Bush Personnel Announcement at 1:45
Rove? Snow? Rumsfeld?
UPDATE:
PORTER GOSS REPORTEDLY RESIGNS AS CIA CHIEF
The scandal has hit a first peak.
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May 5, 2006
Personnal News
Comments
Before I saw the Update part about Porter Goss, I was going to suggest Ray McGovern appointed Head of CIA 🙂 :))
Posted by: jj | May 5 2006 17:52 utc | 1
Headline on one website says “Porter Goss resigning.”
It’s plausible that there may be a link to ongoing scandals, or he just may dislike playing second fiddle to Negroponte (who was appointed to the new position of Intelligence czar, whom the CIA director now reports to).
Posted by: mistah charley | May 5 2006 17:54 utc | 2
Well, now I see the update. I hope it IS connected to Watergategate (a.k.a. Hookergate).
In fact, I hope ALL the Bush Gang gets fair trials, and if convicted, punishment to the full extent of the law.
Posted by: mistah charley | May 5 2006 17:56 utc | 3
jj – that may not happen, but when Goss goes, his friend Kyle “Dusty” Foggo who is no.3 at the CIA will go too. The same parties, the same prostitutes, the same bribes. So there is a job for McGovern, but I don´t thing he will get that one either :-/
Welcome, mistah charley…I wouldn’t worry about Negroponte. There was bit on washnote w/in last mon. or two, that he spends 3 hrs/day @swank Wash. club working out, getting massages, sauna, manicures etc…
Posted by: jj | May 5 2006 17:58 utc | 5
nice to see you again, mistah charley.
I suppose the Bush junta cannot afford to have more publicity about the CIA’s use of prostitutes to bribe and coerce ppl to do their bidding.
…wouldn’t do to remember Jeff Gannon’s remark about spending time with Blair either…whatever that meant.
Posted by: fauxreal | May 5 2006 18:08 utc | 6
please stay away from all areas underneath the hindenberg. the crew is experiencing difficulties.
Posted by: b real | May 5 2006 18:16 utc | 7
As always in something like this, check in w/Wayne M. He said media gathering @courthouse where Fitz meeting w/G. J.
Also, has interesting background on Capitol Hill police.
In case it wasn’t obvious, I was joking about appting McGovern. Cheney-Rumbo learned from Watergate that you can do anything you want as long as you buy off Woodward & gut the CIA…now it’s falling to the military to pull off a coup & that’s a hopelessly unstable dangerous situation. Speaking of which did anyone read B-‘s post re Riot @West Point – which involved Half the “student body” – as Daddy destroying Mommy & the Kids Starting to Act Out? As in the rebellion being transmitted down through the ranks…those kids are facing going to war in Iran upon Graduation…seniors just getting their duty assignments…I’m not set on this interpretation, but until someone disproves it, it’s high on my list…
Posted by: jj | May 5 2006 18:23 utc | 8
Well, as the book says (and I can’t remember the author), “Elvis is dead and i’m not feeling too good myself.”
If the wheels are coming off the barge, everyone, hold on tight and get ready to jump.
Where are we going and what’s with this handbasket?
Posted by: jonku | May 5 2006 18:41 utc | 9
Think Progress has the best wrap up of the hookergate scandal so far.
Elvis Is Dead and I Don’t Feel So Good Myself by Lewis Grizzard — review is from Amazon, of the cassette tape edition:
For some reason this book’s subtitle isn’t included here at Amazon: “Elvis is Dead, and I don’t Feel So Good Myself”. Like many southerners of his generation, Lewis Grizzard grew up as a democrat, surrounded by democrats. Why? Well because Abraham Lincoln had been a Republican, of course, and there are still Southerners who are sore about the Civil War, but they’re generally the kind of people who are sore about most things. Grizzard’s fellow southerners were mostly bible-thumping conservatives and this book examines changes that began to occur in Grizzard’s thinking – such as the realization that his political ideology was REALLY more in concert with the Republicans. Similarly, he had grown up in the 50s and 60s thinking that he was a rock and roll rebel and relishing the rhythms of Elvis and Carl Perkins – but as he grew up he recognized that his musical tastes were now more along the lines of Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard than what was passing for “rock and roll” 15 years ago.
Lewis doesn’t apologize for his views – and in America he shouldn’t have to – and if his opinions offend you I’m sorry someone held a gun to your head and made you read his book! But if you can get over any eagerness to be offended I think you’ll find Lewis Grizzard an observant and funny chronicler of the human condition.
reviewer: Mark J. Fowler
Posted by: jonku | May 5 2006 19:10 utc | 11
Of course this is connected to Hookergate. There was not even an internal announcement/prewarning of the resignation and no one new is named for the position. The MSN plays clueless so far.
But there are rumours that there will be a WaPo piece on the issue tomorrow. Goss had emphatically denied to have been at the parties in question, but there were pictures taken …
There are enough CIA folks, current and former, who hate the guy. Maybe someone digged through some archieves or pulled old connections.
Josh lays out the trail
Wilkes is the ur-briber at the heart of the Cunningham scandal, you can see pretty clearly by reading the other indictments and plea agreements. Wade was Wilkes’ protege.
Now, on the surface one might surmise that the prosecutors are just taking their time, putting together their best case.
I hear different.
Wilkes has deep ties into the CIA. The focal point of those ties is to Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, the man Porter Goss appointed to the #3 position at CIA when he took over the Agency last year. Remember, Wilkes’ scam was getting corrupt contracts deep in the ‘black’ world of intelligence and defense appropriations, where there’s little or no oversight. Foggo was in the contracting and procurement field at the CIA. So you can see how he and Wilkes, who have been friends since high school, had plenty to talk about.
…
Now, how does Goss know Foggo?
That’s how we get into the other part of this story — those ‘hospitality suites’, that moveable feast of food, poker and love, Brent Wilkes ran in Washington for maybe fifteen years. We hear that’s how Goss got to be friends with Foggo, whom he later promoted to executive director of the CIA, the number 3 post at the Agency.
Now, last week, Goss denied he had attended any of Wilkes’ parties, in answer to a question from TPMmuckraker. Foggo admitted attending the parties but claimed he’d never seen the hookers.
Now, corrupt contractors saucing up Agency officials and members of Congress to get contracts and free money. Hospitality suites where the saucing takes place. Hookers in the mix. It’s going on for more than a decade, various members of the key committees in the mix. Goss, former member of one of those committees, appoints one of the key players in all this mess as the number three guy at CIA? The feds leaning hard on the limo company owner who probably knows all the details and already has a long rap sheet and can’t afford another conviction?
My conclusion – If Cunningham was the amuse guel, Goss is the soup and we are several courses away from the dessert.
Enjoy the meal.
Uh, I’d just like to get this off my chest. No need to reply, I just feel the need to announce this publicly.
*cough*
I HATE THE WAY PEOPLE REFER TO GOVERNMENT SCANDALS WITH THE SUFFIX -GATE! IT MAKES NO SENSE! THE WATERGATE SCANDAL WAS SO NAMED BECAUSE IT TOOK PLACE AT THE WATERGATE HOTEL, NOT BECAUSE OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF ANY ACTUAL GATES! CALLING OTHER SCANDALS “PLAMEGATE” OR “TORTUREGATE” MAKES THEM SOUND STUPID AND THEREFORE TRIVIALIZES SERIOUS FLAWS IN GOVERNMENT! STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!!
*Ahem* Okay, I feel much better now. Carry on, everyone.
Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | May 5 2006 20:27 utc | 14
@TTGVWYCI – HookerGATE:
Harpers
It turns out the FBI is currently investigating two defense contractors who allegedly provided Cunningham with free limousine service, free stays at hotel suites at the Watergate and the Westin Grand, and free prostitutes.
I stopped by the Watergate Hotel this afternoon and chatted with Josh Graham, the assistant general manager, about the recent stories swirling around his establishment.
According to Graham, the Watergate has received multiple subpoenas in connection with the Wilkes Hookergate scandal. He went on to say that the hotel is complying with those subpoenas but that he couldn’t discuss the content of the orders, nor could he discuss details of the investigation, “out of respect for our guests’ privacy.”
You say: THE WATERGATE SCANDAL WAS SO NAMED BECAUSE IT TOOK PLACE AT THE WATERGATE HOTEL
Sources say: THE HOOKERGATE SCANDAL IS SO NAMED BECAUSE IT TOOK PLACE AT THE WATERGATE HOTEL AND INVOLVED HOOKERS
hey b- I tried to send you an appropriate picture for your thread…don’t know if you got it. maybe it’s too soon to use it.
Posted by: fauxreal | May 5 2006 20:57 utc | 16
Hookergate? I thought it was called Watergategate…
Posted by: a swedish kind of death | May 5 2006 21:11 utc | 17
from the things I’ve read around FDL, TPM muckraker, Laura Rozen and Jason Vest, b’s link above–
the negropointe thing is a red herring. Fish on Friday.
what’s interesting to me is that Foggo was also in Nicaragua with the Contras…and Goss, by his own admission, was in Miami during the Bay of Pigs…and then there’s the limo service Wilkes was using that had a rap sheet about 10 years long…
Remember the quote not too long ago about the war going on in the CIA? The Wehrmacht vs the SS? I think the Wehrmacht just got a direct hit.
You just know these guys were set up…not that they weren’t already doing it, but that someone got someone to take pictures. The other ppl involved were on the Intelligence Committee and Defense committees.
anyone know offhand who those ppl might be? –not necessarily the ones also implicated (both dem and repub, has been the buzz.)
Can we all get that 2. whatever million from Cunningham that he took as bribes put into, say, poverty programs? And can we have hearings for war profiteering (like profit gouging via the oil cos) and use that money to pay down the nat’l debt? I bet we could practically be solvent if the shitheads in Defense and Intelligence didn’t use the govt to grease their palms…and other parts.
Posted by: fauxreal | May 5 2006 22:56 utc | 18
I hear that when Porter Goss went to meet with Negroponte today, he didn’t know he was going to be leaving the job. And that it would have been the President’s decision, not Negroponte’s. And that this may have to do with how Goss handled a management issue concerning Foggo. And perhaps with a tie in to HIPSI. … Laura Rozen at War and piece
Figures some workaday DC scandal will probably be “the reason” Goss took off running. That evil sonofabitch has been involved in pretty much every crime committed by the U.S. government for half a century.
And, what a coincidence, on Sept. 11, 2001, he and his buddy Bob Graham just happened to be having breakfast with Pakistan’s security chief, General Mahmoud Ahmad … also known as the guy who had the $100,000 wired from Dubai to Mohammed Atta the week before the 9/11 operation.
So of course, Goss & Graham run the entire sham 9/11 congressional investigation … and there’s never a word uttered about their curious breakfast with Atta’s bagman. Or Goss’ trip to Pakistan right before that.
Goss is so goddamn evil that he’s even been consistently linked to the assassination of JFK, as well as the usual false-flag terror ops in Cuba, coke smuggling from South America, torture, etc. A real sweetheart — guys like him define the United States. Him (and Negroponte) have been involved in so much shit it’s unbelievable.
Also see: Pepe Escobar at the Asian times on 9-11 AND THE SMOKING GUN.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 6 2006 0:01 utc | 19
Oh, and just for good measure let throw in the Franklin Credit Union Child Sex-Ring Scandal.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 6 2006 0:13 utc | 20
Uncle $cam is right – this Goss guy is scum. The whole bunch are daddy’s bad boys. Funny Hookergate did him in.
The whole Ball of Wax just gets better and better. If someone tried to write a novel and had all these scandals – no one would even believe it – you just couldn’t make all this stuff up!
… reminds me of a funny stint way back on Saturday Night Live satiring the Clarence Thomas hearings – except this ain’t all that funny and its gone on for six years now without a break.
How will we look back on all this?
@b:
There is no location called the “Hookergate” so such a name would be inaccurate. Instead, we should be calling it “The second Watergate scandal”, or “the Watergate prostitution scandal”, or even “Watergate II”, although if you aren’t in a hurry you can use the unweildy but accurate “five thousand two hundred and sixty-third scandal which would cause, were the majority of the American public not poorly informed, apathetic, and/or morally reprehensible, a popular uprising and end in the incarceration or execution of nearly everyone in Washington and a great many others as well.” But then, you can’t fit that in a headline. Lacks snap.
Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | May 6 2006 2:57 utc | 23
In the context of Hookergate this made me laugh. Is this a comedy routine or what – from Spiegel Online:
MERKEL IN WASHINGTON – Iranian Nukes and German Prostitutes
US ire over German prostitutes
But Iran isn’t the only item on the Bush-Merkel agenda this week. High up on the US president’s list of talking points is concern about the rise in prostitution expected in Germany when it hosts the World Cup this summer. While prostitution is legal in Germany, there is concern that many women — particularly those illegally brought to Germany from Eastern Europe and further afield — could be forced into selling their bodies to meet the increase in demand.
“It is an outrage that the German government is currently facilitating prostitution and we believe women who will be exploited will be treated as commodities,” said Christopher Smith, a Republican member of the House of Representatives and chairman of the House committee on human rights. “President Bush has very strong views on this issue and will make them known to the German chancellor, who will be asked to step up for women who are about to be exploited.”
Some expect as many as 40,000 additional prostitutes may flock to Germany during the month-long soccer tournament to augment Germany’s 400,000 legal sex workers. Germany, together with the German Football Association (DFB), launched a program in March aimed at combating forced prostitution and human trafficking. German officials have thus far refrained from replying to Smith’s comments.
Posted by: Fran | May 6 2006 3:05 utc | 24
General Michael V.(pro- wiretap)Hayden to replace Goss?
It was Hayden who appeared in the White House briefing room in December to defend a highly classified National Security Agency program that includes interception of domestic phone calls and e-mail messages without warrants if one of the parties has known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 6 2006 3:07 utc | 25
Yeah – if Wiretap Hayden replaces Goss, no good may come from any of this, even if Hookergate (or a Mary McCarthy sting) was a planned inside CIA revenge on the Bush regime.
So many of the good CIA people have left. Hard to say where the agency stands right now in being faithful to the current political elite.
Don’t expect too much outrage from voices in our other branches of government. Were not some of the Intelligence commitee members being catered to?
It’s all very exciting but also so very disgusting.
Uncle, you’re on fire tonight. Don’t we know of a similar list of Dem. pedophiles, or is this a disease of the Repugs? (Don’t forget that Hayden testified before Congress that there was nothing in the 4th Amendment specifying that probable cause was required for issuing of warrants…though that’s exactly what it says. Given that CIA is being unleashed domestically, the Senate damn well better filibuster this toadie.)
Posted by: jj | May 6 2006 3:55 utc | 27
Okay, a partial retraction: the “-gate” suffix still annoys me, but reading Billmon calling the current scandal “Fornigate” almost makes up for it.
Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | May 6 2006 6:59 utc | 29
Jeff Gannon comes out for political outings Scandal, Sex, Power, Morality, Defense contracts at the highest levels of government …
I’ve long been convinced that the reason this Administration has gotten as far as it has and not been laid low long before now has been a classic “if I go down, you go down too” standoff; i.e. what dirt they have on who. When and if someone finally pulls out the thing that will drop them in their tracks, they will pull the trigger on something they’ve been holding and one scandal will turn into many.
And the media?
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 6 2006 13:52 utc | 30