An excerpt of Jason Leopold's article on Truthout.org:
A new wrinkle over the apparent politicization of the Department of Justice (DOJ) emerged on Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when a freshman Democratic lawmaker revealed the contents of a May 2006 memo. The memo, signed by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, granted Vice President Dick Cheney extraordinary authority to review active federal civil and criminal investigations at the DOJ.
Hmmm.. VP Dick Cheney had reviewed active civil and criminal DOJ investigations. Was Ms. Palfrey was on the radar during that time? Here is what we know about the officials that were Ms. Palfrey's clients:
1. Harlan Ullman
Washington Times columnist Harlan Ullman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Ret. U.S. Army Col. Ronald Roughead has also been located in the phone records of Pamela Martin & Associates (Cingular 2005, page 4, three-calls on 12/17/2005). Colonel Roughead headed IMN (Iraqi Media Network) in 2004-2005, and worked for SAIC (Scientific Applications International Corporation) as recently as May 4th of 2006 when he testified before a congressional intelligence committee. Because of his work with IMN, it has been speculated by some members of the public that he is sometimes engaged in "psy-ops" (psychological operations) and/or a propaganda chief of some sort. Many employees of SAIC retain their government security clearances as part of their employment with the firm--necessary for the expediting of certain contracts with the Defense Department and the intelligence community, both primary customers of SAIC. Col. Roughead is brother to CNO (Chief Naval Officer) Rear Admiral Gary Roughead. He resides in Alexandria, Virginia, just three-miles from the Capitol Building. It should also be noted that Col. Roughead was also part of the investigation into the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, and a former Defense Attache.
2. Randall Tobias
The scandal has led to the resignation of Ambassador Randall L. Tobias from his State Department position with the U.S. Agency for International Development. USAID is found in the recently declassified 702-page "Family Jewels" of the CIA as a front company and conduit for operations by the agency abroad. This has been long suspected by researchers of the agency, but is now confirmed by the declassifications. There are "smaller" players in the records as well: Mark Capansky, a minor Annapolis football player who made a September 2005 call to Pamela Martin & Associates. Capansky's significance is that he was an intern for Pennsylvania Rep. Bob Goodlatte in 2004-2005.
3. Senator David Vitter
Senator David Vitter (R-LA) acknowledged that he had been a customer of Palfrey's escort service. On September 2nd of 2007, writer Bill Keisling noted that Sen. David Vitter's prescence in the phone records of Pamela Martin & Associates amounted to a violation of his duties as a minority leader on the Foreign Relations Committee.
No comments:
Post a Comment