In Iraq, Kerik Boasted of Being White House 'Eyes and Ears'

[ProSense]

In Iraq, Kerik Boasted of Being White House 'Eyes and Ears'

By Spencer Ackerman - November 9, 2007, 2:33PM

Much remains unclear about Bernard Kerik's three-and-a-half months in Iraq running the Interior Ministry. But he was crystal clear about sending one message to his subordinates: he was the "eyes and ears of the Oval Office on the ground," recalls one of them.

Samuel Juett was one of 13 members of the Department of Justice's "first team" in Iraq following the 2003 invasion. Juett, speaking from his Eau Claire, Wisconsin home, counts himself as an admirer of Kerik's -- "Oh, man, lay off my buddy Bernie," he said, laughing -- because Kerik was someone with little patience for bureaucracy or politics. As soon as Kerik arrived in Baghdad on May 18, 2003, he let it be known just from where his power derived.

"There could only be so many big dogs in the pen," Juett recalls. Kerik would drop hints of his proximity to the White House. "That was intimated in conversations with us," Juett says. For example, Kerik would tell his staff, "You know, when the President's office calls you on the phone at home at night, and tells you to get on the plane..." Or: "Two days ago, I was standing in the Oval Office, talking to the President. This is what he wants, and this is what we're gonna make happen." Juett doesn't know if that was true -- "but it was what he said."

And Kerik used that image of proximity to get access to U.S. viceroy L. Paul Bremer III. "He had the charisma to cut through some of the problems and get through to Bremer when we needed help moving forward with the Ministry of Interior and the police," Juett remembers. "Bernie had that acumen." He missed that acumen when Kerik abruptly left Iraq. "We lost a lot of good access when Kerik left," Juett says. "Not only Bremer access, but a conduit to the Oval Office."

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[malaise]

1. I'm sure he received enough money

to pay for his Defense Fund. All these goons are criminals.

[Virginia Dare]

2. I wonder if Bernie knows anything about the missing money?

:think:

[underpants]

3. No he is asking for money

which PROVES that he doesn't have any :eyes:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2244983

[dflprincess]

4. I wonder if he knows enough to be able to make a deal

I could live with Kerik plea bargaining if it meant other members of the crime family were charged.

[AlCzervik]

5. i wonder if he was anywhere near Abu-Garib prison? Some of the behavior there

seems "ripped from the headlines".