Neocon Coup at CIA? It will be if John Lehman takes over

[shraby]

All this folderol about how the neoconservative moment is over, and the War Party totally discredited, is just so much wishful thinking, as the prospect of John F. Lehman's nomination as CIA chief makes all too clear. Rumor has it that Porter Goss is out – too partisan – and Lehman is leading the pack. If so, this is a testament to the neocons' bureaucratic staying power.

Formerly an investment banker with Paine Webber, Inc., Lehman was President of the Abington Corporation, (1977-81), a lobbying and consulting firm, a staff member of the National Security Council under Henry Kissinger, and deputy director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He has been associated with the neoconservative network in Washington since the good old days of Iran-Contra. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Lehman Secretary of the Navy: he served until 1987. In 1983, a mysterious package of documents arrived at the New York Times, a fortuitous delivery that led to a piece by reporter Jeff Gerth in which Lehman, along with Richard Perle, was accused of accepting payments from Israeli arms dealers Shlomo Zabludowicz and his son, Chaim Zabludowicz, who were Perle's clients in 1980. They paid $90,000 to Abington Corporation: Perle kept $50,000, while Abington got the rest.

Lehman blamed his wife: Perle said he did the work for the Zabludowicz clan before he was employed by the government. Whatever.

In any case, as per the custom in Washington, Lehman and Perle survived the scandal, as neocons always do, and lived to fight another day.

(more)

<http://www.antiwar.com/justin/>

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. Lehman will never stand a chance...they'll run circles around him.

[Guaranteed]

2. This is good to know.

Thanks for posting this.

[SoCalDem]

3. If he "serves at the will of the president", he won't be serving long..

When Kerry takes office, he can just replace him:)