Birdseye: Hill and Knowlton

Previous controversial work by Hill and Knowlton:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hill_%26_Knowlton

--Distributed faked press releases to the media under the name of Earth First!, with ridiculous incendiary language. This was very similar to the worst offenses of the FBI's Cointelpro program, disrupted the campaign and brought activists in danger from law enforcement or the public. Hired by Pacific Lumber, Louisiana Pacific and Maxxam to discredit the Redwood summer movement in 1990, which sought to slow clearcutting with state proposition 130. They distributed forged memo in press releases under the name of Earth First! which threatened violence, misspelled the author's name 'Daryl Cherney', and used odd phrases such as 'the megamachine'. This illegal scheme was discovered by Rob Morse of the San Francisco Examiner. It is unknown to what extent they actually could have worked with the FBI or police.
Copy of forged memo: http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/e/e4/Fake_EF_US_memo.pdf

--Represented the vastly corrupt Duvalier regime of Haiti
--Handled PR for the Three Mile Island nuclear plant breakdown
--Coached wife of Enron CEO Ken Lay to cry and attract public sympathy http://www.counterpunch.org/lindalay.html
--Paid by Turkey in first Gulf War when dissidents were tortured
--Represented the Church of Scientology
--DC head Robert Gray emphasized that he often checked decisions with his friend CIA chief William Casey
--International Hill and Knowlton offices used as cover for covert CIA agents
--Paid students to attend Vietnam war rallies and meeting, and to file intelligence reports on what they saw
--Created and distributed the 'incubator babies' story during Gulf War I, claiming that Iraqi soldiers threw Kuwaiti premature babies on the floor of a hospital.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/02/1540237
This strongly influenced american opinion for the war. Also had several other false or dishonest Gulf War I releases, as the Washington DC office was run by George HW Bush friend Craig Fuller. Many argue that staff at U.S. media outlets are either paid or are special PR contacts who cooperate in distributing this type of press release on TV: http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/LIE/HK/HK2.html

--In 1950s, designed strategy for counteracting scientific evidence of tobacco smoking health risks.
--Showcased the trustworthiness of electronic machines in Florida, in counties where many votes were being lost or suspect counts were arising. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/10/23/Hillsborough/Lost_votes_should_ous.shtml
--Victoria Clarke, a previous Hill and Knowlton office chief, is President Bush's Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
--Paid by government of Uganda during period with strong human rights abuse complaints
--Represented apple distributors when alar spray was found toxic, by calling this as hype and falsely saying you'd need to eat a boxcar of apples to receive toxic effect. Paid Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to press message of food industry front American Council on Science and Health. http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showConnection.php?id1=3412&id2=4221
--Represented DeBeers diamond mining company and government of Botswana, where tribes were evicted for mines.
--Makes donations of approximately equal amounts to democratic and republican parties
--Oliver North's assistant in the Iran Contra scandal, Robert Owen, worked for Hill and Knowlton head Robert Gray. Owen also worked with CIA founder Edwin Wilson and Air Panama.
--One faction of the Moonie church hired Hill and Knowlton to discredit media reports about racist and sexist activity
--Exaggerated risk of ozone hole for UV rays, for Coppertone suntan lotion.
--Worked for China shortly after Tiananmen Square massacre. Also worked for human rights abusers Indonesia, Peru and Egypt for international public image. Promotes tourism to Maldives, despite its dictatorship.
--Handled public relations for BCCI bank after it was indicted for assisting the Medillin drug cartel, tax evasion. BCCI also handled CIA accounts, as a sidenote.
--The National Foreign Trade Council hired Hill and Knowlton unit 'the Wexler group' to create a front organization called USA Engage. It basically supports economic engagement with countries with tyrannical governments such as Burma and Nigeria, in order to coax democracy into occurring. Despite pretending to have broad support, most of their real members are oil companies which wish to work in these countries such as Unocal and Mobil http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=380
--Working for Saudi Arabia to improve image after September 11, 2001 attacks in United States.
--Employed by Monsanto to defend milk from rBGH treated cows
--Currently are working to renew support for nuclear power plant construction.