various editorials, articles and updates on Mark Thatcher, son of Margaret Thatcher, convicted terrorist.

this needs to be read in full; click the link and check it out. - Idunn

8/26/04

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/26/1093456729835.html?from=storyrhs

Few children of British politicians have so often found themselves the subject of unhappy headlines and on the wrong end of lawsuits...

...His wealth, assessed at up to £60 million ($152 million), a figure he described as wildly wide of the mark, is no mean achievement for a man who left Harrow in 1971 with three O levels and an assortment of unpleasant nicknames.

He joined Touche Ross only to fail his accountancy exams three times and leave. Unimpressive careers in motor racing, jewellery sales and unspecified "business ventures" in the Far East did little for his reputation but laid the roots of a network of international contacts...

...The ridicule heaped on him from Fleet Street contributed to his decision to go to Texas in 1984, where family friends established him on a lucrative contract as a representative of British car firms.

But that year he also had his first brush with controversy over business dealings with the Arab world when a Sunday newspaper alleged that he had earned a commission for a £300 million deal won by the construction company Cementation after Lady Thatcher recommended it to the Sultan of Oman.

In Dallas, he met Diane Burgdorf, a glamorous blonde whose wealthy father described her as "just an ordinary millionairess", and married her at the Savoy Chapel in London on Valentine's Day 1987. He had already been dogged by further allegations of exploiting his mother's position to earn a commission of £2 million as an intermediary for the £20 billion Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

He denied receiving the commission and nothing was proved but he became almost persona non grata among his mother's aides. Asked by Mark how he might help the Conservatives win the 1987 election, Sir Bernard Ingham, her fiercely protective press secretary, is said to have gruffly advised him to "leave the country".

Although he had a wide circle of acquaintances, there were plenty of people to attest to his brusqueness in company and his disdainful treatment of those who he considered his social inferiors....

...The couple have denied that their marriage is in trouble, although friends say that it is Diane's Christian faith and devotion to Lady Thatcher that has kept things together.

Soon after their arrival, Sir Mark was considered a good catch for the most fashionable Constantia dinner parties, but his allure seems to have dimmed.

One local industrialist said: "He would keep banging on about his contacts throughout the world and the millions to be made in the Middle East, but when it came to a serious discussion about world affairs, international business or politics, he didn't seem to have much to offer."

Another hostess added that he "reminds me of those rather amiable, entertaining twits that PG Wodehouse used to write about".

In 1998, he was at the centre of a scandal after he lent huge sums of money at exorbitant interest rates to more than 900 local police officers and civil servants in Cape Town. He admitted lending the cash but insisted that he had done nothing wrong.

He is also thought to have profited from contracts to supply aviation fuel in various African countries.

But it was this summer, as President Nguema of Equatorial Guinea named him as a financial backer of the alleged coup attempt and press reports linked him with its supposed leader, Simon Mann, that the discord, error, doubt and despair began to gather once more over Sir Mark Thatcher's head."

http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=15885

"With the fate of Belfast man Ciaran Ferry fresh in their minds, Irish-American activists this week were closely watching the increasingly bizarre situation surrounding Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher last week reached a plea bargain agreement with South African prosecutors in which he admitted to being an unwitting participant in an alleged plot to topple the government of the oil-rich West Africa state of Equatorial Guinea.

"Irish-Americans feel that if there is to be a fair and balanced policy, Mark Thatcher should not be allowed to enter the U.S. having pleaded guilty to involvement in the Equatorial Guinea coup attempt," Father Sean McManus of the Washington, D.C.-based Irish National Caucus said...

The INC's McManus said that the Equatorial Guinea coup attempt "surely comes" under the heading of international terrorism.

"If Irish persons have been banned from entering the U.S. for far lesser reasons, then surely this would-be mercenary should be banned too," he said in reference to Thatcher. "If you harbor a terrorist you are a terrorist is the Bush doctrine. President Bush should apply it to Thatcher and bar him entry to the U.S."

McManus accused the president of already applying a double standard by funding former British army officer Tim Spicer with a $293 million private security contract in Iraq."

"He must not now compound his error by giving safe harbor to Thatcher, a buddy of Spicer," McManus said.

Spicer, who commanded the Scots Guards regiment in Belfast when unarmed teenager Peter McBride was shot dead in 1992 by soldiers under his command, has been linked in reports to the investigation of the coup plot.

"News that Mark 'Scratcher' Thatcher has pleaded guilty in South Africa over his part in an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea will again raise questions about the mercenary network linked to Tim Spicer, former Scots Guards officer in Belfast and friend of the Pentagon," the Pat Finucane Center in Northern Ireland said in its reaction to the Thatcher plea.

"Both Thatcher and Spicer belonged to a gang of English white guys out to plunder Africa, white man's burden and all that," McManus said.

Spicer, he said, was now "plundering the American taxpayer to the tune of $293 million."

Andy Somers, national president of the Irish American Unity Conference, said that his organization would be looking for equality of treatment for Ciaran Ferry should Mark Thatcher be allowed enter the U.S. ...

...A onetime IRA member, Ferry was deported from the U.S. just before Christmas after spending two years in a Denver prison.

"We could put Mark Thatcher in a Denver jail for a couple of years while we sort things out," Somers said. "Plotting to overthrow the government of a country is a very violent crime. We feel very strongly about this."

In return for his release, Thatcher paid a fine to the South African authorities and agreed to help in their investigation of the coup plot.

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishinamerica/editperiscope/keepthisterroristout.asp

"...Yet terrorists come in all shapes, ethnicities and sizes. Consider the convicted terrorist Sir Mark Thatcher, 51, son of the famous Margaret, who pleaded guilty to such charges last week in South Africa.

Sir Mark - the title was handed down from his father - plea bargained his way to freedom last week in a South African court after agreeing to turn in other conspirators in a plot to overthrow the government of another country, and paying a large fine.

It appears Mark and friends, including many mercenaries, decided it might be a good idea to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea, a tiny West African country. In return for installing a friendly regime Mark and his buddies would have access to oil rights, no small matter in a country that supplies the U.S. with 15% of its oil imports.

Mark agreed to supply $275,000 to the plotters to finance the overthrow. The money would go for helicopters to provide air support when the coup began.

Unfortunately for Sir Thatcher, the scheme went awry when Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea police intercepted the mercenaries before they completed their plot.

Sir Mark faced the music in South Africa last week and, in return for a plea bargain, pleaded guilty, paid a £265,000 fine and received a suspended four-year prison term. As part of his plea bargain Sir Mark agreed to inform on all the other members of the coup that he personally knew.

"Mr. Mark Thatcher has agreed to fully cooperate with the investigations, so we are happy. He has spoken to our investigating officer about other people who were involved in the coup plot and he is continuing to speak to us," said prosecutor Sipho Ngwema.

In court Sir Mark stated he was heartily sorry for his deeds and said all he wished to do was fly to the U.S. to be with his wife and kids in Texas.

Here is where it becomes interesting. Sir Mark is not an American passport holder - indeed, he needs to apply for a visa to enter the country. He is currently in Frankfurt awaiting the processing.

Now, we can only imagine his mother's indignation if she was still British prime minister and someone had wished to enter Britain after taking part in a coup attempt in another country. Maggie was always fond of saying that a "terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist" and doubtless, given her son's conviction, she now has one in the family.

I'm sure in this case Margaret would have been on the wire to the U.S. president if it was anyone else but her son, recommending that such a dangerous person not be admitted to the country, or indeed, any country for that matter.

That was the thing about Margaret. She stood tall against terrorists, even when it meant they starved themselves to death as in the Irish Hunger Strikes. Doubtless Margaret would feel the same way about her son.

Well, not really. It appears when her son was facing the charges Margaret moved heaven and earth to try and get him off the hook. Lady Thatcher visited him at Christmas in South Africa and they discussed the case fully.

Now imagine if this was anyone else but Sir Mark. American authorities would doubtless give short shrift to a visa application for a man convicted of fomenting the overthrow of a government and who had admitted terrorist charges...

...As he is not in prison Sir Mark belongs back in Britain with his ailing mother, who has suffered several small strokes. He has no place in America post-September 11."

which I found in an article regarding a pending divorce in 'The Scotsman':

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=798&id=1960022005

"SIR Mark Thatcher and his wife Diane announced yesterday they are to divorce on the grounds of an "irretrievable breakdown"...

...Months later, the son of the former prime minister was refused a visa by the US authorities to join his wife and children, who had fled to America.

Sir Mark, 52, will now base himself in Europe while Diane, 44, will live in Dallas, Texas, with their children Michael, 16, and Amanda, 12.

Last night Baroness Thatcher, 79, said: "I am saddened by this news but it is a private matter, so I shall make no further comment."

In a joint statement, the couple said the decision to end their 18-year marriage was mutual. It read: "Following a difficult year, which has seen Sir Mark Thatcher's arrest, detainment in South Africa and the rejection of his visa renewal by the US authorities, it is with great sadness that the couple have taken the decision to divorce.

"Both Diane and Mark remain totally committed to the future well-being of their children and will continue to participate jointly in their upbringing."...

...In January, he pleaded guilty in a South African court to unwittingly funding the purchase of an aircraft which was allegedly to be used by the mercenaries, but he denied any involvement in the coup attempt. He was given a four-year suspended sentence and fined £265,000, escaping jail in a plea-bargain deal.

His wife moved with her children to the US and Sir Mark intended to follow her but his visa renewal was rejected in April...

...In 1995 Sir Mark and his family moved to Cape Town. His admission of "unwitting" involvement in a plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea and the resulting failure to gain a US visa was the last straw for his marriage."

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=798&id=1380222006

"THE estranged wife of Sir Mark Thatcher has accused him of being a corrupt womaniser who ruined their marriage with infidelity and secrecy over his business affairs.

Diane Thatcher says she decided to speak publicly about their turbulent 18-year marriage after his failure to finalise a financial settlement for their two children..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Thatcher

"Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born August 15, 1953) is the only son of Sir Denis Thatcher and Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister. In addition to his prominence as the only son of one of the world's best known politicians, Sir Mark has attracted headlines for his alleged arrogance, youthful playboy scrapes, troubled business associations, and his involvement in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea...

...On April 3, 2005, Sir Mark, then living with his widowed mother in London, announced that his family home will be in Europe after he was refused a residence visa to live in the United States, presumably as a result of his guilty plea in South Africa over his alleged unwitting involvement in an attempted coup d'état in Equatorial Guinea. His children, he stated, will be educated in the United States. In September 2005, his divorce was announced.

Under the headline "Mark Thatcher - undesirable in Monaco?" French newspaper Le Figaro reported on December 20, 2005:

you think?

as if this hub hadn't already made my position clear, there is a nice rebuttal to that myth here also:

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-richmerit.htm