it was bolton, in State, with a sledgehammer

further to my earlier comments about sibel - in her interview with scott horton (im still waiting on a transcript) she points the finger at long-term state department officials working with quasi-official agencies.

here's sibel in an interview with Christopher Deliso, july2004: .

"It's interesting, in one of my interviews, they say "Turkish countries," but I believe they meant Turkic countries – that is, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and all the 'Stans, including Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and [non-Turkic countries like] Afghanistan and Pakistan. All of these countries play a big part in the sort of things I have been talking about."

and heres sibel (*very* rough paraphrased) in the recent horton interview:

"In the VF article they are talking about Turkic *countries* - its plural people! we are talking about Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - these are the countries that we are now establishing bases in. a huge % of the gdp of these countries is narcotics - and alqaida has an enormous presence in these countries. we talk about the axis of evil - but we dont even talk about these balkan countries when we talk about the War on Terror - and then there's pakistan - which is involved both before and after 911."

she continues:

some people in DoD, some in State - some of these people have been there for a while - some of them have had their roots there since the mid-nineties

scott then asked her 'so maybe more career officials than political appointments? - sibel replied: 'maybe a mixture of both' - its not obvious whether she meant there were two types of people - both career and political appointments, or if the relevant people were both careerist *and* political

with all that in mind, lets cast our feeble minds back to the SFRC hearings on bolton. Melody Townsel, who was stationed in Kyrgyzstan on a US AID project, wrote a letter to the SFRC

"Dear Sir:

I'm writing to urge you to consider blocking in committee the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the UN.

In the late summer of 1994, I worked as the subcontracted leader of a US AID project in Kyrgyzstan officially awarded to a HUB primary contractor. My own employer was Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, and I reported directly to Republican leader Charlie Black.

After months of incompetence, poor contract performance, inadequate in-country funding, and a general lack of interest or support in our work from the prime contractor, I was forced to make US AID officials aware of the prime contractor's poor performance.

I flew from Kyrgyzstan to Moscow to meet with other Black Manafort employees who were leading or subcontracted to other US AID projects. While there, I met with US AID officials and expressed my concerns about the project -- chief among them, the prime contractor's inability to keep enough cash in country to allow us to pay bills, which directly resulted in armed threats by Kyrgyz contractors to me and my staff.

Within hours of sending a letter to US AID officials outlining my concerns, I met John Bolton, whom the prime contractor hired as legal counsel to represent them to US AID. And, so, within hours of dispatching that letter, my hell began.

Mr. Bolton proceeded to chase me through the halls of a Russian hotel -- throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door and, generally, behaving like a madman. For nearly two weeks, while I awaited fresh direction from my company and from US AID, John Bolton hounded me in such an appalling way that I eventually retreated to my hotel room and stayed there. Mr. Bolton, of course, then routinely visited me there to pound on the door and shout threats.

When US AID asked me to return to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in advance of assuming leadership of a project in Kazakstan, I returned to my project to find that John Bolton had proceeded me by two days. Why? To meet with every other AID team leader as well as US foreign-service officials in Bishkek, claiming that I was under investigation for misuse of funds and likely was facing jail time. As US AID can confirm, nothing was further from the truth.

He indicated to key employees of or contractors to State that, based on his discussions with investigatory officials, I was headed for federal prison and, if they refused to cooperate with either him or the prime contractor's replacement team leader, they, too, would find themselves the subjects of federal investigation. As a further aside, he made unconscionable comments about my weight, my wardrobe and, with a couple of team leaders, my sexuality, hinting that I was a lesbian (for the record, I'm not).

When I resurfaced in Kyrgyzstan, I learned that he had done such a convincing job of smearing me that it took me weeks -- with the direct intervention of US AID officials -- to limit the damage. In fact, it was only US AID's appoinment of me as a project leader in Almaty, Kazakstan that largely put paid to the rumors Mr. Bolton maliciously circulated.

As a maligned whistleblower, I've learned firsthand the lengths Mr. Bolton will go to accomplish any goal he sets for himself. Truth flew out the window. Decency flew out the window. In his bid to smear me and promote the interests of his client, he went straight for the low road and stayed there.

John Bolton put me through hell -- and he did everything he could to intimidate, malign and threaten not just me, but anybody unwilling to go along with his version of events. His behavior back in 1994 wasn't just unforgivable, it was pathological.

I cannot believe that this is a man being seriously considered for any diplomatic position, let alone such a critical posting to the UN. Others you may call before your committee will be able to speak better to his stated dislike for and objection to stated UN goals. I write you to speak about the very character of the man.

It took me years to get over Mr. Bolton's actions in that Moscow hotel in 1994, his intensely personal attacks and his shocking attempts to malign my character.

I urge you from the bottom of my heart to use your ability to block Mr. Bolton's nomination in committee.

Respectfully yours,

Melody Townsel
Dallas, TX 75208

to re-iterate - bolton is both a careerist and a political appointment - he has been at State since the mid-nineties - he was in the region that sibel describes - and he is either a complete bully, or he was going crazy trying to protect a franchise that may have been in danger of falling apart.

i havent got the time to look into it at the moment - but if i had to speculate, using sibel's claims as a platform, (and im drawing long, completely unsubstantiated bows here) , id be tempted to posit that USAID had been white-anted by the CIA, and that Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly was a CIA front organisation.

along the same lines, im tempted to consider the possibility that Brewster Jennings was a CIA-front (just kidding - we already know that is true) which was uncomfortably close to uncovering the true nature of international WMD transfers (ive never really accepted that the administration destroyed the Brewster Jennings cover-story for the purpose of undermining joe wilson)

remember - none of the plame-gate stuff makes sense. thats why i havent been writing about the daily twists in the last 3 months - it all seems so off the mark. i was one of the first to wrote that fitzgerald might be a real hero when all the noise was about miller going to jail. it seems to me that his case is much larger than any of the stuff we hear about - and much larger even than any of the speculation is about. as far as i can gather, fitzgerald wont hesitate to flip miller from civil to criminal contempt - which theoretically can be a life sentence. and its in this context that we need to consider boltons recent jail visit. he needed to give her 'support' and he couldnt send a proxy. i just hope that fitzgerald was able to get the tapes from that visit. these people are fucking nervous - and its a beautiful thing to behold - lets hope that they dont get away with it. unfortunately, they are likely to have been able to buy off the security guy at the jail and the tape will likely have gone missing.

lets remember - it was ashcroft who claimed 'state secrets' and he too is now under investigation thanks to conyers

we are on a razors edge - either they all fucking go - or none of em.

ill close with this statement again, leveraging exclusively from sibel's claims (and sans my speculative interpretation):

"to re-iterate - bolton is both a careerist and a political appointment - he has been at State since the mid-nineties - he was in the region that sibel describes "

and with that in mind, lets remember that bush appointed him to the UN against senate wishes. bush is complicit. and bolton is there for a reason.

-----------------------

update - i wrote a new post on this here

-----

update - my latest piece is here