James A. Baker III said European leaders shouldn’t be surprised by allegations of American espionage. “We couldn’t find a hotel in Paris that wasn’t bugged,” he said about his time as secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush.
Over short ribs and Texas pecan pie, Baker had the company of fellow Texan Randall Stephenson, the chairman and president of AT&T Inc., Henry Kissinger, and David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group.
Baker dined with three people responsible for ensuring America has an endemic spying culture. AT&T willingly acquiesced and has profited handsomely, as did The Carlyle Group's Booz Allen Hamilton. Kissinger represents insider power which wants to win at all costs, laws and constitutional rights be damned. That group continues to run unchecked.
