As I was responding to this question, it was obvious that it would make a better post where I can expand it a bit with more links –
It is about what people can do to stop the flow of funds to Mubarak and Qaddafi (Gaddafi), find their hidden assets and wealth, what to do with the information once it is found and what American taxpayers can do to stop brutal, vicious dictators like them from being supported with American taxpayer money –
This is the question from Michelle that I had been answering –
michellefrommadison
Submitted on 2011/03/08 at 4:31 am
What can American taxpayers do to help them out?
Japan freezes assets of Libya’s Gaddafi, others | Reuters
2 #
cricketdiane
Submitted on 2011/03/08 at 4:59 pm | In reply to michellefrommadison
Specific to Mr. Qaddafi and his sons – their financial wealth is being located and frozen. However, since the Qaddafi regime is still in place and intends to continue in the style to which they have become accustomed, there are actually some things that US citizens can do about that.
First, make sure that there is nowhere on this planet that doesn’t know what kind of human beings they are.
Second, make sure that the wealthy who have hosted them, fawned over them, treated them like gods, and partied with them understand that none of us think that is okay nor acceptable.
Third, let our government leaders know that trading off our principles in order to do business with those insatiably cruel, malicious regimes is unacceptable and that our tax dollars are not to be used to support any such thing.
And, fourth – make sure that the strength of our conviction about it is heard everywhere around the world including at the tables of the IMF, at the World Bank, at the European Parliament, at the tables of the United Kingdom leadership, at the United Nations, at the policy-making foundations and organizations throughout the US and around the world, at the treasuries of every national decision-making body and at the NGOs, Industries, Corporations, Businesses and Political Parties that have in the past, supported them. It is not “kind of okay.” It is not okay at all.
If there is anything that you find online about the Qaddafi regime, the Libya Investment Authority, the Qaddafi sons and their shenanigans or where they have met with anyone in the past – and you stumble over it while looking at something online in the news or in some investors’ information, or looking at some public relations or consulting firm or Wall Street firm that has bragged about it in the past – then ship it over to the UN Secretariat with the link and to the US State Department. It only takes a few minutes to do that and then if it is something they haven’t known already, they can find those resources and take charge of them for the Libyan people. The same thing is true for the Mabarak fortune which is still being tracked around the world. These things are simple enough.
It is time to say that we aren’t going to put up with it anymore.
And, if you find any photos online of Qaddafi and his regime members, family members, sons and daughter being worshiped by our business leaders, our political leaders, our industry members, our corporate CEOs, our wealthiest and powerful, our political party members – then publicly share those and the links where they can be found. If you find evidence in written materials from the past, and photos of the brutality, cruelties and torture of these regimes, publish it, forward it, blog about it and tell others where the information can be found.
The ICC and UN Secretariat among other international groups, including Interpol are working to locate some of these things and keeping them current information rather than lost in something from 1986 somewhere – will be helpful when they start to look for it as they build these cases against this brutality.
– cricketdiane
***
I had originally started with this part – in response to Michelle – (and turned it around when posting it here) –
The first thing American taxpayers can do is to say something. When our money goes to put sophisticated military hardware in the hands of the brutal regimes around the world that are known to be psychotic, authoritarian, abusive, torturing their own people, sponsoring terrorism around the world and denying basic universal human rights to their people, then the people of the world believe that we, as Americans are supporting those horrors in their lives and in their nation.
Saying something about it to our legislators, to the public, to fellow citizens, to our churches, to our NGOs, to our State Department, to our President, to our family members and to our communities of friends is first.
The second thing Americans can do is to tell legislators on the appropriations committee when those appropriations are being made and send emails or make phone calls to the Congressional and Senate members on the foreign relations and appropriations committees as well as the government oversight committee. (wait a minute and I’ll look it up.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_committee
House of Representatives
Appropriations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Appropriations
Foreign Affairs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Foreign_Affairs
Intelligence (Permanent Select)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Permanent_Select_Committee_on_Intelligence
Oversight and Government Reform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Oversight_and_Government_Reform
Senate
Appropriations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_Appropriations
Foreign Relations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_Foreign_Relations
***
There are joint committees and subcommittees where these decisions are made which can be found here –
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm
However, most of the real policy decisions are being made in the party policy-making committees at the Republican and Democratic Party using their networks of resources and through their headquarters eventually. Those policy decisions are then enacted through their Party representatives serving in the Congress, Senate or in state governments and local governments.
These policy-makers draw on information provided to them from their favored think-tanks and academics as well as from the policy-making industry which act as consultants to them all that have arisen over the years. There is actually a school or two within our universities who specialize in government and policy that are commonly consulted by both sides of these issues. And, the special interest groups, lobbyists and international serving consultant firms are also influencing the policies and the applications of those policies through their individual and collective efforts.
Overall, the staff of the Congressional and Senate offices are more likely to be involved in sorting out the varied approaches to different issues like this one which will tend to include information from other sources in the reports they provide to the Congressmen and Senators. That information can include information from the Energy Committee for instance, that may overwhelmingly support (as in the case of Libya) a trade-off in foreign policy principles in order to satisfy the desires of the petroleum industries who want to harvest the oil reserves in that country, engineering firms who want to do business there, equipment manufacturers who want their products to be used there, the Chamber of Commerce representing businesses generally and the Petroleum Institute who serves to promote the overall interests of their industry.
These reports and briefs are put together, sometimes by think-tanks and academic institutions for the legislators and the party policy-makers as well, or analyzed by the special interest groups and policy consultant firms that hover around Washington. Sometimes, these are provided in their entirety to the Congressional members and Senate offices, and sometimes (probably more often) they are offered as a bullet list focused brief with the analysis condensed and simplified with back-up charts and data which seem to support whatever position offered. Normally, these provide intellectual arguments and data to sully support for any other position at the same time intentionally swaying the reader to think in their desired terms – most are very one-sided supporting whatever position that is in their best interest.
So, the third thing that American taxpayers can do is to find these sources of policy online and discuss it with them. Let the academics, think-tanks, political party policy-makers, policy consulting firms and special interest groups understand what we want or don’t want our money to be doing. Or, to explain to these policy sources that we expect both the things to get done that need to get done while at the same time honoring those principles upon which our nation is founded. The policies set forth by legislators as well as by businesses, industries, special interest groups, and policy-makers in our political parties can be set up to do both. It appreciably gets lost in the mix if none of us are saying anything to them about it directly.
Fourth, the other thing that people can do in America is to put a stop to it entirely. We can solve problems in other ways which are allowing our nation to be put at the mercy of other nations whose brutality we don’t want to support. That means using something other than gasoline, for instance. Those political parties and specific legislators who trade off our national principles for the support of brutal dictators for any reason can be publicized for those decisions and voted out of the seat they are warming. The special interest groups and industry representatives that are supporting those kinds of trade-offs can be publicized in that light and then removed from the list of those places where our money is donated. And, if it turns out that money we are giving to one special interest group is going eventually into supporting another group whose influence intentionally supports denying our founding principles and social responsibilities – then we can publicize that fact and stop giving them our money, our churches’ money, our charitable moneys, and enter a discussion with the initial organization funneling money into another one about our concerns. And, tell others about it.
When people give to support veterans’ needs, that money should not end up going eventually into another pool of money that abrogates programs for the veterans whether it is the Tea Party, the conservatives, the Republican Party or whatever else they funneled that money to finally. Those trails can be located through their websites and tell others about it. If all else fails, and reasonable discussions are not making any difference, then suits can be filed against them to explain that money can’t be taken for one thing and then used to do exactly the opposite. For that, they are responsible in how those funds are used and where they end up going and what gets supported when the final analysis is done.
Fifth, as fun as it is as a way to meet others, supporting protests about these things if an extreme and questionable choice but certainly does feel better than sitting at a computer engaging in discussions about it with people who basically are getting paid to serve the support of whatever policy position in order to get paid for what they do.
It would probably be easier to twitter that, “this jackass just voted to support including arms sales to psycho whomever that slaughtered 43,000 people last year. pass it on.”
I don’t know.
– cricketdiane
***
Specific to Mr. Qaddafi and his sons – their financial wealth is being located and frozen. However, since the Qaddafi regime is still in place and intends to continue in the style to which they have become accustomed, there are actually some things that US citizens can do about that. First, make sure that there is nowhere on this planet that doesn’t know what kind of human beings they are. Second, make sure that the wealthy who have hosted them, fawned over them, treated them like gods, and partied with them understand that none of us think that is okay nor acceptable. Third, let our government leaders know that trading off our principles in order to do business with those insatiably cruel, malicious regimes is unacceptable and that our tax dollars are not to be used to support any such thing. And, fourth – make sure that the strength of our conviction about it is heard everywhere around the world including at the tables of the IMF, at the World Bank, at the European Parliament, at the tables of the United Kingdom leadership, at the United Nations, at the policy-making foundations and organizations throughout the US and around the world, at the treasuries of every national decision-making body and at the NGOs, Industries, Corporations, Businesses and Political Parties that have in the past, supported them. It is not kind of okay. It is not okay at all.
If there is anything that you find online about the Qaddafi regime, the Libya Investment Authority, the Qaddafi sons and their shenanigans or where they have met with anyone in the past – and you stumble over it while looking at something online in the news or in some investors’ information, or looking at some public relations or consulting firm or Wall Street firm that has bragged about it in the past – then ship it over to the UN Secretariat with the link and to the US State Department. It only takes a few minutes to do that and then if it is something they haven’t known already, they can find those resources and take charge of them for the Libyan people. The same thing is true for the Mabarak fortune which is still being tracked around the world. These things are simple enough. It is time to say that we aren’t going to put up with it anymore.
And, if you find any photos online of Qaddafi and his regime members, family members, sons and daughter being worshiped by our business leaders, our political leaders, our industry members, our corporate CEOs, our wealthiest and powerful, our political party members – then publicly share those and the links where they can be found. If you find evidence in written materials from the past, and photos of the brutality, cruelties and torture of these regimes, publish it, forward it, blog about it and tell others where the information can be found. The ICC and UN Secretariat is working to locate some of these things and keeping them current information rather than lost in something from 1986 somewhere – will be helpful when they start to look for it as they build these cases against this brutality.
That’s all.
– cricketdiane
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