Powerful group takes over Ottawa hotel for meeting Power-brokers put Mideast, Iran and oil on their agenda
Jun. 9, 2006
ALEXANDER PANETTA
CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA—It's like Woodstock for conspiracy theorists.

A serene suburban setting has been transformed into a four-day festival of black suits, black limousines, burly security guards — and suspicions of world domination.

On the outskirts of the nation's capital, a tony high-rise hotel beside a golf course is hosting the annual meeting for one of the world's most secretive and powerful societies.

It's not the Freemasons.

Forget those fabled U.S. military men who tucked away UFOs in the Arizona desert.

These guys, you've probably never even heard of, and if you believe the camera-toting followers who attend all their meetings, they control the world.

They're called the Bilderberg group.

They include European royalty, national leaders, political power-brokers and heads of the world's biggest companies.

Those who follow the Bilderberg group say it got Europe to adopt a common currency, got Bill Clinton elected after he agreed to support NAFTA and is spending this week deciding what to do about high oil prices and that pesky fundamentalist president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"Some people say that I advocate a conspiracy theory. That's not true. I recognize a conspiracy fact," said James P. Tucker.

The 74-year-old American journalist has been following the Bilderberg group for decades, has written extensively about it, and recently published his Bilderberg Diary. He follows the group to its meetings and stands outside describing to other journalists details of his privileged access to their inner workings.

He is not alone.

Daniel Estulin snapped photographs of every vehicle that approached the concrete-and-glass complex yesterday. He says Mossad — Israel's spy agency — is paying attention.

Away from the golf course, there are no grassy knolls in the industrial zone outside Ottawa's Brookstreet hotel, the site of this week's meeting, but the scene does nothing to dissuade conspiracists.

Ottawa police officers are standing guard outside a dozen metal gates that serve as security checkpoints a half-kilometre from the hotel.

But Ottawa's finest are clearly not in charge here. To approach the hotel property, even uniformed officers must show their credentials to the half-dozen black-suited men working for Globe Risk, a private security firm.

"This is pretty unusual," one Ottawa cop said.

Another said they were hired to be there in their off-duty hours and weren't told much by their superiors: "They just told us, `These are important people. It's a private meeting.'"

A small crowd of curious onlookers snapped photos of black-windowed sedans stopping at the checkpoints. It was impossible to see who was sitting inside. But fun to imagine.

The Bilderberg group is a half-century-old organization comprising about 130 of the world's wealthiest and most powerful people. The group is named after the Dutch hotel where it held its first meeting in 1954.

But don't expect to find that information on the group's website. They don't have a website.

Nor was the Bilderberg logo anywhere to be seen yesterday, except for those nondescript white placards stamped with the letter `B' and tucked under all those tinted windshields.

A journalist calling the Brookstreet hotel asked to leave a message for the Bilderbergers.

"Sure," a hotel employee said. "Your name and number?"

The journalist then asked whether the employee could confirm the Bilderberg group was actually meeting there.

"I don't know," she replied.

Even members of the hotel gym were barred from the premises. A sign was slapped on the gym door this week informing them the facilities would be closed for four days. All other hotel guests were asked to check out by yesterday morning. Any vehicles remaining in the parking lot would be towed.

Bilderberg says the privacy of its meetings helps encourage freewheeling discussion.

An unsigned press release, sent by fax, confirmed this meeting would deal with energy issues, Iran, the Middle East, terrorism, immigration, Russia, European-American relations and Asia.

"The meeting is private to encourage frank and open discussion," said the release. "There will be no press conference."

The release included a list of participants at this year's event.

The 2006 group includes David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Queen Beatrix of Holland, New York Gov. George Pataki, the heads of Coca-Cola, Credit Suisse, the Royal Bank of Canada, a number of media moguls, and cabinet ministers from Spain and Greece.

The group also includes a pair of prominent figures involved in planning the U.S. invasion of Iraq — Richard Perle and Ahmad Chalabi. White House power-players Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, now head of the World Bank, have spoken to the group in the past.

But Bilderberg is not exclusively a right-wing body. Bill Clinton's right-hand-man, Vernon Jordan, was also in attendance yesterday, as was his Mideast negotiator Dennis Ross.

The prime ministers of Britain and Canada — Tony Blair and Stephen Harper — have addressed the group before, as have former Liberal PMs Pierre Trudeau, Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien.

Harper spoke to Bilderberg in Versailles, France, in 2003 but his office said he would not attend this year's conference.

Canada's well represented, however, with Power Corp. boss Paul Desmarais, Indigo books CEO Heather Reisman and former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna attending.

Globe and Mail newspaper publisher Philip Crawley was also there. However, Bilderberg followers say media moguls whose outlets report leaked details from meetings will see themselves banned in future.

Toronto Star

Secretive society's big names include Kissinger, Rockefeller and a queen
Jun. 9, 2006

Among prominent attendees at this year's conference of the Bilderberg group, a secretive society that includes some of the world's most powerful people:

Jacques Aigrain, CEO of Swiss Re.
George Alogoskoufis, finance minister of Greece.
Ahmad Chalabi, former deputy prime minister of Iraq and long-time opponent of Saddam Hussein.
George A. David, chairman of Coca-Cola.
Paul Desmarais, CEO of Power Corporation.
Richard Holbrooke, key American negotiator for 1995 Bosnian peace accords.
Vernon Jordan, friend and onetime presidential aide to Bill Clinton.
Henry Kissinger, foreign-policy guru and secretary of state under Richard Nixon.
Johann Koss, Norwegian Olympian and president of Right to Play organization.
Ed Kronenburg, director of NATO's private office.
Bernardino Leon Gross, Spain's foreign minister.
Ronald S. Lloyd, chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston.
Frank McKenna, former New Brunswick premier, now deputy chair of Toronto Dominion.
Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands.
Gordon Nixon, Royal Bank of Canada president, CEO.
George Pataki, governor of New York state.
Richard Perle, senior foreign policy adviser to U.S. President George W. Bush.
Heather Reisman, chair and CEO of Indigo Books and Music Inc.
David Rockefeller, retired banker, heir to oil fortune.
Dennis Ross, former Clinton Mideast negotiator.
Giulio Tremonti, VP of Italy's chamber of deputies.
James Wolfensohn, U.S. Mideast envoy, former head of the World Bank.
Robert Zoellick, deputy U.S. secretary of state.

Toronto Star

Tom Spears,
Ottawa Citizen
Monday, June 12, 2006

OTTAWA - Four days after they arrived quietly at a Kanata, Ont., hotel, the world's rich and powerful left just as mysteriously, in limos and SUVs with blacked-out windows.

The Bilderberg Group, a secretive organization of politicians and business leaders from around the world, gave no public statements. With private security guards and metal barriers keeping outsiders on the street, the Bilderbergers met in secret and then whisked themselves away in ones and twos, mostly to the airport.

What they talked about at the Brookstreet Hotel is still a secret. The group meets annually, and is usually rumoured to discuss international politics and business, from Middle East crises to oil prices.

They emerged singly Sunday Bilderberg president Etienne Davignon of Belgium, American David Rockefeller, Italian economist Mario Monti, European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes from the Netherlands, and, watchers thought, Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi.

Protesters on the sidewalk have their own version of the agenda: world domination, a merger of Canada with the United States and Mexico, hiding the cure for cancer, suppression of cars that get 200 miles per gallon of fuel, an invasion of Iran, and slavery for the common people of all countries.

About a dozen protesters stood outside Sunday, slightly fewer than on Saturday. Two police officers watched from across the street while others were inside the hotel.

They carried signs protesting the "NWO" (new world order) and denouncing the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as "an inside job."

"When you've got this many high rollers in one place, then there's a story," said Geoff Matthews, editor and publisher of a small newspaper called the Kingston Eye Opener.

"In my opinion, what they started to plan about 10 years ago is the unification of North America without the consent of the people. It's now in fast-forward."

The meetings always draw intensely curious outsiders who believe the Bilderbergers need to be exposed. One of these is Daniel Estulin, a Canadian who moved to Spain about 15 years ago because, he says, the Central Intelligence Agency tried to kill him. He feels safer in Spain.

''I'm much further out of the reach of the secret service both Canadian and American.''

''I write the stories everyone else is afraid to write,'' he said.

He and others staked out positions on the sidewalk where they could get a clear view of the hotel's front door.

For hours, they watched through binoculars and telephoto lenses, waiting as men and women got into limos. Cameras clicked, and the Bilderberg-watchers scrolled through digital images afterwards, trying to identify which member of the group they had just recorded.

Alex Jones, a documentary filmmaker from Texas, showed up with two of his crew.

''Man, this is just evil,'' he muttered as he paced up and down, watching more limos drive past. He was detained on his arrival in Canada, but released after other media asked questions about him.

''It's a group of very powerful individuals whose objective is to create one world government, based on an economic model from the Middle Ages,'' he said. This would be ''a post-industrial model where you have slaves and slave owners.''

He claimed to have Bilderberg insiders feeding him information.

Protester J. P. Arial of Ottawa was there for the fourth straight day.

"They're ruining our planet. They're suppressing free energy, controlling the food industry. They're forcing farmers to switch to genetically modified seeds,'' he said.

''They want to control everyone. No freedom, no democracy.''

But most residents took no notice of the black cars running in and out between the computer companies, past the lineup at Tim Hortons on March Road, and off to the airport.

Ottawa Citizen

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It appears whatever it was they talked about is still a secret! They didn't send me an invitation, or I would blab to everyone what it is they discussed...that's probably reason #100, why I didn't get one! :-)

Has anyone seen Alex Jones' reports that had 'insider information' about the specifics of this meeting? I would be interested in reading them, but I'm not interested in his accusations about why it was he was detained for 15 hours at the border. That should significantly shortened that report. :-)