From the Army Times, January 17, 2008:
Charity draws fire for paying generals
Retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks was paid $100,000 — out of donations made to wounded veterans — for allowing his name to be used on fundraising appeals by a charity that has come under increasing scrutiny for the way it handles its money.
Franks “made several speeches for the organization because he supports the idea of taking care of our disabled veterans,” said retired Army Col. Michael Hayes, Franks’ chief of staff, in an e-mail response to questions.
Needless to say, the Charity ended up in front of a Congressional hearing.
Fireworks at Veteran Charities Hearing
Franks has since distanced himself from Chapin and his enterprises, Chapin acknowledged.
This is the man Mitt Romney has chosen to head up his group of retired Military Advisors.
Oh, Tommy Franks has also enjoyed being on Bank of America's Board of Directors.
Romney's New Military Advisor, Tommy Franks, on BoA Board of Directors and More
I'd say General Franks has been well compensated for his service.
In this Forbes article also published January, 2008 we learn that the "charity kept 75% of what it raked in!
Congress Grills Charity King, Chapin
The staff of committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., released documents saying that from 2004 to 2006, only 25% of the $168 million raised by the two charities ended up going to veterans, with the rest spent on direct-mail funding, administrative costs and "other expenses." Chapin insisted that the cut going to veterans was several times that.
Actually, Roger Chapin did admit:
....that one of his veterans charities reimbursed him $43,225 for a forfeited condo-purchase down payment, loaned $135,000 to help a longtime director finance a divorce settlement, and paid $17,000 a year for a country club membership.
But back to Tommy Franks. Most would agree that there is a window open for criticizing General Franks for charging $100,000 for speeches given to charities.
What might be even as interesting is that it appears that General Franks was on the Bank of America Board of Directors when BoA helped to finance the purchase to two (2) mercernary armies, most major US gun manufacturers, and bullet makers. You can read the details here:
Wall Street's Private Armies Owned by Private Equity Firms
Mitt Romney named Tommy Franks as head of his Military Advisors today.
Romney's New Military Advisor, Tommy Franks, is on the Bank of America Board of Directors and More
Bank of America helped to finance Dyncorp.
Cerberus to acquire DynCorp for $1 billion
(Reuters) - Cerberus Capital Management LP CBS.UL said on Monday that it would buy defense contractor DynCorp International Inc DCP.N for about $1 billion in cash in one of the biggest leveraged buyouts of a publicly traded U.S. company since the global financial crisis.
Cerberus said it would fund the deal with equity financing, as well as debt financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N), Citigroup Global Markets Inc (C.N), Barclays Bank PLC (BARC.L) and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc (DBKGn.DE).
Bank of America also financed the sale of Blackwater/Xe to a private equity firm, with the help of none other than Michael Chertoff, George Bush's head of the Orwellian named Homeland Security.
Xe Services, LLC Acquired by USTC Holdings, LLC
In short, Wall Street players own two mercenary armies.
But it gets even more interesting. Ceberus Private Equity Firm also owns many major gun manufacturers under its subsidiary Freedom Group Companies. They went on a buying spree after the 2008 election.
Cerberus Plans IPO for Freedom Group Companies (Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin, DPMS, H&R)
If you had purchased Ruger (RGR) or Smith & Wesson (SWHC) stock after the November election, you would have seen your investment grow almost three-fold. Ruger stock now trades at over $13.00 after hitting $4.52 last fall. If Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin and other Freedom Group companies “went public”, could they ride the coat-tails of Ruger and S&W, and succeed collectively as a publicly traded stock? Cerberus, a private holding company that controls the Freedom Group, apparently thinks so.
But wait, guns need bullets. Not a problem.
The Freedom Groups acquires Barnes Bullets.
"We welcome Randy and his team to the Freedom Group family," said Ted Torbeck, CEO of Freedom Group, Inc. "With the acquisition of Barnes; the Freedom Group continues to demonstrate our commitment to the ammunition business. Barnes offers a premium line of high performance bullets for the hunting and shooting communities, and for law enforcement, military and commercial consumers around the world.
Well, every mercenary needs handguns, too. Not a problem:
The Freedom Group Acquires Pistol-Maker Para-USA
Freedom Group Inc., owned by private holding company Cerberus Capital Management, has swallowed up another medium-sized gun manufacturer. This time the target (or victim, depending on your perspective), was Para USA, Inc., (Para). This is Freedom Group’s first acquisition of a pistol-only manufacturer.
Ceberus owns a mercenary army, gun, and bullet manufacturers. Freedom Group, Ceberus' subsidiary owns gun, and bullet manufacturers.
The Freedom Group hired Col. Otto Weigl (USMC, ret.) as Senior Vice President for Government Affairs. Col. Weigl came from DARPA.
Otto Weigl Named Senior VP of Government Affairs for Freedom Group
Prior to his work with FGI, Weigl spent four years at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where he provided a wide-range of technical oversight and tactical guidance to DARPA program managers. In this capacity he identified and developed new technologies to meet critical high value/top-line capabilities for both military and commercial markets. He also served as the Senior Military Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, managing the budget and daily operations of 400 policy desk officers and other Department of Defense employees.
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!
Oh, what is really rich is the RW underground media has been spreading the lie that George Soros is behind all this. What a joke, but the RWNJ's believe this lie.