Wednesday, July 23, 2008




The Dark Side of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Amid debates over the 115-year-old Pendleton Act and whether it covers fund-raising phone calls from the White House, a more sinister money-in-politics issue continues to go unnoticed: the vast political influence-buying operation of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The Clinton administration appears no more interested in where Moon's mysterious millions originate than was the Reagan-Bush administrations which benefitted from Moon's largesse.

Our recent series, "Dark Side of Rev. Moon," documented how Moon's organization purchased influence through secret payments to key political figures, including former President George Bush and Religious Right leader Jerry Falwell. Moon also financed costly media outlets, such as The Washington Times. Moon has built this U.S. network even as he tells his followers that America is "Satan's harvest" and vows to subjugate the American people under a Korea-based theocracy.

The series also revealed that Moon's organization still engages in questionable financial practices. According to court records, the Moon organization has been laundering money and diverting funds to buy personal luxuries for Moon's family, including cocaine for Moon's son, Hyo Jin. The financial sleights-of-hand are reminiscent of offenses that led to Moon's conviction for tax evasion in 1982.

But since our series ran, more troubling facts about Moon's international political connections have been brought to our attention. Most disturbing, given Moon's free-spending ways, are his long-standing ties to ultra-rightists linked to Asian organized crime and to the Latin American drug trade. These associations -- and Moon's deepening business operations in South America -- underscore the need for the U.S. government to ascertain exactly how Moon is financing his U.S. political empire.

Moon's representatives refuse to detail publicly how they sustain their far-flung operations. But they angrily rebut recurring allegations about profiteering off illegal trafficking in weapons and drugs.

... there is the white house cowboys buddy ...


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# posted by intcoex : 10:55 AM




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