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The orchestrated death of democrats, by whome?
Paul Wellstone, the courageous Democratic senator from Minnesota who dared to defy Bush and vote against this war, died on October 24.
His death was nearly identical to that of Dem. Senator Mel Carnahan in 2000.
Like Wellstone, Carnahan was leading in the polls against a candidate who was financed by that same mysterious organization that funneled money into Carnahans’ opponent, John Ashcroft.
Carnahan's widow proceeded to replace Mel Carnahan seat in congress.
This time the goons took no chances and made sure they got the wife, too?
(Mrs. Wellstone was also killed).
His death was nearly identical to that of Dem. Senator Mel Carnahan in 2000.
Like Wellstone, Carnahan was leading in the polls against a candidate who was financed by that same mysterious organization that funneled money into Carnahans’ opponent, John Ashcroft.
Carnahan's widow proceeded to replace Mel Carnahan seat in congress.
This time the goons took no chances and made sure they got the wife, too?
(Mrs. Wellstone was also killed).
I can feel in my bones, in my heart, and in my soul that Senator Paul Wellstone was murdered. Maybe not by the CIA, but at the very least by GOP operatives. A serious accusation? Damn right, and I mean it, in all seriousness. I only half-seriously wondered if Me Carnahan, running against John Ashcroft in Missouri, had been murdered. Remember him? Same identical thing: right before the election, with a strong lead, he dies in a plane crash. Another voice of Democracy silenced by those who would murder not just good men, but Democracy herself. Less than two weeks ago, here in Baltimore, a family of seven was murdered, burned to death in their homes in what was supposed to have looked like an "accidental" fire for speaking out against drug lords. Now Paul Wellstone has speaken out against the oil lords and he and his family are dead.
My heart feels ripped apart. Here was a man of courage and conscience. An American hero in the truest sense of the world When so many of his colleagues in Congress cowered, afraid to uphold truth, Wellstone risked all to stand up and say "Enough!" I remember reading how, before the vote, he called his aides and family together to tell them. I may be finished politically, but I must vote my conscience. Please understand. What a fine human being. And now, he is dead. Can anyone not totally brainwashed believe this is a coincidence - less than two weeks before a critical election, with Wellstone surging ahead in the polls. This was murder. I do not know how. I do not know by whom. But murder, it most surely was.
This is it, folks, war has been declared on us by those among us who seek to give absolute power to a fascist regime that wants to plunge us and the world into an eternal war to fuel their own lust for wealth and power. If America allows this murder to go unaddressed, uninvestigated by an unbiased, thorough investigators in a search for facts open at every turn to the public, then our nation is doomed. The Nazis are here to stay. Who then, will be next?
Will Wellstone's less courageous colleagues in Congress finally now find the guts and conscience to speak up and demand justice. Their fallen brother deserved their support on October 11 and failed to get it. Will they give it now? God and America are watching.
My heart feels ripped apart. Here was a man of courage and conscience. An American hero in the truest sense of the world When so many of his colleagues in Congress cowered, afraid to uphold truth, Wellstone risked all to stand up and say "Enough!" I remember reading how, before the vote, he called his aides and family together to tell them. I may be finished politically, but I must vote my conscience. Please understand. What a fine human being. And now, he is dead. Can anyone not totally brainwashed believe this is a coincidence - less than two weeks before a critical election, with Wellstone surging ahead in the polls. This was murder. I do not know how. I do not know by whom. But murder, it most surely was.
This is it, folks, war has been declared on us by those among us who seek to give absolute power to a fascist regime that wants to plunge us and the world into an eternal war to fuel their own lust for wealth and power. If America allows this murder to go unaddressed, uninvestigated by an unbiased, thorough investigators in a search for facts open at every turn to the public, then our nation is doomed. The Nazis are here to stay. Who then, will be next?
Will Wellstone's less courageous colleagues in Congress finally now find the guts and conscience to speak up and demand justice. Their fallen brother deserved their support on October 11 and failed to get it. Will they give it now? God and America are watching.
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The reason they( whomever orchestrated this homicide) took this drastic step was because it was too late in the game to pull off a "cynthia Mckinney" on Paul, who was leading in the polls and was bound to win the reelection>
(snip)
Paul Wellstone is a hunted man.
(snip)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020527&s=nichols
Paul Wellstone is a hunted man.
(snip)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020527&s=nichols
They "Ron Brown"-ed him. Despicable.
Someone should tell Ron Paul to walk to work.
Sane folks might consider giving the oil lords a taste of their own medicine, starting with Cheney, leaving little lord coke-leroy without a puppeteer.
"Assassinated." was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the headline on Drudge.
Someone should tell Ron Paul to walk to work.
Sane folks might consider giving the oil lords a taste of their own medicine, starting with Cheney, leaving little lord coke-leroy without a puppeteer.
"Assassinated." was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the headline on Drudge.
When his plane crashed after dissenting on the Warren
report conclusion, The hidden hand strikes again.
report conclusion, The hidden hand strikes again.
Please! Why even ask if Wellstone was murdered. Carnahan was murdered John F. Kennedy was murdered, Jack Kennedy was murdered, John Lennon was murdered, Martin Luther King was murdered.... the list goes on and on...
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please! Why even ask if Wellstone was murdered. Carnahan was murdered John F. Kennedy was murdered, Jack Kennedy was murdered, John Lennon was murdered, Martin Luther King was murdered.... the list goes on and on...
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please! Why even ask if Wellstone was murdered. Carnahan was murdered John F. Kennedy was murdered, Jack Kennedy was murdered, John Lennon was murdered, Martin Luther King was murdered.... the list goes on and on...
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please! Why even ask if Wellstone was murdered. Carnahan was murdered John F. Kennedy was murdered, Jack Kennedy was murdered, John Lennon was murdered, Martin Luther King was murdered.... the list goes on and on...
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please! Why even ask if Wellstone was murdered. Carnahan was murdered John F. Kennedy was murdered, Jack Kennedy was murdered, John Lennon was murdered, Martin Luther King was murdered.... the list goes on and on...
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please! Why even ask if Wellstone was murdered. Carnahan was murdered John F. Kennedy was murdered, Jack Kennedy was murdered, John Lennon was murdered, Martin Luther King was murdered.... the list goes on and on...
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please! Why even ask if Wellstone was murdered. Carnahan was murdered John F. Kennedy was murdered, Jack Kennedy was murdered, John Lennon was murdered, Martin Luther King was murdered.... the list goes on and on...
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please! Why even ask if Wellstone was murdered. Carnahan was murdered John F. Kennedy was murdered, Jack Kennedy was murdered, John Lennon was murdered, Martin Luther King was murdered.... the list goes on and on...
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A conspiracy to kill promising democrats by sabotaging their small planes a la JFK Jr.? Ya think?Let's see...JFK, JFK Jr., Bobby Kennedy, Marin Luther King, Paul Wellstone, Mr. Ashcroft's opponent...hmmm, anyone notice there are no conservatives or Republicans on the assasination list? Coincidence? Yeah, right. Advice to my daughter: keep your head low and your ambitions in check. Or they will kill you.
Don't forget the Clinton 50 -
By the way, conservatives like George Wallace also get shot. I'd look at anyone who doesn't toe the central line. Right or left.
By the way, conservatives like George Wallace also get shot. I'd look at anyone who doesn't toe the central line. Right or left.
It would seem that any political dissidents in favor of freedom and against the supreme fascist authority (whoever may be pulling the strings) that gain too much in the way of popular support gets offed. Just in the last couple of years: JFK Jr goes down in private plane, Sony Bono skies into a tree with no one seeing the event take place (ya right), Paul Wellstone's private plane goes down and Carnahan goes down in private plane crash. That's more Senatorial fatalities than statistics can alot for by random factors. Anyone that is perceived to be able to stir the public to action against the fascist regime is eliminated before the threat emerges. So why, you might ask, have people like Jesse Jackson not been assassinated? The answer is simple; Jesse Jackson is an idiot and could never be deemed any real threat to fascist institutions in place. Recall if you will the new stated policy of the fascist regime is pre-emptive attack, or rather "all-american, pre-emptive, vigilante ultra-violence." They are pre-empting threats to their regime just as they have stated is their policy. And it doesnt matter if your an iraqi or an american citizen. If they perceive a threat, then a pre-emptive strike will occur to head off the problem before it emerges, a.k.a. assassination. I myself am running for state rep in a state which of course I shall not disclose, and you better believe i watch my back. As far as the fire that burned that family goes, it is my belief, though i certainly have no proof and do not live in the area, that DEA agents burned the house in order to use as a pretext for the subsequent drug crackdown. Of course all of this would be a moot point if there were no prohibition, then no drug lords, no anti-drug crazies, no DEA, no hundreds of billions spent on drug war fanatacism and no houses being burned to escalate the drug war. That family would still be alive if there were no drug war. It is that simple.
On another note, ever recall that great and eminent threat of the soviet bloc where governments were known to be nothing more than puppet governments of the soviets. Well now America is getting its turn of action. Shall we call it the American Bloc? And instead of the iron curtain what should we call the new american agenda? Lets see how many puppet governments of the U.S. i can bring to mind off the top of my head. Pakistan, Columbia, Phillipines, Taiwan, South Korea, Afghanistan, Mexico, Kuwait, Panama, El Salvador, Uzbekistan and a number of others I cant think of. Iraq will soon be added to the list, and its debatable whether the UK is voluntarily trying to add itself to the list of puppets.
Im tired of this behavior by our government. What happened to that freedom that we were promised as children? Remember all the propaganda that was shown to us, especially during the cold war era, that we were free and we were the hope of the world? Well that vision has collapsed in ruin and im not sure who to blame for it, but im not going to sit around and be lazy while this country becomes nothing but a cesspool of deceit and corruption. True leaders of the american spirit may face assassination time and again in the years to come. And it is true that I may die im my pursuits but at least I'll be a real american and know that I was free.
On another note, ever recall that great and eminent threat of the soviet bloc where governments were known to be nothing more than puppet governments of the soviets. Well now America is getting its turn of action. Shall we call it the American Bloc? And instead of the iron curtain what should we call the new american agenda? Lets see how many puppet governments of the U.S. i can bring to mind off the top of my head. Pakistan, Columbia, Phillipines, Taiwan, South Korea, Afghanistan, Mexico, Kuwait, Panama, El Salvador, Uzbekistan and a number of others I cant think of. Iraq will soon be added to the list, and its debatable whether the UK is voluntarily trying to add itself to the list of puppets.
Im tired of this behavior by our government. What happened to that freedom that we were promised as children? Remember all the propaganda that was shown to us, especially during the cold war era, that we were free and we were the hope of the world? Well that vision has collapsed in ruin and im not sure who to blame for it, but im not going to sit around and be lazy while this country becomes nothing but a cesspool of deceit and corruption. True leaders of the american spirit may face assassination time and again in the years to come. And it is true that I may die im my pursuits but at least I'll be a real american and know that I was free.
If it was an assassination, the Democrats have the most to gain from Wellstone’s death. The Dems have already seen the positive results of a dead candidate running in a close election. The plane crash of Mel Carnahan in Missouri in 2000 guaranteed victory in a tight race with John Ashcroft. Carnahan’s wife was appointed to his term.
Wellstone was becoming even too extreme for the Dems in Minnesota. It was another tight race like that in New Jersey where Bob Torricelli recently resigned rather than lose to his Republican opponent. We are seeing a desperate struggle for power that is bigger than all of us. I am surprised that so many just accept this as an accident without question.
Wellstone was becoming even too extreme for the Dems in Minnesota. It was another tight race like that in New Jersey where Bob Torricelli recently resigned rather than lose to his Republican opponent. We are seeing a desperate struggle for power that is bigger than all of us. I am surprised that so many just accept this as an accident without question.
Liberals have been known for their assassination plots as well. For instance, who planted that tree that hit Sonny Bono? Probably some damned hemp wearing hippy.
See, both sides have their hands bloodied.
See, both sides have their hands bloodied.
that's just stupid, equal.
Anyone assuming objectivity (yes ALL parties) would have to admit that the odds of the Carnahan crash and the Wellstone crash, considering timing and importance, and such things as lack of warning, seem odd at best. Is control of the Senate worth killing for?
Those who seek power should be the last to acquire it.
Those who promote war should be the first to experience it.
ML
Those who promote war should be the first to experience it.
ML
All you conspiracty theory junkies should take a look at the Vince Foster case. Now there we might really have something!
___
Unsolved Mystery Hampers All Starr's Probes
OYSTER BAY
Five summers ago this week the body of Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was discovered by an antique cannon in an out of the way Virginia park. Two independent counsels, two congressional probes and one federal police investigation have determined he died by his own hand. Still, in national polls taken in 1995 and 1997, the American people by overwhelming margins say they do not believe Foster died as officials say. Yet even with this popular mandate, no investigator was willing to act on serious evidence of a White House cover-up of Foster's death.
Meanwhile Ken Starr, the last official to sign off on the suicide verdict, nears the fourth anniversary of his own appointment as chief investigator of the Clinton crime wave in hot pursuit of presidential perjury and obstruction in the Monica Lewinsky case. In fact, if Paula Jones' civil suit hadn't criminalized Monica-gate, Ken Starr would presumably be left with nothing on his plate.
How is it that Starr's four year investigation has been reduced to probing allegations made on tape by a ditzy 24-year-old White House intern, while his probes of Whitewater, Travelgate and Filegate have come up empty? It's really no mystery. For once Ken Starr decided to go south on Fostergate, he closed the door on each of these other investigations.
The Clinton connection in Travelgate was largely Hillary's. It was she, as multiple memos by junior and senior White House aides make clear, who was the driving force behind the firing of Billy Dale and his colleagues in the White House Travel Office. One of those memos, by White House personnel director (and longtime F.O.B.) David Watkins, clearly describes the pressure brought to bear by Mrs. Clinton to "get our people in those slots." It was Watkins and Foster who struggled to implement Hillary's orders, knowing that if they did not there would be, in Watkins' words, "hell to pay." They also no doubt knew that the charge that Billy Dale had embezzled Travel Office money for his personal use was ridiculous. But Mrs. Clinton, persuaded by Harry Thomason that Dale & co. needed to go, was unrelenting.
It was Foster who felt the pressure most. Mainstream media accounts of Travelgate avoided well-sourced allegations that Foster and the first lady had been romantically involved. But as Peter Boyer noted in The New Yorker two years ago, Hillary, once installed in the White House, adopted an imperial attitude towards her new deputy White House counsel. Even the jailed Webb Hubbell, who was prepared to "roll over one more time" to protect Mrs. Clinton, noted the change in tone. "Fix it, Vince," Hillary would bark at Foster, according to Hubbell's own memoir.
And so any truthful accounting of Travelgate, including Mrs. Clinton perjured denial of her role in the firings, would be impossible without revealing her treatment of Foster. Indeed, most of Foster's so-called suicide note reads like an apologia for Travelgate, including the prescient line: "The public will never believe the innocence of the Clintons and their loyal staff." Foster anticipated that a thorough Travelgate investigation would expose Hillary's treachery. And Starr knows that any Travelgate prosecution of Hillary Clinton would reveal that pressure from the first lady deepened the depression that Starr says caused Foster to take his own life. It was, as Foster himself once said of Whitewater, "a can of worms we should not open."
Starr's Whitewater probe has suffered the same fate. Few remember now that it was Foster's death in July 1993, rather than Jeff Gerth's trailblazing March 1992 Whitewater expose in the New York Times, that lit the independent counsel fuse. Indeed, throughout the '92 presidential campaign Whitewater never became an issue. But less than a month after the Washington Times Dec.'93 revelation that Whitewater documents had been removed from Foster's office the night he died, Janet Reno was compelled to make the appointment. And even before that bombshell (8/12/93, less than a month after Foster's death) The New York Times had editorialized about issues raised by Foster's suicide note, saying: "Ideally, an independent counsel wholly free from executive branch control needs to be appointed." The Times also called for the removal of Bernard Nussbaum, the Clinton counsel who mysteriously discovered that note after a second search of Foster's briefcase.
By the time the Foster case had reached Ken Starr in August of '94, his death had been ruled a straightforward suicide by the Park Police, Robert Fiske and the Senate Whitewater Committee. Yet just days after he replaced Fiske, Starr promised to make his own "independent evaluation" as to how Foster died. The following January, Starr began calling Foster death witnesses to his Washington grand jury. But two months later, Starr's lead Foster prosecutor, Miquel Rodriquez, resigned. Reportedly Rodriquez felt Democrat higher-ups in Starr's Washington office were impeding his efforts to get at the truth.
Ken Starr was faced with a crucial decision. Rodriquez' departure should have caused a major shake-up inside the investigation. But the press pretended not to notice what had happened. And instead of putting his Washington investigation right, Starr turned his attention to ancient and remote crimes in Little Rock. Starr dawdled another two-plus years before officially acknowledging that his Foster death investigation had come up empty.
Absent Vince Foster, Whitewater withered on the vine. Yes, there were convictions of the Clintons' Whitewater business partners, the McDougals. Clinton's successor, Gov. Tucker, was found guilty as well. But there was abundant evidence that the president had perjured himself about the same fraudulent loan that had put Susan McDougal behind bars. And Mrs. Clinton had confessed to the RTC that she had shredded Castle Grande documents one jump ahead of the sheriff. Nevertheless, Starr finally closed his Little Rock grand jury in May of this year without even presenting an indictment of either Clinton for the grand jurors to rule on. Undoubtedly the independent counsel believed 10 year old crimes in Arkansas were too long ago and too far away to warrant toppling a sitting president.
Meanwhile in Washington, stunning new evidence had emerged in the Foster case that could have been politically lethal - had the scent been followed. Three independent handwriting experts determined that Foster's suicide note, which was discovered sans fingerprints, was a forgery. A last gasp exhaustive search of the park where Foster's body was found failed to turn up the missing bullet -- the only forensic evidence that would have linked his death to the scene. A previously unknown White House meeting featuring several major Foster case witnesses was revealed to have taken place at a key point during Robert Fiske's Foster probe. But the gathering of Bill Clinton, Webb Hubbell, Michael Cardozo, Marsha Scott, Shelia Foster-Anthony and Foster's widow Lisa apparently prompted little investigative interest, even though the meeting took place on May 7, 1994. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Washington Post - 5/3/97) Just two days later the widow Foster was scheduled to be questioned for the first time by Fiske. In fact, all the participants had spent time with Foster during his final days. And all were key to floating the depression alibi, except Lisa - who hadn't yet remembered how sick her husband had been. The press brushed off this "getting our stories straight" session as an innocent reunion of old Arkansas friends, even though Cardozo wasn't from Arkansas.
Starr is said to be investigating the removal of documents from Foster's office still. But his Whitewater grand jury in Washington disbanded last year without results. Even Al D'Amato's Foster-phobic Senate Whitewater Committee issued criminal referrals for Susan Thomases, Webster Hubbell and Harold Ickes in 1996. Thomases and Hubbell had feigned extensive memory lapses when questioned on Foster. Ickes is said to have managed White House Foster damage control. None was charged by Starr's Washington grand jury.
Without Vince Foster, Whitewater just didn't have a plotline. And by failing to act on potential crimes related to the conduct of those who helped cover up the circumstances of his death, Starr's Whitewater case is nothing more than weak tea. Moreover, Starr's own Foster-phobia may be exactly why Filegater Craig Livingstone remains a free man today.
Who can forget the initial devastating impact of news that the White House security chief had collected over 900 confidential FBI files on Bill Clinton's political opponents. The story even had former CBS newsman Daniel Shorr, pride of the Nixon enemies list, opining against Livingstone's transgression from the op-ed pages of the New York Times. Bill Clinger's Travelgate Committee immediately turned their sights on the breathtaking new scandal. Even notorious committee stonewaller Tom "Waldheim" Lantos couldn't help suggesting that Livingstone should walk the plank, telling the witness in his most ominous Transylvanian accent that: "At least Admiral Boorda had the decency to commit suicide." Livingstone's goose, it seemed, was cooked for sure.
But that was then, this is now. Turns out, it's a good thing Livingstone didn't take Lantos' advice, since the last two years don't seem to have been particularly unkind to Filegate's fall guy. At last word Livingstone was doing just fine, thank you -- working for a Clinton contributor out in the Golden State. His super-expensive lawyer, Randall Turk, informed the Boston Globe months ago that Starr's office is no longer interested in his client. It looks like Livingstone has beat the rap.
How can this be? If ever there was someone ripe for indictment for a whole host of crimes, including violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, it would seem to be Craig Livingstone. Could it be that Livingstone's deep involvement in the Foster case is exactly what's keeping him out of the jug?
It was Livingstone, recall, who was dispatched to the morgue along with Associate White House Counsel Bill Kennedy to I.D. Foster's body. Unresolved questions about the discovery of Foster's car keys, which couldn't be found at the death scene, still linger. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Livingstone may have planted them in one of Foster's pants pockets during the morgue visit. The keys were retrieved later by Park Police who had already searched Foster's pockets at the scene.
Livingstone had also been spotted at the White House the next morning by Secret Service agent Bruce Abbott, who claims he saw the security chief and an unidentified partner removing a box of files and a briefcase from an area near Foster's office. Livingstone denied this, but later made inquiries as to the identity of the agent who spilled the beans.
If the truth about Foster's death differs from the conclusion reached by Starr in any substantial way, Craig Livingstone is in a position to expose it. Already under vicious assault from the left, Starr needs his supporters on the right just to survive. Would they still rally round if a key Clinton witness came forward claiming that Starr went into the tank on the Foster case? It's perhaps because Livingstone has this kind of leverage over the man who once appeared certain to indict him, that no such indictment is anywhere in sight.
Strange as it seems, the strange death of Vincent Foster entangles each area of Starr's probe -- and has apparently hamstrung his investigation in ways that reduce it to irrelevance. Five years later, Ken Starr can thank his lucky stars that Monica Lewinsky likely knows nothing about the way Vince Foster died.
Published in the July 20, 1998 issue of The Washington Weekly
Copyright 1998 The Washington Weekly http://www.federal.com
Reposting permitted with this message intact.
___
Unsolved Mystery Hampers All Starr's Probes
OYSTER BAY
Five summers ago this week the body of Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was discovered by an antique cannon in an out of the way Virginia park. Two independent counsels, two congressional probes and one federal police investigation have determined he died by his own hand. Still, in national polls taken in 1995 and 1997, the American people by overwhelming margins say they do not believe Foster died as officials say. Yet even with this popular mandate, no investigator was willing to act on serious evidence of a White House cover-up of Foster's death.
Meanwhile Ken Starr, the last official to sign off on the suicide verdict, nears the fourth anniversary of his own appointment as chief investigator of the Clinton crime wave in hot pursuit of presidential perjury and obstruction in the Monica Lewinsky case. In fact, if Paula Jones' civil suit hadn't criminalized Monica-gate, Ken Starr would presumably be left with nothing on his plate.
How is it that Starr's four year investigation has been reduced to probing allegations made on tape by a ditzy 24-year-old White House intern, while his probes of Whitewater, Travelgate and Filegate have come up empty? It's really no mystery. For once Ken Starr decided to go south on Fostergate, he closed the door on each of these other investigations.
The Clinton connection in Travelgate was largely Hillary's. It was she, as multiple memos by junior and senior White House aides make clear, who was the driving force behind the firing of Billy Dale and his colleagues in the White House Travel Office. One of those memos, by White House personnel director (and longtime F.O.B.) David Watkins, clearly describes the pressure brought to bear by Mrs. Clinton to "get our people in those slots." It was Watkins and Foster who struggled to implement Hillary's orders, knowing that if they did not there would be, in Watkins' words, "hell to pay." They also no doubt knew that the charge that Billy Dale had embezzled Travel Office money for his personal use was ridiculous. But Mrs. Clinton, persuaded by Harry Thomason that Dale & co. needed to go, was unrelenting.
It was Foster who felt the pressure most. Mainstream media accounts of Travelgate avoided well-sourced allegations that Foster and the first lady had been romantically involved. But as Peter Boyer noted in The New Yorker two years ago, Hillary, once installed in the White House, adopted an imperial attitude towards her new deputy White House counsel. Even the jailed Webb Hubbell, who was prepared to "roll over one more time" to protect Mrs. Clinton, noted the change in tone. "Fix it, Vince," Hillary would bark at Foster, according to Hubbell's own memoir.
And so any truthful accounting of Travelgate, including Mrs. Clinton perjured denial of her role in the firings, would be impossible without revealing her treatment of Foster. Indeed, most of Foster's so-called suicide note reads like an apologia for Travelgate, including the prescient line: "The public will never believe the innocence of the Clintons and their loyal staff." Foster anticipated that a thorough Travelgate investigation would expose Hillary's treachery. And Starr knows that any Travelgate prosecution of Hillary Clinton would reveal that pressure from the first lady deepened the depression that Starr says caused Foster to take his own life. It was, as Foster himself once said of Whitewater, "a can of worms we should not open."
Starr's Whitewater probe has suffered the same fate. Few remember now that it was Foster's death in July 1993, rather than Jeff Gerth's trailblazing March 1992 Whitewater expose in the New York Times, that lit the independent counsel fuse. Indeed, throughout the '92 presidential campaign Whitewater never became an issue. But less than a month after the Washington Times Dec.'93 revelation that Whitewater documents had been removed from Foster's office the night he died, Janet Reno was compelled to make the appointment. And even before that bombshell (8/12/93, less than a month after Foster's death) The New York Times had editorialized about issues raised by Foster's suicide note, saying: "Ideally, an independent counsel wholly free from executive branch control needs to be appointed." The Times also called for the removal of Bernard Nussbaum, the Clinton counsel who mysteriously discovered that note after a second search of Foster's briefcase.
By the time the Foster case had reached Ken Starr in August of '94, his death had been ruled a straightforward suicide by the Park Police, Robert Fiske and the Senate Whitewater Committee. Yet just days after he replaced Fiske, Starr promised to make his own "independent evaluation" as to how Foster died. The following January, Starr began calling Foster death witnesses to his Washington grand jury. But two months later, Starr's lead Foster prosecutor, Miquel Rodriquez, resigned. Reportedly Rodriquez felt Democrat higher-ups in Starr's Washington office were impeding his efforts to get at the truth.
Ken Starr was faced with a crucial decision. Rodriquez' departure should have caused a major shake-up inside the investigation. But the press pretended not to notice what had happened. And instead of putting his Washington investigation right, Starr turned his attention to ancient and remote crimes in Little Rock. Starr dawdled another two-plus years before officially acknowledging that his Foster death investigation had come up empty.
Absent Vince Foster, Whitewater withered on the vine. Yes, there were convictions of the Clintons' Whitewater business partners, the McDougals. Clinton's successor, Gov. Tucker, was found guilty as well. But there was abundant evidence that the president had perjured himself about the same fraudulent loan that had put Susan McDougal behind bars. And Mrs. Clinton had confessed to the RTC that she had shredded Castle Grande documents one jump ahead of the sheriff. Nevertheless, Starr finally closed his Little Rock grand jury in May of this year without even presenting an indictment of either Clinton for the grand jurors to rule on. Undoubtedly the independent counsel believed 10 year old crimes in Arkansas were too long ago and too far away to warrant toppling a sitting president.
Meanwhile in Washington, stunning new evidence had emerged in the Foster case that could have been politically lethal - had the scent been followed. Three independent handwriting experts determined that Foster's suicide note, which was discovered sans fingerprints, was a forgery. A last gasp exhaustive search of the park where Foster's body was found failed to turn up the missing bullet -- the only forensic evidence that would have linked his death to the scene. A previously unknown White House meeting featuring several major Foster case witnesses was revealed to have taken place at a key point during Robert Fiske's Foster probe. But the gathering of Bill Clinton, Webb Hubbell, Michael Cardozo, Marsha Scott, Shelia Foster-Anthony and Foster's widow Lisa apparently prompted little investigative interest, even though the meeting took place on May 7, 1994. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Washington Post - 5/3/97) Just two days later the widow Foster was scheduled to be questioned for the first time by Fiske. In fact, all the participants had spent time with Foster during his final days. And all were key to floating the depression alibi, except Lisa - who hadn't yet remembered how sick her husband had been. The press brushed off this "getting our stories straight" session as an innocent reunion of old Arkansas friends, even though Cardozo wasn't from Arkansas.
Starr is said to be investigating the removal of documents from Foster's office still. But his Whitewater grand jury in Washington disbanded last year without results. Even Al D'Amato's Foster-phobic Senate Whitewater Committee issued criminal referrals for Susan Thomases, Webster Hubbell and Harold Ickes in 1996. Thomases and Hubbell had feigned extensive memory lapses when questioned on Foster. Ickes is said to have managed White House Foster damage control. None was charged by Starr's Washington grand jury.
Without Vince Foster, Whitewater just didn't have a plotline. And by failing to act on potential crimes related to the conduct of those who helped cover up the circumstances of his death, Starr's Whitewater case is nothing more than weak tea. Moreover, Starr's own Foster-phobia may be exactly why Filegater Craig Livingstone remains a free man today.
Who can forget the initial devastating impact of news that the White House security chief had collected over 900 confidential FBI files on Bill Clinton's political opponents. The story even had former CBS newsman Daniel Shorr, pride of the Nixon enemies list, opining against Livingstone's transgression from the op-ed pages of the New York Times. Bill Clinger's Travelgate Committee immediately turned their sights on the breathtaking new scandal. Even notorious committee stonewaller Tom "Waldheim" Lantos couldn't help suggesting that Livingstone should walk the plank, telling the witness in his most ominous Transylvanian accent that: "At least Admiral Boorda had the decency to commit suicide." Livingstone's goose, it seemed, was cooked for sure.
But that was then, this is now. Turns out, it's a good thing Livingstone didn't take Lantos' advice, since the last two years don't seem to have been particularly unkind to Filegate's fall guy. At last word Livingstone was doing just fine, thank you -- working for a Clinton contributor out in the Golden State. His super-expensive lawyer, Randall Turk, informed the Boston Globe months ago that Starr's office is no longer interested in his client. It looks like Livingstone has beat the rap.
How can this be? If ever there was someone ripe for indictment for a whole host of crimes, including violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, it would seem to be Craig Livingstone. Could it be that Livingstone's deep involvement in the Foster case is exactly what's keeping him out of the jug?
It was Livingstone, recall, who was dispatched to the morgue along with Associate White House Counsel Bill Kennedy to I.D. Foster's body. Unresolved questions about the discovery of Foster's car keys, which couldn't be found at the death scene, still linger. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Livingstone may have planted them in one of Foster's pants pockets during the morgue visit. The keys were retrieved later by Park Police who had already searched Foster's pockets at the scene.
Livingstone had also been spotted at the White House the next morning by Secret Service agent Bruce Abbott, who claims he saw the security chief and an unidentified partner removing a box of files and a briefcase from an area near Foster's office. Livingstone denied this, but later made inquiries as to the identity of the agent who spilled the beans.
If the truth about Foster's death differs from the conclusion reached by Starr in any substantial way, Craig Livingstone is in a position to expose it. Already under vicious assault from the left, Starr needs his supporters on the right just to survive. Would they still rally round if a key Clinton witness came forward claiming that Starr went into the tank on the Foster case? It's perhaps because Livingstone has this kind of leverage over the man who once appeared certain to indict him, that no such indictment is anywhere in sight.
Strange as it seems, the strange death of Vincent Foster entangles each area of Starr's probe -- and has apparently hamstrung his investigation in ways that reduce it to irrelevance. Five years later, Ken Starr can thank his lucky stars that Monica Lewinsky likely knows nothing about the way Vince Foster died.
Published in the July 20, 1998 issue of The Washington Weekly
Copyright 1998 The Washington Weekly http://www.federal.com
Reposting permitted with this message intact.
All you have to lose is your sanity
I think many times it is hard for some (especially some of us Americans) to believe that our leaders or their close folowers, would ever be involved in violence against another "gang". While for many of us it would be easy to imagine someone on the street corner murdering for say someones wallet, it is much harder for us to mentally picture someone who is painted as "successful" murdering for say hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of dollars worth of "gain" and influence. Why do you think this is so? Many Americans have little trouble believing the leaders of other countries would engage in violent crimes as well as our own poor, but rarely believe it about the American Elites. Is this a stereotype that our culture and media constantly portray or perhaps a combination of how many want to see their leaders as "supermen" incapable of such despicable deeds?
So you have absolutely nothing to back this up other than your intuition? Are you trying to tell us you are clairvoyant? Or are you really Spider Man and your spider sense is tingling? Please follow the directions when taking prescribed medications.
I believe the earthquake in Alaska was really an attempt at a political assasination. The evil Bush administration orchestrated the movement of tectonic plates to eliminate all opposition to drilling in the ANWR region. I have no evidence but I KNOW it is true. NO OIL FOR BLOOD!
Actually there are some great cases - proven cases - to back up Wilto. For one, Iran - Contra.
Hi folks,
Not sure who is or has been responding to whom but let me rephrase what I suggested earlier. I didn't post the Foster thing and I was only making a few logical and what I thought to be self evident points. Please feel free to disagree with anything I post, but if you do please address it directly and be honest and provide a little reason other than mud throwing.
1-History shows us murder comes in all types, from all economic levels and all stations in life. Surely there is little disagreement on this.
2-History also shows us that those in "government" are no stranger to crime, dishonesty, and other deceptions either and that fighting over "positions of power" is not at all uncommon among the human species.
These were really the root thoughts I was trying to get across in my post above and I assume for any student of history they are no surprise. So with this in mind I simply have to wonder about several of the specifics of what have been given regarding the Wellstone death. Let me simply site a few and ask for your own hypothesis and the facts you base your own ideas on.
A- The majority of reports simply said the weather would not have been a factor. There was only light snow and wind reported by both the on the ground first reporter, as well as other pilots flying at the time, and from what can be shown from weather radar.
B- There was no report of any problems by the pilots of Wellstones plane.
C- There was no black box of flight recorder recovered and it was said that it should have been on the plane by the rental agency.
D- Wellstone had made huge political enemies and it was no secret he was especially targeted for removal.
E- Wellstones Senate seat if taken might possibly shift the balance of power in the senate.
These are simply a few peices of "evidence" to start on the path to form a hypothesis. I do not in any way claim they are inherently correct, but then again the choice is between being assassinated and not being assassinated. If I had to pick I would simply at this point lean more toward his being assassinated. Apparently many many Americans also feel this way, including some in government. Maybe their wrong. Maybe it was an accident. I'm not convinced but if some have ideas that show otherwise I would be glad to hear. Thanks-Wlito
Not sure who is or has been responding to whom but let me rephrase what I suggested earlier. I didn't post the Foster thing and I was only making a few logical and what I thought to be self evident points. Please feel free to disagree with anything I post, but if you do please address it directly and be honest and provide a little reason other than mud throwing.
1-History shows us murder comes in all types, from all economic levels and all stations in life. Surely there is little disagreement on this.
2-History also shows us that those in "government" are no stranger to crime, dishonesty, and other deceptions either and that fighting over "positions of power" is not at all uncommon among the human species.
These were really the root thoughts I was trying to get across in my post above and I assume for any student of history they are no surprise. So with this in mind I simply have to wonder about several of the specifics of what have been given regarding the Wellstone death. Let me simply site a few and ask for your own hypothesis and the facts you base your own ideas on.
A- The majority of reports simply said the weather would not have been a factor. There was only light snow and wind reported by both the on the ground first reporter, as well as other pilots flying at the time, and from what can be shown from weather radar.
B- There was no report of any problems by the pilots of Wellstones plane.
C- There was no black box of flight recorder recovered and it was said that it should have been on the plane by the rental agency.
D- Wellstone had made huge political enemies and it was no secret he was especially targeted for removal.
E- Wellstones Senate seat if taken might possibly shift the balance of power in the senate.
These are simply a few peices of "evidence" to start on the path to form a hypothesis. I do not in any way claim they are inherently correct, but then again the choice is between being assassinated and not being assassinated. If I had to pick I would simply at this point lean more toward his being assassinated. Apparently many many Americans also feel this way, including some in government. Maybe their wrong. Maybe it was an accident. I'm not convinced but if some have ideas that show otherwise I would be glad to hear. Thanks-Wlito
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