Or more modern, Exxon. I don't have such a problem with doing this kind of stuff in europe for Oracle, or uselessly for boeing (airbus will always get better treatment in europe). But you want to see some real cloak and dagger shit, read about commodities.

Also BAE in the UK - Blair stopped an enquiry into the huge amount of alleged corruption associated with an enormous arms sale to Saudi Arabia:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/Corruption-inquiry-into-6...

Do you have a URL? Inquiring minds want to know.

I read about it in a book by an ex-CIA guy from the Clinton years. Can't remember the guy's name now, but remember thinking at the time (2004 or so) that it had almost certainly gotten worse since then. His allegations were that State and CIA were frequently involved in securing access to oil in the 3rd world for American corporations, because it was deemed a national security priority.

In the way of circumstantial evidence, here's an article about Shell (netherlands) being fined for bribing everyone they interacted with in Nigeria in order to get into the oilfields: http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2010/12/25/wikileaks-shells-as...

ExxonMobil has a huge presence in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Khazakhstan.. you do the math.

Was the book See No Evil by Robert Baer?

http://www.amazon.com/See-No-Evil-Soldier-Terrorism/dp/14000...

The movie Syriana was loosely based on this book.

Yes! Thanks, what a guess. That's exactly the one, great book.

Not sure if this is the book but Confessions of an Economic Hitman details how this process evolved since the 70s into the full-blow economic warfare we (our reps, leaders, and big corps) practice today.