The ex-presidents' club
The
Guardian
Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger
Wednesday October 31, 2001
It is hard to imagine an address closer to the heart of
American power. The offices of the Carlyle Group are on Pennsylvania
Avenue in Washington DC, midway between the White House and the Capitol
building, and within a stone's throw of the headquarters of the FBI and
numerous government departments. The address reflects Carlyle's position
at the very center of the Washington establishment, but amid the
frenetic politicking that has occupied the higher reaches of that world
in recent weeks, few have paid it much attention. Elsewhere, few have
even heard of it...
But since
the start of the "war on terrorism", the firm - unofficially
valued at $13.5bn - has taken on an added significance. Carlyle has
become the thread which indirectly links American military policy in
Afghanistan to the personal financial fortunes of its celebrity
employees, not least the current president's father. And, until earlier
this month, Carlyle provided another curious link to the Afghan crisis:
among the firm's multi-million-dollar investors were members of the
family of Osama bin Laden More...
Carlyle's
Way Red
Herring Business Magazine
Dan Briody, author of The
Iron Triangle Wednesday January 8, 2002
Like
everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the events of
September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci,
former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the bin Laden
family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central
Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington,
D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most
powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle
Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly
important...
And as the
Carlyle investors watched the World Trade towers go down, the group's prospects
went up. In running what its own marketing literature spookily calls
"a vast, interlocking, global network of businesses and investment
professionals" that operates within the so-called iron triangle of
industry, government, and the military, the Carlyle Group leaves itself open to
any number of conflicts of interest and stunning ironies. For example, it is
hard to ignore the fact that Osama bin Laden's family members, who renounced
their son ten years ago, stood to gain financially from the war being waged
against him until late October, when public criticism of the relationship forced
them to liquidate their holdings in the firm. Or consider that U.S. president
George W. Bush is in a position to make budgetary decisions that could pad his
father's bank account. But for the Carlyle Group, walking that narrow line is
the art of doing business at the murky intersection of Washington politics,
national security, and private capital; mastering it has enabled the group to
amass $12 billion in funds under management.
More...
