Leaving so soon, Jerry?

Jerry Weller is the sleazy-looking Republican congressman from Illinois with the Alfred E. Neuman eyes. His father-in-law is the notorious Guatemalan dictator/religious nut Efrain Rios Montt. Although Weller survived rumors of an underaged page scandal during the last election cycle, he has suddenly decided to retire. Why?

If you discount Jerry's stated reason -- he wants to spend more time with his family! -- here are the possible motivators:

1. His name came up in the Wilkes bribery scandal. Wilkes set up ADCS Pac, which gave money to various Congressfolk, who gave much more money (in the form of "defense contracts") to Wilkes' company, ADCS -- which did nothing. Or almost nothing; any actual work was usually subcontracted to lowball bidders.

Weller was one of the recipients of Brent Wilkes' largesse, and is now fighting a subpoena in the case. Dig this:

"After consultation with the Office of General Counsel," Weller and Hastert each wrote in separate letters, "I have determined that compliance with the subpoena is inconsistent with the precedents and privileges of the House."

Hm. Seems to me that if he leaves office, he'll have a tougher time trying to sell that "precedents and privileges" argument.

2. For still-mysterious reasons, Weller purchased a big chunk of land in Nicaragua. He did not disclose his assets to Congress, as the rules state he must.

On other sales, he reported vastly different purchase prices for the land in American and Nicaraguan record

The obvious question: Why did this land deal mean more to Weller than did his congressional career?

3. The dictator's lovely daughter has indulged in some shady finances:

The Tribune also reported last week that a charity formed by Weller's wife -- Zury Rios de Weller, a member of the Guatemalan Congress -- raised questions about whether Weller could legally exclude her assets from his congressional filings.

I cannot help but feel that the Weller enigma springs from his relationship with his strange and ultra-risible father-in-law, who, back in the 1980s, was thrust into power with the help of the CIA and some powerful figures within the American evangelical community.

"Rios Montt has been supported by Pat Robertson (Christian Broadcasting Network), Jerry Falwell (Moral Majority, Thomas Road Baptist Church, Liberty Federation), and Loren Cunningham (Youth with a Mission). They have worked with the Florida Cuban community. . . Jimmy Swaggart Ministries has provided financial support for the schools of El Verbo in Guatemala. This is done under the ‘Programa Ayuda Infantile,’ a branch of the Swaggart ministry.”

I have previously cited this excerpt from a 1987 Covert Action Information Bulletin expose of Rios Montt:

"Israel also installed computer surveillance equipment in Guatemala and, under the pretext of providing agricultural assistance, helped devise Rios Montt's 'beans and bullets strategic hamlets, modeled after the CIA's Operation Phoenix. . . [ed. note: ‘beans and bullets’ refers to Rios Montt’s policy, ‘If you are with us, we’ll feed you; if not we’ll kill you.’]

[Richard Paradise of Gospel Outreach] says he works under the auspices of the World Zionist Organization as a liaison with U.S. evangelicals, with the assigned role of working against anti-Semitism within the U.S. . . According to a special report entitled 'Sectas y Religiosidad en American Latina' published in October 1984 by the Chile-based Instituto Latinoamericano de Estudios Transnacionales, during Rios Montt's rule, members of Gospel Outreach's Verbo church took jobs in espionage and torture and accompanied Israeli and Argentinean experts during interrogation sessions."

(Emphasis added.) The use of "churches" as cover in covert ops has a long and fascinating history. This important piece documents the connections between the rise of Fundamentalism and American intelligence. If the reader will forgive a bit of self-quotation:

Rios Montt's son-in-law, Weller, has tried to squelch the congressional report on Duke Cunningham. We know from the official precis that this report details suspicious meetings between Cunningham and certain "foreign nationals." I have argued in a previous post that these "foreign nationals" were probably Israeli.

I still do not know the exact relationship between YWAM and Gospel Outreach/El Verbo. I've speculated before that both groups have functioned as CIA assets. In the 1980s, the respected magazine The Christian Century published a series of exposes on Christian missionary organizations used as "front" groups by the CIA.

The Latin American death squad/evangelization operation required a great deal of money, which had to come from somewhere. Since many sources aver that Rios Montt was installed by the CIA, we can fairly posit that the spooks used American fundamentalist churches as a funding mechanism.

The YWAM cult, as noted just a couple of days ago, appears to be the power behind Doug Wead, the man who -- along with Karl Rove -- made George W. Bush who he is today.

That land deal in Nicaragua seems key. For some reason, Weller does not want to disclose why he made the purchase, how much he paid, or where he got the dough.

Spooky.