The Clinton’s Saudi fundraisers; Lefty meltdown watch: Blackwater a donor

posted at 12:30 pm on December 18, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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For ten years, Bill Clinton resisted calls to make public the donors to his charitable foundation.  Under pressure from Barack Obama for Hillary’s appointment to State, Bill finally agreed to the release of the data — and his reluctance is now understandable.  Clinton took tens of millions from foreign interests that will call into question Hillary’s ability to represent American foreign policy:

Former President Bill Clinton’s foundation has raised at least $41 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments that his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton may end up negotiating with as the next secretary of state.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave $10 million to $25 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit created by the former president to finance his library in Little Rock, Ark., and charitable efforts to reduce poverty and treat AIDS. Other foreign government givers include Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy and Jamaica.

The foundation disclosed the names of its 205,000 donors on a Web site Thursday, ending a decade of resistance to identifying the sources of its money. While the list is heavy with international business leaders and billionaires, some 12,000 donors gave $10 or less.

Twelve thousand small donors from a pool of 205,000 does not mitigate the impression given by this list.   That amounts to less than six percent of overall donors to his presidential library and charities.  The bulk of the money comes from powerful interests around the world, and the heavy Saudi and Indian financing could create problems in two hot spots for the Obama administration, especially the latter.

I’m comfortable with positioning ourselves as a friend of India, which has a much better record of democracy and of fighting terrorism than Pakistan.  The new Pakistani government represents a step in the right direction, though, and they may not appreciate dealing with someone with so many large financial ties to their bitter enemy to the south.  The incoming administration will have to deal with both governments to resolve the Kashmir dispute, which fuels terrorism and extremism in the region and has prompted Pakistan in the past to subsidize terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba.  Will Pakistan see Hillary as a disinterested refereee in that process now?  That seems highly doubtful.

Some of the major donors may raise eyebrows, either for questionable associations or just puzzlement.  For instance, the Swedish Postcode Lottery donated between $500K and $1 million to the foundation.  Why would they donate to the Clintons instead of charities closer to home?  The US Islamic World Conference donated $250-500K, as did the China Overseas Real Estate Development organization.  What made them so interested in the Clinton library?

Here’s another eyebrow-raiser:

Harold Snyder, director for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the largest drug company in Israel. His son, Jay T. Snyder, serves on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, which oversees State Department activities, and served as a senior U.S. adviser to the United Nations, where he worked on international trade and poverty.

That would be the same State Department which Hillary will run after confirmation as Secretary of State.  Is there a potential conflict there?  What kind of oversight does Snyder fils provide?

Michelle has more on other donors, and the question is pretty clear.  Can the US have a Secretary of State who has so many financial connections to foreign interests?  The Senate had better conduct a thorough debate on that topic.

Update: Uh-oh.  How long before the inevitable freak-out among the Left about this:

The Blackwater Training Center donated $10,001 to $25,000. The State Department will have to decide next year whether to renew Blackwater Worldwide’s contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq. Five Blackwater guards have been indicted by a U.S. grand jury on manslaughter and weapons charges stemming from a September 2007 firefight in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square in which 17 Iraqis died.

Pass the popcorn, please.

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