Morocco’s team of American lobbyists regularly communicated with State Department officials during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s four-year tenure and several are supporting her candidacy for the 2016 presidential election, according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department.
Meanwhile, a controversial cache of what appear to be Moroccan diplomatic documents show how the Moroccan government courted Clinton, built a cooperative relationship with the Secretary of State, and orchestrated the use of consultants, think tanks and other “third-party validators” to advance the North African nation’s goals within elite U.S. political circles.
The DOJ filings and Moroccan leaks help flesh out the story of how a strategically important Arab nation — one that’s been widely denounced for holding one of the last remaining colonial territories in the world — has sought to influence U.S. politics in general and Clinton in particular. Clinton, who has called Morocco “a leader and a model,” saw her and her family’s relationship with the nation burst into the national consciousness earlier this month when Politico reported that the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation would accept more than $1 million in funding from a company controlled by Moroccan King Mohammed VI to host a foundation event in Marrakech on May 5-7. Other foreign contributions to the foundation have also generated controversy, but none as intensely as the Morocco gift.
Documents suggest that the Moroccan government has long sought to influence the Clinton family over U.S.-Morocco relations. Mandatory disclosures filed by Morocco’s many American lobbyists provide one window into these efforts. Another side of the story can be seen through the cache of apparent Moroccan diplomatic documents believed to have been hacked by critics of the government. The diplomatic cables began to appear online seven months ago but are receiving fresh scrutiny given news of the donation to the foundation.
Paid by Morocco — and pushing hard for Hillary 2016
U.S.-based lobbyists for Morocco communicated frequently with State Department officials during Clinton’s tenure, according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department. The filings also show Morocco’s lobbyists are positioned to support Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bid for the 2016 presidential election. In February of last year, Morocco retained Justin Gray, a board member to Priorities USA Action, the pro-Clinton Super PAC, as a lobbyist on retainer for $25,000 per month, an amount that now represents about a third of his firm’s revenue.
Toby Moffett, a longtime lobbyist for the Moroccan government, penned an op-ed last month decrying the “left-right tag team” of pundits in the media criticizing Clinton’s bid for the presidency. Records show that on December 24, 2014, Moffett held a conference call with Dwight Bush, the U.S. ambassador to Morocco, concerning the Clinton Global Initiative event in Marrakech next month.
Gray and two other lobbyists employed by his firm Gray Global Advisors on retainer for the Kingdom of Morocco, Ed Towns and Ralph Nurmberger, gave donations totaling $16,500 to the Super PAC Ready for Hillary, which rebranded recently as Ready PAC.
Gray Global Advisors declined to comment. Asked about the Clinton Foundation event, Moffett emailed to say he knows “absolutely zero about it.”
“Marocleaks” show a friendly Clinton-Moroccan relationship
Though the Foreign Agents Registration Act requires representatives of foreign governments to disclose certain lobbying contacts, Morocco’s reliance on lobbyists for influence over American foreign policy is spelled out in greater detail in more than 700 documents that began appearing on the web late last year. The cache of diplomatic documents detail efforts to court Hillary Clinton during her tenure at the State Department, the Kingdom’s preference for Clinton over Secretary of State John Kerry, as well attempts to use American think tanks and other supportive U.S. entities to advance Morocco’s goals.
The diplomatic cables, known as the “Marocleaks” in French and North African news outlets, began appearing online on October 3 of last year through various social media accounts. The cables are reportedly the result of a hacking campaign and although many of the accounts leaking the documents were shut down, new leaks of Moroccan government cables appeared as recently as March of this year. The source of the stolen documents is unknown, though social media postings make clear that those involved are critical of the Moroccan government.
Moroccan government officials have not denied the authenticity of the documents, but some have dismissed them as part of a campaign by “pro-Polisario elements,” referring to the armed insurgent group that has battled government forces in Western Sahara, a territory occupied by Morocco. Speaking at a press conference last December, a Moroccan official denounced what he called “a rabid campaign” against his country.
I contacted an American filmmaker mentioned in the diplomatic cables and was able to confirm the authenticity of some of the files. The names and identifying information about American lobbyists on retainer for the Kingdom of Morocco are accurately reflected in the documents. And events described in the documents correspond with contemporaneous public information about those events. The Moroccan Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Still, questions persist about the origin and other aspects of the cache. One journalist in France raised questions about the leaks, suggesting one of the media accounts disseminating the cables blended “authentic and manipulated documents.” Brian Whitaker, the former Middle East editor of the Guardian, has reported on a small batch of the documents, believing them to be authentic, but noted that the cache has “mostly gone unnoticed outside Morocco, perhaps because the leaks have so far revealed little that was not already known, or at least suspected.”
The documents collectively portray the relationship between former Secretary Clinton and the Moroccan government as cooperative. Minutes of meetings conducted by then-Foreign Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani on March 15 and 16 of 2012 describe a meeting with Clinton in which she requests support from Morocco on the Syrian civil war, asking them to ask the Arab League to prevent Arabic satellite networks from rebroadcasting Syrian state television, “to put a stop to false images and propaganda.” She also wanted the Arab League to require inspections of Iranian aircraft flying to Syria to prevent the transit of weapons via Iraqi airspace.
The foreign minister added that according to President Obama’s adviser Dennis McDonough in a recent meeting with the president, “Clinton had highlighted the many democratic reforms initiated by His Majesty King Mohammed VI,” and called the country a model for the region.
The upbeat mood was echoed in similar memos circulated throughout 2012, Clinton’s last year in office. “In recent years,” declared a December 2012 memo from the Moroccan Embassy in Washington, D.C., there had been “significant progress in defending the ultimate interests of Morocco.” The relationship between the U.S. and Morocco, the memo stated, was “marked by friendship and mutual respect,” and the country enjoyed support from U.S. policymakers including those in the State Department.
The tone shifts in early 2013 as Clinton left office and was replaced by John Kerry. A dossier prepared by embassy officials features career highlights from Kerry while lamenting the loss of Clinton. “It is clear that with the departure of Ms. Clinton, Morocco loses an ally who will be difficult to replace.” Kerry, the dossier noted, once signed a letter reaffirming the United Nations-backed call for a referendum allowing the people of Western Sahara a vote on independence.
Other memos written by Moroccan government sources express similar regret at the retirement of Clinton. One memo states, “changes in the American administration, notably the departure of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an important ally of the Kingdom in the Obama administration, and the appointment of John Kerry, who has never visited Morocco and on occasion held positions not always favorable to our country, has had some impact on the development of bilateral relations.”
Leaked: Moroccan strategy for pulling U.S. strings
Morocco’s attempts to sway policymakers relate to a host of contentious issues. Since 1975, Morocco has occupied Western Sahara, one of the last remaining colonies in the world, a conflict that has provoked fighting with the Polisario Front, a guerrilla army of indigenous Sahrawi people that draws support from the Algerian government. Morocco has also used its lobbying roster to mitigate stories that portray it as an authoritarian state that violently crushes dissent, suppresses the media and engages in child labor.
The United Nations since 1991 has called for a referendum in Western Sahara to allow local residents to choose between independence and integration with Morocco. The referendum option is bitterly opposed by the Moroccan government. King Mohammed VI has only supported an autonomy plan that would maintain Moroccan control over the region. He recently said, “Morocco will remain in its Sahara, and the Sahara will remain part of Morocco, until the end of time.”
In June 2009, President Obama wrote to King Mohammed VI and expressed support for the U.N.-led negotiations for a settlement to the dispute. Some observers interpreted the letter as a reversal of the Bush administration’s position supporting the Moroccan government’s plan.
Later that year, however, Secretary Clinton stood firmly behind Morocco, saying there had been “no change” in policy on Western Sahara. The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment. In 2011, Clinton appeared with the Moroccan Foreign Minister and referenced Morocco’s plan as “serious, realistic, and credible — a potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity.”
In joint statements released by the State Department and the White House in October 2012, November 2013, and April 2014, the phrase “serious, realistic, and credible” was used to describe Morocco’s plan.
“There was somewhat of a reversal” by Clinton of the administration’s position, says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, who noted that Clinton appeared to walk back the Obama administration’s brief support of a referendum. “It was certainly a disappointment to those who had hoped President Obama would join the majority of the international community in supporting self-determination.”
The donation to the Clinton Foundation will be made by Office Chérifien des Phosphates, a company known as OCP, controlled by King Mohammed VI. OCP, the world’s leading phosphate producer, relates directly to Morocco’s continued quest for control over Western Sahara. Brou Craa mine in the occupied Western Sahara territory is managed by OCP and is “today Morocco’s biggest source of income in Western Sahara,” according to Western Sahara Resource Watch, an NGO based in Brussels. Phosphorus from the mine is exported to fertilizer companies throughout the world.
Last month, the African Union Peace and Security Council voted to recommend a “global boycott of products of companies involved in the illegal exploitation of the natural resources of Western Sahara.” Critics have said OCP’s activities in the Western Sahara are illegal because they arise from an unlawful occupation, because they do not sufficiently benefit the local population, and because insufficient efforts have been made to obtain permission from the local population for the extraction of natural resources.
As Morocco attempted to lobby Clinton and other U.S. government officials, the diplomatic cables show a regime continually fine-turning their influence strategy.
The use of think tanks, business associations, other “third party validators … with unquestionable credibility,” one cable said, relates to the “peculiarity of the American political system.” Think tanks, the cable continued, “have considerable influence” on government officials, especially because so many former officials move in and out of think tank work. Mentioning the State Department as one agency that could be swayed through think tank advocacy, the memo goes on to state, “our work focuses on the most influential think tanks … across the political spectrum.” The memo lists several think tanks such as the Atlantic Council, the Heritage Foundation and the Hudson Institute.
One undated cable describes the relative advantages of the various lobbying firms on retainer for the Moroccan government. In the section on the Moffett Group, a company founded by Toby Moffett, a former Democratic congressman, the cable touts a “professional and personal relationship” between Moffett’s daughter and Tony Blinken, deputy secretary of state and former deputy national security advisor to President Obama. (The Moffet Group ended its relationship with Morocco last year, though Moffett is still retained individually through the law firm Mayer Brown, where he works as a senior advisor.)
The cable suggests other lobbyists were hired to help broaden Morocco’s appeal. For Ralph Nurnberger, another consultant mentioned in the lobbyist profile cable, his experience as a “former lobbyist for AIPAC, the largest Jewish lobby in the U.S.,” is mentioned as an asset. Joseph Grieboski, a social justice activist and founder of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, was hired briefly on a $120,000 a year plus expenses contract for Morocco. Grieboski’s “credibility and authority” on human rights and religious freedom “could make the difference among US policymakers,” the cable observed.
In an email to The Intercept, Grieboski said, “We worked as an advisor to the Embassy of Morocco on human rights issues. I believe we were hired because of the firm’s reputation for human rights expertise and our long understanding of issues in North Africa and the Islamic World.”
In one of the cables describing Morocco’s lobbying strategy, the country’s success in achieving its foreign policy goals stems from its efforts to take the “offensive to counter the enemies of our national cause.” Isolating supporters of Western Sahara and the Polisario Front through Morocco’s congressional allies appears to be a critical element of this approach. Lobbyists for the Kingdom have previously been tied to efforts to cast the Polisario Front as supporters of terrorism. The cable makes clear that one of the goals of outreach should be to “Drain US investment in the provinces of South, particularly in terms of oil and gas exploration.”
In late November 2012, the Kingdom of Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior partnered with the Wilson Center to host an event for the Women in Public Service Project, an initiative founded by Hillary Clinton in 2011, which “empowers the next generation of women around the world and mobilizes them on issues of critical importance in public service.” The following year, Rachad Bouhlal, the Moroccan ambassador, sent a cable to remind his government of the project’s association with Clinton and to encourage continued support. Bouhlal attached a brochure for the project to the cable.
Bill Clinton at a news conference in Casablanca in 2013. (Reuters/Landov)
Old friend Bill Clinton tells Morocco, “We love this country … Democracy is a lot of a trouble.”
Support for Clinton family nonprofits by Morocco date back over a decade.
In 2004, the New York Sun reported that King Mohammed VI of Morocco gave between $100,000 and $500,000 to Bill Clinton’s presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 2007, the New York Times reported that Mohammed VI was among several world leaders who “made contributions of unknown amounts to the Clinton Foundation.”
Both Clintons have praised the Kingdom.
“My family and I, my wife, her late mother, our daughter, we love this country,” Bill Clinton said during a 2013 event in Casablanca sponsored by Laureate International Universities, a for-profit college company that employs the former president as its Honorary Chancellor. “I like the idea that the country is becoming more democratic and more empowering.” He continued with a chuckle, “Democracy is a lot of trouble by the way, we’ve been at it a long time and we still have a lot of trouble with it.”
“In many ways, the United States looks to Morocco to be a leader and a model,” said Secretary Clinton during an appearance with Morocco’s foreign minister in 2012.
But watchdog groups say little has changed in the Kingdom, even though democratic reforms were promised during the Arab Spring, and that Morocco’s image as a modernizing state is shaped more by lobbying than by the facts on the ground.
“Overall, progress has stagnated,” says Eric Goldstein, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch. Goldstein explained that while Morocco has implemented some positive reforms, in many ways the country’s human rights situation has deteriorated amid crackdowns on reporters and activists.
Goldstein said he reviewed many of the hacked diplomatic cables, noting that they appear to correspond closely with what is publicly known about Morocco’s lobbying efforts.
“Reading the documents, one gets a sense that this country, Morocco, which does not have a large economy, spends huge amounts of energy and resources on influence, particularly to assert its claim to Western Sahara.”
Photo: U.S. State Department / YouTube
Plus, when France and Spain decided to occupy Morocco in 1912, it was with the understanding that they would be partitioning Morocco, ie. Sahara was implicitly part of Morocco. Never ever has there been a country called “Sahara” before Algeria (which coversely has no ties to its saharan given to it by France, by the way where does Sahara exactly start and stop???)) decided it’s in interest to weaken its neighbor. Many moroccan dynasties throughout the centuries (Almohad, Almoravids…) originated in the saharan territories, they signed treaties as the Kingdom of Morocco, not as “Western Sahara”. Was that colonization too?
When France Left Morocco, it proposed to Morocco the restitution of parts of the latter’s historical saharan territories it had annexed to Algeria, in exchange of Mrocco’s stopping it’s support to agerian independence. A proposal which Morocca refused, as it would have been a betrayal to the algerian “brothers”. No good deed goes unpunished.
Check your facts please : OCP is state owned, not controlled by the king in any way
Please, please, please leave Morocco out of the political campaign and the low blow attacks on Hilary Clinton! This is one of the few Arab countries that has been for centuries and is still a reliable and good friend of the United States of America and of the American people. Neither democrats nor republicans would want to destroy that long standing and unique friendship; it is simply not in the national interest of America and anyone who argues otherwise is, in my view, either delusional or instrumentalized by enemies of the U.S.A. Let’s cut the BS about lobbying. America spends hundreds of millions of $ trying to influence the politics of other countries. This is, in my view, a good use of U.S. tax payers money because it is in the national interest of the U.S. and how the global geopolitics game works. Mr. Fang, honesty is what we need here; please stop insulting the intelligence of your readers.
Exposing private or foreign-state contributions to political campaigns serves public interest, but, in this case, the very US-centered perspective tends to transform the reason behind this specific funding of a presidential candidate into a mere pretext for the article, which might in itself be considered slightly imperialistic if said article weren’t published by The Intercept…
The Oxford dictionary defines a colony as “a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country”. In a way, this definition applies to Western Sahara. Yet, the common representation of a colony is that of a distant territory taken over by an occupying force which has no direct/historical relation with it.
Morroco’s relations with Western Sahara didn’t start in 1975. The relationship between both has been forged through the centuries, and the Moroccan domination over this piece of land whose sea flank largely explains Algeria’s support of the Polisario Front dates as far back as the XVIth century, with the Saadi dynasty. Not a single treaty attests Morocco ever explicitly renounced its purported sovereignty over Western Sahara. And many local tribe leaders acknowledged Rabat’s suzerainty throughout these years.
The conflict the article refers to seems to be one more example of the disastrous consequences of European (de)colonization. In 1975, after countless competing revolts (most of which loyal to Morocco), fascist Spain on the decline retreated from what was still known as Spanish Sahara through a partition agreement between Morocco and Mauritania. By that time, Polisario had grown in importance, and a 16-year war ensued. The 1991 ceasefire came with the promise of a referendum on self-determination, which, indeed, never took place, despite the UN pushing for it ever since.
According to the highest estimates, about 500,000 people are now living in Western Sahara, most of whom are connected to Moroccan nationals, through marriage or commerce. The destabilization of northern Mali that resulted in a war that is still ongoing is very likely to affect Western Sahara should it proclaim its independance. At this stage, only the strong structure of the Morrocan State is preventing such a scenario from becoming reality, albeit at a price. Beyond her personal bond with the country, this is probably what explains Clinton’s attachment to a local status quo, much more than any phospate industry.
Could Western Sahara sustain its independance on its own ? What would be the geopolitical implications of its collapse in the current geopolitical environment, both for Western Sahara itself and for the surrounding countries, not mentioning nearby Europe ? Who would benefit from a new hotbed of armed conflicts in northern Africa ? Is Polisario financed by Algeria only ? Are Western Saharans left with the choice between an authoritarian rule and chaos ? In how far does a certain degree of autonomy meet their demands, without jeopardizing the stability of the region ?
Aside from political finance considerations, these should be, i.m.o., the most obvious questions asked…
Apparently Morocco’s claim to western Sahara is not internationally recognized so we are talking about occupation and not about separatist movement.
Clinton’s sleaziness does not surprise me one bit.
Thank you. This article helps me to understand Hillary’s facile demeanor of entitlement. I never knew what it was until now. Entitlement is written all over the Clintons’ faces. How could they possibly help, in a meaningful way, the lives of ordinary people? They’re too far gone!
Thank you, Mr. Fang. I don’t know where you find the time and energy to support your recent output, but I am grateful and hope that it will continue. I hope that I am not being naively optimistic, but there seems to be a growing groundswell of alternative voices like yours that just might become widespread enough to erode the propaganda-like party line of the main stream media and force them to begin to report on what is actually going on.
Lee Fang, you seem to be the least educated reporter I have ever seen. At least check some history facts before writing. You article shows how ignorant you are about the region you are writing about. What so called western Sahara was a Moroccan land which was occupied by Spain when France and Spain divided Morocco. When the French left the Spanish left 20 years later after hard fought political battle, when Morocco unified its territorial integrity with its southern province, the Algerian with the help of the Soviet Union created what so called polisario front to reclaim western Sahara from Morocco, and to counterattack Morocco and its ally united States. The western Sahara dispute is a product of the cold war. Western Sahara is Moroccan and will remain so until the end of time.
Countries like Morocco, Russia, Iran and Syria are seriously interested in improving their relationship with us, so instead of being a problem this is indeed a very positive development that will usher in a new era of peace. We can now play the Tsarnaev tape to the Saudis.
Add this devastating indictment to your list against Hillary Clinton:
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/04/23/is-hillary-clinton-a-neocon-lite-2/
Let’s go way back with “The Clinton’s”…all the way back to the Iran-Contra Affair.
Slick Willie is over his head on this one:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/TATUM/tatum.html
These are the daily logs of CIA operative Chip Tatum.
Pour a long tall one as you wade into this cesspool of cocaine trafficking (with documented flight logs and all the gory details) going right into Governor Clinton’s heartland.
Come on Intercept! Start digging!
Al Jezeera has an expose that touches on the CIA induced South Central Los Angeles crack epidemic, http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/ajam-presents-freeway.html.
PBS NewsHour currently has a segment on Hillary’s fundraising, as of 6:30 EDT, April 23 (Thursday).
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/videos/
NewsHour website will no doubt post transcript and full segment video after the end of the broadcast.
FWIW.
And this via Politico (NYT and others have gotten very interested in Hillary’s money this week). Russian uranium and her nonprofit. Apparently they’re having to refile several years’ worth of IRS returns (Form 990s).
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/hillary-clinton-foreign-cash-media-coverage-117273.html
She also probably should change her hair. Tied back like that, it has an uncomfortable resemblance to another famous charity fundraiser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMuaZXe-44
In every Moroccan neighborhood you will find at least one family that has ties to the people of the Moroccan Sahara that dates to way way back.
I love USA and I love Morocco.
Go Hillary go.
Thanks for removing my comments. Bravo for .org
How much the algerians pays you to wrote that kind of article. You have to read the last statement in 2015 of Department of State about the strategic dialogue between US and Morocco. John Kerry the US Secretary of State have the same position on Moroccan Sahara as Ms Clinton !
without some action taken by Clinton this is just a story about a country advocating for its own interests. seedy as they may be the Morrocans are well within their rights to defend their position by hiring lobbyists. Catching Bill Clinton on tape saying “i love this country” is not exactly revelatory.
Big time trolling in the comments section of this article for the sainthood of Hillary Clinton and also for the Clinton Foundation both of which represent only the other half of the coin owned completely by the grand puppet masters of the International Central Banking Cartel pulling the economic and political strings of their puppet royal family Clintons.
Graft and corruption of the Clinton Foundation serving their money god?
Of course. Both parties, Republican and Democratic have been bought and politicians act as shills for the Federal Reserve and Wall Street.
The Clintons get to play the “humanitarian” ROLE with their foundation meanwhile acting to present the illusion of candidate choice in rigged elections conducted by the singular and collective War party not even remotely representing the will of the American people.
But they are laughing all the way to the bank on the backs of the American taxpayers.
Other examples of how the Clinton Foundation engages in such fraud and deceit are cited in the following article:
‘Clinton Cash’ book alleges foreign donations to family foundation linked to political favors
http://rt.com/usa/251333-clinton-cash-foreign-donors/
Both parties are a sham and a disgrace to the integrity of the Constitution.
Lyra, you hit the nail on the head. Bravo!!!!! Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I lived in Morocco for years and traveled across northern Africa and parts of the Middle East, and to say “Morocco’s image as a modernizing state is shaped more by lobbying than by the facts on the ground” is absolutely a statement by someone who has never been on the ground there. Is the desert region modernized? Probably about as much as rural desert regions here – let’s not use that as a claim against the whole country.
The Western Sahara argument, as many have pointed out, would be the equivalent of criticizing the US because of an independence movement in Puerto Rico.
This article is hyperbolic and disconnected from reality.
Hmm……. the real dynamite is the political history involving Phosphate port sites in the Charleston harbor. Ka boom…!!! The “Ghost of Strom Thurmond” and the “Spirit of the Dubai Portz of Djibouti” could do wonders for the Clinton Nightmares being experienced by US Senator Tim Scott, Lindsey Graham, Us Rep Jim Clyburn and advertisers of Conde Nast…!! 900 Million to Boeing without a vote does wonders for union votes in Western Sahara…!!!
So what? Assuming the lobby story is true on all accounts, it’s meager compared to the more powerful lobby of the Gulf rich states and a small drop in the bucket compared to the all mighty Jewish lobby, led by AIPAC, who pours $100’s of million each year to the Clintons, right wing republicans, and other zionists zealots. That powerful lobby then translates not only to $10’s of billion each year in U.S. Military and economic aid, but also to loan guarantees to Israel to pursue their illegal occupation of Arab territories and tip the balance unfairly in the strategic Middle East. As for the so called “Western Sahara”, it’s a political creation of the occident and historical deformation by long term colonialists of the region, namely the French and the Spanish. %99 of Sahraouis consider themselves Moroccans, on which the government poured $10’s of billion in economic and social development since 1970’s. The polisario is simply a proxy “trouble-fete” created by neighboring enemy Algeria, as a token of gratitude to Morocco for helping them gain their bloody independent from the French after 132 years of deadly occupation.
Mr. Fang, please read your history books before making laughable claims such as “Morocco, which has been widely denounced for holding one of the last remaining colonial territories in the world” Take many examples, Spain is still illegally occupying the Moroccan enclaves of Sebta and Melilia. France and Britain is occupying several Island nations in the Carribean and Indian Oceans. As for the U.S., one can only wonder if Guam, Guatenamo Bay, and Puerto Rico (to cite a few) will ever be freed back tot their native populations.
Every morning I awaken to check the headlines hoping that some solid nugget of major impropriety has been uncovered by some intrepid journalist against Hillary Clinton and her husband.
Well! Lo and behold I think her political ship may be sinking with this from The New York Times:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?referrer&post_id=1759065124_10200472937263497#_=_
I hope that The Intercept will jump all over this and dig a little deeper into Hill and Bill’s shenanigans.
To me, this comes under the heading “The Sorrows of Empire.” If we are going around the world ordering people about, then they have a more or less legitimate interest in influencing our decision making process. Decisions about Morocco are made in Washington D.C. or the U.N. not in Morocco. When all roads lead to Washington all the world’s problems eventually get deposited there as well.
This incident doesn’t seem to have been actually illegal unlike KoreaGate, which gave us the evil residue known as the “Washington Times,” aka the Newspaper of Record for Moonies and Lunies. The Wiki version of KoreaGate appears to have been sanitized. The scope has been limited to 10 senators with no mention of the “300 pretty girls.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreagate
So what? Assuming the lobby story is true on all accounts, it’s meager compared to the more powerful lobby of the Gulf rich states and a small drop in the bucket compared to the all mighty Jewish lobby, led by AIPAC, who pours $100’s of million each year to the Clintons, right wing republicans, and other zionists zealots. That powerful lobby then translates not only to $10’s of billion each year in U.S. Military and economic aid, but also to loan guarantees to Israel to pursue their illegal occupation of Arab territories and tip the balance unfairly in the strategic Middle East. As for the so called “Western Sahara”, it’s a political creation of the occident and historical deformation by long term colonialists of the region, namely the French and the Spanish. %99 of Sahraouis consider themselves Moroccans, on which the government poured $10’s of billion in economic and social development since 1970’s. The polisario is simply a proxy “trouble-fete” created by neighboring enemy Algeria, as token of gratitude to Morocco for helping them gain their bloody independent from the French after 132 years of deadly occupation.
Mr. Fang, please read your history books before making laughable claims such as “Morocco, which has been widely denounced for holding one of the last remaining colonial territories in the world” Take many examples, Spain is still illegally occupying the Moroccan enclaves of Sebta and Melilia. France and Britain is occupying several Island nations in the Carribean and Indian Oceans. As for the U.S., one can only wonder if Guam, Guatenamo Bay, and Puerto Rico (to cite a few) will ever be freed back tot their native populations.
Come on Lee be a sport. If Corporations are money/people so are Countries . Let the highest bidder prevail, “America for Sale” hosted by King Jeb or Queen Hillary would make for great reality TV.
Let’s not let Morocco become another Libya! People have to be VERY educated to have a democracy.
If not (especially with radical Islam) they become tribal war zones.
What a stupid article. Show me which company or country that doesn’t have lobbyists in Washington. From ExxonMobil to Google, and from Israel to China all have lobbyists in Washington to advance their interests. That is the name of the game in DC. In fact, ironically, the only obvious reason for publishing this article and singling out Morocco is because you are a paid lobbyist for someone else.
What is astounding is not so much Hillary’s new deeply cynical campaign slogans of fighting against the 1% and championing “every day” Americans…that is predictable… what is astounding is the number of every day Americans who seem to be falling for it so far (okay no surprise really). If Snowing the low information voters seems to succeed, hey, lets compel EVERYONE to vote so we can bring in the NO INFORMATION voters as well. Throw out a few loaves of bread, force absurd last minute propaganda down their throats along with the bread and our Goose is Truly Cooked.
And which “saviour” of the republican religious right wing would You choose to champion the average American?
You are exhibit Z543158 of the whole problem with the ridiculous two party system in this country. You see how you jump to the either/or conclusion that if I don’t like Hillary that obviously I must choose to support someone to the far right and you add the religion thing. Well republicans had a chance to go with a guy who would have ignored religiously motivated social agendas, and focused on the economy, but they already kicked him to the curb. I would love to see the Democrats field a candidate who would forget the culture wars for a term and focus on the fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption in Washington… focus on balancing the budget and dealing with the national debt, but instead its Hillary who is more of the same irresponsible pandering to the big money who got her there, and who they are already signaling they will play the gender card with right down the line. I don’t see any savior, but as long as tunnel visioned either/or people like you keep drinking the koo-laid whether from republicans or democrats, we will keep getting sold down the river by both parties.
It is worth noting that according to the UN, the other countries still holding colonial territories are New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Perhaps not coincidentally, Hillary Clinton has good relations with those countries as well (except possibly the last one).
The Clinton’s are involved in the worst mass murder of this century, the Congolese genocide..
http://www.resetdoc.org/story/00000022468
yes, but not only Morocco..the Clintons are also behind the Rwandan “genocide” RPF coup d état
http://www.resetdoc.org/story/00000022468
yes, but not only Morocco..the Clintons are also behind the Rwandan “genocide” RPF coup d état, let’s get real, the Congolese genocide is ongoing due to this HUGE lie that persists today because NO HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION has the balls to pick up this dossier! Hutus are being persecuted all over the world, the worst omerta’ ever is in place in the country, people condemned to decades of jail for saying “Huts also died during the genocide” ; academics hailing the word “negationist” to anyone who questions the fabricated version of 1994! this is preposterous! ..and SILENCE…of course attacking the Clintons and the UK and Israel is no joke, but this silence is complicity by ALL OF US in the WEST by now http://www.resetdoc.org/story/00000022468
Where is the problem?
Morocco uses legal ways to advance its interests in the US as do many other countries. But the writer decides to side with communist Polisario and its cuba-algerian backers. Or is it just hate Hillary season?
The person who wrote this article do not have much knowledge about Morocco. What you call “western sahara” is considered by every moroccan (not only the government) as the southern provinces of Morocco, so accusing Morocco of being an occupant of this territory would be like accusing every Moroccan of believing or participating in this “colonization”. I’m Moroccan and one of my relatives is from the southern provinces, and he do not recall being from elsewhere than Morocco, you can go through all history books and there was never a country called western sahara in that region of the world. In regards to OCP (Office cherifien des phosphates) most of it’s mines are located near Khouribga (mid east of Morocco) which represents most of morocco’s resources of phosphate. For the lobbying part, yes Morocco do have interests in Washington as well as any other countries in this world. So in my opinion this article is only exaggerating and over analyzing a situation that happens on a daily basis with every political party out there.
Was the Bill Clinton quote taken out of context? I am curious to see in what context he said that. I think the issue of campaign contributions is a big issue that goes beyond Hillary Clinton and Morocco. But the article raises interesting points. As a voter, I want the allegiance of the candidate to be with me (and other Americans) and not with a foreign interest that happens to make a large campaign contribution.
Yeah, but no one dares mention the contribution money from those who form The American Curse >>> http://wp.me/p4OZ4v-3z
Snore. You should get a job writing for the New York Times, I’m sure they’re hiring. Poor Amy Chozick has got her hands full, sitting in her office trying to come up with more and more bull that is beyond laughable, sort of like the National Enquirer or Fox News. The daily lies about the Clintons started back around White Water. Last year the Times wrote that the foundation had run a huge deficit when the fact was that they were reporting pledges the year of the pledges rather than when the money was in, that’s the law but the Times never bothered to check with a CPA about how this was done. Amy just posted a front page article about the devastating book about Hillary by drum roll please… none other than the Reagan, Bush sycophant Peter Schwiezer. OMG! Do you remember him? The guy who claimed Reagan’s war mongering single handedly won the Cold War? If you’re interested in writing about substance, then hold her feet to the fire about the fact that she appears to be a war monger and likely a war criminal for voting for the Iraq war and perhaps pushing for more war from the master drone murderer himself, Obama. But to go after the Clinton Foundation, an organization you know nothing about, I’m sure less than the NY Times, that is actually quite an incredibly beneficial organization doing good things, and to try to get that unsubstantiated twist in about Clinton changing her position about Morocco (and quoting Steve Zunes, a truly neutral source!) because God-forbid they handed over some bucks to be dispersed among for example poor Africans or climate change research. OMG!
You call this a lede? Reads like it was created by an algorithm:
Morocco’s team of American lobbyists regularly communicated with State Department officials during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s four-year tenure and several are supporting her candidacy for the 2016 presidential election, according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department.
Meanwhile, a controversial cache of what appear to be Moroccan diplomatic documents show how the Moroccan government courted Clinton, built a cooperative relationship with the Secretary of State, and orchestrated the use of consultants, think tanks and other “third-party validators” to advance the North African nation’s goals within elite U.S. political circles.
This article is full of lies . I don’the believe anything here.
Lies and lies.
John Kerry is in my opinion a living mindless tape recorder, a disastrous negotiator with unrealistic expectations. Anyway the Moroccan king, Mohammed VI deserves a lot of credit for rewriting of the Mudawana in 2003–2004, not an easy task in a traditional muslim country.
Lee Fang, is a far-left Democratic operative with a history of publishing error-riddled and misleading reports. Fang is laughably incompetent, Like to post half naked pics of him on social media. hahaha God bless Morocco, Hilary president. Western sahara is moroccan.
Great article, Lee, and it’s amusing to see just how the Clintons do business. Of course, the people can’t have a referendum in Western Sahara, it’s already in escrow.
It’ll be interesting to see just how Hillary reports this in her Federal Election Commission reports. But it does sound like they have a beautiful friendship in Casablanca.
– – –
“I wouldn’t bring up Morocco if I were you, it’s poor salesmanship.”
all your blabla is bullshit, the sahara is moroccan and will be forever,god bless america
What a joke! trying to use Morocco to discredit Hillary… What are you kids? every country tries what they can to sway the US to their side considering the pull the US has globally. It’s not really the other way around. If anything, the US is pulling most countries strings. If you need evidence, look at all the events post 9/11, from having torture centers in Morocco to using Moroccan airspace/ground for military drills and campaigns.
To conclude, you’ve got things the other way.
Hilbot Alert!
Hilary supporters really should want to know what she has been doing.
The “everybody is doing it” justification doesn’t make it right, or make her look good either. Nor do the torture centers, etc. given her support for the monarch.
In fact, this comment comes across as decidedly anti-Hillary while supposedly defending her.
Brilliant work as usual Lee!!!
Great stuff!
Great stuff!
Go The//Intercept
This all ties in well with what we saw Clinton do during and after the coup d’etat in Honduras. With Clinton as Secretary of State the Obama administration immediately came out in support of the properly elected government. Then, as the NYT reported Clinton took a call from a lobbyist. Within days the administration started walking back from that position and within two weeks US policy came to support the coup plotters who are in power today. By the way, Honduras has become a Neoliberal mecca with very low or actually no tax on the wealthy families who effectively own the country and profit from it as a transit point for drugs coming north. It also is the number one country for murders.
But of course there is no corruption going on at all.
This in the Guardian today:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/22/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-flipping-off-camera-boston
Further to the Clinton Honduras connection/corruption
What i know is that morocco was the first country to recognize the usa an independent country in 1776
In (minor) defense of Morocco, let me point out that the majority of Muslim countries without close ties to Washington have been bombed and/or droned.
Not quite. Iran hasn’t been bombed. They just really want to bomb it.
Iran was droned, at least in terms of reconnaissance. Certainly, they claim that they downed an RQ-170 back in 2011.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/dec/04/iran-shoots-down-us-drone
Thanks for the well-written and revealing article (even though it’s disappointing to read about these people in power taking care of themselves and each other)
Appearances matter more than reality. The basis for propaganda. The US govt., unfortunately, excels at it.
Why will no reporter with access to Hillary make her answer hard questions about Morrocco, and Columbia, and … ?
It’s just more of the same ole, same ole – I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine. The military- corporate- establishment media agenda is unfolding right on schedule with Killery merely one more Bush – Obama – tool in the arsenal of the .1 percent. When the long arm of history has at her (them) she will fall in the sinner pile. Manning, Assange, Snowden (et al.) in the long-remembered saint category.
Dear Lee Fang,
You have missed on intercepting a key fact error; namley “Western Sahara ” has always been historiccally part of the Maghreb. Morocco did not colonize but rather freed the land from Spain, the colonizers who continue to colonize parts of Morocco today in Ceuta and Melilia.
Not to mention Morocco is not an Arab nation.
It’s hard to tell from this article whether or how Morocco’s efforts to pursue its interests in Washington is different from the many other countries who do the same thing (and on an even grander scale). That the lobbyists are registering and disclosing as required suggests that there’s really nothing to leak.
The article makes it clear that Morocco has a long history of lobbying the US both officially, as well as through paying off the Clintons, a chummy relationship that was clearly corrupting to Hillary when she was Secretary. This is made even more relevant, because as you know, Hillary is running for President, a place where her obvious penchant for crooked back room dealings would be a very bad thing. Anyone can tell we don’t want someone paid for by so many foreign regimes in the White House.
The lobbying I get. The “paying off the Clintons” and “her obvious penchant for crooked back room dealings” I don’t. What’s the alleged quid pro quo?
we moroccan americans will vote for hillary no matter of all your BS