of US power in the
international
arena.
Frank Wisner, Jr. was a big catch for Enron
Corporation. His lineage is
impeccable, since his father, Frank Wisner Sr.,
was a senior CIA
official (from 1947 until his suicide in 1965) who was
involved in the
overthrow of Arbenz of Guatemala (1954) and Mossadeq of Iran
(1953).
Wisner Junior was well-known in the CIA and he worked as Under
Secretary
of Defense for Policy and Under Secretary of State for
International
Security Affairs; his current boss, Kenneth Lay, Chief
Executive Officer
of Enron Corporation, also worked for the Pentagon during
the US war in
Vietnam. With "economic espionage" as a task for the CIA (see
PD, 12
October 1997), there is little doubt that Wisner used this
instrument
during his long-tenure as Ambassador in Asian nations. A Wisner
staffer
told InterPress Services this year that "if anybody asked the CIA
to
help promote US business in India, it was probably Frank".
When
Wisner was US Ambassador to the Philippines (1991-92), Enron was in
the midst
of negotiations to manage the two Subic Bay power plants. When
Wisner left
Manila in July 1992, Enron won the deal and began to manage
the plant in
January 1993. During Wisner tenure in India, he fought long
and hard to
secure various deals for Enron. He went so far as to boycott
the "India Power
'96 -- Beyond Dabhol" summit, despite being scheduled
to give an address
(this was part of a US advisory to companies to avoid
India for six-months, a
pressure tactic on India during the winter of
1995-96). Wisner left India
earlier this year only after it seemed like
Enron's place was secure.
Enron, like most monopoly corporations in the US, uses money as a
means
to buy influence and power. To gain access to a lucrative contract
to
rebuild the Shuaiba power plant in Kuwait, Enron hired former
US
Secretary of State James Baker as a consultant who travelled to the
oil
kingdom to negotiate with his Gulf War allies for his new employer.
The
sons of George Bush also helped Enron win this contract despite a
lower
bid from Deutsche Babcock, a German firm. The Bush brothers also
helped
Enron in their deal to win a contract to build a pipeline from Chile
to
Argentina in 1988. Finally, Wendy Gramm (wife of Senator Phil
Gramm)
joined Enron's Board of Directors in 1993 after she resigned from
the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This Commission, just days
after
Gramm's resignation, deregulated energy futures, thereby allowing
Enron
to earn 10% of its profits by adventures on the financial
markets.
Beside all this evidence, it appears hypocritical for Rebecca
Mark,
Chairperson of Enron Development Corporation, to declare that
"Enron's
reputation is being attacked, and we do not do business under
the
table".
The story does not end there. In 1991-92, Enron donated
$28,525 to the
Democratic Party and in 1993-94, it gave $42,000. These monies
enabled
Enron to send its executives on international tours with the
late
Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown in January 1995 (when Kenneth Lay
came
to India) and in March-April 1994 (when Chief Executive Officer of
Enron
International, Rodney Gray came to Russia). In the former, Enron was
in
negotiation for the Dabhol plant among other things (such as the
$1.1
billion offshore holdings) and in the latter, Enron was interested
in
the marketing of Russian gas in Europe. President Clinton noted
that
Brown's trips resulted in "expanded opportunities for American
business
in [the USA] and abroad". The "pay to play" project of US
"democracy" is
once again in evidence. The example of Enron and Wisner proves
beyond a
reasonable doubt that the US state is not a neutral actor in
world
affairs and that US transnational corporations are part and parcel
of
the corruption within the US Empire. The hearings in Washington
on
"campaign finance reform" do not bother with this level of
corruption,
for most of those who are running the investigation are beholden
to
business interests. Enron, for instance, will not be a part of
the
investigation, since it is deemed to be a patriotic US entity out
to
create jobs for US workers and to accumulate wealth to defer the
costs
of the US's mercenary army.
Vijay Prashad is Assistant
Professor of International Studies at Trinity
College in Hartford,
Connecticut.
Source: People's Democracy, 16 November 1997
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