House of Clinton, House of Saud
Filed under: US Elections
The Washington Post reports that Bill Clinton's presidential library received $10 million of its $165 million cost from the royal family of Saudi Arabia, the same sum they gave to George Bush Sr. for his library, and that more than ten percent of the overall cost of the facility came from foreigners. The Post states that it "confirmed numerous seven-figure donors to the library through interviews and tax records of foundations. Several foreign governments gave at least $1 million, including the Middle Eastern nations of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the governments of Taiwan and Brunei. In addition, a handful of Middle Eastern business executives and officials also gave at least $1 million each, according to the interviews. They include Saudi businessmen Abdullah al-Dabbagh, Nasser al-Rashid and Walid Juffali, as well as Issam Fares, a U.S. citizen who previously served as deputy prime minister of Lebanon." Clinton still refuses to divulge a complete list of the donors, saying he promised them confidentiality.
Defending the donations, the library stated: "As president, he was beloved around the world, so it should come as no surprise that there has been an outpouring of financial support from around the world to sustain his post-presidential work."
Beloved around the world? Isn't that perhaps stretching things a bit? But it certainly could be true that foreigners who hate America loved to see it ruled by Slick Willy. After all, the man never got a majority of the popular vote, during his tenure his party lost control of the House of Representatives for the first time in half a century, and he faced impeachment proceedings. So the America-haters probably figure, if the Americans can't stand him, he must be great for us.
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