The Little Red-Handed Lobby Shop and the Wolf

While human rights groups denounce the Sudanese government's "condoning of the action of a violent militia which is raping and killing innocent women, men and children and pillaging villages in Darfur," a U.S. firm is lobbying for Sudan. Representative Frank Wolf said he was "shocked" that the State Department granted C/R International a waiver "from an order barring U.S. companies from doing business with Sudan." Rep. Wolf wrote Secretary of State Rice that the waiver "conflicted with the administration's push ... to tighten sanctions" on Sudan. Sudan hired C/R, at $530,000 per year, "to promote the country's north/south peace agreement, and highlight Sudan's role in fighting terror," reported O'Dwyer's PR Daily. C/R head Robert Cabelly is "a former Fleishman-Hillard and State Dept. official who has repped Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia and the South Africa Foundation." Rep. Wolf also criticized Patton Boggs for "trying to polish the image of Saudi Arabia" and Akin, Gump for "trying to assist China in buying a U.S. oil company."