William Lash III

William Lash III has served as assistant secretary of commerce for market access and compliance since July 2001. Lash works to enforce international compliance with intellectual property rights, along with other international trade policy issues.
-- Paige Orr, "International trade, piracy issues discussed" (Nashville's The City Paper)

We're giving you a little perspective on Lash who left the administration in 2005..

William Lash III on Iraq:

It's easily the largest emerging market of our time, said William Lash III, chairman of the Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction task forces and assistant secretary of commerce for market access compliance for the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

It's about the markets.

Lash claiming the US to be cowboys:

I've heard many Europeans say that we are cowboys. If they are right depends upon what exactly they mean! If they mean that we fight for what we believe in, that we keep to our contracts, that we look after our friends - then, yes, we are cowboys. If they mean because we show leadership at times of difficulty, then, yes, they are right. No matter what the subject is (security or trade), we do what we believe is right. We have explained our standpoint to our friends. We can’t run our country based solely on international opinion polls.

If you missed the news, William Lash III is dead. He apparently killed himself, after apparently killing his 12-year-old son (who had autism).

Prior to that:

He has served as Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of American Business at Washington University, on the Board of Advisors for the CATO Institute for Trade Policy Studies, and as an Adjunct Fellow at Citizens for a Sound Economy. In addition, he has served on the board of directors of publicly traded and privately held corporations. Mr. Lash has been the director of several nonprofit corporations and has served as a Legal Analyst for several television networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX NEWS, FOX, CNN, CNN/FN, PBS, MSNBC, CNBC, and ESPN.

Legal analyst? PBS had him on their NewsHour where he either revealed he was highly ignorant or demonstrated he was willing to lie in any manner to stop the recount in Florida. He also took the time to dismiss those who were disenfranchised (he seemed to feel the idea was 'put in their heads') and stated: "I can't feel sorry for people who throw away their rights."

William Lash III, part of the Bully Boy administration, father, apparent killer, notoriously unsympathetic.