By Tod Robberson / Editorial Writer The Dallas Morning News

“Cayman Islands, home to some of the world’s most notorious and nefarious financial intrigue.”

The last place I would expect elder statesman George W. Bush to show his face would be the Cayman Islands, home to some of the world’s most notorious and nefarious financial intrigue. After the 9/11 attacks, U.S. investigators focused on secret Cayman Islands accounts thought to be used by al-Qaeda operatives to funnel money to the hijackers. Right around that time, Enron was collapsing as various shell companies its top executives established in the Cayman Islands proved not to be the promising new business ventures that Enron investors were led to believe they were.

At the time, the founder and head of Enron was Kenneth Lay, a good friend of President Bush. They were so tight, Bush liked to call him “Kenny.”

When you want to hide what you’re doing, the Cayman Islands is the place to go. Just ask Mitt Romney, who according to MSNBC invested up to $25 million in 12 Cayman Islands-registered funds. His old company, Bain Capital, has more than 138 investments in the Caymans and 40 secret offshore accounts.

This stuff really doesn’t look good when you’re running for president and you’re trying to distance yourself from the worst aspects of the previous Republican administration, or when you’ve been president and you’re trying to distance yourself from the worst aspects of your own administration’s behavior: an obsession with secrecy, an obsession with breaking the law under the cloak of secrecy, an obsession with trampling on First Amendment rights, sweetheart treatment of old friends like Enron and Halliburton. The list goes on and on.

So why would George W. Bush, less than a week before the presidential election, go to the Caymans and give a top secret speech to selected audience members who, according to The Associated Press, were “forbidden” to discuss any of the contents of that discussion? Forbidden. Not, “we strongly discourage you from discussing this speech outside this room,” but “you are forbidden from discussing this.”

And what insights would Bush have about the Cayman Islands and secret offshore investing that he would garner so much attention from the likes of KPMG (the tax-shelter company that paid a $456 million penalty for criminal tax fraud during the Bush administration), Deutsche Bank (which this year paid $202.3 million in damages and penalties for falsely certifying loans to qualify for federal insurance) and billionaire Richard Branson (who hasn’t really done anything wrong, but maybe he’s thinking about it)? And why the need for so much secrecy that participants were not allowed even to say what the speech was about?

Whatever the answers, this Cayman Islands caper serves as a timely reminder from our last Republican president why Americans should be highly suspicious of the current Republican contender for president. Anyone who hides his money (Romney) — and/or his words (Bush) — behind a wall of secrecy in the Caribbean is up to something suspicious.

Just ask Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Dallas), whose friend Allen Stanford got caught running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme using various secret Caribbean accounts. I hadn’t thought about this lately, but now that Bush has given his secret speech, I’m reminded of the email message that Sessions sent to Stanford in 2010 as Stanford’s legal troubles mounted. Let’s see, what was the wording of that letter? Oh yes: “I love you and believe in you. If you want my ear/voice — e-mail. — Pete.”

Mitt Romney has been super-careful not to mention George Bush at all during his current campaign because, clearly, he doesn’t want to remind Americans about the bad ol’ days and, especially, about the guy who got us into our current economic mess.

Mitt Romney and Pete Sessions probably have different words to express their gratitude, but the rest of America thanks you, President Bush, for making news and drawing attention to exactly the right issues at precisely the right time. How quickly and easily we would otherwise forget.

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