Marty Rathbun in Germany: I Watched Tom Cruise Tell Bill Clinton to Influence Tony Blair for ScientologyBy Tony Ortega Fri., Sep. 9 2011 at 3:48 PM
After holding a
press conference that was covered widely in Germany, former Scientology executive Marty Rathbun appeared last night on a television talk show that we hear is very popular there. Of all the things he talked about, one that seems to be getting the most buzz regards Tom Cruise, Bill Clinton, and Tony Blair.
Quick background for those just catching up: For 27 years, Marty Rathbun was a member of Scientology and reached its highest levels, becoming the second most powerful executive before leaving the organization in 2004. Two years ago, he began criticizing current church leader David Miscavige on
a blog. And now, he's on a trip to Germany to meet with
Ursula Caberta, a government official who, since 1992, has worked to curb Scientology's influence in that country.
Rathbun and Caberta appeared together on the Markus Lanz show, and that's when Rathbun was asked about Scientology's attempts to influence the U.S. government about Scientology's status in Germany, which he had mentioned at a press conference the day before.
Now that Rathbun is out of Scientology, he has confirmed to Caberta what she has long suspected -- that Scientology used its celebrities to influence the Clinton Adminstration and its State Department in particular to denounce Caberta's attempts to publicize Scientology's abuses.
Lanz asks Rathbun if it was true that Scientology tried to influence Clinton at the "highest levels."
Here's what I could get of Rathbun's answer, which has a German translator talking over him, so it was difficult to get it entirely right...
more at
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/09/marty_rathbun_i.php#more
