Even Scooter Libby was connected to the Oil For Food Scandal.  There will never be any indictments.

And then there's Marc Rich. Rich, a whipping boy of the right known for his last-minute pardon by Bill Clinton is actually close to influential figures on both sides of the aisle. Rich's lawyer, dating back to the 1980s was none other than recently indicted Cheney aide Irving "Scooter" Libby, who received over $2 million dollars in legal fees from Rich over the course of their relationship.

Rich -- through various French front-companies he established for the purpose -- not only lifted over eight million barrels of oil (paying around $1.5 million in bribes), but his companies financed over $430 million dollars in oil sales.

Reference: AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Quiet Oil-for-Food Scandal

It looks like the French connection in this case was only a red herring.

The $30 Billion Dollar Carlyle Group (the only large private equity firm located in Washington, DC., not New York. Corporate headquarters are on Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between the White House and the Capitol building) has two companies involved.

Carlyle Group, whose board used to include "W" and still retains Daddy Bush and Colin Powell -- and on the other side of the aisle, George Soros, had subsidiaries with contracts under the program and paid kickbacks to Sadaam's regime.

And don't forget Halliburton.  Don't ever forget Haliburton!

James Baker III, the former United States Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush, Staff member under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, is not only Carlyle's Senior Counselor, he's also represents the Saudi Royals and, of course, he's Halliburton's consigliere.

At least one Halliburton firm, Oil Tools International, is listed in the latest report as having made sales of spare parts under the program and paying kickbacks to the regime.

That's in addition to the $73 million in business Halliburton did with Iraq during the sanctions regime under Cheney's leadership, as previously reported by the Washington Post.

Dick Cheney has a history of lobbying to lift sanctions in countries where Halliburton was doing, or hoped to do, business. Those countries include Burma (he signed an amicus brief against the Massachusetts Burma Law), Libya, Iran and Azerbaijan. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he acknowledged that Halliburton -- through off-shore subsidiaries -- did business in those countries but insisted "Iraq's different."

You know America, we really deserve this catastrophe of a presidency for not simply doing out homework and instead, buying the hype.

Gimme a break, is there no shame at all any more?

Fox News Paid for DeLay's Travel

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) "filed a report with the Clerk of the House of Representatives indicating he received free travel valued at $13,998.55 from Fox News Sunday for 'officially connected travel' on October 1-2, 2005, from Sugarland, TX to Washington, D.C. and back to Sugarland, TX. Rep. DeLay appeared on Fox News Sunday on October 2, 2005, the weekend after his indictment on September 28, 2005."

$14 Grand?!? Oh PuhLeeze.

Roundtrip, Houston - D.C. - Houston, First Class, one day notice.

Expedia gave me fares of $692.90, $920.90, or $1,120.90
One night at the Washington DC Ritz, $599.00
Luxury Rental Car, $213.92

Being able to pocket over Ten Grand and call it "expenses" AND being able to grin at softball questions aimed at twisting a potential jury pool in your favor -- PRICELESS!

Hat tip: Political Money Line

VIA: Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

The beltway's talking point in The Fix about Ohio's Forth Congressional District, now an open seat with the departure of Rep. Mike Oxley (R) is that the area is too Red for any Democratic insurgency to take hold.

You can't win if you don't play!  I say they have no idea in Washington just how disgusted we Buckeyes are with the scandal ridden GOP here and in D.C.  Don't underestimate how badly "Coingate" has damaged the Republicans.

See my analysis below.  Scroll down a few posts or Click Here.

. . . Right Now!


Bloviating Nazi

Apropos my previous two posts below, I was suspiciously surprised to hear the Junkie Bigot characterize the secret detention camps we've set up throughout the world as "gulags," just like I did.  The absolutely insufferable thrice divorced blowhard did not disappoint.  He was using his unique gift for satire to attempt the point that folks like me are overreacting to the situation that has Soviet era concentration camps being refurbished, repopulated and used in my name to hide god knows what.

Rather, I should not be concerned that my President is a modern day Torquemada who has officially approved torture chambers, but that some traitor in the CIA must have leaked this fact to the Washington Post.

Gimme a break.  Do you think they'd leak this to Judy Miller at the New York Times?  The story would ever see the light of day? 

Try and fit this into your corpulent noggin Rush, it's all about motive.  When a leak is made to expose corruption, crimes, and just plain Un-American activity by members of our government, especially when there supposedly is an investigation (actually, 12 investigations) to police this activity, that is indeed a "good" leak.  Transparency in a democracy is a "good" thing.

On the other hand, orchestrating leaks based on lies to bolster your feeble rationale to make war and somehow give credibility to claims unsupported by available intelligence is a "bad" leak.  So is leaking the name of secret agents who, once burned, are put in jeopardy along with all their associates just to discredit an administration critic.

Got that you fucking idiot?

BONUS GOP TALKING POINTS THAT WON'T FLY:

I've heard a couple of times that we shouldn't be concerned with Scooter's indictment, after all, who can name the Vice President's Chief of Staff from previous administrations.

Actually, it is indicative of just how disproportionally powerful Dick Cheney is, and what undue influence he holds in this administration that not only was his office completely mired in pushing for war and spreading disinformation to the public, but that we DO INDEED KNOW LIBBY'S NAME.

Remember always, that when the GOPers have nothing, it's all Clinton's fault.  You know they have absolutely no substantive argument when they bring out old Slick Willie.  So when they tell you that Clinton had more scandals than Florida had hurricanes, take one look at the data:  According to the latest CBS Poll which pegs Bush at an all time low of 35% approval, they also ranked the relative importance of recent major scandals.

Naturally, Watergate ranked as the worst one with 53% saying that it was of "Great importance,"  But it was followed closely by the CIA Leak Case currently gaining steam at 51%.  Whitewater and Lewinsky ranked well below those or Iran/Contra on the disgrace parade.  Fittingly so, since the Clinton "scandals" were private, personal incidents while the others involved official abuse of power.  Is it really just coincidental that the GOP scandals were all cases where White House operatives thought they were above the law?  Haven't they figured out that there are so many checks and balances in our system precesely to prevent their kind from taking over?

William F. Buckley, Jr., the godfather of modern American conservatism, keeps his eye on the ball.

Essentially (and in verbiage that doesn't require the mandatory dictionary usually needed to interpret a Buckley screed) he says hangin's too good for whomever was involved in burning Valerie Plame.

Meanwhile, Arianna tracks Tweedy, who learned everything he knows about propaganda from Vice President Cheney.

Chris Matthews has fixated on the events of September 8, 2002, the day Judy Miller's aluminum tube story hit the front page of the New York Times, conveniently planted by Scooter Libby to give the V.P., Condi, Colin and Rummy their "smoking gun = mushroom clouds" talking points to all the Sunday talk shows. He's been repeating this story again and again and again.  Keep at it Chris, and let's make it stick.

Ever vigilent, Josh Marshall questions what National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley was doing in Italy the very next day, Monday, Sept. 9, 2002, as all of us were trying not to go into a deep funk over the 1st anniversary of 9/11 and awaiting the live broadcast of the media pilgrimage to the scene of the crime, another was perpetrated.

That was the most likely day the Niger fogeries were passed from Nicolo Pollari, the head of the Italian Intelligence Agency, SISMI, to Hadley, the man who ultimately took responsibility for those "16 words" that ended up in the next SOTUA which ignited the witch-hunt against the Wilsons. He's also seems to have instigated the bogus claim that Mohammad Atta met with Iraqi intelligence in the Czech Republic.  Now he's trying to sell the snake oil that just because we're running secret internment camps in at least three different countries, doesn't mean we've been torturing anybody.

Who could honestly believe such drivel?  If our intentions are so pure, why on earth would these camps need to be secret, and on foreign soil no less.  Jesus I'm tired of this administration and their apologists pissing on us and saying it's just rain.  Trickle down this, you miscreant assholes!

For the remaining 35% of you out there who actually approve of the wholly unethical and downright criminal behavior of this administration, I delight in informing you that one-by-one, the leakers and the liars will be gone sooner than you think.

That's what it is, that's what we're doing.  You've heard about them before, the secret CIA rendition jets, the archipelago of secret prison camps around the world so we can torture and even kill undocumented and ill defined prisoners.

Hell, were even using the U.S.S.R.'s old concentration camps.

CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.

I'm sorry, but what the American government is doing is down right . . Un-American.

The Cheney/Rumsfeld cabal simply cannot be allowed to continue this repugnant practice, period.  Even the Mooney Times has had enough.

But an interesting question arises about just what one particular prisoner knew, and when did he know it, and why he was allowed to escape.  Especially now, since he was expected to testify against his interrogators.

I never in a million years thought that the country I grew up to love and respect so much could sink this low.  I only hope that eventually Colin Powell's prediction that the world could watch us and see how a free and democratic people clean up our own mess.  It sure is taking longer than I would like.

If it takes ten years, everyone, and I mean everyone from Bush on down must be made to pay the price or this gift of freedom Washington, Jefferson and Madison handed down to us and for which so many courageous men and women sacrificed their lives will indeed perish from the Earth.

Oh, there'll still be a nation-state called the USA here in the center of North America, but it will be unrecognizable to those of us who remember what America used to stand for:  Fairness, equal opportunity, ruled by laws not men.  A place where the foot of the wealthy and greedy didn't stomp on the necks of ordinary folks trying to make a better life for their families.  A place where we all could own guns, but didn't need guns.

A place where our leaders were accountable and all human beings were treated with dignity and the presumption of innocence applied to everyone, not just the party faithful.  A place that had no place for fascists, even if they do look like the Olsen twins. A place where we didn't steal elections or work so hard to divide so many.

She's such a nice lady. But then again, what's a nice lady like her doing with thugs like she runs with? Add her campaign finance embezzlement problems to the rest of the GOP's enumerated corruption scandals.

* The federal grand jury indictment of Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff;

* Two Texas grand jury indictments of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay for conspiracy and money laundering;

* The federal investigation of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for misuse of insider information in the sale of stock in his family's health care company;

* The arrest and charge of David Safavian, former head of the White House Procurement Office, for obstructing two investigations into whether he aided Jack Abramoff in his effort to acquire government property;

* The indictment of a senior House Appropriations Committee member, Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham, accused of a sweetheart deal with a defense lobbyist that netted him $700,000;

* And, most recently, the indictment of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, "Scooter" Libby.

They call this arrogance, the culture of corruption.  I'm calling it just plain stupid.

Stupid for them to try and get away with it and stupid of all the rest of us for letting it continue.

"Senator Ried threw a temper tantrum", or similar smears, will soon be the wingnut take on the Democrats holding their breath and stomping up and down to finally start investigating what really happened in the run up to the war and the White House's apparent complicity or wilful ignorance in disseminating faulty intelligence to bring this nation to a fervor.

Bottom line, Ried got his way.

Senate back in public session

Immediately after returning to public session, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts says Republicans have "agreed to do what we agreed to do."

That, of course was after the GOP leadership took to the microphones to whine about Ried's tactics.  "Stunt" or not, what is "shameful" is not that the Dems had to resort to this maneuver, but that the GOP has stonewalled real accountability and has ignored their obligation to honor the Separation of Powers Doctrine by providing cover for the cabal in this administration for far too long.

Whatever it takes, keep fighting, nice job.

UPDATE:  KOS Details the 23 official attempt the Dems have tried to get the promised Phase II going since March of 2003.  Atrios points to Americablog's account of Frist acting like a baby and Actually Liveblogs the Senate Shutdown here, here, here, here, and has some video here.

HOTLINE BLOG:  Back In Open Session

Did the Democrats' maneuver work?

Here's what Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) just announced on the Senate floor.

"The Majority Leader and the Democratic Leader will appoint three members from their respective parties to meet and report back to the leadership no later that the close of business on 11/14."

They'll report back on the progress of the phase two review on pre-war intelligence. That portion of the review deals with how policy-makers used intelligence and what they said publicly and privately about it.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) defended the probe on the floor of the Senate, saying the phase two report is moving along towards completion. (For a great backgrounder, click here.)

A footnote: several Democratic aides tell us that Sen. Reid and Sen. Jay Rockefeller decided on today's tactic after reading Murray Waas's account on NationalJournal.com of how senior members of Vice President Cheney's staff, including Scooter Libby, may have intentionally withheld crucial documents from the Senate staff. [MARC AMBINDER]

BONUS UPDATE FROM AMERICABLOG

Yikes, even GOP suck-up Matt Drudge is now reporting on [Senator Trent] Lott questioning whether Karl needs to go.

Just before that he was standing up behind Frist and the gang, crying the blues.  I wonder what really was said in that closed Senate meeting to get Lott to find his inner angel; or did he just leap from a sinking ship?  But even questioning the tenure of King Karl's reighn is damn near high treason comming from a GOP leader.

WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, Ohio Republican Rep. Michael Oxley, could announce his retirement as early as Tuesday, sources close to the congressman said on Monday.

Reference:  Reuters.com

Oxley represents that wide open swath of territory betwwn Findlay and Mansfield, norwest of Columbus between Interstate-75 and I-71. He's been entrenched there since 1981. My son was born in '81 and he's voted in two Congressional elections to give you some perspective on how long it's been since this district was Oxley's fiefdom.

This District's election results have forvored the GOP incumbant, often by more than a two to one margin, every time he ran. In fact, the last time a Democrat was elected from there was 1936. Only four men, all Republicans, have represented the district for 70 years.

This my friends is the very definition of Republican Stronghold.  It will certainly be an indication of whether Howard Dean et al. are serious about running competitive races in every district because if you look at the data, and the mood of the country, this one is ripe for the picking with Oxley out.

Trends!

Last year Oxley's margin of victory was lowest of his career, although 59% is nothing to sneeze at. But it is encouraging that during a presidential election in which he had large coattails, the total number of votes he won by, 48,037, was the second slimmest margin he ever got. He's usually in the 60-80 thousand vote range, always receiving over, usually well over 100,000 votes.

Here are the numbers:

YEAR 2004	VICTORY MARGIN 48037	PER-CENT OF TOTAL VOTE 59%
2002	62275	68%
2000	80902	67%
1998	48482	64%
1996	67455	65%
1994	139841	100% (unopposed)
1992	54738	61%
1990	39430	62%
1988	160900	100% (unopposed)
1986	77434	75%
1984	115181	78%
1982	47523	65%

Mind you, last year Oxley recieved more votes than he ever has, 3,000 votes more than he got in 1988 when he ran unopposed.  Even a thousand more votes than he got in 1984 when he had Reagan's coattails and enjoyed the largest percentage of total votes cast in a competitive race, an awesome 78%.

BUT, and this is a big caveat, last year was the first time a Democratic challenger got more than 100,000 votes, and at 59%, Oakley had to count on massive voter turnout to win.  Even though he got more votes than he ever imagined, his percentage of victory was at its lowest.

If done right, starting right now, this district could turn blue, which is such a pretty color, don't you think?

UPDATE:  HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING tells us exactly why this is such great news.  The Democratic Party simply cannot let this opportunity slip away.

Finally!   Josh Marshall is putting All his reporting on the forged Niger documents at the heart of Plamegate in one place.

Thanks Josh!  He's been out in front on this from the start but has left it up to others to connect the dots in a concise synopsis.

Part I is up now.  I definitely smell the tangy aroma of cordite in the air -- I think we're getting closer to the smoking gun.

I've never put all the reporting in one place; and until now there was still a good bit of information I wasn't at liberty to report. This is the first of a series of installments I'm going to publish here at TPM in which I will lay out the story as I understand it based on my own reporting and research.

This first post is a nice primer to get anyone who hasn't been following the story up to speed.  Here's a sample of what he calls intriguing details:

For instance, the State-CIA IG [Iraqi Group] report briefly noted a murky story about contacts between SISMI [Italy's clandestine service] and the CIA in the summer of 2002. That summer SISMI had approached the CIA about an operation they intended to run against the Station Chief of Iraqi intelligence in Rome. The plan was to send disinformation about the Iraqi Station Chief back to Baghdad via a third country. And the subject of the disinformation was to be trade between Iraq and Niger. (The Americans did not object but declined to participate.)

Matthew Yglesias points to where Josh might be going in his preview of a "feature forthcoming in The American Conservative":

Enter Michael Ledeen, the Office of Special Plans’ man in Rome. Ledeen was paid $30,000 by the Italian Ministry of the Interior in 1978 for a report on terrorism and was well known to senior SISMI officials. Italian sources indicate that [Italian Military Intelligence Chief, Gen. Nicolo] Pollari was eager to engage with the Pentagon hardliners, knowing they were at odds with the CIA and the State Department officials who had slighted him. He turned to Ledeen, who quickly established himself as the liaison between SISMI and Feith’s OSP, where he was a consultant. Ledeen, who had personal access to the National Security Council’s Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley and was also a confidant of Vice President Cheney, was well placed to circumvent the obstruction coming from the CIA and State. . .

. On Sept. 9, 2002, Ledeen set up a secret meeting between Pollari and Deputy National Security Adviser Hadley. Two weeks before the meeting, a group of documents had been offered to journalist Elisabetta Burba of the Italian magazine Panorama for $10,000, but the demand for money was soon dropped and the papers were handed over. The man offering the documents was Rocco Martino, a former SISMI officer who delivered the first WMD dossier to London in October 2002. That Martino quickly dropped his request for money suggests that the approach was a set-up primarily intended to surface the documents.

Panorama, perhaps not coincidentally, is owned by Prime Minister Berlusconi. On Oct. 9, the documents were taken from the magazine to the U.S. Embassy, where they were apparently expected. Instead of going to the CIA Station, which would have been the normal procedure, they were sent straight to Washington where they bypassed the agency’s analysts and went directly to the NSC and the Vice President’s Office. . . .

Guess who's coming to dinner. :-)   While most of the country gets dazzled by the flashbulbs from the paparazzi hyping the state visit by Prince Charles and Kamilla, Berlusconi's visit will not go unnoticed by those of us truly paying attention.

Wanna bet that when the Berlusconi and the Chimperor get together behind closed doors the Prime Minister's first question to Bush will be whether tthey are going to burn Pollari?  At a minimum they'll have a chance to get their stories straight since the SISMI chief looks to be in as much trouble as Libby.

Pollari was to face parliament this week on allegations that he planted forged documents with U.S. and British intelligence agencies on Iraq's alleged attempts to buy uranium from Niger.

The bogus information led to the CIA's appointment of former Ambassador Joe Wilson to investigate the African deal and then to the outing of Wilson's wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame, who sent him.

Notice any similarity between Cheney calling Libby "one of the most capable and talented individuals I have ever known," and this statement by Berlusconi:

"I have esteem for Gen. Nicolo Pollari," Berlusconi said, and "I have followed his work with trust."

In case you missed it, or have trouble translating from the Italian, that's called "circling the wagons."

{. . . and why do I keep having this urge to type "LiDDy" instead of Libby?]