Bush's women

All the current talk about Scooter Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, reminded me of a startling passage in Joseph Trento's blockbuster book Prelude to Terror. (This book is required reading for anyone who wants to understand how we got into our present mess.)

The passage in question touches on an issue that has haunted the dynasty for quite a few years: The extramarital affairs of George H.W. Bush.

When Bush the elder was veep, his chief of staff -- his "Scooter," if you will -- was Admiral Daniel Murphy. Previously, Murphy worked for Bush during the latter's tenure as head of the CIA; according to Trento, the admiral functioned as Bush's "liaison" to Manuel Noriega. Murphy was a Bush insider. Part of the gang.

That changed in 1988, when Bush ran for president.

As you read the following excerpt from Trento's book, keep in mind that "Soghanalian" refers to Sarkis Soghanalian, the arms dealer who had fallen afoul of the Bush crowd.

Soghanalian had become close to Admiral Daniel Murphy, who had been Vice President Bush's chief of staff. Before the 1988 campaign had begun, George Bush asked Robert Gray to hire Murphy. Gray did, and made him the head of Gray and Company's International Division.

When Soghanalian contacted Murphy at Gray and Company, Murphy explained to him that he had been pushed out of his job with Bush because the Bush political people, including Barbara, felt that his history of procuring women for Bush and his ties to people like Soghanalian could cause political problems. Soghanalian reported that Murphy said, "They got rid of two of us before the '88 campaign, me and George's girlfriend, Jennifer Fitzgerald. What he told me was he could not help me. He told me to hire a good lawyer, that these people wanted me put away."

The implications of this passage can make you dizzy.

The notion of a chief of staff procuring women for a sitting vice president is rather boggling in and of itself. (I know it's a cliche, but: Imagine if Clinton...) But the matter goes deeper.

Bush's long-term affair with his "personal aide" Jennifer Fitzgerald is rather well-known. When he was in China for a few months without Barbara, Jennifer came along -- and, according to some accounts, shared quarters with him. Chinese spies soon learned what was going on. Naturally, our own NSA picked up the Chinese chatter, which was relayed to Ted Shackley at CIA -- who thus "had something" on Bush. Some in the intelligence community suspected that the affair was a "honeytrap," since Jennifer's father was a British spook.

Those in the know got a good laugh when a 1988 Washington Post piece claimed that Jennifer had served Bush "in a variety of positions."

Were there other women? Spy magazine published a 1992 story which named a few names. I once spoke to a writer for the L.A. Weekly who had investigated the elder Bush's affairs. (This was in the late 1980s, when the Weekly was still cool.) The editor deep-sixed the piece -- not because the evidence was poor, but because he felt the subject lacked dignity. Different times, eh wot?

A frequently-repeated tale holds that Bush and a mistress were caught up in a 1981 traffic accident, which had to be covered up. Kitty Kelly committed the rumor to print; you can find the excerpt (along with similar gossip) here.

Gray and Company is worth a few words as well. It was run by the powerful lobbyist Robert Gray, a CIA asset. The Agency "had something" on Gray as well, since he was a closeted homosexual. Gray had links to both Tongsun Park and the early '80s sex-n-drugs scandal on Capitol Hill -- all of which puts Admiral Murphy's "job re-assignment" in an interesting light.

But the most startling aspect of the passage quoted above probably didn't occur to you on first reading.

Consider: Admiral Murphy definitely "had something" on George H.W. Bush, presidential candidate. He knew about the women. He knew about Noriega -- which is to say, he knew about CIA interactions with a drug lord.

By all rights, he should have been the one man Bush feared.

Yet Bush tossed him out the door as though he were an unwanted dog. Even though Murphy was an Admiral. Een though he was someone who had given Bush years of loyal service. "What he told me was he could not help me. He told me to hire a good lawyer, that these people wanted me put away."

And not just Murphy. Jennifer was sent into the cold as well. If this woman scorned had become as chatty as Monica, history might have taken a very different turn.

Bush should have feared these two people. Yet -- obviously -- they feared Bush.

Think about it. That's power.

(A final thought, suggested by a reader's recent correspondence. Why do we never hear a word about Dubya's Chief of Staff, Andrew Card?)