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No, no spelling error: At the time of the pardon, if I remember well, there were intense efforts by another "lame-duck", very active president to get the Middle East process going again - Clinton almost succeeded. Ehud Barak, then Israeli prime minister, also has been reported as - for reasons of Rich's charities in Israel - heavily lobbying for a Rich pardon. Could it just have been that part of the attention given to Marc Rich was the fact that a vital player in that ongoing international, extremely difficult negotiation was asking the mediator, Clinton, a favor?
And what would that then say about Eric Holder's involvement?
Could it be that the plum sum donated to the Clinton library might have been the thank you note from Rich's ex-wife but not necessarily the prime inducer of the pardon?
Slick Willie should have recused the donation, no doubt, but in my mind there are very few Joe Sixpacks in Wasilla, Alaska that have such a crucial player for peace as Ehud Barak lobbying for their pardon.
