McCain Linked to Terrorist Libyan Regime

Posted by ZP Heller, Brave New Films at 3:16 PM on May 29, 2008.

A stunning new report from UltimateJohnMcCain.com connects the dots between McCain and the terrorist Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi. According to the report, McCain's newest media adviser is Mike Hudome, who recently took over for Mark McKinnon when McKinnon decided he didn't want to run against Obama. Hudome is married to Randa Fahmy Hudome, a lobbyist who "began working for the Gaddafi government at a time when it was officially designated by the U.S. State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism."

During Bush's first term, Fahmy Hudome served as international policy adviser to then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. In May of 2004, she became a member of the department's external advisory board and landed a sweet $1.47 million consulting agreement with the Libyan government to "strengthen Libyan interests." This conflict of interest only got uglier, as Fahmy Hudome became instrumental in drumming up Arab-American support for Bush's reelection bid.

Conveniently, Bush suspended most sanctions against Libya in April 2004, just before Fahmy Hudome's appointment to the Energy Department's advisory board. And the administration was then compelled to remove Fahmy Hudome in July of the following year, when families of Lockerbie bombing victims and government watchdog groups both cried foul. As UltimateJohnMcCain reminds us, the 1988 Libyan bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland (for which Libya claimed responsibility), killed 270 people was the largest terrorist attack on Americans prior to 9/11.

And still, Fahmy Hudome boasts on the website for Fahmy Hudome International (FHI), her D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in energy issues, of FHI's work to get Libya off the U.S.'s list of state sponsors of terrorism: "After two years of persistent and effective advocacy for Libya, FHI achieved a great success in May of 2006, when the U.S. Department of State removed Libya from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism."

Don't be fooled by McCain's claims to be a Maverick fighting against lobbyists and special interests, which are perpetuated by the corporate media. His top staffers have been connected to brutal dictators. His top economic adviser, Phil Gramm, is a lobbyist for Enron and UBS. And though he has been pressured to purge his campaign of lobbyists, he is still appointing people like Hudome who have lobbyist ties to former terrorist nations.

Tagged as: lobbyists, libya, john mccain

ZP Heller is the editorial director of Brave New Films. He has written for The American Prospect, AlterNet, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Huffington Post, covering everything from politics to pop culture.