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Ex-State Dept. Intel Chief Calls Bolton "Kiss-Up, Kick-Down
Sort of Guy"
New Docs Shed Light on Negroponte's Role in Honduras, Iran-Contra
Affair
Anti-Castro Cuban Exile Tied to Deadly 1976 Airline Bombing
Seeks Political Asylum in U.S.
Ex-State Dept. Intel Chief Calls Bolton "Kiss-Up,
Kick-Down Sort of Guy"
On the second day of the John Bolton's confirmation hearing
as UN ambassador, former State Department intelligence director
Carl Ford charged that in 2002, Bolton directed an abusive
tirade at analyst Christian Westermann for questioning whether
Cuba was developing biological and chemical weapons. We play
excerpts of the hearing and speak with former CIA analysts
Ray McGovern.
On Capitol Hill yesterday, the battle over two of President
Bush's most controversial nominees continued. John Negroponte,
Bush's nominee to be the Director of National Intelligence,
appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee. As with
his previous confirmation hearings, Negroponte faced little
in the way of tough questioning, though there were some moments
where he clashed with Senators. Later in the program, we will
hear some of this questioning of Negroponte and take a closer
look at Negroponte's past.
But we begin with the other major hearing on Capitol Hill
and that is the confirmation hearing of John Bolton, Bush's
nominee for UN Ambassador. But it wasn't Bolton who appeared
before the Senate Foreign relations Committee. Many eyes and
ears in Washington focused in on the testimony of Carl Ford,
the former director of intelligence and research at the State
Department. In just under 3 hours of testimony, Ford denounced
Bolton as a "kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" who
"abuses his authority with little people." Ford
charged that in 2002, Bolton directed an abusive tirade at
analyst Christian Westermann for questioning whether Cuba
was developing biological and chemical weapons. He characterized
the incident as shaking the foundation of the intelligence
bureau and said it prompted Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
to intervene. Ford said shortly after the incident, Powell
visited the bureau to assure its employees that they should
continue to "speak truth to power." After being
sworn in, Ford began his testimony.
- Carl Ford, former State Department intelligence chief,
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, April 12, 2005.
After a few brief remarks from Sen. Richard Lugar, Ford addressed
the controversial Bolton incident.
- Carl Ford, former State Department intelligence chief,
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, April 12, 2005.
Throughout the hearing yesterday, the Democrats on the Foreign
Relations Committee emphasized that the incident described
by Bolton is just one example of this conduct and said they
could provide more witnesses. The New York Times noted that
Carl Ford's testimony offered an extraordinary public glimpse
into the long-running and raw intelligence wars within the
Bush administration, pitting hawks like Bolton, a protégée
of Vice President Dick Cheney, against the more circumspect
intelligence operatives at the State Department who among
other differences had cast doubt on some prewar claims about
Iraq. Democrats charge that Bolton's actions have grave and
far-reaching implications for US credibility, while Republicans
painted it as an isolated incident. Here is California Senator
Barbara Boxer.
- Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Senate Foreign Relations Committee
hearing, April 12, 2005.
To talk more about Carl Ford and State Department intelligence
we are joined by Ray McGovern, he is a 27-year career analyst
with the CIA. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity.
- Ray McGovern, a 27-year career analyst with the CIA.
He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for
Sanity.
New Docs Shed Light on Negroponte's Role in Honduras,
Iran-Contra Affair
The confirmation hearing of John Negroponte as National
Intelligence Director open in Washington. We speak with Peter
Kornbluh of the National Security Archive about newly declassified
documents that provide a virtual day-to-day record of Negroponte's
unique tenure as ambassador to Honduras during the early 1980s
and his role in the Iran-Contra affair. We also speak with
Tom Barry of the International Relations Center about the
direction of the intelligence community.
We turn now to another Senate confirmation hearing held yesterday
in Washington - and that was John Negroponte - Bush's nominee
to be the country's first National Intelligence Director.
If confirmed, Negroponte will oversee 15 intelligence agencies
and give the president's daily intelligence briefing. Negroponte
is a career diplomat who has had five ambassadorships over
the last forty years. Most recently, he served as the Ambassador
to Iraq and before that, the Ambassador to the United Nations
where he made the case for the Iraq war.
But it is his time as ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to
1985 that earned him a reputation for supporting widespread
human rights abuses and campaigns of terror.
During his tenure, Honduras was the staging ground for the
contra war in Nicaragua and the home of the brutal, CIA-backed
Battalion 316, which is responsible for the deaths and disappearances
of many Hondurans.
Earlier this week, documents surfaced that shed new light
on Negroponte's connection to the Iran Contra scandal. The
newly declassified cables and memos were obtained by the Washington
Post under the Freedom of Information Act. They reveal that
after the House voted in July 1983 to halt all aid to the
anti-Sandinista contras, Negroponte responded by sending a
cryptic message to the president's national security adviser
and the CIA Director urging them to keep the secret arms deal
alive.
At the confirmation hearing Tuesday, Democratic Senator Jay
Rockefeller of West Virginia asked Negroponte about the documents.
- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), questioning National Intelligence
Director nominee John Negroponte.
Senator Jay Rockefeller did not have a follow-up question.
To further discuss John Negroponte we are joined by two guests:
- Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at the National
Security Archive, a public-interest documentation center
in Washington. The newly declassified documents on John
Negroponte are posted on their website.
Anti-Castro Cuban Exile Tied to Deadly 1976 Airline
Bombing Seeks Political Asylum in U.S.
Luis Posada Carriles applied for political asylum Tuesday
after spending the last 40 years trying to violently overthrow
the Castro government. He has been tied to bombings that have
killed at least 74 people and has been imprisoned in Venezuela
and Panama. We talk to Cuban expert Peter Kornbluh about Posada's
request and what it means for President Bush's "war on
terrorism."
One of the most notorious militant Cuban exiles applied Tuesday
for political asylum in the United States. Luis Posada Carriles
is a 77-year-old former CIA operative who was trained by the
U.S. Army at Fort Benning in Georgia. He has been trying to
violently overthrow Fidel Castro's government for four decades.
Three weeks ago he entered the United States after years of
hiding in Central America and the Caribbean.
Posada has been connected to the 1976 downing of a civilian
airliner that killed 73 passengers; a series of 1997 bombings
of hotels, restaurants, and discotheques in Havana that killed
an Italian tourist; and a plot to assassinate Castro five
years ago.
In 1998 Posada told the New York Times "The C.I.A. taught
us everything... They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb,
trained us in acts of sabotage."
On Tuesday Democratic Congressman William Delahunt of Massachusetts
called for a federal investigation into how Posada entered
the country. He also called for Posada to be arrested and
deported. Delahunt said that if the U.S. facilitated Posada's
entry into the country it would "obliterate America's
credibility in the war on terrorism." Delahunt said that
if the U.S. grants Posada asylum it would suggest "that
we share the views of those who support al Qaeda and Iraqi
insurgents that 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom
fighter.' "
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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