Hookers are the LEAST of it...(TPM)

[AnnInLa]

(I like the way Josh Marshall puts it all together....pardon if this has already been posted.)


The hookers in Hookergate are, of course, the sizzle. But there's a bigger story. It stems directly from the Randy "Duke" Cunningham bribery scandal, which many had figured was over. But it's not. You may have noticed that while Duke Cunningham is already in jail and Mitchell Wade has already pled guilty to multiple charges, Brent Wilkes has never been touched. 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. The CIA wasn't the only place Wilkes and his protege Wade plied their corrupt trade. There were also in the mix contracting on the Bush Pentagon's extra-constitutional spying operations. And I am told that senior appointees at the DOD knew about their corruption but overlooked it.

snip

Now, since the Cunningham scandal got under, and particularly of late, there's been a big tug of war between federal law enforcement and the CIA over whether to really go after Wilkes. Probably a little more specificity is in order there, folks at CIA in the orbit of Foggo and presumably Goss.

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.

more at

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008376.php

[robbedvoter]

1. Still, the juiciest...Let's see the mediawhores abstain from it...

Their heads will explode!

[Ilsa]

9. The problem with the mediawhores is that they are too stupid to unravel

these nests of vermin who are busy screwing each other and the taxpayers. The beauty queens (male and female) can't handle anything much more complicated than a stain on a blue dress.

[robbedvoter]

12. It's not a matter of it being complicated. It's the memo, stupid.

I just woder if those photos make the rounds - will the omerta break?

[teknomanzer]

17. The root of the problem is media ownership...

you can't expect GE to start investigating the shady dealings between government point people and the military-industrial complex. Corporate ownership of the media has destroyed it by turning into infotainment and progovernment propaganda. The watchdog is a stuffed animal.

[LiviaOlivia]

2. Looks like Goss knows Foggo from way back

CIA in Central America.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1112782&mesg_id=1115395

[Spazito]

3. Oh my, Oh.............my!

This is getting VERY, VERY interesting! Damn the housework, full post ahead, lol!

[peacetalksforall]

4. And money laudering connected to the poker games? There were

some posts this afternoon about that. (About the convenience of moving it when winning.)

[bleever]

5. Sweetheart deals for a chunk of the black budget.

No oversight, no problem.

Damn, I went into the wrong business.


:(


ed: sp

[Tuesday_Morning]

13. check out this from back in March:

Pentagon Agency's Contracts Reviewed
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 3, 2006; Page A04

Federal investigators are looking into contracts awarded by the Pentagon's newest and fastest-growing intelligence agency, the Counterintelligence Field Activity, which has spent more than $1 billion, mostly for outsourced services, since its establishment in late 2002, according to administration and congressional sources.

The review is an outgrowth of the continuing investigation that resulted in charges against Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), who resigned from Congress in November and is scheduled to be sentenced today after pleading guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy to take $2.4 million in bribes.

In pre-sentencing documents filed this week, prosecutors said that in fiscal 2003 legislation, Cunningham set aside, or earmarked, $6.3 million for work to be done "to benefit" CIFA shortly after the agency was created. The contract went to MZM Inc., a company run by Mitchell J. Wade, who recently pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Cunningham.

<snip>

much more at link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201705.html

[bleever]

28. $1 billion for outsourced work. Healthy competition, or no-bid contracts?

It's not hard to guess which way it was done.

[Quakerfriend]

29. And, don't forget that MZM Inc. has already been shown to

have been nothing more than a FRONT Co.

They are simply robber barons!

[DURHAM D]

6. At the end of this trail is the fact that our taxpayer funds

are being used to finance repug campaigns.

I am all for public financing of campaigns - I just think it should be above the table and both parties should receive monies.

[disndat]

22. A mile wide and a mile deep

This ongoing revelations of this gigantic Bush administration cesspool could not have happened without the active participation of major MSM; Fox news, Rupert Murdoch, NBC, GE defense contractors, CBS, Viacom, and Wash Post. We, the people, are helpless against the onslaught of this gigantic juggernaut, i.e., the combo of the WH and MSM.

[OzarkDem]

23. Up next: Medicare and Medicaid

Here in Ohio, the GOP laboratory for crooked government, its long been suspected that the GOP has created a money laundering scheme through the state Medicaid budget by allowing nursing home owners to overcharge the state. Nursing homes are often allowed to charge the state for beds no one is using; rules regarding their reimbursement rates are set in law and can't be reduced or adjusted. And of course, no one has audited the Medicaid/Medicare program in years.

Naturally, its only a coincidence that the nursing home industry is a major contributor to GOP candidates.

[Joanne98]

24. At 3000.00 dollars a mo, it's a pretty good business.........

Thankyou for that little tidbit.

[Kittycat]

7. Better than an episode of the Sopranos eom

[cascadiance]

8. These times are going to make an epic movie one of these days!

Assuming of course we "fix" our Democracy at some point! :(

Foggo sounds like a cross between Frodo and Pogo...

[Scout1071]

10. Holy. Shit.

I couldn't have written a more scandalous script.

[AuntiBush]

11. When are they Gonna' Rate that Town XXX!?!

Honestly! <-- lacking up there on the stinkin' hill

[ediedidcare]

14. This "Fornigate" thing begs the question...

On AAR today I heard that the FBI was fanning out across DC seizing evidence and that these
"congressional perks" had been going on for TEN YEARS! The unidentified source ( speaking to TMP Muckraker)
said that people close to the sweeps said they were the largest they had ever seen!

My question: what does George Tenet know?


PS: ten years is a long time for MSM to ignore this shit.

[slaveplanet]

15. MSM ignore it?

Hell they're probably involved in it, the money and hookers are flowing everywhere in that wretched city. How many of them are in compromising photos, the CIA has all those nifty gadgets dontcha know?

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. Fornigate?

I like it.

BTW: Welcome to DU :hi:

[newyawker99]

27. Hi ediedidcare!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Hubert Flottz]

18. Buford Pusser for President!

We need someone who will go to Washington and kick some GOPer Ass! Not a bunch of semirepublican nerds who are afraid they might look bad on TV. A lack of backbone and patriotism in Washington is to blame.

[lonestarnot]

19. Juicy! Waiting and watching.

[SoCalDem]

20. Don't forget..DUKE WORE A WIRE FOR MONTHS

Maybe they heard some "interesting" stuff" :)

[holboz]

21. Really!

Great googly moogly...is there enough corn in Nebraska for the amount of popcorn we're going to need to get us through THIS investigation? (not to mention every other scandal that the Repukes managed to get themsevles into?)

OK - I'll start serving...get it while it's hot!

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn::popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn::popcorn:

[rucky]

25. Holy shit.

If that audio ever gets out, the media will actually report this.

[leveymg]

26. Domestic spying: GOP and private NSA-CIA contractors

Marshall just hints at this, and a lot more is going to come out about the relationship of these private intelligence and defense contractors and how they have used the covert surveillance mechanism of privatized intel agencies, along with allied foreign intelligence operations inside the U.S., for domestic partisan advantage and private gain. In return, these contractors have been massively enriched by inflated defense and counter-terrorism spending. This is a criminal conspiracy that threatens the consititutional basis of the American republic.

The career CIA, DIA and FBI have known about it for years, but have been muzzled and sidetracked by GOP flacks and hacks. This investigation, along with Plamegate and the OSP-AIPAC cases, show the good guys are fighting back.


SNIP

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.

The CIA wasn't the only place Wilkes and his protege Wade plied their corrupt trade. There were also in the mix contracting on the Bush Pentagon's extra-constitutional spying operations. And I am told that senior appointees at the DOD knew about their corruption but overlooked it.

Now, since the Cunningham scandal got under, and particularly of late, there's been a big tug of war between federal law enforcement and the CIA over whether to really go after Wilkes. Probably a little more specificity is in order there, folks at CIA in the orbit of Foggo and presumably Goss.

For more info on how the GOP has misused privatized intelligence agencies and allied foreign intelligence services all for political gain, see:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/23/8418/64300
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/9/112130/2397
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/14/133330/930

[ArnoldLayne]

30. Were they underage hookers that should be the question.

[ArnoldLayne]

31. I also heard that some of the prostitutes were male boytoys.