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
Dan Briodi
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...
