Wertz (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} wertz) wrote,@ 2006-05-05 14:45:00 |
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| Current mood: |  curious |
| Entry tags: | political rant, source |
PORTER GOSS RESIGNS OVER CORRUPTION, BRIBERY, AND HOOKERS
Heads of the CIA don't submit resignations, effective immediately, unless something big is up. Cable news, of course, has been ignoring the real story and speculating about past allegations of torture and intelligence failures in relation to Iraq and all of the leak scandals. Those dogs don't hunt. They're history - especially here in the United States of Amnesia. Someone like Porter Goss only resigns immediately if, say, they've recently denied involvement in a major league sex scandal - and they were lying.
In case you missed it (and, if you rely on cable news and the mainstream media, you have) the story broke in the Wall Street Journal (of all places) on April 27:
| Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes and free use of a limousine and hotel suites, pursuing evidence that could broaden their long-running inquiry. Besides scrutinizing the prostitution scheme for evidence that might implicate contractor Brent Wilkes, investigators are focusing on whether any other members of Congress, or their staffs, may also have used the same free services, though it isn't clear whether investigators have turned up anything to implicate others. |
Evidently, defense contractors Wilkes and Mitchell Wade organized a number of "poker parties" involving politicians and prostitutes at the Watergate Hotel (how perfect), the Westin Hotel, and in the home of Kyle Foggo - the Executive Director of the CIA appointed by Porter Goss.
In a follow-up the same day, Ken Silverstein at Harper's Magazine turned up some more interesting information:
| The two defense contractors who allegedly bribed Cunningham, said the Journal, were Brent Wilkes, the founder of ADCS Inc., and Mitchell Wade, the founder of MZM Inc.; both firms profited greatly from their connections with Cunningham. The Journal also suggested that other lawmakers might be implicated. I've learned from a well-connected source that those under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence committees - including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post. |
Let's see, how many current or former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence committees now hold powerful intelligence posts? Well, there's one that used to represent the 14th congressional district of Florida, that served for a time as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and that was, until today, head of the CIA. Of course, the day after the story broke, a CIA spokesperson denied that Goss had anything to do with the defense contracting corruption scandal involving Cunningham, Wilkes, and a bunch of whores: "This is horribly irresponsible. He hasn't even been to the Watergate in decades. It's horribly irresponsible. Flatly untrue."
Uh-huh. I suppose this has nothing to do with the fact that Wade has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors. Presumably, Porter Goss just wants to spend more time with Andy Card's kids. So far, the blogosphere follow-ups on this story have centered around the limousine company that transported the hookers to the hotels - and there's a lot of muck to rake there - but the resignation of Goss should put the focus back where it belongs. Under any other administration, members of the Intelligence and Defense committees and senior intelligence officers consorting with prostitutes (especially when being used to influence defense policy) would have been considered a major security risk - and a scandal of epic proportions. I'm not holding my breath, but at least Goss is now out of the policy-making picture. Though one wonders what new horror awaits us in his replacement...
