It pays big-time to have Bill Clinton as a friend

by Frank James

Did President Bill Clinton help a wealthy Canadian mining executive get access to uranium ore in Kazakhstan and did the mining magnate give the former president's charity millions of dollars of contributions as a thank you?

Only the principals involved know if that's the case and they have denied any quid pro quo.

But the excellent New York Times exploration today by Jo Becker and Don Van Natta of the ties between the former president and the mining executive is sure to raise eyebrows for a number of reasons.

The story tells us about a September 2005 Kazakhstan trip Clinton made with the Canadian businessman, Frank Guistra. During that trip, the former president praised Kazakh strongman, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, for "opening up" the former Soviet state politically.

At a press conference during the visit, Clinton also supported the Kazakh goal to lead the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

What's really strange about this is that the former president's position contradicted the formal policy of the Bush Administration but also the stated position of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

As the NYT story reports:

In a statement Kazakhstan would highlight in news releases, Mr. Clinton declared that he hoped it would achieve a top objective: leading the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which would confer legitimacy on Mr. Nazarbayev’s government.

“I think it’s time for that to happen, it’s an important step, and I’m glad you’re willing to undertake it,” Mr. Clinton said.

Mr. Clinton’s praise was odd, given that the United States did not support Mr. Nazarbayev’s bid. (Late last year, Kazakhstan finally won the chance to lead the security organization for one year, despite concerns raised by the Bush administration.) Moreover, Mr. Clinton’s wife, who sits on a Congressional commission with oversight of such matters, had also voiced skepticism.

Eleven months before Mr. Clinton’s statement, Mrs. Clinton co-signed a commission letter to the State Department that sounded “alarm bells” about the prospect that Kazakhstan might head the group. The letter stated that Kazakhstan’s bid “would not be acceptable,” citing “serious corruption,” canceled elections and government control of the news media.

In a written statement to The Times, Mr. Clinton’s spokesman said the former president saw “no contradiction” between his statements in Kazakhstan and the position of Mrs. Clinton, who said through a spokeswoman, “Senator Clinton’s position on Kazakhstan remains unchanged.”

Noting that the former president also met with opposition leaders in Almaty, Mr. Clinton’s spokesman said he was only “seeking to suggest that a commitment to political openness and to fair elections would reflect well on Kazakhstan’s efforts to chair the O.S.C.E.”

But Robert Herman, who worked for the State Department in the Clinton administration and is now at Freedom House, a human rights group, said the former president’s statement amounted to an endorsement of Kazakhstan’s readiness to lead the group, a position he called “patently absurd.”

“He was either going off his brief or he was sadly mistaken,” Mr. Herman said. “There was nothing in the record to suggest that they really wanted to move forward on democratic reform.”

After the former president's meeting with the Kazakh leader, the deal that the Canadian businessman Guistra wanted in Kazakhstan was placed on a decidedly fast track. Not long after that, Guistra contributed $31.3 million to Clinton's charitable foundation. Guistra later pledged $100 million more to Clinton's foundation.

Later in the story, there's another piece of information sure to raise eyebrows even higher.

Clinton and Guistra didn't immediately tell the truth about another meeting that took place, this time at the former president's house in Chappaqua, NY, between the former president, an official of Kazakhstan's state-owned uranium company and Guistra. The Kazakh company wanted to buy a 10 percent stake in Westinghouse and evidently was seeking Clinton's help.

As the NYT reports:

Both Mr. Clinton and Mr. Giustra at first denied that any such meeting occurred. Mr. Giustra also denied ever arranging for Kazakh officials to meet with Mr. Clinton. Wednesday, after The Times told them that others said a meeting, in Mr. Clinton’s home, had in fact taken place, both men acknowledged it.

“You are correct that I asked the president to meet with the head of Kazatomprom,” Mr. Giustra said. “Mr. Dzhakishev asked me in February 2007 to set up a meeting with former President Clinton to discuss the future of the nuclear energy industry.” Mr. Giustra said the meeting “escaped my memory until you raised it.”

Wednesday, Mr. Clinton’s spokesman, Ben Yarrow, issued what he called a “correction,” saying: “Today, Mr. Giustra told our office that in February 2007, he brought Mr. Dzhakishev from Kazatomprom to meet with President Clinton to discuss the future of nuclear energy.”

Mr. Yarrow said his earlier denial was based on the former president’s records, which he said “show a Feb. 27 meeting with Mr. Giustra; no other attendees are listed.”

Mr. Dzhakishev said he had a vivid memory of his Chappaqua visit, and a souvenir to prove it: a photograph of himself with the former president.

“I hung up the photograph of us and people ask me if I met with Clinton and I say, Yes, I met with Clinton,” he said, smiling proudly.

It's important to note that this story doesn't connect Sen. Clinton to any of this.

But it does raise further questions about how the former president would be conducting his business dealings if she should be elected president and whether he would be something of a loose cannon mucking up U.S. foreign policy.

The NYT story is a bit complicated, which would make it difficult to raise in tonight's debate though the fact that only Sen. Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama will be on the stage increases the possibility it might serve as the basis for a question.

It really is a fascinating tale and a reminder of the unchartered territory the nation would enter with a globe-trotting former president as the First Spouse.