Giuliani Linked to "NAFTA Superhighway"
By Cliff Kincaid (05/15/07)
Brit Hume said on the Fox News Sunday program that it is possible that Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani could overcome his convoluted posturing on abortion and secure the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. But Giuliani has some other major problems. These include foreign clients, one of whom is constructing part of the "NAFTA Superhighway" project that has people in Texas and around the nation up in arms.
Hume, the moderator of Tuesday night's Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, will be in a position to ask Giuliani about it. Questions will also be posed by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace and White House correspondent Wendell Goler.
Evidence shows that NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is being expanded without congressional approval or oversight as part of a plan to create an economic and political entity known as the North American Union (NAU). Federal documents uncovered by Judicial Watch quote participants in the scheme as saying that an "evolution by stealth" strategy is being used to put the pieces into place. Documents also speak of developing a common security perimeter and a common identification card for citizens of the three countries.
With the exception of Lou Dobbs of CNN, our national media have ignored not only the process that is well underway but the growing outcry over what is happening. Resolutions against the NAU have been introduced in 14 state legislatures-and have passed in two-and thousands of people have turned out in Texas to protest a Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) highway system, which will link the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Critics say the project is being funded by foreign interests, could run roughshod over private property rights, and could facilitate illegal activities, such as the trafficking of people and drugs, from Mexico.
The TTC, which is viewed as being part of the "NAFTA Superhighway," is only part of a much larger process of integrating the three nations. This writer attended and covered a February 16, 2007, conference sponsored by the Center for North American Studies at American University (AU) that was devoted to an emerging "North American Community," which is what conference organizer Robert Pastor, a former Carter Administration official, prefers to call it. Academic literature distributed to conference participants discussed a common legal framework for the U.S., Canada and Mexico and proposals for a North American Court of Justice (with the authority to overrule a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court), a North American Trade Tribunal, and a Charter of Fundamental Human Rights for North America. One of Pastor's students at AU suggests that he even favors a North American Parliament.
The conference organizers and participants believe NAFTA, which promised economic integration, has to be expanded into the legal, social, political and even cultural areas. Pastor, though a Democrat, succeeded in persuading Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn to introduce a "North American Investment Fund" bill to send more U.S. tax dollars to Mexico. Both political parties are seen favoring the process of bringing the three countries together into an entity like the European Union that now governs Europe and supersedes the sovereignty of member governments.
One obvious problem is corruption in and illegal immigration from Mexico. Public sentiment in the U.S. forced Congress to pass-and President Bush to sign-a law creating a fence on the U.S. southern border. Nevertheless, Bush and the Democrats continue to press for amnesty for illegal aliens and ways to increase the flow of foreign workers into the U.S.
The Giuliani connection to this controversial process is through Bracewell & Giuliani, a law firm he joined as senior partner in 2005. Bracewell has already come in for criticism because it represents Citgo, the oil company controlled by Venezuela's anti-American and terrorist-supporting ruler Hugo Chavez.
Freelance columnist Dianne M. Grassi broke the story of Giuliani's law firm acting as the exclusive legal counsel for Cintra, the Spanish firm that has been granted the right to operate a toll road in the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) project. Grassi comments, "Most interesting to the whole story is not only has Mr. Giuliani's involvement in the NAFTA Superhighway not ever having been publicly addressed, but how a foreign company is awarded the building of a mass highway system, versus maintaining it, for the first time in U.S. history, and negotiated by the law firm of the top Republican candidate running for President of the United States. And truly disturbing is how such will not only have national and homeland security and sovereignty implications but how it is deliberately being kept away from the Halls of Congress."
Grassi's revelations are easily confirmed by checking the websites of Bracewell and Cintra. Bracewell calls the deal "the first privatization of a Texas toll road."
Terri Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), notes that Giuliani clients with an interest in acquiring Texas roads and infrastructure have also invested in his presidential campaign. She comments, "This could explain why Giuliani has spent so much time fundraising in Texas. The monied proponents of the Trans-Texas Corridor, of which there are many, would like to see this man become President."
Ironically, Ryan Sager of the New York Sun reports that Giuliani, before he became a private businessman with global clients, opposed NAFTA
It turns out that Cintra is a financial partner with an Australian company, Macquarie, on a toll-road project in Indiana, and that Macquarie acquired the business and assets of an investment bank known as Giuliani Capital Advisors.
Sunday's Washington Post notes that Giuliani Capital Advisors "was sold for an undisclosed amount as Giuliani was preparing his run for president."
The Post article also discloses that Giuliani's secretive lobbying firm, Giuliani Partners, has made more than $100 million over the last five years and that its clients "are required to sign confidentiality agreements, so they do not comment about the work they receive or how much they are paying for it. Though now running for president, Giuliani refuses to identify his clients, disclose his compensation or reveal any details about Giuliani Partners. He also declined to be interviewed about the firm." The paper provided some details, based "on a review of corporate, government and court records, along with scores of interviews with clients and government officials who have interacted with Giuliani Partners."
Many questions remain about Giuliani's controversial work for foreign interests. But his connection to the Trans-Texas Corridor is already a matter of public record and cries out for scrutiny. Will Fox News personalities ask him about it on Tuesday night?
Cliff Kincaid
http://www.aim.org/aim_column/5454_0_3_0_C/
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