[Grovenet] McCain chooses insider Washington lobbyist as transition chief

[David Morelli]

Not too surprising, John McCain has turned to an insider for his  
transition chief.  Considering the need to know the inside workings  
of Washington in setting up an effective cabinet, it isn't unreasonable.

His choice is a bit curious.

Prior to the run up to the Iraq war, Washington lobbyist William  
Timmons helped connect Samir Vincent, with his Iraq contacts, to  
Tongsun Park, with his UN contacts, for the benefit of Saddam Hussein  
when Iraq wanted to get around the oil embargo.  And they tried to  
bribe UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali as part of the infamous "Oil- 
for-Food Programme".

For a pre-campaign review of the story of the connection:
http://article.nationalreview.com/? 
q=Y2ZjZGIxM2Q0NTk3ZDI3ZjgyOGY5NjdhMWY2YmFlNmY=

For a pre-campaign review of one of the convictions:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? 
res=9800E3DC103EF930A15751C0A9619C8B63&scp=4&sq=

For the official results of the investigation that identified Vincent  
& Parks bribery actions on behalf of Iraq:
http://www.iic-offp.org/story27oct05.htm
p15, 526, 615,

Again, Timmon's actions were not necessarily illegal, but it is  
curious that since McCain was such a strong supporter of conducting a  
war to remove Saddam, and McCain was such an opponent of the "Oil for  
Food" program, that he would turn turn to someone who supported such  
"wrong" ideas to head his transition team.

It must be like running on a Republican platform that promises to  
reduce government intervention in the market place, while advocating  
more government oversight of the market place.  The oversight  
position is not wrong, it is just inconsistent with his principles.   
And someday he may choose to go back to his principles.

David