
McCain Lobbyist Has Terrorist Ties
McCain campaign chairman Charlie Black has lobbied for corrupt dictators, despots, and corporations accused of mass murder over the course of a lobbying career that has spanned more than 30 years and seen Black pass through K St.’s revolving door to Republican presidential campaigns seven times. Black lobbied for US aid on behalf of foreign regimes notorious for human rights abuses, including Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Nigeria General Ibrahim Babangida, Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre, and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, whose government was cited in a congressional report as guilty of numerous “incidents of banishment, torture and detention without charge or trial.” Black earned more than $1.8 million lobbying for Occidental Petroleum, accused of complicity in mass murder in Colombia. Not only has Black assisted regimes and corporations that commit crimes against citizens of other nations, Black has lobbied for foreign companies linked to Iran, putting business interests ahead of America’s security.