Comment: Journalist Russ Baker has written a landmark volume about the deep political history of the Bush family, George H.W. (“Poppy”) Bush in particular. Family of Secrets (Bloomsbury Press [SC]; Copyright 2009 by Russ Baker) is a must for serious students of the realities of contemporary power structure.
Painstakingly tracing evidentiary tributaries running through decades of power political intrigue, Baker highlights the unwavering, Machiavellian maneuvering of generations of Bushes–operations dominating much of the history of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Presenting compelling evidence of Bush family involvement with intelligence matters dating back decades, the author has “connected the dots” linking Poppy Bush to events as seemingly disparate as the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, Watergate and the ascent of his son to the White House. (Although veteran listeners to these broadcasts and users of this website will be familiar with much of what Baker presents, there is a wealth of information that will open the eyes of even relatively knowledgable–and jaded–Emory listeners.)
Underlying many of the fascinating, tragic and (in many cases) bloody events detailed in this chronicle is what Texans refer to as the “Ahl Bidness.” Much of Poppy Bush’s career as an intelligence officer has involved a reciprocal relationship between intelligence matters and the petroleum industry, with his petroleum ventures serving as “cover” for covert operations, many of which, in turn, furthered the interests and profits of the merchants of black gold.
Readers will come away with a better understanding of why the residents of Khazakhstan refer to oil as “the Devil’s tears.”
Over the years, many have asked the question, “What can I do about it?!” One thing everyone can “do about it” is to buy and read this remarkable book, and disseminate the information in it via any and all means available. “Getting the word out” via the Internet is particularly important.
Exemplifying the disclosures that typify this book is Baker’s discussion of Poppy Bush’s selection of a manager to run Zapata Petroleum’s facility at Medellin, Colombia. (Baker presents compelling evidence that Zapata had been, to a large extent, a cover for global CIA operations.) One of the interesting things about selecting this site is that Zapata was an offshore oil drilling facility. Medellin isn’t on the shore!
” . . . In any case, while in Washington, Poppy had a warm relationship with [Lyndon Baines] Johnson. . . . One of the more peculiar relationships in an already bizarre enterprise resulted from Bush’s choice of a surrogate to run Zapata Offshore’s office in Medellin, Colombia. To begin with, there was the question of why a small, unprofitable company needed such far-flung outposts. Why, in particular, did it need one in Medellin, 150 miles from any offshore drilling locale–a city whose very name would later become synonymous with the cocaine trade? Bush’s choice to represent Zapata in Colombia was Judge Manuel B. Bravo, of Zapata County, Texas.
Judge Bravo’s singular claim to fame was his role in Lyndon Johnson’s fraud-ridden election to the U.S. Senate in 1948. As reports of an extraordinarily close race came in on election night, Bravo continually revised upward the Johnson count from Zapata County’s Ballot Box 3, until LBJ was assured victory. A federal investigation led to a trial, but by that time the ballots from Box 13 in Jim Wells County had conveniently disappeared from the judge’s office. The lack of evidence effectively ended Johnson’s peril. Johnson won by eighty-seven votes. . . .” (Family of Secrets, pp. 132–133.)
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