Thursday, October 06, 2005

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?)

11 comments:

Joy Tomme said...

They may have been scared to death of Barbara Bush. Remember how much power Nancy Reagan had. Barbara Bush enjoyed the same power by association.

It was Barbara who decided GWB should be sent away to be detoxed and degayed when he was 40 years old.

Barbara is mean, callous, and cold. GHWB was and still is scared of her. And with good reason. Think Livia in "I, Claudius" for a comparable ruthless wife in politics. If GHWB and Barb sleep in one-room-one-bed (which I seriously doubt), he would be wise to sleep with one eye open.

Joy Tomme
(http://ratbangdiary.blogspot.com)

Anonymous said...

Joe, very interesting piece. But there is one huge logical gap in all the GHWB infidelity gossip: why would George the first need a mistress when he has an absolute babe like Babs at home? Kind of like trying to figure out why Hugh Grant would cheat on Liz Hurley isn't it?

Hamden from DU

gary said...

Speaking of Joe Trento. This is well worth reading:

www.storiesthatmatter.org/wordpress

September 29, 2005

Abramoff

They are sweating at the White House and it is not over the hurricane hangover. The wide-ranging investigation into republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff which now spans from planting his cronies in the White House to a mobbed up murder investigation over the gangland style shooting of the owner of a fleet of gambling ships, has everyone’s attention.

The real fear among republicans is the unpleasant notion that the GOP’s secret deals with Israeli conservatives and the Arab-American community could become very public. Abramoff, an Orthodox Jew, had uniquely strong ties to Likud and other conservative organizations in Israel. He played a role in having his associates set up a series of think tanks and non-profits that supported and benefited major conservative politicians in the United States. His friend and partner, Grover Norquist, took care of the Arab-American clients while Abramoff concentrated on Israel and that nation’s American benefactors. Our Justice Department sources tell us that one of the questions being examined is whether Abramoff and his colleagues were used to help spread cash among conservative ministers in the last several election cycles.

We have learned the arrest of 38-year-old David H. Safavian, an Abramoff friend and former lobbying partner who landed a job in the Bush Administration (most recently as head of procurement policy at the Office of Management and Budget) is only the first casualty in a political scandal that could rival Watergate in the numbers of Presidential appointees caught in the Justice Department’s net. Safavian’s wife worked in a sensitive position on the Hill according to press reports.

Our sources in the FBI say that the probe is now looking far beyond Abramoff’s relationship with House Majority Leader Tom Delay and his staff. A local Texas probe has already resulted in Delay’s indictment on state charges. The real question people at the White House keep asking is is Abramoff about to make a deal with prosecutors and start talking about the politicians he knows so much about?

Sarkis Soghanalian, the infamous arms dealer, remains under lock up at the Krone Detention Facility in Miami. The 79-year-old supplier to Saddam for the U.S. government was approached by several of Abramoff’s associates in the mid-1990s offering a lifting of sanctions against Iraq so Soghanalian could collect $80 million he was owed by Iraq. The price for the sanctions being lifted was a multi-million cash payment through these associates that would bring help from a top republican politician. Associates of Abramoff whom Soghanalian said made the approach, were part of an FBI probe that was ended without further action in 1997. Now investigators are asking why that probe was stopped and why Soghanalian remains unavailable to the FBI agents he flew into Miami to meet with last February.

It was after this reporter interviewed Soghanlian about these matters that Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed Soghanalian from a local Miami rehabilitation facility and put him in the infamous Krone Dention Center where he is not permitted near the media.

Anonymous said...

To GW_Carver:

what the hell is the "greystone" reference? I've googled on greystone & bush & "little boys" & rape and can't find anything. I've changed the search terms and still can't find any references.

The only thing I've come up with which has no reference to Bush is "Greystone Park" a pscyhiatric hospital in New Jersey that has some references to abused patients.

From your quote, "but MORE importantly.... where's the Grestone link?? where's GHWB's escapades with little boys in the Greystone?"

what is greystone?

thanks in advance

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