You learn something new every day. For a few weeks now — seems like a few years, but that’s another matter — I’ve been working on an article about Iraq and the ‘regime change’ debate. Basically that means whether we should invade Iraq and otherthrow Saddam Hussein. I ended up coming to some conclusions that surprised me. But the article isn’t out yet so I can’t go into that.
Anyway, I found something else that surprised me no end.
If you’ve watched the debate about taking the war on terrorism to Baghdad you’ve almost certainly seen R. James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA during Bill Clinton’s first two years in office. Today Woolsey is a member of the law firm of Shea & Gardner, an outspoken advocate of overthrowing Saddam with military force, and also a strong supporter of something called the Iraqi National Congress (INC).
The INC was formed after the Gulf War under the loose and but fairly open sponsorship of the CIA. In the late 1990s the INC became a big player in DC, making good contacts on the Hill, pushing ‘regime change’ very successfully and generally playing the Clinton administration like a fiddle.
Anyway, when I was looking into all this I thought I’d check to see who was registered as working as a foreign agent for the INC in Washington. Imagine my surprise when I checked and found that it was the law firm of Shea & Gardner, Jim Woolsey’s law firm.
Woolsey’s name isn’t mentioned on the official filing. But I don’t think it needs to be. The connection speaks for itself. Having said that, I don’t think Woolsey is ‘bought.’ He’s clearly a true believer. Still you’d think this was a connection the nets would mention when he goes on TV to chat about Iraq and the INC.
The official Justice Department filing is now part of the Talking Points Memo Document Collection.
P.S. It starts to get interesting around page 11.
