http://www.bgrdc.com/bgr_government-affairs.html
Allawi doesn't want to disclose who's paying BGR's $300,000 fee
Lobby Firm Tied to Bush Aids - Allawi in Maliki Ouster Bid ~ Barbour, Griffith & Rogers is billing Allawi $50,000 per month ...
August 24, 2007
As former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi maneuvers to oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki, he is getting help from a Washington lobby firm. Barbour, Griffith and Rogers couldn't be more deeply connected to the Bush administration. Its lead lobbyist on the account, Robert Blackwill, even oversaw the creation of the current Iraqi government.
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
How strong is the Bush administration's support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki? President Bush seemed less than enthusiastic on Tuesday, then he made a point of endorsing him on Wednesday. Meanwhile, one of Maliki's chief rivals has hired a Washington lobbying firm with close ties to the Bush White House.
NPR's Peter Overby reports.
PETER OVERBY: A quick refresher course: Ayad Allawi was Iraq's interim prime minister after Saddam Hussein was deposed. He was picked for that job by the Iraq interim Governing Council with a strong push from Washington. He served less than a year. Now, with Maliki's government stumbling (early 2007 before the surge), Allawi has reemerged as a political force. He's not living in Iraq these days, but he has been back in the American media. Earlier this month, he told ALL THINGS CONSIDERED that Nouri al-Maliki needs to go. (2007)
Dr. AYAD ALLAWI (Former Iraqi Prime Minister): I think, unfortunately, Maliki aspire to have a sectarian system, which is influencing and affecting the country negatively.
OVERBY: And four days ago, Ayad Allawi signed a contract with the Washington lobbying firm of Barbour, Griffith & Rogers. There may be no other firm with better connections to the Bush administration.
Barbour, Griffith & Rogers is billing Allawi $50,000 per month plus expenses. The contract was obtained and posted by the Web site Iraqslogger.com. The firm will give Allawi strategic guidance and represent him before Congress and around the government and media. Barbour Griffith acknowledges the contract but won't comment on it.
Mr. MASSIE RITCH (Communications Director, Center for Responsive Politics): The three named partners include a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, a top member of the President's campaign fundraising team, and a senior advisor to his father's 1988 presidential campaign.
Working now for Allawi, you have a member of the president's national security staff, who helped set up the Iraqi government that he's now working to change.
OVERBY: And that would be former Ambassador Robert Blackwell.
In 2003, President Bush named Blackwell to the Iraq's stabilization group and put him in charge of creating Iraq's new political institutions. The following year, Blackwell was appointed presidential envoy to the Baghdad government he had helped design.
Some analysts see the Barbour, Griffith contract is a signal that the administration is not so subtly edging away for Maliki. At today's White House press briefing, spokesman Gordon Johndroe said that's not so.
Mr. GORDON JOHNDROE (White House Spokesman): You know, far be it for me to judge why people, you know, sign contracts for whatever reason. I'm sure they have a desire to help out their clients. But they're former administration officials, administration policy remains unchanged.
OVERBY: And President Bush made much the same point on Wednesday in a speech to the Veteran's of Foreign Wars.
President GEORGE W. BUSH (United States): Prime Minister Maliki's a good guy, good man with a difficult job. And I support him. And it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position. That is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship.
OVERBY: But that doesn't mean some prominent former members of the Bush team can't take a hand of their own in influencing the Iraqi people's choice.
Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13935727
Allawi Uses Loophole to Keep Backers Secret
September 5, 2007
It's official: Ayad Allawi is no longer represented by Barbour Griffith & Rogers, the White House-connected lobbying firm he retained to sell the U.S. government on his "parliamentary coup" to become Iraq's next prime minister. Well, sort of.
Allawi doesn't want to disclose who's paying BGR's $300,000 fee. But since Allawi admitted on CNN that he's not paying the bill himself, BGR has to either disclose to the Justice Department which "agent of a foreign principal" it receives money from or violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Disclosure, however, is for amateurs.
Yesterday, BGR took an anticipated third option: changing its filing with DoJ so that BGR no longer represents Allawi, but rather his political party, the Iraqi National Accord. Christina Davidson reports for IraqSlogger (sub. req.) that since political parties aren't required to disclose their sources of funding under FARA, "BGR has managed to pull an easy sidestep in order to maintain the anonymity of Allawi's backer."
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/cats/iraq/ayad_allawi/
related article ~ Allawi Using US Lobbyists To Gain Power - 2007
