CHAPTER 1

After World War II, the United States emerged as the leader of the Western world. In addition, the east-west schism became a reality, and the struggle between nationalism became more of a threat to American capitalists. An American, Joseph Retinger, along with Prince Bernhard of Holland, sought to pursue a course to export capitalism throughout the world. Their objective was for the United States, Canada, and the Western European nations to maintain a monopoly on world capitalism.

Through early fund-raisers, the Bilderbergers were able to establish the American Committee for a United Europe (ACUE). This was first chaired by William Donovan, the former director for the OSS. Donovan was succeeded by Allen Dulles who had been the chief of the OSS office in Switzerland and had covertly funded the ACUE. The primary goal of the ACUE was to remilitarize Germany and the rest of Western Europe, using the help of numerous CIA clones.

Their groundwork was first laid on September 25, 1952. Their first resolution was to include the United States in its geopolitical plans. Retinger and Prince met with CIA Director Walter Beddell Smith and Dulles. The group's first conference was held in May 1954 at the Bilderberg Hotel -- from where they got their name -- in Oosterbeck: the Bilderberg Hotel. They believed that by creating a dialogue among leading capitalists, the world's economic power would be monopolized by the West.

At first, Bilderberg founders had no rules of procedure as to how they would be governed. There is no voting, and their conversations are not recorded. In addition, no outsiders are permitted to attend. They are all sworn to secrecy. The members come from various segments of society: industry, labor, education, and government, the latter of which includes members of the United States Congress. Over the years the Bilderbergs grew to include approximately 120 members of the wealthiest and most influential political leaders.

The Bilderbergs were comprised of some European monarchs, chancellors, prime ministers, presidents, ambassadors, secretaries of state, Wall Street investors, international bankers, news media executives, and wealthy industrialists. Some of its members include or did include:

--Dean Rusk and Christian A. Herter, both prominent government officials who have attended meetings.

Media personnel:

--Peter Jennings (British Broadcasting and Anchor and senior editor of ABC News, World News Tonight)

--Joseph C. Harsch (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations and former commentator for NBC)

--Bill Moyers (British Broadcasting and executive director of Public Affairs TV, and former Director of the Council on Foreign Relations)

--William F. Buckley, Jr. (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations and editor- in-chief of National Review and host of PBS's Firing Line)

--Gerald Piel (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations and former chairman of Scientific America)

--Henry Anatole Grunwald (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations and former editor-in-chief of Time)

-- Mortimer B. Zuckerman (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations and chairman and editor-in-chief of the U.S. News and World Report, New York Daily News, and Atlantic Monthly)

Robert L. Bartley (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign relations, the Trilateral Commission and vice president of the Wall Street Journal)

--Peter Robert Kann (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations, and Chairman and CEO of Dow Jones and Company, and husband of Karen E. House, Council on Foreign Relations)

--William Kristol (British Broadcasting and editor and publisher of the new The Weekly Standard magazine)

--Donald C. Cook (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations and former European diplomatic correspondent for the Los Angeles Times)

--Robert Leroy Bartley (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and Vice President of the Wall Street Journal)

--Albert J. Wohlstetter (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations, and writer for the Wall Street Journal)

--Thomas L. Friedman (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and columnist for the New York Times)

--Katharine Graham (British Broadcasting, Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and owner and chairwoman of the executive committee of the Washington Post)

Even though these corporate media personnel attended the clandestine meetings, they could not report their activities.

In 1995, the Bilderberg group met in a luxurious hotel in the Swiss Alps, accessible only by helicopters. To further maintain secrecy, the group was protected by the Swiss Army, Swiss police, and their own private security guards. Their next clandestine meeting was in the spring of 1996 when they convened at a multi-million dollar ranch near Toronto. It was reported by the Toronto Star that the Americans who were present included Secretary of Defense William Perry, Presidential adviser George Stephanopolous, Senator Sam Nunn, William Buckley, David Rockefeller, former Senator Lloyd Bentsen, and Henry Kissinger. It was speculated that major agenda items included:

--The role of liberals in various organizations. For example, a month before the Toronto conference, 50 liberal groups met in Washington D.C. to discuss their opposition to international banks and economic globalization.

--The separatist movement in Canada and the possibility of fragmented Canadian provinces being absorbed into the Continental Union with the United States in the twenty-first century.

--The privatization of Britain's largest government-owned electricity company known as Ontario Hydro.

--The expansion of NAFTA "from Alaska to Chile," so as to boost corporate profits -- sacrificing the jobs of American workers and moving to Latin American countries where the cost of labor is relatively low -- and where environmental laws are laxly enforced.

In June 1997, the Bilderbergs held their 45th meeting near Atlanta, Georgia. Foremost on their agenda was the Atlantic relationship, followed by NATO, China, Islam, EMU, energy growth, and corporate governance. Approximately 120 participants from North America and Europe attended the discussions.

At the meetings no resolutions were proposed, no votes taken, and no policy statements issued. In short, the Bilderberg group is an international forum in which different viewpoints can be expressed. To ensure full discussion, individuals representing a wide range of political and economic points of view were invited. Two-thirds of the participants came from Europe and the remainder from the United States and Canada. Within this framework, on average about one-third are from the government sector and the remaining two-thirds from a variety of fields including finance, industry, labor, education and the media.

Participants were solely invited for their knowledge, experience and standing and with reference to the topics on the agenda. All participants attended the Bilderberg meetings in a private and not in an official capacity. They agreed not to give interviews to the press during the meeting or afterwards at press conferences.

In May 1998, the Bilderbergs met for three days at the Turnberry Hotel, near Girvan on the West coast of Scotland. Its 123 members again met in secrecy and were accompanied by a powerful police presence. Participants included Lord Carrington, chairman since 1990; United Kingdom Defence Secretary George Robertson; William Hague, leader of the opposition in Britain; Kenneth Clarke, former Chancellor the Exchequer; and Henry Kissinger. Agenda items included NATO, the Asian monetary crisis, the EMU, increased military disparity, Japan, Turkey, multilateral organizations, Europe's social model, and the European Union-United States market place.

A reporter for the Scottish Daily Mail was knocked down, arrested, handcuffed, and detained for eight hours by police. Some reporters interviewed Bilderberg members while they were on the hotel grounds. Otto Wolff von Amerongen, chairman and CEO of Otto Wolff GmbH in Germany, explained that the meeting had short introductions to the agenda items and then a general discussion. Two British delegates explained that there was a panel which spoke for 10 minutes on a specific topic. This was followed by discussion questions for approximately five minutes. Yet, no records of the meeting were kept.

A former delegate spoke anonymously to The Mail in June 1998. He said that the Bilderbergs were part of a global conversation that takes place each year at a string of conferences and that it forms the backdrop to policies. These include the World Economic Forum and the IMF/World Bank annual conference. He said that their opinions carry considerable weight at G8 and IMF meetings.

The Bilderbergs held their next conference in Sintra, Portugal from June 3 to 6, 1999. Under the leadership of former NATO Secretary General Lord Peter Carrington and led by David Rockefeller, 120 participants from North America and Europe gathered to discuss: NATO, Genetics, Emerging Markets, The New Economy, European Politics, United States Politics, International Financial Architecture, and Russia.

Several European newspapers leaked the Bilderbergs' agenda. A May 30 article in the Scottish Sunday Herald said, "Every year the international media competes to be the first to reveal the location and agenda for the conference. ... The winner of the Bilderberg scoop this year was a Portuguese newspaper, The News, which boasts that it is the country's largest-circulation English language newspaper. It has published the location and the detailed agenda of the conference."

First, the Bilderbergs discussed the formation of economic blocs in the Far East and North America. The Asian bloc -- with free trade and a common currency at its center -- would be under the leadership of Japan. It would be a political union similar to the European Union. The Bilderbergs also discussed an American Union, also similar to the European Union, which would result in the splintering of Canada.

Second, they discussed the crisis in Yugoslavia following the NATO war. First, they called for the formation of a greater Albanian state following "trusteeship" of an "independent" Kosovo. Second, they hoped to dismember Yugoslavia by returning its northern province to Hungary since it is comprised of 350,000 ethnic Hungarians. Third, they discussed the reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure of Yugoslavia at western taxpayers' expense.

Third, the Bilderbergs discussed the replacement of NATO with a Western European Army which initially would be back by the United States. American troops would slowly leave Europe and would be available to be dispatched more easily to other parts of the world.

Fourth, they expressed their concerns for the global impact of Y2K problems. They considered appointing a Y2K czar to oversee the global passage through the "Y2K Emergency."

Fifth, they planned to tax global E-Commerce with a slice going directly to the United Nations. This strategy would strengthen the current reforms of the United Nations and "assist the process of world governance."

Sixth, the Bilderbergs touched on other issues which included: global oil problems and the financial affairs of the IMF; the United States economy and stock market; the gold market manipulation; the Middle East peace settlement and the creation of a Palestinian state; the development of a new "transatlantic marketplace" which is stage two in their plan to begin placing together the three global regional blocks into one global trading, monetary and political union; the extension of the EMU to Eastern Europe; and the early entry of Britain into this second common European currency system.

American politicians attending the Sintra summit included: Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut; Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana; United Nations ambassador Richard Holbrooke; and Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. The American businessmen included: Paul Allaire, chairman of Xerox; Richard Thoman, president and CEO of Xerox; Charles Boyd, executive director of the National Security Study Group; Jon Corzine, senior partner at Goldman Sachs; Donald Graham, publisher of the Washington Post; Vernon Jordan, former Clinton adviser; and Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state.