A Good Look At "Spirit Of America"

[update: latest on ITM here]

It seems the only people on the right who are taking Ali Fadhil's accusations seriously are the people he has accused of incompetence and lies - Jim Hake's supposed charity, "Spirit of America". Today yet another page appears on their website trying to convince donors to keep sending money (SoA already posted two pages by way of explanation: here and here).

Ali accuses Hake's team of massive dishonesty, corruption and incompetence. He says that SoA's accomplishments are "so small and so lacking that they should be ashamed of mentioning them" - Hake, of course, takes care to mention every one of them in detail. And yet a good look at SoA's projects indicates that Ali's allegations are totally true: donors' money has been used for US war propaganda purposes and little else. But more of that later.

The main problem is, SoA has not even tried to address Ali's most serious allegations, which involve the strange behaviour of SoA CEO Jim Hake and his former "Director of Logistics and Procurement" Kerry Dupont. As Ali said,

"I'm not diappointed with SoA because I think they were stealing donors money... I'm disappointed because they lied to us, both Iraqis and Americans."

Ali details some of Dupont's "strange behaviour" ...

she told us that if Jim did not approve the budget they she has 300 000 $ that we could use to do what we want...

Mohammed seemed to recall her saying tht it was Kerry's personal money while I recall her saying it wasn't.

Three hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money to be throwing around, folks. And let's remember, this was happening while Paul Bremer was (supposedly) running Iraq and US$800 million was disappearing! Add two and two together and you would have to think that the money Dupont was offering came from those same taxpayer-funded coffers. But how the hell did Kerry Dupont get authorised to hand it out? Prior to her (extensive) involvement with Iraq The Model, Dupont was (as far as I can tell) just a plain old mother of two from Topsham, Maine. What happened on the way to Baghdad, Kerry?

Ali also indicates that Dupont behaved in this "strange" way on many other occasions. In particular, he says she warned the Fadhil brothers to stay away from US contractors in Iraq because they had links to the US military and were therefore dangerous:

"If they don't leave you, let me know and I'll contact the DoD and they will kick them away"!

Excuse me? Wasn't the whole idea for US contractors and ordinary Iraqis to work together to rebuild the country? As Ali says, his two brothers met with Bush in the White House - what could be more dangerous to a US-loving Iraqi's reputation than that?!?

That White House meeting with Bush is at the core of this whole issue. When Ali complained to Jim Hake about Dupont's behaviour, Hake said the news was "very, very disturbing." And yet instead of sacking Dupont and thanking Ali for his help, Hake dumped Ali from the trip (Ali says he decided not to go but it seems the decision was extremely mutual). So Kerry Dupont was right there with Jim Hake and Ali's two brothers, Omar and Mohammed Fadhil, when they met with George W. Bush and Paul Wolfowitz in the White House in October, 2004.

It gets wierder. After the trip, Hake kept contacting Ali, offering him "any position I wanted and any salary I would find suitable". Any salary, Jim? Again, where would Hake get unlimited funds like that? SoA was in damage control, but what did Ali know that was worth so much to Jim Hake?

Here's my conclusion:

Jim Hake set up Spirit of America as an opportunistic scam to grab all the cash and political opportunities he could get from Bush's mad Iraq free-for-all. The big meeting with Bush was set up through a network of friends leading to arch-neocon Paul Wolfowitz (a man who frequently directed reporters to the Fadhil's Iraq The Model blog, by the way). When Ali started asking difficult questions, Hake dumped him from the trip. Afterwards, when he found that he couldn't buy Ali off, he sacked Kerry Dupont.

Now let's take a closer look at the glossy projects featured on SoA's website. Like Ali said, it looks GREAT...!

Based on Ali's allegations, there are seven Spirit of America projects under discussion.

1-Production of radio and television Public Service Announcements by the Iraq Ministry of Women’s Affairs to encourage women to vote.

Ali's story and Jim's story are in direct conflict here. Ali says the secretary of the Women's ministry asked for $10,000 but Jim sent her to Ahmed Al Rikabi, who wanted to charge $30,000. Hake says the women wanted $50,000 and he talked them down to $35,000. Even then, he admits, half this money has gone missing!

Hake has also failed to properly explain his relationship with Ahmed Al Rikabi, the owner of Dijla Radio, which ran adverts for SoA's fledgling "Friends Of Democracy". Hake says SoA has "no ongoing relationship" with the "corrupt" (Ali's word) Mr Al Rikaby, yet he still "communicates with him periodically". Well, why are they still in communication, may we ask?

Jim also fails to even respond to this allegation from Ali:

"Jim told one of my friends to arrange for an Ad. on DIjla Radio. My friend contacted the radio by mail and told them that he was contacting them on behalf of their American friends in SoA. They told him they will manufacture the Ad. for 200$/ minute. My friend who is a businessman by nature called them on the phone and asked the same request but he did not say who he was. They responded saying they will do the Ad. for him for 100$/minute! My friend did the ad with the lower price but also told Jim about the incident."

As with the Dupont incident, it seems, Jim's response was to ignore the problem. Hard to argue with Ali's conclusion:

"It didn't matter to him what those people think or how they used American money. All that mattered that they would look good to Americans."

2-Securing the rights to and subtitling in Arabic documentaries about elections in post-dictatorship countries for broadcast in Iraq.

Hake says SoA spent $2,800 researching this only to conclude that it was not possible. That's $2,800 wasted. And why was the SoA website not updated when the project was canned?

3-Providing $1,000 microgrants to 150 Iraqi women community leaders identified by the Iraqi Women’s Educational Institute.

Hake says this was scaled back from 150 women to only 25 women because of a lack of funds. Yet the funds are still sitting idle (it seems) because SoA is waiting for the Institute to request them! So much for proactive assistance to Iraqis! And once again, why was the SoA website not updated when the project was scaled down?

4-Production and broadcast of citizen roundtables and townhall meetings.

Again, scaled back with no explanation or website update. As Ali says:

"My friends were simply left no time to do anything other than present news to American audience after translating them on the "Friends of Democracy" website and they were even told to "leave it for the time being and focus on the news" (Because it brings more money and publicity I think)."

What I don't understand is that these Iraqi "friends" of Ali's all seem to be volunteers, and he claims his brothers are also volunteers. So who are the people SoA is actually paying for this kind of work ("staff, operations, etc")?

5-Support for Iraqi intellectuals who wish to publish and create public dialog on constitutionalism and the new Iraqi constitution.

Hake confirms Ali's analysis:

"Nothing was done on this project and it's completely forgotten also."

6-Creation and hosting of an Arabic blogging tool.

This appears to be SoA's one and only real accomplishment. But wait a minute - what is it, actually?

Iraqis lack medicines and fresh water, their children are dying of malnutrition, and Hake is giving them what? A blogging tool, so they can tell the world all the good news about Bush's Iraq! Even if they did have a computer and some literacy skills, many Iraqis wouldn't even have the electricity to write a blog! And if they really did want to write a blog in Arabic, why not use some other software?

Well, now, here's the thing: Hake's team control the servers on which these "Arabic blogging tool" blogs are written. And they monitor the content to ensure that only US-friendly content is being produced. Both Hake and the Fadhils have confirmed this in previous comments. In other words, this blogging tool is really a US propaganda tool, pure and simple.

And of course, like the war itself, it's still suffering "technical difficulties"!

7- Support of a network of pro-democracy student groups and community organizations called “Friends of Democracy” ...

Hake says the vast bulk of SoA's expended funds - US$123,710 - were spent on this and the organization "was given considerable discretion to use the funds". He says "part of" that money was spent on Internet access and computers, as well as lectures and training. Once again, remember, this is all so that grateful Iraqis can get on the Internet and sing Bush's praises.

Let's look at some of Spirit of America's other projects: buying polaroid cameras for US soldiers so they can take pics of good news incidents, supporting "pro-democracy" demonstrators in Beirut (but not Uzbequistan, of course), improving the morale of Coalition Troops at Fort Tal Afar... Even seemingly worthwhile projects, like providing schoolbooks (whose version of history?) and promoting women's rights, seem to have a pro-US ideological edge to them.

Given all of the above, one can only conclude that Jim Hake's Spirit of America is not only an unbelievably incompetent organisation, it is also far more of a Bush propaganda tool than anything that could remotely be called a "charity". As Ali suggests, the real aim of "Spirit of America" seems to be a means of furthering the US neocon agenda and promoting Jim Hake's own personal political ambitions.

UPDATE: Ali has now posted another long list of further evidence and questions for Jim Hake to answer. He includes a link to another Iraqi blogger, Fayrouz, who also has gripes with Hake's organization. And the comments section includes this from Jeffrey - New York:

Here's the overview from the "financials" file:

>Summary through December 31st, 2004

>Total Donations: $6,895,508
>Admin Expenses: $ 423,858
>Program Expenses: $4,576,176
>Total Expenses: $5,000,034
>Admin Exp as % of Donations: 6.1%
>Admin Exp as % of Total Expenses: >8.5%
># Donations: 17,077 (a/o Feb. 21, 2005)

Have any of you taken a close look at the "financials" file? I have.

I'm sorry, people, but Ali is right. This is a scam. Over 7 MILLION dollars have been donated to SoA and what do they have to show for it? Lots of money spent on salaries, furniture, office equipment, and travel expenses and on and on. Hey, Jim, I thought 100% of the donations were going directly to the Iraqi people?

UPDATE 2: Hake has posted yet another page to explain what happened to that $500,000 Ali asked about. Problem is, he really hasn't explained it in terms of real projects. I'm assuming most of it went on "administration". And Hake also explains why he walked away from "Friends of Democracy" - it was too dangerous, it was totally unneccessary, and nobody was interested anyway. Funny, that's not how it sounded on their website, is it?

Who's Watching Gandhi?

We live in interesting times. Lately I have been getting a lot more hits on my stories about Jim Hake and his bogus US "charity", Spirit of America (SoA website here).

I have also had some emails about a group called Performance Systems International, who regularly ping this and other blogs. The IP Address they use is 199.29.132.#, which belongs to the Kaman Corporation.

And guess who serves, or has served, on the board of the Kaman Corporation? Caryle Group chairman Frank Charles Carlucci III. Frikkin' hell!

The latest hits have prompted me to go back and take another look at my SoA posts. For example, this:

The main problem is, SoA has not even tried to address Ali's most serious allegations, which involve the strange behaviour of SoA CEO Jim Hake and his former "Director of Logistics and Procurement" Kerry Dupont. As Ali said,

"I'm not diappointed with SoA because I think they were stealing donors money... I'm disappointed because they lied to us, both Iraqis and Americans."

Ali details some of Dupont's "strange behaviour" ...

she told us that if Jim did not approve the budget they she has 300 000 $ that we could use to do what we want...

Mohammed seemed to recall her saying tht it was Kerry's personal money while I recall her saying it wasn't.

Three hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money to be throwing around, folks. And let's remember, this was happening while Paul Bremer was (supposedly) running Iraq and US$800 million was disappearing! Add two and two together and you would have to think that the money Dupont was offering came from those same taxpayer-funded coffers. But how the hell did Kerry Dupont get authorised to hand it out? Prior to her (extensive) involvement with Iraq The Model, Dupont was (as far as I can tell) just a plain old mother of two from Topsham, Maine. What happened on the way to Baghdad, Kerry?

Ali also indicates that Dupont behaved in this "strange" way on many other occasions. In particular, he says she warned the Fadhil brothers to stay away from US contractors in Iraq because they had links to the US military and were therefore dangerous:

"If they don't leave you, let me know and I'll contact the DoD and they will kick them away"!

Excuse me?

Given what we now know about how the US government was throwing cash around in Baghdad, and US PsyOps including fake newspaper stories, Dupont's behaviour is even more intriguing.

When Ali complained to Jim Hake about Dupont's behaviour, Hake said the news was "very, very disturbing." And yet instead of sacking Dupont and thanking Ali for his help, Hake dumped Ali from the trip (Ali says he decided not to go but it seems the decision was extremely mutual). So Kerry Dupont was right there with Jim Hake and Ali's two brothers, Omar and Mohammed Fadhil, when they met with George W. Bush and Paul Wolfowitz in the White House in October, 2004.

It gets wierder. After the trip, Hake kept contacting Ali, offering him "any position I wanted and any salary I would find suitable". Any salary, Jim? Again, where would Hake get unlimited funds like that? SoA was in damage control, but what did Ali know that was worth so much to Jim Hake?

Here's my conclusion:

Jim Hake set up Spirit of America as an opportunistic scam to grab all the cash and political opportunities he could get from Bush's mad Iraq free-for-all. The big meeting with Bush was set up through a network of friends leading to arch-neocon Paul Wolfowitz (a man who frequently directed reporters to the Fadhil's Iraq The Model blog, by the way). When Ali started asking difficult questions, Hake dumped him from the trip. Afterwards, when he found that he couldn't buy Ali off, he sacked Kerry Dupont.

In retrospect, maybe that conclusion was even less of a Conspiracy Theory than it sounded.

Ali Fadhil's old blog site (which at one stage was full of porn) is now German-based and has only one small entry, dated 16 Jan 2007, titled "I'am Free!" and a number of links to German online clothing retailers. There are only three comments, two of which are porn links. Should we assume he has escaped to Germany? How does that tie in with my old allegations that Omar Fadhil might actually be a German radio personality? Interestingly, I am also getting hits on "Jim Hake" from Kabel Deutschland Breitband Service GmbH (88.134.226.#), which sounds like a German ISP.

SoA's web pages seem pretty inactive. But according to a month-old Wall Street Journal story, Hake's SoA "charity" is now a "civilian troop-support group":

Since arriving in Iraq last year, Maj. West had worked with Spirit of America (SoA), the civilian troop-support group founded by Jim Hake. In early December, SoA's project director, Michele Redmond, asked Maj. West if there was any out-of-the-ordinary project they could help him with. And Maj. West said, Why yes, there is. He described to them the basic concept for a mobile, handheld fingerprinting device which Iraqi soldiers would use to assemble an insurgent database. Mr. Hake said his organization would contribute $30,000 to build a prototype and get it to Khalidiya. In New York, Goldman Sachs contributed $14,000 to the project.

Hake's SignalOne Media web page is down, and there's no more stories on it via Google, so I guess that little venture didn't last too long.

Meanwhile, Ali's brothers at Iraq The Model continue doing their bit to champion the latest US propaganda efforts:

It’s still not decided who is going to be the leader in the new bloc, and none of the leading figures involved has talked about this yet. However I suspect that this position will be filled by Allawi who, although his group has only 25 out of the 69 seats, was the one who came up with the idea in the first place, and his charisma, history in leadership and his nonsectarian attitude qualify him over the others.

That's Iyad Allawi, former CIA asset and #1 pick for US puppet in Baghdad, a man who tried to destabilize Hussein by planting bombs that killed innocent Iraqi civilians, a man who personally shot six Iraqi prisoners dead as an example to police recruits, a man whose Iraqi National Accord party was roundly rejected by the Iraqi people during the January 2005 Iraqi election. That's the man who the Fadhil brothers and the desperate Bush administration now sees as the logical puppet to replace al-Maliki.

Finally, for anyone who has followed this whole story since back in the day, some sad news: the inspirational Elendil has had to take an extended break from blogging. This shit takes it's toll, folks.

The Tangled Web at "Spirit of America"

Founder/CEO Jim Hake has updated the FINANCIALS page at SoA with this news:

Spirit of America was granted non-profit 501(c)(3) status by the IRS on November 22, 2004. Our Federal Tax ID is 20-1687786. Before receiving our own 501c3 status we operated under the auspices of Cyber Century Forum, a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.

Hake provides this letter from the IRS as proof of his independent status. In fact, Hake has totally revamped the FINANCIALS section, including tax returns for CCF going back to 1998 - talk about getting a response!

NOTE: Hake says the Schlumberger and Transocean stocks were an investment by Cyber Century Forum, rather than financial backing as I called it previously (I'm an Australian and I don't know how to read a US tax return - so sue me!). But with regards to operations in Iraq today, investment in the US oil industry by a supposed charity is just as questionable as financial backing by them.

At first sight, this seems to prove Hake's claim that his SoA group has no links with the US oil industry. But if that's the case, then, like the Fadhil brothers, Hake appears to have been used by people with a hidden agenda. Unlike Ali at ITM, however, he doesn't seem to have a problem with this.

The CCF tax returns show the investment in Schlumberger going back to at least 1998. Did Hake know about this investment when SoA was set up? If not, why not? When I started checking over SoA and CCF the other day, it took me only an hour to find it. Has SoA received oil money or not (Hake remains ambiguous on that)? Has Hake met with oil execs? What does he know about CCF's relationship to the oil industry?

Why is CCF investing money in US oil anyway? Just a bloody coincidence? Who ARE these people? Their website indicates they are just well-connected talking heads, flitting from one executive dinner to another. Their principal PRODUCT seems to be a book on Middle Eastern countries which - if I remember correctly - was widely lambasted as "US revisionist history for the ME" when it first came out. And if I remember correctly, this book was also strongly promoted - like Iraq The Model - by none other than arch neo-conservative Paul Wolfowitz.

Looks like I have some more googling to do...

Meanwhile, this Press Release from iUpload has more details of the planned Arabic blogging tool to be released by Spirit of America. SoA will be hosting the service, so they will be able to minitor and censor all material posted on these blogs.

Jim Hake: Lest We Forget

Da bomb from zoominfo:

Jim D. Hake Sr. This is me
Founder

SPIRIT OF AMERICA
United States



This summary was automatically generated using 132 references found on the Internet. How did ZoomInfo get this information?

Other Titles:
then-Iowa Governor

Employment History:
then-Iowa Governor, SPIRIT OF AMERICA
Founding Partner and President, Access Media Inc.
Founder, Access Media Inc.
Position, Technology Working Group, Education Commission of the States
Member, Technology Working Group, Education Commission of the States
then-Iowa Governor, Education Commission of the States
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SignalOne Media Corp
Chairman, Global Information Infrastructure Awards
Founder, Global Information Infrastructure Awards
President, Friends of Arjay Miller - Stanford Business School
Position, Software , Marketing and Media, PersistX Inc
Founder, PersistX Inc
Ziff Davis
Founder, The BigButtons Corporation
Chief Executive Officer, The BigButtons Corporation
Marketing Executive, Rational Software
Marketing Manager, Rational Software
Founder and Chairman, The Standard for Internet Commerce

Board Membership and Affiliations:
Chairman, Technology Empowerment Network
Advisor On the Use (past), America's Future

Education:
Bachelor of Arts
Economics, Dartmouth College
MBA, Stanford University Graduate School of Business

Web References:

www.spiritofamerica.net
www.spiritofamerica.net/site/who/jimhake
Published on: 9/7/2004 Last Visited: 8/14/2005

Jim Hake Founder & Chairman, Spirit of America
...
Jim Hake

Founder & Chairman, Spirit of America

Jim is the founder of the Spirit of America. Spirit of America's mission is to extend the goodwill of the American people to assist those advancing freedom, democracy and peace abroad. Jim is also a co-founder and CEO of SignalOne Media - a business established to invest in and create independent, commercial media enterprises (television, radio, Internet) in emerging democracies.

In response to Spirit of America's support of the 1st Marine Division, Major General James Mattis said, "The initiative and focused support provided by you and Spirit of America are beyond anything we have experienced. In an imperfect world with our Sailors and Marines going in harm's way, your gifts will reduce adversarial relationships and bridge cultural gaps. You have significantly impacted our ability to do good and, I fervently hope, reduce the potential for combat. Please accept my thanks for your selfless commitment to bringing peace to Iraq."

The Wall Street Journal says, "Jim Hake and the Marines are a coalition of the can-do." The Journal adds, "Jim Hake's organizational insight is to deploy the best practices of the modern U.S. economy - efficiency and speed" and "his operation in Los Angeles is wholly New Economy." The Los Angeles Times notes that, "Jim draws on a fundamental faith that his country is trying hard to be all that it aspires to."

Prior to Spirit of America, Jim was a technology and media industry entrepreneur and executive. In 2000 and 2001, he was recognized as a "Technology Pioneer" by the World Economic Forum at its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Jim was a founding partner and president of Access Media Inc. - an information and media company serving the information technology industry. At Access Media, Jim started the company's GII (Global Information Infrastructure) business unit. GII created some of the industry's first Internet-focused media programs. Jim sold Access Media's GII unit to SOFTBANK, the world's biggest investor in the Internet at the time. GII became a business unit of Ziff Davis - another SOFTBANK company - and Jim served at Ziff Davis as GII's chairman.

His efforts to advance the Internet were acknowledged by public and private sector leaders. Vice President Al Gore said Jim's work was "important to our country's future." Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich said Jim's work offered "a model for how important national objectives can be achieved by committed private sector interests working with the public sector in mind."

Among his public sector activities, Jim participated in the historic Presidents' Summit for America's Future where he served as an advisor on the use of the Internet and led a session on the Role of Technology for the Summit's delegates. Jim received from General Colin Powell the America's Promise "Red Wagon" in acknowledgment of his contribution to America's children. He served on the Technology Working Group of the Education Commission of the States formed by then-Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. Jim founded and served as the first president of the Friends of Arjay Miller (FOAM) - Stanford Business School's most long-lived student social institution.

Jim received a BA and graduated with distinction in Economics from Dartmouth College. He earned an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He lives with his family in Los Angeles, California.


DC Indymedia: Faking the "Case" Against Syria
dc.indymedia.org/mod/otherpress/display/3643/index.php
Published on: 11/18/2005 Last Visited: 11/19/2005

Spirit of America also spawned a plethora of revolution bloggers, foremost among them Tech Central Station columnist Michael Totten whose boss was Spirit of America's founder Jim Hake.


PersistX Board and Advisors
www.persistx.com/company/board.htm
Published on: 8/13/2003 Last Visited: 8/13/2003

Jim Hake Founder, CEO & Chairman, PersistX, Inc. Jim brings a strong background in software, marketing and media to PersistX. Prior to founding PersistX, Jim was the founder and chairman of GII (www.gii.com) - an executive information and media business of Ziff Davis. Under his leadership, GII served as a leading forum for defining, recognizing and promoting new models and best practices in the use of the Internet. Also at Ziff Davis, Jim was the Founder and Chairman of The Standard for Internet Commerce - a global blueprint of merchant practices and policies that increase online customer satisfaction, confidence, trust and security. Hundreds of Internet and business leaders worldwide were involved in its development.

Prior to Ziff-Davis, Jim was a founding partner and president of Access Media Inc. - an information and media company -- where he engineered the acquisition of GII by SOFTBANK, one of the world's most prominent Internet investors. GII later became a business unit of Ziff Davis. Prior to founding Access Media, Jim was a marketing executive at Rational Software (NASDAQ: RATL).

Jim was recognized in 2000 and 2001 as a Technology Pioneer by the prestigious World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He serves as Chairman of the Technology Empowerment Network (TEN) www.techempower.net and is the founder and first President of the Friends of Arjay Miller - Stanford Business School's longest-lived social institution.

Jim holds a degree in Economics and Latin American Studies from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.


Englishtown - Talk to the world
netease.englishtown.com/master/welcome/company/pressrel...
Published on: 2/28/2001 Last Visited: 2/28/2001

The GII Awards honor people in all areas of society and industry who use the Internet to create extraordinary results , from making money to making a difference , said James Hake , founder of the GII Awards and the Council for Internet Commerce. The GII Awards are the world's leading forum to define , recognize , and promote best practices and new models in the application of Internet and network technology."The Fourth Annual GII Awards recognize achievement in 10 categories central to the way people live , work and play : Arts & Culture ; Children ; Commerce ; Community ; Education ; Entertainment ; Government ; Health ; Netpreneur ; and News & Media.


BigButtons - Information Center
www.bigbuttons.com/hakebio.html
Published on: 2/12/2001 Last Visited: 2/12/2001

Jim Hake BigButtons - Information Center

Big Buttons logo About Us Demo Site

...
Jim Hake Founder and CEO BigButtons

jim@bigbuttons.com

Prior to founding BigButtons, Jim was the founder and chairman of GII (www.gii.com) - an executive information business unit of Ziff Davis that advanced the successful application of Internet technology in business, governmentand education. Under his leadership, GII served as a leading forum for defining, recognizing and promoting new models and best practices in the use of the Internet.

GII programs included the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Awards which recognize those who are using the Internet to create extraordinary results. USA Today calls the GII Awards a cross between the Oscars and Baldrige Awards of the Internet. Jim was also the Founder and Chairman of The Standard for Internet Commerce - a global blueprint of merchant practices and policies that increase online customer satisfaction, confidence, trust and security. The goal of The Commerce Standard was to accelerate the growth of global Internet commerce. Hundreds of Internet and business leaders worldwide were involved in its development.

Prior to Ziff-Davis, Jim was a founding partner of Access Media Inc., an information and media company, where he engineered the acquisition of GII by SOFTBANK, one of the world's most prominent Internet investors. GII became a business unit of Ziff-Davis (NYSE : ZD).

At Access Media, Jim led the creation of integrated education and marketing campaigns that included production of print, video and online content. The campaigns, sponsored by leading industry vendors, educated and expanded the market for advanced information technologies and Internet applications. Prior to founding Access Media, Jim was at Rational Software (NASDAQ : RATL) where he was responsible for the launch of the company's first hardware, software and networking products.

Jim is a member of the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneer community and is Chairman of the Technology Empowerment Network (TEN).

Jim is a regular speaker on the Internet and electronic commerce and is on the advisory board of the Ziff-Davis Internet Inc. conference series. In September 1999 he participated in the Global Business Dialog on electronic commerce (GBDe), a worldwide summit of business and government leaders.

Among his public sector activities, Jim was invited by General Colin Powell to participate in the historic Presidents' Summit for America's Future where he served as an advisor on the use of the Internet. General Powell awarded Jim with the America's Promise Red Wagon for his contribution to the betterment of America's children. Jim is the founder and former president of the Friends of Arjay Miller - Stanford Business School's most long-lived student social institution.

Jim holds a degree in Economics and Latin American Studies from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and two sons.

The BigButtons Corporation 15200 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 213 Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 info@bigbuttons.com


Brief Greenstar Biographies Bios
www.greenstar.org/bios.htm
Published on: 7/26/2000 Last Visited: 8/16/2005

biographies of key Greenstar executives and Ambassadors. | Michael North | Charles Gay | Jonathan Lash | Peter McKenzie | Larry Seaquist | Jock Gill | Janet Poley | Edward C. Kern, Jr | Grey Burkhar | Michael McDonald | R.K. Pachauri | Khalid Moidu | Tony Rutkowksi | David Reed | Stephen Wheeler | Mark Irion | David Aylward | Jim Hake | Fuad Abulfotuh | Chuck Chamberlain | Mary Buffett | Peter Varadi | Krishan Lal Chugh | Ernest Wilson | Bill Yerkes | P.R. Rajeswari, | David Braun | Osei Darkwa | Walt Ratterman
...
James Hake

jim@persistx.com

Jim is the founder and former chairman of Global Information Infrastructure (GII) -- an executive information and education business that advances the successful application of Internet technology in business, government and education.
...
Jim led the initial development of "The Standard for Internet Commerce" -- a non-technical standard that will specify the capabilities and best practices that any business or organization must implement to provide higher levels of customer satisfaction, privacy and security.

Prior to GII, Jim was a founding partner of Access Media Inc. -- an information and media company -- where he engineered the acquisition of GII by SOFTBANK, the world's largest technology-related education and content company. GII is now a business unit of Ziff-Davis (NYSE: ZD).

Among his public sector activities, Jim was invited by General Colin Powell to participate in the historic Presidents' Summit for America's Future where he served as an advisor on the use of the Internet and led a session on the Role of Technology for the Summit's delegates. Jim received from General Powell the America's Promise "red wagon" in acknowledgment of his contribution to the betterment of America's children.
...
Jim also served on American Canvas, created by National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Alexander to ensure a legacy for the arts in America.
...
Today, Jim is the CEO of Bigbuttons.com, an influential new ecommerce company.


TEN - Master Site - Profile
www.techempower.net/0/show_profile.asp?aff_id=0&id=jame...
Last Visited: 10/11/2005

Jim Hake CEO SignalOne Media Corp
...
Jim is the Chief Executive Officer of SignalOne Media. SignalOne was founded to create and invest in local, independent media enterprises in emerging democracies. The business is focused on radio, television and Internet opportunities in the Middle East and central Asia.

Jim is also the founder of the Spirit of America - a nonprofit organization that extends the goodwill of the American people to those advancing freedom and democracy abroad.
...
Prior to Spirit of America, Jim was a technology and media industry entrepreneur and executive. In 2000 and 2001, he was recognized as a "Technology Pioneer" by the World Economic Forum at its annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland.

Jim was a founding partner and president of Access Media Inc. - an integrated media company serving the information technology industry. At Access Media Jim started the company's GII (Global Information Infrastructure) business unit and created the industry's first Internet-focused media programs. Jim sold Access Media's GII unit to SOFTBANK in 1997, the world's biggest investor in the Internet at the time. GII subsequently became a business unit of Ziff Davis - another SOFTBANK company - and Jim was employed at Ziff Davis as GII's chairman from 1997 to 1999.

Before founding Access Media, Jim was a Marketing Manager at Rational Software where, beginning as the company's first marketing employee, he was responsible for the launch of the company's first hardware and software products. Rational became a publicly traded company was later acquired by IBM.

Among his public sector activities, Jim participated in the historic Presidents' Summit for America's Future where he served as an advisor on the use of the Internet and led a session on the Role of Technology for the Summit's delegates.

Jim received a BA and graduated with distinction in Economics from Dartmouth College in 1979. He earned an MBA in 1983 from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and two children.

More here.

Iraq The Neo-Con Model

The New York Sun has a story on the ITM affair that includes these quotes from Spirit of America head Jim Hake:

"Mr. Hake said yesterday that he thought there was a mutual agreement that it was best for Ali not to come because he is running for election to the Iraqi National Assembly.

'All of us thought because he's doing that, there could be a perceived conflict and it would be better to not make the trip,' Mr. Hake said. 'He may well see that as a disinvitation.... It certainly wasn't intended as a slap in the face.'

Mr. Hake described as 'absurd' the suggestion that the Iraqis are fronts for the CIA. 'The CIA stuff would be really funny if it doesn't actually put them at risk in their country,' he said."

Yeah, meeting Bush and Wolfowitz in the White House is perfectly safe, spouting pro-US propaganda for years is safe, but being accused of working with the CIA on a blog is deadly, hunh? That is the sort of stupid remark that just makes one even more suspiscious of people like Jim Hake and the Fadhil brothers.

Worse yet is this sort of manufactured crap:

A screenwriter and blogger who had a dinner party for the visiting brothers in Los Angeles last week, Roger L. Simon, said he was "shocked" by Ali's parting message and the flurry of allegations directed at the brothers.

Mr. Simon accused the Fadhils' critics of assuming that any Iraqi who supports American forces is a CIA stooge. "There's one word for that kind of view: racist. That's saying an Arab can't think a certain way," Mr. Simon said.

One wonders what has got the right-wingers so heated up about all this, if there is really nothing to it?

See below for more on this, including background.

Spirit of America Launches Defence, Ali Quits ITM

Today, Jim Hake at Spirit of America launched a defence of SoA's finances, with this new page on their website. The text includes the following response to my criticisms (see below):

Our relationship with Cyber Century Forum
Cyber Century Forum, a nonprofit organization, provided the nonprofit, 501c3 status we needed to get Spirit of America off the ground. This allowed us to immediately begin operations without the expense and delay of forming a new, independent nonprofit. From August 2003 through November 2004 we operated as an independent project under the auspices of Cyber Century Forum. Spirit of America kept separate accounting and separate bank accounts. Our finances were never mingled except that for Federal tax reporting purposes in 2003, Cyber Century Forum reported our combined finances. Since Spirit of America was not, at the time, an independent entity, we did not file separate tax returns. We never received direct financial support (i.e., money) from CCF although CCF did provide some administrative services and did the accounting work in filing the combined 2003 tax return. You can find Cyber Century Forum’s tax returns from 1998 to 2003 at the bottom of this page.

"Oil Money"
Cyber Century Forum’s 2003 tax return notes a $109k investment in Schlumberger. CCF has held 2,000 shares of Schlumberger as an investment since 1998. Some have interpreted an investment made in 1998 by Cyber Century Forum as evidence that we are under the control of “Big Oil” in 2004. That is as silly as it sounds. Spirit of America was not involved with CCF in 1998, which pre-dates our existence by five years, and we don’t know why CCF invested in Schlumberger at that time. Nonetheless, Spirit of America would accept donations by oil and oil service companies, if they were offered. We would use such donations to fund Spirit of America projects.

We "would" accept? Does that mean donations have been received, or not? Hake goes on to say that he personally has received no government money, has no partisan political affiliations, etc.

So is Jim Hake just an innocent do-gooder whose operation JUST HAPPENS TO HAVE BEEN FINANCED BY THE US OIL INDUSTRY? Did he know about the Schlumberger and Transocean funding when his SoA project got started? Did start-up meetings include oil execs? These questions are just for starters...

It seems possible that Hake's SoA COULD have been set up by the far shadier folk at Cyber Century Forum. It was pretty naive to post that Tax Return PDF on the SofA website, for starters. There are a lot of questions that Hake, if he is sincere, should now be asking his financial backers at CCF.

Meanwhile, Ali at Iraq The Model has just quit the blog with no explanation except the following cryptic message:

This is the last time I write in this blog and I just want to say, goodbye. It's not an easy thing to do for me, but I know I should do it. I haven't told my brothers with my decision, as they are not here yet, but it won't change anything and I just can't keep doing this anymore.
My stand regarding America has never changed. I still love America and feel grateful to all those who helped us get our freedom and are still helping us establishing democracy in our country. But it's the act of some Americans that made me feel I'm on the wrong side here. I will expose these people in public very soon and I won't lack the mean to do this, but I won't do it here as this is not my blog.
At any rate, it's been a great experience and a pleasure to know all the regular readers of this blog, as I do feel I know you, and I owe you a lot.
Best wishes to all of you, those who supported us and those who criticized us as well.

My reading of the situation is that Ali - who has always been the most hot-headed (or should I say passionate?) of the three brothers - has probably rubbed up the wrong way against their US covert contacts. Hence he was not invited to visit the USA with the other brothers, and hence his decision to quit the blog. Let's see how his much-feted brothers respond.

Stay tuned.

Bush Cites Fadhils For Proof Of "Success" In Iraq!

[see below for updates]

When the President of the United States of America is reduced to quoting propaganda nonsense fabricated by his own neocon supporters, that's pathetic.

When he does so specifically in order to justify failed policies which continue to see dozens, if not hundreds, dead every day in Iraq, that's worse than tragic. It's criminal.

Here's what President Bush just said today:

The missions I described are only the opening salvos in what is going to be a sustained effort. Yet, the Iraqi people are beginning to say -- see positive changes. I want to share with you how two Iraqi bloggers -- they have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we've got here -- (laughter) -- "Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores that were long shuttered are now reopening. We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to see this effort succeed. We hope the governments in Baghdad and America do not lose their resolve."

That's a direct quote from the Fadhil brothers' Wall Street Journal piece I just linked to five minutes ago. Bush is really scraping the bottom of the propaganda barrel here, folks.

Where do I start? Let's hope Bush's remarks shine some long-overdue light on the neocons' favourite fantasists.

For anyone not familiar with the story, which is a long-running saga on this blog, Omar and Mohammed Fadhil run a blog called Iraq The Model (ITM). They have a brother named Ali Fadhil who angrily departed the blog under very odd circumstances just before the 2004 US election, when Omar and Mohammed went to Washington to meet with Bush and Wolfowitz in the Oval Office. The White House meeting was organized by a bogus US "charity" called Spirit of America (SoA), whose CEO Jim Hake was also present.

Ali Fadhil alleged that the SoA staff were using the Fadhil brothers for propaganda purposes. He said that SoA CEO Jim Hake and his former "Director of Logistics and Procurement" Kerry Dupont were "stealing donors money" and lying to both Iraqis and Americans. He said Dupont offered the brothers $300,000 "that we could use to do what we want".

Mohammed seemed to recall her saying tht it was Kerry's personal money while I recall her saying it wasn't.

As I have said previously:

Three hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money to be throwing around, folks. And let's remember, this was happening while Paul Bremer was (supposedly) running Iraq and US$800 million was disappearing! Add two and two together and you would have to think that the money Dupont was offering came from those same taxpayer-funded coffers. But how the hell did Kerry Dupont get authorised to hand it out? Prior to her (extensive) involvement with Iraq The Model, Dupont was (as far as I can tell) just a plain old mother of two from Topsham, Maine. What happened on the way to Baghdad, Kerry?

When Ali complained to Jim Hake about Dupont's behaviour, Hake dumped him from the trip to the USA. Afterwards he promised Ali "any position I wanted and any salary I would find suitable". Instead of taking the offer, Ali went public with a barrage of blog posts exposing SoA projects where he claimed money had gone missing and SoA's claimed goals had proved illusory. Then suddenly - after discussions with his two brothers - Ali deleted his blog posts, aplogized for causing any trouble, and refused to discuss his allegations any further.

Ali maintained a blog of his own for a while, but the URL later pointed to a porn site and now suggests that Ali may be living in "freedom" in Germany. His brothers quickly removed Ali's blog link from their Iraq The Model site and no longer even mention his name.

That's just the start of it! When you look at the people who were behind setting up Iraq The Model and Spirit of America, a whole new ball game opens up.

Spirit of America was originally set up and supported by Cyber Century Forum (CCF), a group dedicated to spreading US influence worldwide, with a particular emphasis on covert cyber-intelligence measures. Cyber Century Forum’s three ageing members are old guard warhorses from the Cold War days. And they used oil company finances to set up Spirit Of America:

Cyber Century Forum's tax return for 2003 shows that it holds $109,440 in corporate stocks from Schlumberger Ltd, "the leading oilfield services technology company supplying technology, project management and information solutions to the oil and gas industries". It also holds a further US$9,292 in stocks from Transocean Sedco Forex, the world's largest offshore drilling company. Now isn't that a big surprise? "Freedom and Democracy for Iraq", sponsored by the US oil and gas industry.

There is even more if you want to keep digging. For example, two of the three members of Cyber Century Forum are also members of a top-level think-tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which is also dedidicated to spreading US influence.

And Spirit of America is a client of Direct Impact, a "grassroots marketing" organisation, whose marketing involves creating a "Buzz" by getting seemingly ordinary people (or better yet, influential people) to promote a product by word-of-mouth. Online promoters include people like Jeff Jarvis, who also helped set up Iraq The Model.

And Jim Hake went on to set up a media company called SignalOne media with people like Ahmad al-Rikaby (from Baghdad's own Radio Dijla and formerly U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe) and former US Ambassador and Kissinger speech-writer Mark Palmer (a member of the Committee for Present Danger).

I am not suggesting that Bush is familiar with this whole ITM/SoA story, but the fact that he is reduced to quoting such blatant propagandists just goes to show how desperate he now is.

For more information, use the search box in the top left of this blog, or check out feedback from other (genuine) Iraqi bloggers like Iraqi Konfused Kid. Any comments are welcome.

UPDATE: Jeebus! I posted this at TPM Cafe ten minutes ago and I am already getting hits from the US military's Directorate of Automation Services! Let's hope I make it home tonight!

UPDATE 2: Reuters picks up the story and the SMH runs with it. Well done! Even better, the article suggests that Reuters staff have questioned the Bush White House about their source:

In a speech, Bush did not identify them, but the White House said he was referring to an opinion article published March 5 in the Wall Street Journal by the two bloggers, Omar and Mohammed Fadhil.

UPDATE 3: RawStory is also on the case:

During his speech, Bush also quoted from an editorial written by bloggers from Iraq the Model published in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago to argue that his "surge" or escalation plan has already been successful.

UPDATE 4: JuliaAnn at Kos has picked up the story, but the "kids" in the comments are running all over the place with it (points for enthusiasm). Someone has the good sense to link to this post but it's obvious others have not followed the links. FYI, Kos folks: the Texas-based blog registration address for ITM has previously been explained as a result of US-based bloggers like Jarvis and the decidedly dodgy Tom Villars very thoughtfully "helping" to get the blog started.

And meanwhile there seems to have been a "surge" in propaganda from the Fadhils. An editorial in Investors Business Daily cited their upbeat blog on March 14th. A week later, Omar Fadhil was spreading even more "good news" for the Christian views section of World Magazine:

Is the change in U.S. military strategy evident on the streets of Baghdad?

Fadhil said: "Absolutely! A lot more troops, Iraqi and American, are available and visible in Baghdad than there were a couple months ago—checkpoints are more abundant and security measures are far stricter than before. And yes, civilian activity is much better now than before...

Notice how the Fadhils never even mention these media scoops (I'm thinking WSJ more than IBD or WM) on their blog. As I write, they have not even bothered to post a story mentioning that Bush is quoting them. You'd think that might be a memorable thing for a couple of humble Iraqi dentists, wouldn't you?

But without focussing too narrowly on these bogus bloggers, the real issue here is surely the very sad fact that George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, is living in a dreamy cocoon of fictional fantasy. Where does he get his information? Who fed him the quotes from the Fadhil brothers (please tell me he is not a regular reader at ITM!)? Does he really believe this crap, or is he just bullshitting for all he is worth?

UPDATE 5: The New York Times has this rather thin story. Associated Press's story is also laced with scepticism but assumes readers are a few years behind the times:

Blogs are Web sites that tend to be narrow in focus and directed at a niche audience. Most operate without editors and give instant reaction to the news. Their freewheeling, open nature makes them popular but also ripe for unverified statements.

Greg Mitchell does a better job, quoting White House spokeswoman Dana Perino defending Bush's decision to quote bloggers:

"I think that maybe somebody found it compelling, the President wanted to include it in his speech..."

Oh my God, he does read ITM, doesn't he?! Or maybe just the WSJ (not much better)? I guess if you are desperate to believe your own "surge to victory" fantasy, where else are you going to go?

Meanwhile, Jillian at Kos reminds us that paid blogging propaganda is most certainly a happening thing, citing this Austin Statesman story:

These days, even the U.S. State Department is blogging.

[Karen] Hughes' video blogs are one way the State Department seeks to improve America's image overseas. It's an acknowledgement that while terrorism materializes in violent attacks, it's rooted in anti-American ideas and perceptions. The department is trying to challenge those ideas before they take root.

It's why Hughes, the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, hired a half-dozen Arabic speakers to surf international blogs and post messages that counter "propaganda and rumors with facts," she said.

When I suggest that people get paid to post comments, I am called a Conspiracy Theorist. When Karen Hughes admits it, she's a genius.

What's really tragic is that these fools in the White House today think they can win a war with nothing but pure spin. They got hit by bloggers early on, so they have come back with blogs of their own. But it was never the blogs that were the real problem: it was the inconvenient FACTS the bloggers were highlighting.

UPDATE 6: Mo Fadhil has updated ITM with a predictable post aimed more at dismissing his critics than celebrating his propaganda victory:

I've seen some of them publish stories full of lies and accusations they can't support and I think it's pathetic to throw the "you're a sold-out propaganda" accusation at people just because they don't share the same point of view. This only reflects their lack of knowledge and the bankruptcy of ideas they suffer.

We speak the language of facts, supported by images and statistics and more important, we live here while they don't.

Facts, Mo? The fact is that you routinely ignore inconvenient facts (like another hundred plus dead in Baghdad today, where you are supposedly having beers and a BBQ) and relentlessly push a line of propaganda which has been consistently in tune with the US neocons since you first chose the name "Iraq The Model". The fact is that you have never bothered to answer or explain Ali's allegations, or your shady relationship with Spirit of America and other US financial backers. The fact is that your opinions are totally out of touch with the vast majority of Iraqis, your fans are in the redneck States and Tel Aviv, and (more importantly) the US military action which your charlatan blog advocates has already killed over 600,000 of your countrymen and continues to reap more innocent victims every day.

UPDATE 7: This is turning into quite a trip down memory lane. There was a big, bitching, blogger-bashing brouhaha back in January 2005 when Martini Republic and Sarah Boxer at the NYT first picked up on my ITM criticisms and Juan Cole backed her up. Jeff Jarvis called Cole pond scum and screamed that my reckless allegations had foolishly endangered the Fadhil brothers' lives (as if a White House visit was not guaranteed to place a target on your back in Baghdad). Even the BBC weighed in (ever so gently, of course).

Now we have Zionist blogs like KesherTalk wading back into the fray, and media whores like Michelle Malkin pulling up the rear. My concern is that this might all come to be seen as another unsightly dustup between rival bloggers (last time the allegations against the Fadhils were being countered with claimes that Riverbend was a fake).

The most important issue here is not whether ITM is a CIA blog, or a money-making scam, or a desperate trick to earn the Fadhils a couple of US Green Cards. It's not whether SoA is a clever bit of US PsyOps, or a neocon money-laundering operations. It is the fact that this foolish nonsense is all Bush has got left in his propaganda armoury. The man is a fool, a fake and a shameless stooge. Impeach now!!!.

UPDATE 8: Glenn Reynolds jumps on the bandwagon:

Is there any enemy of America that the left won't side with? Or any friend that the left won't oppose? No.

But the wingnut response seems pretty muted so far. Meanwhile, Ryeland at Kos has compiled the DC's efforts into a single decent post which begins to open the doors on Spirit of America's involvement (let's see what you Kos Kids can do with that, eh?). And for a bit of light relief, Attaturk has provided this video. To quote one dental patient:

It's your professionalism that I respect!

Wo ist der weisse Engel? Hey, did somebody just mention the Nazis?

UPDATE 9: Whoo hoo! Gandhi gets linked at the world best blog site: Antiwar.com! And that, ladies and gentlemen, should be enough to push my hits on this blog over the magic 100,000 mark! I'd like to thank the Academy, my family, and of course the brothers Fadhil...! Oooh, this is just embarrassing now, isn't it George?

Let me express a little hope and a prayer here. I am an ordinary, working class Aussie father of three who has simply become so outraged by the Bush administration and my own government's War Crime participation in the invasion of Iraq that I have been compulsively blogging against these bastards for about four years. I know poor little Dubya is facing a whole host of big, nasty problems right now, from his failed war in Iraq to his failed manipulation of the justice system in the USA, but I dare hope - and pray - that this little story might just be the straw that breaks the big, fat, oil-guzzling camel's back.

Seriously, what could be more emblematic of Bush's pathetic situation today than the fact that he is reduced - nay, he chooses it because he is so out of touch! - to quoting these charlatan bloggers for proof of his desperate last "surge" policy's success?

I have been derided by wingnuts as a misguided idealist. I do not deny that I dare to dream. But it is really Bush and his supporters who are the the wilfully ignorant idealists: their fantasy vision of Iraq, an ideal that will never, ever be realised, has already cost over 650,000 lives. How many more must die before the people of the USA bring this sad horror to an end?

Impeach. Now!

Please.

UPDATE 10: Amazing coincidences are a regular thing in BushWorld. One day the President is quoting your words, the next day US troops are raiding your home. A pretty transparent effort to establish some credibility, IMHO:

At the end we stood to take some pictures together.

These are bloggers dude, cover your face if you don't want to be seen nude on the internet tomorrow! One soldier said to his colleague as I snapped this photo, and we all chuckled.

And I know what you're thinking; Mohammed and I do not appear in this one.

Oh yeah, that's right. The Fadhil's cannot possibly appear in photos. It's far too dangerous! Even though everything in Baghdad is just fine these days. And even though they previously had their photos in USA Today and other major publications.


The photo above was taken from their now-defunct political party website (still publicly available here). Yeah, they started their own political party, the grandly named Iraqi Pro-democracy Party, for the 2005 elections. Donations poured in from eager wingnuts. Surprise! Political party disappeared without trace. But hey! Don't let the fact that they got less than zero percent of the vote stop you from thinking that these guys represent the true hopes and dreams of intelligent Iraqis who yearn for Freedom (TM). M'kay?

Meanwhile, somebody at the Boston Herald needs a good kick in the pants:

The brothers, who met Bush in the Oval Office in 2004, are widely respected on the Internet and have become regulars on sites such as www.pajamasmedia.com, www.instapundit.com and www.memeorandum.com, with their reports on how Iraqis are experiencing life in Baghdad.

What's that all about? I thought the Boston Herald used to be a decent paper.

You know, I used to think the ITM blog was a CIA operation, but that's obviously not the case. If an operation ever became this compromised, the CIA would have had the good sense to shut it down long ago.

UPDATE 11: Ryeland at Kos helps explains the timely US raid on the Fadhil's house with a link to this story:

US forces are conducting realistic mock raids of Iraqi businesses in order to "hide in plain sight," i.e. to gain access to the businesses on the US payroll in order to take stock of the progress, without revealing that the business is working with the Americans.

I am still not even totally convinced the Fadhil brothers are even living in Baghdad. There are large US military bases in Germany, an Iraqi named Omar Fadhil on German radio, and Ali - whose latest blog is in German - has previously done interviews with German media. It would be easy enough to get photos and news stories from soldiers and other contacts in Iraq and then compile them in Berlin. But that's not really the point, is it? Whether it's a Baghdad-based PsyOps or not, it is clearly a farce.

And what all this reveals, as my good friend Winter Patriot says, is that THERE'S NOTHING LEFT BUT SPIN.

UPDATE 12: Omar Fadhil is now officially Pajamas Media's "Baghdad Editor". The results are totally predictable: even more of the same. Should we judge a man by the company he keeps?

I hope that by the time you read this, the cruise missiles have already impacted; the stealth bombers have taken out radar and missiles sites; the land and sea blockade is in place … nothing moving in or out of an Iranian port and any road traffic that doesn’t risk death from above. I hope, by the time you read this, the destruction of Iran’s military infrastructure is underway.

Because we are magnanimous, and more importantly are concerned about the long-term price of oil, operations to reduce Iran’s oil production facilities can await a later phase. It’s not clear to me what the holdup has been.

How long before Bush starts quoting bloggers from Tehran?

Beware Of US Wolves Dressed Like Pro-Democracy Sheep

Spirit of America's latest project is an anonymous blogging tool for people living under repressive regimes.

Nothing wrong with that, right? In fact it is perhaps even laudable.

But people should know who they are dealing with. So I added a little warning message to the Wiki Front Page:

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WIKI WAS SET UP BY SPIRIT OF AMERICA (BELOW) WHO WORK WITH THE CIA ON US PSYOPS PROJECTS. SPIRIT OF AMERICA WAS SET UP BY A US GOVERNMENT THINK-TANK WITH FINANCE FROM THE OIL INDUSTRY. FOR DETAILS, SEE:

http://bushout.blogspot.com/2005/01/iraq-model-full-story-i-was-busy.html

Jim Hake, perhaps it's time you told us all the whole truth about your links to Cyber Century Forum.

Did Hake know about CCF’s investments when SoA was set up? If not, why not? Has SoA received oil money or not? Has Hake met with oil execs? What does he know about CCF's relationship to the oil industry? Why is CCF investing money in US oil anyway? Just a bloody coincidence? Who ARE these people?

I suspect your version of "Democracy" is something most people in the world, even those living under repressive regimes, would find repulsive. What does one gain by moving from a Communist Dictatorship to a Fascist Dictatorship?

For anyone not familiar with this story, here are the questions I long ago asked Jim Hake's stooges at Iraq The Model:

1. Were the Fahdil brothers aware that Spirit of America was set up and supported by Cyber Century Forum, a group dedicated to spreading US influence worldwide, particularly covert cyber-intelligence measures?

2. Were you aware that Cyber Century Forum holds 100K stocks in oil companies Schlumberger Ltd and Transocean Sedco? As Iraqis, (supposedly) - do you have a problem with that?

3. Did you know that 2 of the 3 members of Cyber Century Forum are also members of a top-level think-tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which is also dedidicated to spreading US influence? Do you have a problem with that?

4. Who are the Americans trying to use ITM for partisan political or other purposes, whom Ali said "made me feel I'm on the wrong side here"? Why did Ali not go to the USA? What happened over there? (Note that Ali's comments came BEFORE his brothers met with Bush and Wolfowitz, so the NYT explanation is not valid.)

5. How do you expect to garner support from ordinary Iraqis during the election process if you do not even try to refute these very serious allegations? Why don't you just come right out and admit that you are working hand-in-glove with the CIA?

6. Are you aware that Spirit of America is a client of Direct Impact, a "grassroots marketing" organisation, whose marketing involves creating a "Buzz" by getting seemingly ordinary people (or better yet, influential people) to promote a product by word-of-mouth. Do you receive any money from Direct Marketing?

7. Did you know that Lady Diana Dougan, one of three members of Cyber Century forum, is also on the board of directors at Qualcomm, a US company which won the contract to deliver Iraq's lucrative new mobile phone network (despite the questionable bidding process and Qualcomm's unpopular CDMA technology).

A lot of dead bodies have floated under a lot of blown-up bridges, but we are still no closer to the truth...

Aw, Shucks...

Little Jim just wanted to be like Dad:

After the [9/11] attacks, Hake wanted to do something to help, something perhaps inspired by his father, longtime Pelican Bay resident Jim Hake Sr.

A Navy Seabee serving overseas during World War II, the elder Hake is part of what's known as the "Greatest Generation."

Barbara Bongard, the younger Hake's sister, said she remembers him reading about the "Greatest Generation" after 9-11 and saying he wanted to do something that would make a difference, like Dad did...

It's all about baseball, obviously....

Where's Jim Hake?

More info from reader G...

It seems Jim Hake invited neo-con Michael Totten to Iraq at the time of the Iraqi elections. I wonder who paid for that? Is that part of the charity thing?

Jim Hake is now supposedly the Chief Executive Officer of SignalOne Media in Dubai. But I can't find any trace of such an organisation on the Web. But there is an advisor to Sheffield Advisors in Afghanistan called Sean G. Caskie, who was vice president for business development for Signal One LLC, a Tennessee firm specializing in wireless network site acquisition throughout the southern United States. He fits the SoA model, in fact he sounds like CIA or something close to it... Here's more:

Mr. Caskie served in the U.S. Army during operations "Just Cause" and "Desert Storm/Shield" in combat arms and military intelligence. In addition, he has served as a civilian military liaison the UN, NATO and ISAF. He has participated in operations with Dutch Special Forces, the European Union Embassy and the Joint Services Mission to the Afghan National Army.

And finally, would you believe that Hake and Caskie are both surnames belonging to The Family Forest Descendants of Louis IX The Saint, King of France. Not quite Skull and Bones, but gotta be worth something to someone - anyone ever heard of this crapola?

Anyone got more?

Iraq The Model: The Full Story

[latest update here]

I was busy burying my father last week, so I was unable to fully participate in the flurry of debate that greeted Sarah Boxer's Jan 18 New York Times article discussing the authenticity (or otherwise) of the Fadhil brothers' pro-US blogs at Iraq The Model (ITM) and Free Iraqi. The NYT article only skimmed the surface of my allegations against the Fadhil brothers, gently suggesting they might be working with the CIA but quickly concluding that they probably are not. So here is the full story, from my point of view, for anyone who is interested...

[UPDATE, Oct 2006: Since I first wrote this post, I have learned a lot more about how the US works. Looking back, it was naive of me to call ITM a "CIA front" - they are actually a propaganda front for the US neo-conservatives. Whether the CIA is involved or not, and whether or not the Fadhil brothers actually believe their own propaganda, is immaterial.]

It's no secret that the Iraqi blog "Iraq The Model" - run by brothers Omar, Mohammed and (till recently) Ali Fadhil - provides US neo-conservatives with a magnificent piece of public relations. The Fadhil brothers say they want to tell the world about all the good things that have been happening in Iraq since the US invasion, and they do so even while ignoring the endless violence, the growing anarchy and the horrific scandals which grab the attention of most other Iraqi bloggers. While the world was being shocked by photos from the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, for example, the Fadhil brothers were earnestly discussing the merits of the new Iraqi flag. Arch neocon Paul Wolfowitz has frequently cited the blog while urging the global media to take a more positive line on events in Iraq. In the lead-up to the 2004 US elections, two of the Fadhil brothers even met with Wolfowitz and George W. Bush in the Oval Office.

Rampantly pro-war websites regularly link to the blog as proof that ordinary Iraqis love what America is doing in Iraq, despite any number of polls showing that the Fadhil brother's views are totally out of touch with popular Iraqi thought. "Iraq The Model" is not quite the PR equivalent of the rose-petal-strewn streets that neocons once predicted would greet US troops, but it's about as good as it gets for these militant ideologues. Even the name fits snuggly with the neocon mantra that Iraq will soon become a model for other countries in the region.

If you try posting an anti-Bush or otherwise critical comment on "Iraq The Model", you will immediately be flamed by an aggressive posse of regular visitors. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, these people - many of whom claim to have relatives serving with US forces in Iraq - still believe that Saddam had WMDs and was connected with Al-Quaeda and 9/11. Try proving their fallacies wrong and you will quickly find yourself on the receiving end of a barrage of personal abuse. Try suggesting that "Iraq The Model" could be a CIA front and you will probably be banned within minutes - as I was. Your comments may also be removed, as mine often have been.

In short, "Iraq The Model" provides an online oasis for people who would rather ignore the harsh facts of daily life in Iraq under US occupation. It's the perfect information cocoon for those who - like neocon leader Douglas Feith - would rather dwell outside the "reality-based community". And it goes a long way to explaining how George W. Bush achieved four more years in office.

NOTHING BUT GOOD NEWS

I originally started posting comments at Iraq The Model in early 2004, hoping to convince pro-Bush voters to change their minds and vote against him. It wasn't long before I became suspicious of the motives of the Fadhil brothers, who had already begun receiving donations via PayPal from their US visitors.

I can accept that many Iraqis, keen to be rid of Saddam Husseins' brutal tyranny, welcomed the US invasion with open arms. And I can understand that people overwhelmed with bad news might want to set up a blog for good news stories, if only to cheer themselves up. But the Fadhil brothers' unquestioning support of all things US, coupled with their seeming disinterest in the suffering of their fellow Iraqis, was more that a little strange.

If these guys really are Iraqi dentists, I thought, why aren't they talking about the decaying state of Iraq's hospitals, or the appalling lack of medical supplies? And why do they tolerate the outrageously militant, rude, racist and otherwise abusive comments by some visitors to their blog, while banning pacifists like me who seek to engage in honest debate?

In my opinion, there was only one rational explanation. The "Iraq The Model" blog exists not for the sake of its authors or their fellow Iraqis, but for the sake of its many pro-war US visitors, who have already donated over US$10,000 to the Fadhil brothers, plus another US$14,000 for the brothers’ off-shoot political party, the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party.

So are the Fadhil brothers just a bunch of opportunistic Iraqis making money from dumb Americans, I wondered, or are more sinister forces at work? I started digging through the links at Iraq The Model to find out what was really going on…

THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA?

The first stop in my investigations was Spirit of America (S0A), the US organization that sponsored the Fadhil brothers’ trip to Washington. Spirit of America’s avowed aim is to raise money for “good news” projects in countries the USA has recently invaded. According to the Spirit of America website:

"We have no hidden agenda. Our intention is do all we can with the support of the American people so that freedom and peace prevail in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."

In 2004, Spirit of America received more than $6 million in “cash and measurable donated goods” from over 11,000 donors. This included over $17,000 from Iraq The Model, which won an online fund-raising competition run by Spirit of America, called the “Friends of Iraq Blogger Challenge”. Close runners up were the notoriously right wing websites Little Green Footballs and Roger L. Simon. The Challenge raised a total of $90,177 for new Spirit of America projects.

In return for their winning efforts, the Fadhil brothers got a free “Spirit of America” baseball cap and a T-shirt. You can just imagine how popular such clothing is in downtown Baghdad these days. (Incidentally, Iraq The Model also won Best Non-American Blog at Right Wing News' "Annual Warblogger Awards").

So where does the money go? Registered as a US charity, Spirit of America does provide Iraqis with some helpful items such as tradesmen’s tools and sewing machines. But most of their efforts are what could be called “information-based”. Their most ambitious project to date is the creation of a network of “pro-democracy student groups and community organizations” called “Friends of Democracy.” Spirit of America provides these select individuals with things like “Internet access, blog hosting, copiers and paper” – everything they need to tell the world all the good news from Bush’s Iraq.

The most intriguing project under the “Friends of Democracy” umbrella is an Arabic blogging tool, which has been deployed just in time to provide international viewers with some positive coverage of the Iraqi elections. Both English- and Arab-speaking bloggers in Iraq can get free hosting in return for some surreptitious US marketing. As the Spirit of America website explains it:

“Every blog developed using the Arabic blogging tool will include space that is under the control of organizations that we work with, such as Friends of Democracy. This space or “real estate” will be a portion of the blog header (top of the page) and the left column. The organizations will use the space to promote groups, individuals and news that, in the big picture, advance freedom, democracy and peace in the region…”

What’s more, the blogging service is hosted on servers controlled by Spirit of America, and both CEO Jim Hake and the Fadhil brothers have already made it clear that all material posted on the blogs will be monitored and censored.

WHAT’S THE BUZZ?

Interestingly, Spirit of America is a client of a "grassroots marketing" organization called Direct Impact. Grassroots marketing involves creating a "buzz" by getting seemingly ordinary people (or better yet, influential people) to promote a product by word-of-mouth. It is often criticized because the targeted people do not realize that what they are hearing is advertising, not genuine opinion.

Now why would a US charity working in Iraq want to sign up for such a US-based marketing campaign? And do the Fadhil brothers, or any of the regular commentors to their site, receive any money from Direct Impact marketing? The Fadhil brothers have refused to answer that question.

As I said before, it seems that Spirit of America, like the Iraq The Model blog, exists primarily for the sake of the US voters who support it, rather than for the ordinary Iraqis it purports to assist. In other words, to use CIA-speak, these projects appear to be covert US PsyOps.

When Omar and Mohammed Fadhil went to the White House to meet Bush, they were accompanied by Jim Hake, chairman and founder of Spirit Of America, plus another SoA executive, Kerry Dupont. Paul Wolfowitz was also present. Here's a first-hand account of that meeting from Spirit of America head Jim Hake himself:

About half way into the meeting the President said to Omar and Mohammed, "I want you two to know that we are going to stay until the job is done. It doesn't matter what the rest of the world says. It doesn't matter what the UN says. We are going to stay until the job is done. It's important that your country knows that." It was a powerful and moving moment.

After talking about Spirit of America, Pres. Bush turned to Omar and Mohammed and said, "You see gentlemen, that is the beauty of America. I never met this man before but he's out there helping to win this war on terror just as much as Wolfie here. That's what I believe in." He went on to talk about the importance of private-sector, grass roots initiatives like SoA.

Yeah, you gotta love your private sector when it comes to making things happen for George W. Bush and the GOP…

How you feel about such Spirit of America projects in Iraq will most likely depend on how you feel about Bush’s militant adventurism in the first place. Those who support the war tend to see such work as enlightened altruism, while anti-war cynics (like me) are more likely to see it as covert fund-raising and public relations on behalf of the Bush war machine and Paul Wolfowitz's influential neo-conservative coterie.

A FORUM FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CYBER CENTURY

On with the show. Spirit of America was originally set up and supported by Cyber Century Forum (CCF), a group dedicated to spreading US influence worldwide, with a particular emphasis on covert cyber-intelligence measures. Sounds a lot like Spirit of America’s mission statement, doesn’t it?

As Jim Hake explains the relationship between Spirit of America and Cyber Century Forum:

” Cyber Century Forum, a nonprofit organization, provided the nonprofit, 501c3 status we needed to get Spirit of America off the ground. This allowed us to immediately begin operations without the expense and delay of forming a new, independent nonprofit…”

The question is, why and how? What is Hake’s relationship with the people at Cyber Century Forum? What is their interest in Spirit of America?

Cyber Century Forum’s three ageing members are old guard warhorses from the Cold War days, people who were probably hiding under the desk with Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush Snr. when the post-Nixon Church Commission started exposing the dark side of US foreign policy.

Diana Lady Dougan, who served as Assistant Secretary of State in the Reagan administration, is the public face of CCF, flittering from one top-level international chat-fest to another. Dougan is also on the board of directors at Qualcomm, a US company which just happens to have won the contract to deliver Iraq's lucrative new mobile phone network (despite a very questionable bidding process and Qualcomm's unpopular CDMA technology).

Dougan is currently a Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). According to Disinfopedia, CSIS is "one of those ephemeral constellations into which the luminaries of the American political establishment frequently arrange themselves in order to encourage policy to navigate by their lights". For example, a May 2003 Declaration proposes that

"the states of the European Union, which are among the richest and most powerful states in the world, should invite US government officials to attend their highest-level legislative and policy-making meetings, in order that these officials can ensure that the Europeans do not pursue policies which are independent of, or disapproved by, the American government."

The CCF heavily promotes an apparently self-published book, Arab & Muslim Countries: Profiles in Contrast, which is a pastiche of information from "20 major data banks including those of the UN, World Bank, and CIA". The book is strongly endorsed by both Henry Kissenger and William H. Webster, former head of both the CIA and the FBI.

Cyber Century Forum VP and General Counsel, Tedson J. Meyers was a neo-conservative before they even invented the term. Meyers was Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the days when the FCC wielded considerable power and influence. He was appointed to the non-elected Washington D.C. City Council by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972. (Hello! Nixon, Kissenger, Reagan.... is there a pattern here?)

Snippets from ancient press clippings on Meyer's personal website boast of a "controversial memo" to JFK while Meyers was in the FCC:

...overseas telecasts should be guided along "lines most beneficial to the foreign policy of the US"

Another snippet reveals Meyers' capacity for subterfuge and his early inclinations towards the neocon vision of US Empire:

"Working unofficially, Meyers prepared a plan for a Government Office of International Broadcasting to exploit the potential power of international TV and radio broadcasting in our national interest. Among his suggestions: American assistance in developing foreign broadcasting systems and introduction of US programming therein, development of low-cost transmitters and receivers for use overseas, encouragement of private American investment in overseas TV, stimulating programs which could serve our foreign policy objectives and "resolving whether it is desireable [sic] to establish criteria for the content of American programming displayed overseas - and if so, how such criteria should be determined and applied."

There's also a four-page article called "The Unknown Influentials":

"these men not only implement policy, but frequently shape it..."

There is only one other member of the Cyber Century Forum (according to their website) and that is G. Russell Pipe. Like Dougan, he is a member of the CSIS. He is also is deputy director of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC), "a nongovernmental initiative to provide a framework to bridge gaps between the private and public sector for the development of information infrastructure". He is author or co-author of at least four books, including "Assessing Data Privacy in the 1990's and Beyond."

So now ask yourself: why are people like these providing financial support for a supposedly 100% humanitarian charity like Spirit of America? What's in it for them?

Oh, and why does their Forum have over $100K invested in the oil industry? That’s right, folks, oil.

Cyber Century Forum's tax return for 2003 shows that it holds $109,440 in corporate stocks from Schlumberger Ltd, "the leading oilfield services technology company supplying technology, project management and information solutions to the oil and gas industries". It also holds a further US$9,292 in stocks from Transocean Sedco Forex, the world's largest offshore drilling company. Now isn't that a big surprise? "Freedom and Democracy for Iraq", sponsored by the US oil and gas industry.

Again, the question is why? Where did these stocks come from? What is their purpose? Are corporate oil industry interests behind the motives of Cyber Century Forum? Does that explain their interest in Spirit of America, and hence Iraq The Model?

Those involved have been going to great lengths to protest that this as all pure Conspiracy Theory. Jim Hake created a new Financials page on his website to show that Spirit of America no longer has any connection to Cyber Century Forum, without ever explaining the original relationship. And his disclaimer about oil industry backing is also ambiguous:

Some have noted this and asked if the oil industry (or any other industry) exerts some special influence over our operations. The short answer is no…

Short answer, Jim? Did Hake know about CCF’s investments when SoA was set up? If not, why not? When I started checking over SoA and CCF, it took me only an hour to find it. Has SoA received oil money or not? Has Hake met with oil execs? What does he know about CCF's relationship to the oil industry? Why is CCF investing money in US oil anyway? Just a bloody coincidence? Who ARE these people?

Similarly, Ali Fadhil has made strange denouncements about people who "made me feel I'm on the wrong side here” yet his response to allegations also leaves considerable room for ambiguity:

“Are the brothers now or have they ever been in any kind of American pay (beyond the largesse of their rightwing PayPal contributors)?"

“Yes and no…”

In dealing with questions of their authenticity, the Fadhil brothers have consistently failed to properly address the central (fact-based) questions. Here’s Omar Fadhil's one-and-only response to my allegations:

Ghandi, everything you mentioned is true.

now, could you please leave us alone.
we're the bad guys and you're an angel from heaven, does this satisfy your
beautiful sick mind?
get the fuck out of this CIA blog or I will have your brain taken out and
tested in our secret laboratories.

Omar. | Email | Homepage | 12.28.04 - 4:00 pm | #

When asked what three things Iraqis would most like from the US, Omar once said, "Support, love, and encouragement." Compare that with a Christmas wish list from Riverbend, another Iraqi blogger, which included gasoline, kerosene, landmine detectors and diesel generators. Who do YOU think is more in touch with real Iraqis?

And how about this dismissal of security fears from Mohammed Fadhil:

"People outside Iraq are more worried than the Iraqis themselves."

Really? I guess that might depend on which side of the tracks you are living on in Baghdad these days. Or, if you are a Westerner, whether you choose to live inside or outside what Paul Wolfowitz and his friends call the “reality-based community.”