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Sembler is CEO of [[Sembler Co.]], one of America's largest shopping mall chains, co-founder of [[Drug Free America Foundation]] (formerly Straight, Inc.). His wife, [[Betty Sembler]], currently heads the Foundation.
SW: add section
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==Controversy==
"A multi-billionaire shopping center magnate and real estate developer, CEO of the Sembler Company,<ref>[http://www.sembler.com/ Sembler.com.}</ref> and former ambassador to Australia, Nauru, and Italy, Sembler was also chairman of the [[Scooter Libby]] Defense Trust.<ref>[http://www.scooterlibby.com/ ScooterLibby.com.]</ref> His tenure in Rome was coincident with a series of rather dubious goings-on connected to the [[yellowcake forgery|Niger uranium forgeries]],<ref>[http://cryptome.org/niger-docs.htm 27 July 2003. More forged Nigerien documents published in Italy 27 July 2003,] Cryptome.org.</ref> including secret back channel meetings between leading [[neocon]]s in the [[Pentagon]], [[Iran]]ian arms dealer and [[Iran-Contra]] figure [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]],<ref>Laura Rozen, [http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/07/three_days_in_rome.html "Three Days in Rome,"] ''MotherJones'', July/August 2006 (issue).</ref> and convicted spy [[Larry Franklin]],<ref>Justin Raimondo, [http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=5857 "Larry Franklin
and the Axis of Espionage. The arrest of a Pentagon analyst who spied for Israel is just the beginning,"] ''Antiwar.com'', May 6, 2005.</ref> who was caught red-handed<ref>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2005/franklin_indictment_04aug2005.htm Larry Franklin indictment, August 4, 2005,] GlobalSecurity.org.</ref> funneling classified top secret information to [[Israel]]i embassy personnel<ref>Jerry Markon, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/05/AR2005100501608_pf.html "Defense Analyst Guilty in Israeli Espionage Case,"] ''Washington Post'', October 6, 2005.</ref> via two officials<ref>Robert Dreyfuss, [http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2005/08/09/bigger_than_aipac.php "Bigger Than AIPAC,"] ''TomPaine.com'', August 9, 2005.</ref> of [[AIPAC]], the powerful pro-Israel [[lobbying]] group," Justin Raimondo wrote August 24, 2007, at ''Antiwar.com''.<ref name="JR">[http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11498 " ] ''Antiwar.com'', August 24, 2007.</ref> "As Joshua Micah Marshall put it:<ref>Joshua Micah Marshall, [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007185.php ''Talking Points Memo'',] December 6, 2005.</ref>
:"'There's a lot that's still really murky about what was happening at the U.S. embassy in Rome after [[9/11]] with the forgeries and other matters. That was on Sembler's watch. And Libby's bad acts stem from the whole forgeries bamboozlement. (Whacking [[Joe Wilson|Wilson]] was part of the larger White House effort to keep the forgeries scam covered up – a cover-up that's still underway.)
:"'So Sembler just seems like a pretty big part of this story to be collecting money for the one person under indictment for their role in it.'
"Sembler's bio veers from the neoconnish to the nightmarish<ref>[http://www.melsembler.com/ MelSembler.com.]</ref> when we consider his founding of 'Straight, Inc.,' a teen drug rehabilitation program that was forced to close on account of numerous successful lawsuits by former clients who were tortured, raped, and systematically humiliated. Their hair-raising testimony of sadistic abuse while in custody at Sembler's teen-[Guantanamo] can be read here.<ref>[http://www.thestraights.com/index.htm TheStraights.com.]</ref> Apparently, an entire movement of Sembler's victims has risen up spontaneously – that's how many lives 'Straight, Inc.' destroyed. All this bad publicity required a name change, and 'Straight, Inc.,' was reconstituted, in 1996, as the [[Drug Free America Foundation]]. As a result of Sembler's political clout, the Foundation is prospering, thanks to federal subsidies, $720,000 in the year 2000 alone.
"The drug war, the Iraq war, Scooter Libby's private war against [[Valerie Plame]] and her husband – with Sembler, it's always wartime, and that's the way he likes it," Raimondo wrote.<ref name="JR"/>
==Profiles==
Sembler had previously served as Ambassador to Australia and Nauru by [[George H.W. Bush]] in 1989. [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/7043.htm] "Sembler served as Finance Chairman for the [[Republican National Committee]] from 1997 to 2000. He also served as Florida's National Committeeman to the Republican National Committee after his election in 1994 until 2000."<ref>[http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/7043.htm Biography: Melvin Sembler, Ambassador, Italy Term of Appointment: 11/16/2001 to present,] [[U.S. Department of State]], January 8, 2002.</ref>
==SEED and Straight Inc==
