Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Don't shoot me: I'm only the Director of Central Intelligence.

Pictured above is Porter Goss and King George W announcing Goss's resignation as Director of Central Intelligence, while National Intelligence Director John Negroponte looks on. Why did Porter Goss resign?

The prevailing attitude seems to be that Porter Goss was a victim of a bureaucratic turf war. The minority view is that he wanted to get out on a Friday, because Monday was reserved for the exit of Dusty Foggo.

Who is Dusty Foggo? Let’s back up a little. Duke Cunningham is the disgraced Republican congressman who is now doing time for bribery. On April 27, 2006, Ken Silverstein of Harper’s Magazine reported:
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.

The two defense contractors who allegedly bribed Cunningham, said the [The Wall Street] 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 comittees—including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post. [Note: Porter Goss was the head of the House Intelligence Committee, before Dubya appointed him to be Director of Central Intelligence.] I've also been able to learn the name of the limousine service that was used to ferry the guests and other attendees to the parties: Shirlington Limousine and Transportation of Arlington, Virginia. Wilkes, I've learned, even hired Shirlington as his personal limousine service.
Wilkes is a long time friend of Dusty Foggo, who, for no apparent reason, was elevated to the #3 spot at the CIA when Porter Goss seized the reins.

Shirlington Limousine Co. was then awarded a $21.2 million contract from Department Homeland Security for “shuttle services and executive transportation support," notwithstanding the fact that the owner of Shirlington, Chris Baker has a lengthy criminal record -- a 62 page rap sheet -- and the fact that when the contract was awarded, the company had lost its DOT authority and its busses had been repossessed.

Now people who know, and especially people who know Porter Goss, say he may have been at the poker parties, but he is not the kind of guy to get down with hookers. So, Big Mitch says, give the guy the benefit of the doubt: he wasn’t involved with the hookers.

Here’s the problem. It’s okay to plead ignorance if you are merely the piano player in a whore house, but it is the job of the Director of Central Intelligence to know what’s going on.

Big Mitch says, if he didn’t know about the hookers, that should be a firing offense.

“… and tell ’em Big Mitch sent ya!”

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