McConnell claims that Fiona Woolf set up CMS as the predecessor organization of the Legal Sector Alliance in preparation for Serco's alleged deployment of tagged offenders in the super-cat events of 9/11 and that she later paid Starwood director and DLA Piper U.S. Chairman George Mitchell to cover up the Dubai Hotel (Master Innholders) pedophile entrapment and blackmail network which keeps so many otherwise-decent human beings in terrified silence.
Prequel 1: #2111: Marine Links CMS Woolf’s ISIS Invisibles to Brit-on-Brit Beheading, Serco Offender’s Tag
David Cameron "ISIS Have Planned And Continue To Plan Attacks Across Europe And In OUR Country!"
Field McConnell, United States Naval Academy, 1971; Forensic Economist; 30 year airline and 22 year military pilot; 23,000 hours of safety; Tel: 715 307 8222
"Mitchell's Firm Worked for Dubai Ruler in Jockey Case (Update1)
By Timothy J. Burger -
January 27, 2009 12:08 EST
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- George
Mitchell, President Barack
Obama's special Middle East troubleshooter, was chairman of a law firm that
was paid about $8 million representing Dubai's ruler in connection with a
child-trafficking lawsuit.
The DLA Piper law firm did
legal and lobbying work on the case, which alleged that Dubai's Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and another official used children
kidnapped from other countries to ride as jockeys in camel races. The firm
lobbied federal agencies, members of the U.S.
House and about two dozen Senate
offices, including those of Obama, Vice President Joe
Biden and Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton in 2006 and 2007, according to Justice Department
foreign-agent disclosures.
Mitchell, 75, who
isn't a registered lobbyist, didn't lobby either on this issue or for Dubai
generally. DLA Piper partner Bill
Minor said in an e-mail that Mitchell, a former Democratic senator
from Maine, mainly focused on growth and management at the firm of almost 4,000
attorneys and 65 offices worldwide, and high-profile projects such as an
investigation of steroid use in Major League Baseball.
Mitchell's firm had
extensive lobbying clients and offices in the Middle East ranging from the
leader of Dubai to a Kuwait construction firm contracting in Iraq. The firm
also has offices in Egypt, Oman, Qatar and Abu Dhabi and has an affiliation with a law firm in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mitchell traveled to Dubai and spoke to the press there about the issue.
Suit Thrown Out
The camel-jockey suit
was thrown out after the U.S. Justice Department notified a Miami federal judge
that it planned to intervene and argue that al-Maktoum was immune from the suit
as a foreign leader.
"That he was such a
key figure in the firm himself certainly gives the appearance that probably any
of the clients that solicited help from the firm may have had a business
relationship with him as well," said Craig
Holman, who lobbies for tougher governmental ethics rules for Public
Citizen, a Washington-based advocacy group.
In a Jan. 24 telephone
interview, Mitchell said he "was generally aware of the case but I had no
involvement in it."
"I visited Dubai. I
did not discuss the case with the Sheikh. I had nothing to do with bringing it
in," Mitchell said. "I was merely chairman when it occurred."
Mitchell's name heads
a list on DLA Piper's Web site of a team advising clients "on opportunities
and risks associated with doing business in Iraq and the Middle East
generally." In addition to legal work, the Web site says DLA Piper has
"experience working with relevant decision makers in the United States and the
region."
Dubai Billing
Altogether, DLA Piper
billed Dubai-related entities about $9.5 million on this and other issues while
Mitchell was chairman from 2005 through the end of 2008.
Other lobbying clients
located or primarily interested in the Middle East -- and one focused on Iran
-- paid DLA Piper an additional $2.29 million.
Mitchell, who is
traveling in the Middle East this week, may need a waiver from Obama's new
policy on ethics and lobbying, which says government officials must wait two
years before working on matters "directly and substantially" related to
pre-government employers or clients even if they weren't registered lobbyists,
said Stefan
Passantino, head of the Washington-based political law group for McKenna Long & Aldridge.
'Perception Dynamic'
"It is a perception
dynamic that has to be managed very carefully," said Passantino, who helped
represent former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich during a congressional ethics case.
Asked if he's going to
have to recuse himself from anything at the State Department, Mitchell said, "I
haven't made any judgment on that."
"I have to wait and
see," Mitchell said. "I will be resigning from the firm and terminating all
private business activities."
White House spokesman Bill
Burton referred questions to the State Department, where spokesman Gordon
Duguid declined comment and referred questions to Mitchell's office. A
voicemail left at the U.A.E. embassy in Washington wasn't returned.
Habib Al-Mulla, a
Dubai-based lawyer for Sheikh Mohammad, also said Mitchell "played no role in
the litigation or efforts that led to the quashing of the lawsuit." Al-Mulla
said the sheikh was satisfied with the outcome of the case.
Mitchell, a former U.S. Senate majority
leader and onetime federal judge, was quoted by the Emirates News Agency in
January 2007 defending the United Arab Emirates' efforts to rescue "underage
camel jockeys."
Mitchell led efforts
in Northern Ireland that resulted in the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. In
2000 and 2001, he was chairman of a fact-finding panel examining the crisis in
the Middle East.
9/11 Commission
In 2002, congressional
Democrats tapped Mitchell as vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission. Mitchell and Henry
Kissinger, then-President George
W. Bush's pick as chairman, quit the commission's top posts after Congress
required members to disclose financial information and suggested Mitchell may
have to sever ties to his law firm.
The camel jockey
lawsuit in September 2006, a class-action lawsuit filed by Mount Pleasant,
South Carolina-based Motley
Rice LLC by the children's parents, accused al-Maktoum and others of
enslaving boys from Africa and South Asia who were brought to Dubai as jockeys
for camel racing, a popular sport in some parts of the Arab world.
DLA Piper picked up
the case two weeks after the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. on behalf of
underage camel jockeys. It set up meetings with Biden's Senate staff on Nov.
29, 2006, followed by a Dec. 15 meeting with Obama's staff. On Jan. 4, 2007,
the firm arranged a meeting with Clinton and other senators and their aides,
according to Justice Department Foreign Agent Registration Act filings.
'Serious Problem'
A February
2005 report on the U.S. State Department Web site says that in the
United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, "trafficking of young, noncitizen
boys employed as camel jockeys continued to be a serious problem, although the
Government has pledged to eliminate this practice for boys under the age of
15." The report cited an estimate by the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International,
a Pakistan-based civil rights group, that 5,000 boys were working as camel
jockeys.
The U.A.E. introduced
the use of robots as riders on the camels and two years ago set up an $8
million fund to compensate former child jockeys. Human rights organizations
have condemned the use of children as camel jockeys, saying the boys, mostly
from Pakistan and Bangladesh and some as young as 4 years old, are abducted,
sexually abused and underfed.
'Remarkable
Partnership'
Mitchell was quoted by
the state-owned Emirates News Agency in January 2007 as praising the United
Arab Emirates and Dubai for a "remarkable partnership with UNICEF to locate,
care for and repatriate underage camel jockeys. This program has been justly
praised by the international community as a model solution to a serious
problem."
DLA Piper billed the
Dubai government about $8 million, according to Justice Department filings.
This included almost $2.5 million between Aug. 6, 2006, and Feb. 28, 2007. Over
the next six months, the firm billed Dubai over $1.2 million, as it held more
than 70 meetings with senior officials at the White House, the State and
Justice departments, and Congress, seeking a "statement of interest" by the
U.S. government for their client.
The Justice Department
on July 26, 2007, informed U.S. District Judge Cecilia
Altonaga it would file a motion seeking "head of state immunity" for
al-Maktoum. The judge dismissed the case days later, citing other
jurisdictional issues.
A similar case was
filed in Kentucky, omitting Dubai's ruler as a defendant, and was also
dismissed in November. John Eubanks, one of the lawyers who filed the cases,
said the matter appears to be closed as far as U.S. courts are concerned.
To contact the
reporter on this story: Timothy
J. Burger in Washington atTburger2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor
responsible for this story: Mike
Forsythe at mforsythe@bloomberg.net"
Yours sincerely,
Field McConnell, United States Naval Academy, 1971; Forensic Economist; 30 year airline and 22 year military pilot; 23,000 hours of safety; Tel: 715 307 8222
David Hawkins Tel: 604 542-0891 Forensic Economist; former leader of oil-well
blow-out teams; now sponsors Grand Juries in CSI Crime and Safety Investigation
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