Co-Chair of Bush Panel Part of Far Right Network

[marksimons]

get out the rollers son, we've got some white washing to do...

Co-Chair of Bush Panel Part of Far Right Network

by Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush's choice to co-chair his commission to investigate intelligence failures prior to the Iraq War is a long-time, right wing political activist closely tied to the neo-conservative network that led the pro-war propaganda campaign.

Federal appeals court Judge Laurence Silberman, who will share the chairmanship with former Virginia Democratic Senator Charles Robb, also has some history in covert operations.

Retired federal judge Laurence Silberman, listens to president Bush announces the formation of a commission Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 to investigate possible problems with U.S. intelligence. (Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In 1980, when he served as part of former Republican president Ronald Reagan's senior campaign staff, he played a key role in setting up secret contacts between the Reagan-Bush campaign and the Islamic government in Tehran, in what became known as the ''October Surprise'' controversy.

(Former president George HW Bush, the current president's father, was Reagan's vice-president for two terms, 1981-89).

Rewarded with his appeals court judgeship several years later, Silberman helped advise right-wing activists during the 1990s on strategies for pursuing allegations of sexual misconduct by then-Democratic president Bill Clinton, according to various accounts.

Besides Silberman and Robb, a conservative Democrat who also has strong ties to neo-conservatives through the Democratic Leadership Council, Bush chose five other commission members and indicated that two more have yet to be named.

The five include Arizona Republican Senator John McCain; former White House counsel for Clinton and former president Jimmy Carter, Lloyd Cutler; Yale University President Richard Levin; former deputy Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, Admiral William Studeman and retired appeals court judge Pat Wald.

In announcing the panel, Bush rejected appeals by the opposition Democrats in Congress that they be given a role in deciding its membership in order to enhance its credibility.

He also appeared to limit the commission's mandate to study only the mistakes made by the intelligence community in assessing Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.

Bush said the commission will submits its report by Mar. 31, 2005, well after the presidential elections in November.

[jamiroguy1]

U.S. Senator John McCain, who will sit on a commission investigating failures in the intelligence used to justify the Iraq war, said on Friday he did not believe President Bush's administration had manipulated information.

"The president of the United States, I believe, did not manipulate any kind of information for political gain or otherwise," the Republican senator told reporters on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, Germany

Sounds like McCain has already made his mind up. Independent my ass.