Dirt is surfacing on Bush's Kangaroo WMD Commission

[Rose Siding]

He's still invoking them as his gold standard of intel reform - This was part of Bush's non-answer from yesterday's Q&A:

"Your question, however, the part that's really important is how do we regain credibility when it comes to intelligence?

"I mean, obviously, the Iranian issue is a classic case where we've got to make sure that when we speak there's credibility. . . .

"And so what I did was I called together the Silberman-Robb commission, Laurence Silberman and former Senator Chuck Robb, to take a full look at what went right and what went wrong on the intelligence; and how do we structure an intelligence network that makes sure there's full debate among the analysts; how do we make sure that there's a full compilation of data points that can help decision-makers like myself be comfortable in the decision we make. . . .

Coincidentally (or not) Laura Rozen at War and Piece has some timely revelations about who was working for
Robb and Silberman, and the funding involved.

There are indications of ties to MZM. This is important because the Cunningham/MZM investigation is reaching deep into the corruption of govt contracting practices, including bribery in many forms-

"WH Intel Contracts Mystery Solved? I think Justin Rood offers a Eureka moment with his observation that the White House issued Mitchell Wade's MZM Inc. three contracts for "intelligence services" in 2004, at the same time that the White House-authorized Silberman-Robb commission on WMD employed three MZM executives as expert staff.

(...)

....If true, how did MZM shape the commission's findings? And is there any concern about the possible corruption of the commission's work, since it would have been performed by a contractor who has admitted getting classified US government defense and intelligence contracts through graft?

A particular conflict of interest would be any MZM role in the commission's findings on the analysis performed by the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) in Charlottesville, Virginia (think, aluminum tubes). As Walter Pincus' reporting reveals, MZM systematically bought off key officials of the NGIC, hiring first their relatives and then hiring the key officials themselves.

Unlike say the 9/11 commission, the Silberman-Robb commission operated with almost no transparency -- zero public hearings, almost no public outreach, except for a few public appearances after their report was released. It doesn't build much good will or confidence in their findings when allegations like this arise.

Update: I do remember noting that Robb was one of the few Democrats who received a lot of money from Wilkes/Wade but couldn't remember which. It turns out Robb got $19,000 from Wilkes and Wilkes'-PAC. Hmm.

More from Rozen here:
snip>
It's too bad the Silberman-Robb commission literature fails to note three of its professional staff members' employment by MZM, Inc.........

and here

[liveoaktx]

1. Wow! Looks like the Silberman-Robb Commission is the next

to fall into disrepute.

[upi402]

2. k/r

[Rose Siding]

3. spike

[stillcool]

4. I like this story....

I see a shit-load of smoke coming off of the defense industry contracts and party politics.

[Rose Siding]

5. uno mas

[Rose Siding]

6. c'est finis

[glitch]

7. The corruption cancer has metastasized. K & R nt

:dem:

[Cults4Bush]

8. K&R'd n/t

[wordpix2]

9. repeat after me for '06 elections: culture of corruption, culture of

corruption...

[TahitiNut]

10. Judge Laurence Silberman is as corrupt and sleazy a partisan as they get.

His part in the Scaife-funded "Arkansas Project" and the sleaze-boating of Clinton was made clear in "Blinded by the Right" by David Brock.



http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/02/10/silberman/index.html

[Octafish]

11. BFEE turd got his button for services rendered in the October Surprise

To help sink the release of American hostages held by Iran in 1980, Lawrence Silberman met with representatives of the Iranians at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in DC.

Reprise of the October Surprise: Is the Worst Surprise Still to Come?

By Richard H. Curtiss
May/June 1991, Page 11
Special Report

EXCERPT...

It is here that the story of illegal dealings with Khomeini intermediaries by Reagan campaign officials begins. Bob Woodward and Walter Pincus of The Washington Post were the first to report that one such meeting took place in Washington, DC. It was held Oct. 2 at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. Reagan campaign participants were Richard Allen, subsequently the Reagan administration's first national security adviser; Marine Lt. Col. Robert (Bud) McFarlane, then an aide to Senator John Tower but subsequently also a Reagan administration national security adviser; and Allen aide Lawrence Silberman, who apparently set up the meeting and who presently is a judge on the Federal Court of Appeals in the national capital. A shadowy Iranian Jewish arms dealer, Hushang Lavie, says he was the Iranian principal. Allen says he was not, but that he has forgotten the name of the Iranian they met. Silberman and McFarlane wouldn't discuss the matter with the "Frontline" producers. All three Americans maintain, however, that they have lost any notes they made during or after the meeting.

Sick and the "Frontline" producers say that long before the meeting in the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel there were others, starting in early March of 1980, involving Reagan campaign manager William Casey, a former OSS operative and, subsequently, Reagan's first director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Casey's first meeting was in Washington, DC's Mayflower Hotel with two Iranian arms dealers, Cyrus and Jamshid Hashemi. The brothers, who also were involved in the Iranian dealings with the Carter administration, said Casey made it clear he wanted to prevent Carter from gaining political advantage from freeing the hostages.

SOURCE:

http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0591/9105011.htm

These turds are traitors.

[grasswire]

12. thank you for that

Goddam them. Anti-American SOBs.