Rain Storm -- an online journal of opinion and culture

Wall Street's enthusiasm for US President George W. Bush appears to have cooled as the presidential race tightens and concerns grow about foreign policy and fiscal deficits. Some leading fundraisers of Mr Bush's re-election bid have stopped active campaigning and others privately voice reservations.

The New York financial community is expected to give the Republicans a lavish welcome when the president's party arrives for its national convention next week. Wall Street has been a big contributor to Mr Bush's record-breaking re-election fund. But one senior Wall Street figure, once talked of as a possible Bush cabinet member, said that he and other prominent Republicans had been raising money with increasing reluctance. “Many are doing so with a heavy heart and some not at all.” He cited foreign policy and the ballooning federal deficit as Wall Street Republicans' main concerns.

Hoping to turn the Big Apple rotten for Republicans, protesters are plotting enough mischief to try to ensure that delegates won't be wearing "I Love NY" T-shirts home from their party's political convention next week.

Groups called RNC Not Welcome, Counter Convention, Shut It Down NYC and No RNC Clearinghouse are using the Internet to orchestrate a living hell for the 5,000 or so delegates and alternates coming to New York City for the Republican National Convention.

Broadway casts are being urged to call in sick on the night that all state delegations are scheduled to go to the theater. "Shadow protesters" are being recruited to disguise themselves as clean-cut volunteers and infiltrate convention hotels and events. Penetrating the convention "bubble," these "phantom volunteers" will provide wrong directions to delegates or create havoc by not showing up for their duties at key times. Armed with the times and locations of scores of GOP events, street theater groups plan to disrupt convention-connected affairs all over Manhattan.

The F.B.I. is investigating a Pentagon official on suspicion of passing secrets to Israel, government officials said on Friday.

The espionage investigation has focused on an official who works in the office of Douglas Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy, officials who have been briefed about the investigation said. The F.B.I. has gathered evidence that the official passed classified policy documents to officials at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major pro-Israeli lobbying group, which in turn provided the information to Israeli intelligence, the officials said.

The bureau has evidence that the Pentagon official has given the Israelis a sensitive report about American policy toward Iran, along with other materials, the officials said.

[. . .]

The Pentagon analyst who officials said was under suspicion was one of two department officials who traveled to Paris for secret meetings with Iranian dissidents, including Manucher Ghorbanifar, an arms dealer. Mr. Ghorbanifar was a central figure in the Iran-contra affair in the 1980's, in which the United States government secretly sold arms to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages in Lebanon and to finance the fighters, known as contras, opposing the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

As part of our reporting, I have come into possession of information that points to an official who is the most likely target of the FBI investigation into who allegedly passed intelligence on deliberations on US foreign policy to Iran to officials with the pro-Israeli lobby group, AIPAC, and to the Israelis, as alleged by the CBS report. That individual is Larry Franklin, a veteran DIA Iran analyst seconded to Feith's office.

Here is what I was told in the days before the FBI investigation came to light.

A source told me that some time in July, Larry Franklin called him and asked him to meet him in a coffee shop in Northern Virginia. Franklin had intelligence on hostile Iranian activities in Iraq and was extremely frustrated that he did not feel this intelligence was getting the attention and response it deserved. The intelligence included information that the Iranians had called all of their intelligence operatives who speak Arabic to southern Iraq, that it had moved their top operative for Afghanistan, a guy named Qudzi, to the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, that its operatives were targeting Iraqi state oil facilities, and that Iranian agents were infiltrating into northern Iraq to target the Israelis written about in a report by Seymour Hersh. According to my source, Franklin passed the information to the individual from AIPAC with the hope it could reach people at higher levels of the US government who would act on it. AIPAC presented the information to Elliot Abrams in the NSC. They also presented the part that involved Israelis who might be targeted to the Israelis, with the motivation to protect Israeli lives.

A couple weeks ago, my source told me, he was visited by two agents of the FBI, who were asking about Franklin. My source couldn't tell if Franklin was being investigated for possible wrongdoing, or if the FBI was visiting him because Franklin required some sort of higher level security clearance or clearance renewal, perhaps in order to get some sort of new position or posting abroad. My source soon after ran into another official from Feith's office, the polyglot Middle East expert and Bernard Lewis protege, Harold Rhode. My source mentioned the FBI meeting and asked Rhode if Franklin was in trouble. "It's not clear," Rhode allegedly told my source.

Given the FBI's general political coloration, it's hard to imagine that someone at the Bureau (apparently the source of the leak to CBS) was trying to damage the Bush campaign. Is it possible that Richard Clarke's views about the competence of the Bushies on the counter-terror front is shared in the Hoover Building? That would back up the thesis that the national security establishment has begun to defect in droves, which I'm still hoping will be the subtext of the rest of this campaign. (Note, for example, that Schwartzkopf won't be endorsing GWB for re-election.)

The other obvious guess is that someone in Main Justice was sitting on the case, and that someone in the Bureau (perhaps with a wink and a nod from his superiors) decided to go public to keep it from getting squashed. It's not quite impossible that Ashcroft's crew could have been that clueless about what they could, and couldn't, get away with.

This is absolutely delicious.

We can only hope this investigation opens up a broader discussion of the Office of Special Plans, the forged Niger uranium docs, and that pesky neocon-Israeli connection.

Hell, maybe we'll even find out what Mossad was doing in the US around 9/11...

I have to admit, again, as theater, I love this. I also think it's whip smart. I also know, quite possibly, that it will lead the news, if only because it offers up a fairly astounding picture. The Viet Nam war vets, one in a wheelchair, arriving at the President's phoney ranch to give him a very real smackdown.

My GOD, what a screebling pathetic git of a man. Sends troopers in flak jackets to bar a triple-amputee from his door?! Bush the First would've let Cleland in. Reagan would've let him in, and invited the press to watch him charm the fellow. Hell, even NIXON would've at least taken the frickin letter. Any of 'em would've shown some class, and maybe even turned the encounter to their advantage. It's just a letter fer chrissake. Signed by Senators and delivered by a decorated vet. And Bush hides out like he's gonna catch cooties or something.

If you didn't see Hardball yesterday you should read the transcript. The Chairman of the Federal Election Commission came on and gave a partisan and blatantly pro-Bush, anti-Kerry performance.

Among other things, he said that Kerry had better be careful about calling for any investigations into connections between the Bush campaign and the SBV 527 because Kerry has "big, big problems" of his own. He also said that even if the FEC was asked to investigate any ties it would take 60 days, so the outcome would be so close to the election as to make any investigation impractical.

I couldn't believe it. I knew the fix was in, but I didn't realize how deep it went. I'm even more amazed by how smug and arrogant they are about it. What a bunch of thugs. Kerry doesn't stand a chance. This is going to be the most corrupt presidential election in American history. The 2000 election was just a b-team warm-up scrimmage in comparison.

"an unofficial weblog sponsored by the Democratic Leadership Council, written by a veteran operative with one foot in the world of ideas and another in the world of practical politics -- in other words, a two-legged New Democrat, or new donkey."

It's fine to disagree with the people you disagree with politically, but it's not OK in my book when you simply can't figure out what they're trying to say or why they expect anyone to believe it. So I'm always delighted when I come to understand the logical and evidentiary basis of assertions I don't accept.

For example, the flatterers of our Beloved Leader have at various times compared him to Churchill and to FDR. My first reaction to that was "Say what?" But now I see the basis of the comparison: GWB in fact incorporates the thinking of both of those great men.

Churchill, after all, said that he had "nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat." Roosevelt said that the nation had "nothing to fear but fear itself."

Mr. Bush, masterfully combining their thinking, has nothing to offer but fear itself.

This is an election year, and George W. Bush doesn't have diddly squat to run on except fear.

Time magazine White House correspondent (and Washington Monthly contributing editor) Matt Cooper is no longer being held in contempt in the investigation into who leaked former CIA operative Valerie Plame's name. Cooper, who had faced 18 months in prison, gave a deposition to prosecutors yesterday after Cheney chief-of-staff Scooter Libby released him from a promise of confidentiality.

That's good, because risking imprisonment for a principle is one thing. But going to jail for Scooter Libby? That's just not right.

Gardner has questioned Kerry's integrity; has claimed personal knowledge of the circumstances leading to Kerry's first Purple Heart; and has spoken with authority about the events leading to Kerry's Bronze Star. Fellow anti-Kerry Swift Boat Vets member Larry Thurlow has also cited Gardner as eyewitness support for his accusations against Kerry and against Kerry's first Purple Heart.

[. . .]

Gardner admitted that "he was not on the boat with Kerry during the incidents for which Kerry got his medals," reported The Columbus Dispatch on August 6. And as a guest on Michael Savage's radio show, Savage Nation, on August 2, Gardner said that of Kerry's three Purple Hearts, he could only attest to the first; Gardner later admitted to Savage that he was "not on the boat with him [Kerry]" when that injury occurred. (emphasis added)

Alfred French, a Clackamas County prosecutor who also served in Vietnam, called Kerry a liar in a television ad. In an interview with The Oregonian, he acknowledged he didn't witness any of the combat incidents involving Kerry but was relying on reports from three friends who were there.

The following is the sworn affidavit of Alfred J. French III, signed July 21, 2004:

"My name is Alfred J. French III. I am over the age of 21 years, and I am fully competent and able to make this affidavit. I am able to swear, as I do hereby swear, that all facts and statements contained in this affidavit are true and correct and within my personal knowledge or belief. (emphasis added)

Deal Hudson Eats Out
When we first heard that Bush adviser Deal Hudson was resigning over inappropriate sexual relations with an 18-year-old, we hoped that it meant we'd finally get to hear someone proudly proclaim themselves to be a "borderline pedophile American." But no. Instead, Hudson's resignation came in the form of a National Review Online column and contained such out-of-the-box post-scandal palaver as "[the scandal is] now being dug up, I believe, for political reasons." Ya think? Whatever, let's skip to the dirty part, which as recounted in the National Catholic Reporter is like the sex scandal reporting equivalent of a Victorian romance novel -- it's all the more exciting for what they can't say. For instance: "Hudson performed a sexual act on Poppas [the barely legal girl in question]. He asked her to reciprocate, which she did." Yowza. What could this sexual act possibly be? (If only this story were being reported by The Note, who might blow the lid off of the whole thing as Hudson goes down. Sorry, that last part was for insiders only.)

But our favorite part of the story has to be the coda to that wild night of reciprocated sexual acts, wherein Hudson asks Pappas not to tell anyone about their mutual pleasuring over dinner at a "McDonald's in the South Bronx." What, no Happy Meal?

I've received some unsubstantiated rumors that Fitzgerald's office is nearing the end of its investigation, and that it will issue three indictments including Scooter Libby. According to these rumors, John Hannah, a Libby deputy, has been "turned" by the investigators and is singing like a canary. Hannah has already been linked to the case. If indeed he has turned state's witness, it would present a major breakthrough in the case.

Man hanging from tree investigated

TUSKEGEE -- Tuskegee police still are investigating the death of 29-year-old Winston Deroyal Carter, who was found hanging from a tree on County Road 65 in Tuskegee.

Tuskegee Police Chief Lester Patrick said a passerby noticed something hanging from a tree, but needed a second look. The passerby turned his car around, discovered Carter hanging from the tree and immediately called the police at 6:15 a.m. Friday.

Carter's body was sent to the state crime lab to determine the cause of death. However, Patrick said that from information his department has gathered about the case, he is leaning toward suicide. (emphasis added)

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. today at the Wall Street AME Church, with burial in the church cemetery.

There were three swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam more than 35 years ago--three officers and 15 crew members. Only two of those officers remain to talk about what happened on February 28, 1969.

One is John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate who won a Silver Star for what happened on that date. I am the other.

For years, no one asked about those events. But now they are the focus of skirmishing in a presidential election with a group of swift boat veterans and others contending that Kerry didn't deserve the Silver Star for what he did on that day, or the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts he was awarded for other actions.

Many of us wanted to put it all behind us--the rivers, the ambushes, the killing. Ever since that time, I have refused all requests for interviews about Kerry's service--even those from reporters at the Chicago Tribune, where I work.

But Kerry's critics, armed with stories I know to be untrue, have charged that the accounts of what happened were overblown. The critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merit of what others did, but their version of events has splashed doubt on all of us. It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there.

Even though Kerry's own crew members have backed him, the attacks have continued, and in recent days Kerry has called me and others who were with him in those days, asking that we go public with our accounts.

I can't pretend those calls had no effect on me, but that is not why I am writing this. What matters most to me is that this is hurting crewmen who are not public figures and who deserved to be honored for what they did. My intent is to tell the story here and to never again talk publicly about it.

Since I happened to be along on one of the "excursions" where the boats that we were on were attacked and after which Lt. Kerry was cited for valor, I thought it appropriate to give my recollection of that event. This happened on March 13, 1969. I was assigned as Psychological Operation Officer for the Swift Boat group out of An Thoi, Vietnam, from January 1969 to October 1969. As such, I was on No. 43 boat, skippered by Don Droz who was later that year killed by enemy fire. We were second in line while exiting the river and going through the opening in a fish trap when a mine blew up under the No. 3 boat directly in front of us and we started taking small arms fire from the beach. Almost immediately, another mine went off somewhere behind us. All boats, except the one hit, immediately wheeled toward the beach that most of the fire came from (a tactic devised by Lt. Kerry, I later learned) and commenced showering the beaches with so much lead, that it could probably be now mined there. The noise was of course, deafening.

Three things that are forever pictured in my mind since that day over 30 years ago are: (1) The No. 3, 50-foot long, Swift boat getting huge, huge air; John Kerry thought it was about two feet. (He was farther away from it than I). I think it was at least four feet and probably closer to six feet; (2) All the boats turning left and letting loose at the same time like a deadly, choreographed dance and; (3) A few minutes later, John Kerry bending over his boat picking up one of the rangers that we were ferrying from out of the water. All the time we were taking small arms fire from the beach; although because of our fusillade into the jungle, I don't think it was very accurate, thank God. Anyone who doesn't think that we were being fired upon must have been on a different river.