Oil for food scandal

I presume you've heard by now that the oil-for-food scandal, previously a much beloved topic on rightist blogs, has now taken a turn which may prove decidedly embarrassing to the Bush dynasty. Charges have been brought against Houston oilman David Chalmers, who has not yet been tied directly to Our Favorite Family. Not yet.

More interesting are the parallel charges brought against South Korean businessman Tongsun Park, indicted for acting as an unregistered agent. (The same charge was brought against Susan Lindauer -- remember her? -- although in Park's case, I imagine the accusation has more weight.) Park can be linked, not tenuously, to the Bushes and the conservative establishment.

Specifically: Park was the key figure in the Koreagate scandal of the mid-to-late 1970s. This affair revolved around a series of bribes and other "favors" by which South Korea's CIA hoped to influence the United States Congress. (In those days, there was some talk that Jimmy Carter might reduce the number of American troops stationed in Korea.)

The favors included providing politicians with sexual partners at the swank Georgetown Club. A number of sources have reported that Park acquired willing female "labor" from his chum, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

Moon, as we all know, is the crazed religious cultist who proclaims his allegiance to America in public, yet derides this country as "Satanic" in private. He also pretends to be a Christian, even though inner disciples learn that he actually views Jesus as "pathetic."

Moon and Park were close business partners for years. In more recent times, Moon has become an unofficial member of the Bush family. No-one quite knows just how many millions Moon has funneled to Bush the elder -- just as no-one quite knows where Moon gets his money (although nearly everyone suspects the involvement of organized crime).

Not only that. We have good reason to believe that Bush, Moon and Park were working together during the Koreagate scandal.

As mentioned, the scandal was, to a large degree, a sex scandal. The Korean CIA was heavily involved. But the KCIA was a creature of the American CIA -- indeed, one could never be sure just where one agency began and the other ended.

Therefore, it is not over-the-top to suggest that Park's real job went rather beyond the acquiring of votes favorable to South Korean causes. He was digging up dirt. He was finding out which pols could be blackmailed. That info went directly to the KCIA -- and from there, we can be sure that it went on the our own CIA. Which means that the CIA may well have been the primary instigator of this whole sordid business.

And who was the head of the CIA in those days? George H. W. Bush.

Watch this story. It could turn out to be huge.

Moon, incidentally, is still playing a behind-the-scenes role in international relations. Check out this story: There are indications that the mad "Messiah" has been acting as a middleman between Bush the younger and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il.

Although Moon has a habit of denouncing anyone he does not like as a "communist," he has, in recent years, had rather cozy business dealings with the North Korean potentate. I suppose their shared predilections for meglomania and psychopathology makes them feel a fraternal bond.