From July 9: Porter Goss as CIA Director? Cheney's Cat's Paw

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July 6, 2004

Cheney's Cat's Paw
Porter Goss as CIA Director?
By RAY McGOVERN

From Sycophant Tenet to Professional Politician

This is what CIA would get with Porter Goss at the helm. Appointing Goss would administer the coup de grAcntce to intelligence analysts trying to survive while still speaking truth without fear or favor. The only saving grace for them would be the likelihood that they would be spared "multiple visits" by Cheney to the inner sanctum where it used to be possible to produce unvarnished analysis without vice presidents and other policy makers looking over their shoulders to ensure they "had thought of everything." Goss, who has a long history of subservience to Cheney, could be counted upon to play the Cheney/Gingrich/et al. role himself.

Goss on 9/11

With respect to the various investigations into 9/11, Goss was thrust into the limelight by Cheney, who initially opposed any investigation at all. In February 2002, Cheney went so far as to warn that if Congress decided to go ahead with an investigation, administration officials might not show up to testify. When folks started talking about the need for a genuinely independent commission, though, Cheney acquiesced in the establishment of the congressional joint committee as the lesser evil and took reassurance from the fact that Goss could be counted on to keep the lid ona*"and, when necessary, run rings around co-chair Sen. Bob Graham, (D-FL).

Porter Goss performed that task brilliantly, giving clear priority to providing political protection for the president. Goss acquiesced when the White House and CIA refused to allow the joint committee to report out any information on what President Bush had been told before 9/11a*"ostensibly because it was "classified." This gave rise to thinly disguised, but eloquently expressed, chagrin on the part of the committee staff director, who clearly had expected stronger backing in her negotiations with White House officials.

As a result, completely absent from the committee's report was any mention of the President's Daily Brief of Aug. 6, 2001, which bore the title "Bin Laden determined to strike in US," even though the press had already reported the title and the gist of that damning piece of evidence. Small wonder that the families of 9/11 victims were outraged and pressed even harder for an independent investigation.

Full article: http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern07062004.html

Ray McGovern, a CIA analyst for 27 years, is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and a contributor to CounterPunch's unsparing new history of the Afghanistan/Iraq wars.

[reprehensor]

1. Thank you!

[Hornito]

2. I am sure Goss can be counted on to "clean things up" at the CIA

before Bush is run from (ie: voted out of) office. He'll have the shredders on high.

One of Kerry's first duties, will be to fire Goss, and every other fascist Bushie in DC, and send their asses packing! We'll see what Kerry is made of, by how he "cleans house", and launches investigations and prosecutions on the criminal actions of the Bushies. Will John truly clean house, or will he "make nice", and allow the fascists to maintain a profile?

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3. June 01Porter Goss Statement Regarding Kerry's Speech on National Security

The nomination of Goss is a blatant assault on our democracy. Bush is attempting the complete republican takeover of the U.S. government, effective with the installation of one of his political shills at the CIA as a direct investigative mouthpiece to aid the Bush campaign. If he makes it, look for any and all dirt on Kerry to 'mysteriously' find daylight.


U.S. Representative Porter Goss (R-FL), Statement Regarding Sen. John Kerry's Speech on National Security- Tuesday, June 01, 2004

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Representative Porter Goss (R-FL), issued the following statement regarding U.S. Senator John Kerry's speech on national security:

"John Kerry's speech today amounted to little more than political 'me-tooism.' He laid out some old goals that everyone agrees to, without offering concrete proposals to achieve them. He also neglected the President's historic achievements in this area.

"We've seen important progress on these issues just this week, with Russia announcing that it will be joining the Proliferation Security Initiative put forth by President Bush last year. This is an important step forward and adds to the momentum this administration has established in addressing these important issues.

"We have seen the disarmament of Libya thanks to the diplomatic efforts of the Administration in conjunction with Great Britain, and we have seen multilateral talks to address the threats of North Korea. We have seen success in the disruption of the A. Q. Khan network, and the G-8 nations have made nonproliferation their top international security concern under the leadership of President Bush.

"While John Kerry today ignored the remarkable progress that has been made under President Bush, he largely embraced the goals that the President has already laid to make the world a safer place."

More of his diatribe here:
http://www.georgebush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2723