Portion of Eugene Robinson's Washington Post article on Bill Clinton's foundation donor list below (via Angry Arab Newservice). Link to whole article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/18/AR2008121803176.html
The state of Israel will have no reason to feel that it missed an opportunity. Television producer Haim Saban, who is a vocal supporter of Israel and lives there part of the year, gave between $5 million and $10 million, some of it through his family foundation. Slim-Fast diet magnate S. Daniel Abraham, who has been a board member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, donated between $1 million and $5 million; and the rest of the list is studded with well-known backers of the Jewish state.
More ominous would be any perceived tilt toward India in its bitter standoff against neighboring Pakistan. The list reports several huge donations from Indian tycoons and a high-six-figure donation from the Confederation of Indian Industry. Pakistan is not similarly represented. I know this is a ridiculously slim thread from which to hang any charge of bias, or potential bias. But India and Pakistan, in their unbounded mutual suspicion, take the concept of paranoia to a new level. I guarantee that somewhere in Islamabad, a sense of grievance is already being nurtured.
The list reflects both the former president's charitable interests and his high-wattage celebrity. Given his work to combat AIDS in Africa, it is no surprise to see the Elton John AIDS Foundation listed -- nor is it shocking to run across the name of the Princess Diana Memorial Fund. That both organizations gave the foundation between $1 million and $5 million does give a sense of the circles in which Bill Clinton travels.
One smaller donation that leaps out is from Blackwater, the North Carolina-based firm that provides security for State Department personnel in Iraq. Five Blackwater guards were indicted recently on manslaughter charges for a 2007 incident in Baghdad in which unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed. The Blackwater Training Center gave the Clinton Foundation between $10,000 and $25,000. Hillary Clinton, if confirmed by the Senate, will have to decide whether to renew Blackwater's contract.
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