WOULD YOU WANT IT KNOWN YOU GAVE TO GORE?

The Wilsons for Gore (Robert Novak, October 4, 2003, Townhall.com)

On the same day in 1999 that retired diplomat Joseph Wilson was returned $1,000 of $2,000 he contributed to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore a month earlier because it exceeded the federal limit, his CIA-employee wife gave $1,000 to Gore using a fictitious identification for herself.

In making her April 22, 1999, contribution, Valerie E. Wilson identified herself as an "analyst" with "Brewster-Jennings & Associates." No such firm is listed anywhere, but the late Brewster Jennings was president of Socony-Vacuum oil company a half-century ago. Any CIA employee working under "non-official cover" always is listed with a real firm, but never an imaginary one.

Don't they all list their employer as Universal Export?

MORE:
-What’s Wrong with the CIA? (Herbert E. Meyer, October 2003, Imprimis)
-Leak of Agent's Name Causes Exposure of CIA Front Firm (Walter Pincus and Mike Allen, 10/04/03, Washington Post)

The leak of a CIA operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA front company, potentially expanding the damage caused by the original disclosure, Bush administration officials said yesterday.

The company's identity, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, became public because it appeared in Federal Election Commission records on a form filled out in 1999 by Valerie Plame, the case officer at the center of the controversy, when she contributed $1,000 to Al Gore's presidential primary campaign.

After the name of the company was broadcast yesterday, administration officials confirmed that it was a CIA front.

Gee, you'd think the more newsworthy angle would be lying on a campaign finance document.

-PAYDIRT: On Thursday, David Kay, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, testified before Congress' Intelligence committees on the activities of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG). His remarks are excerpted here. (NY Post, October 4, 2003)

IRAQ's WMD programs spanned more than two decades, involved thousands of people, billions of dollars and were elaborately shielded by security and deception operations that continued even beyond the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The very scale of this program, coupled with conditions in Iraq, dictate the speed at which we can move to a comprehensive understanding of Iraq's WMD activities.

With the regime of Saddam Hussein at an end, ISG has the opportunity for the first time of drawing together all the evidence that can still be found - much evidence is irretrievably lost - to reach definitive conclusions concerning the true state of Iraq's WMD program. [...]

WHAT have we found in the first three months of our work?

We have discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002. The discovery came about both through the admissions of Iraqi scientists and officials concerning information they deliberately withheld and through physical evidence.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 4, 2003 6:08 AM