Where is Jose Rodriguez? Apparently in business with the brother of top Democrat on Intel Panel

[seafan]

This just blows me away..

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/12/hbc-90001879"> Ken Silverstein at Harper's is reporting that the scapegoat from the CIA in the torture tape destruction revelations, Jose Rodriguez, has business ties in Texas with the brother of Silvestre Reyes, the Democratic chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.



Just speechless.



Where is Jose Rodriguez? Apparently in business with the brother of top Democrat on Intel Panel

By Ken Silverstein
December 8, 2007

I tend to agree with my colleague Scott Horton that Jose Rodriguez Jr., the former head of the CIA’s clandestine service, is being made the scapegoat for the destruction of videotapes showing the interrogation of two Al Qaeda members. “This looks like he was tossed under a giant bus,” one former intelligence official told me. “How likely is it that he took this decision on his own, especially when he’s not in the videotapes and wouldn’t be affected directly? Not very likely.”

.....

In the fall of 2006, I reported that Rodriguez, who was then still at the agency, was being recruited by Blackwater. He has a number of close friends at that firm, including Rick Prado, with whom he served in Latin America. I’ve been told that Rodriguez may still end up at Blackwater but with all the bad press that firm has been getting any definite plans were put on the back burner until the dust settles.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez, two sources have told me, is doing business in Texas with the brother of Silvestre Reyes, the Democratic chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where Reyes has served since 2001. From what I understand, Rodriguez and Chairman Reyes are extremely close friends, and the congressman “set up Rodriguez with his brother.”

.....

So in addition to Rodriguez’s role in the destruction of the videotapes, here’s another question: what does it say about the strength of congressional oversight of the CIA when the top Democrat on the intelligence panel has this type of relationship with the man who until recently headed clandestine services?

.....

Update, 9:00 PM:

Via Talkingpointsmemo.com:

Reyes has just released a statement saying his committee “will follow the facts wherever they may lead, and we will use every tool at our disposal to conduct a fair and complete review” of the destruction of the CIA videotapes. “In these matters,” Reyes added, “there is often a temptation to find a single scapegoat and not address broader issues. We must resist that temptation.”

Given his friendship with Rodriguez, I can well imagine the impulse, no matter what the facts of this particular case.

And Blackwater is mentioned in connection with Rodriguez.

Time to dredge up all those visits to the CIA by Erik Prince again.

[OregonBlue]

1. So was it Blackwater employees doing the interrogations? Is that what the tapes might

have shown? CIA contracted out the torture? and now with Blackwater in the news big time, they needed to destroy the evidence?

[seafan]

2. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Blackwater was performing *the interrogations*.

I have recently read that Eric Prince, head of Blackwater, has VERY close ties with the CIA and has special clearance to enter the CIA buildings.


The only reason I can come up with, as to why the CIA videotaped, in the first place, ANY of these torture methods being used to gain information from detainees, would be because they (CIA) were actually NOT the entity that committed the acts... to cover their a$$e$ if somehow, they (CIA) were implicated in these illegal methods. This has now come about. The CIA could exonerate themselves if they had proof that an outside corporation actually performed the torture.



If this has actually happened, and Blackwater is involved in the torture of detainees and is on videotape, the only way to protect the crown jewel Blackwater is for the CIA to destroy the tapes and take the heat. Seems plausible that Blackwater is *the army of the CIA*.


But, then, this is all my surmising.

[L. Coyote]

3. Does anyone on DU believe Blackwater is NOT a CIA or MIA front? Just asking.

The old-fashioned intelligence front served a variety of purposes, especially deniability.
The basic modis operandi is do all the things you might need to deny in this manner.
And, reap rich rewards on those willing to undertake your dirty work, of course, with kickbacks to politicos.

Why would anyone think this is not just more of the same old, same old, tired trick, a front for certain operations?

[annabanana]

10. I think it's the other way around... It's the coporate troops

who have access to the real gelt...

[EFerrari]

13. I tend to agree. And I believe that leaking the torture at Abu

Graib could have been purposeful because it was Abu Graib that kick started the insurgency, which in turn, made more contracting a sure thing. :tinfoilhat:

[OregonBlue]

4. Exactly what I thought. If it's Blackwater employees doing the "interrogations" there will

be real hell to pay, thus the destruction. On the other hand, there is an article in I think it's the Guardian today that says the British want one of the guys back that is still being held and they know exactly who was torturing him. The code names and real names so maybe, if the U.S. doesn't let him go, we will find out.

[EFerrari]

5. 2 ties to CIA:

Buzzy Krongard, then #3 at CIA, gave Blackwater their first contract to go into Afghanistan per Scahill.

J Coffer Black, who ran the rendition program, now at Blackwater.

Blackwater has been trying to recruit JOSE RODRIGUEZ for the last year.

I asked the same question -- is CIA or maybe CIA personnel protecting a commercial interest here -- on another thread.

[sabra]

6. you may be right...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2445906

[seafan]

7. The author of this story has just issued a correction to this piece.

Now, oddly, the revelation that Rodriguez has a business relationship with the brother of House Intel Committee Chairman *is not accurate.*


By Ken Silverstein
December 8, 2:31 PM

CORRECTION, DECEMBER 9, 2007

This story, which originally appeared under the title “Where is Jose Rodriguez? Apparently in business with the brother of top Democrat on Intel Panel,” describes Jose Rodriguez Jr., the former head of the CIA’s clandestine service who has been identified as making the decision to destroy videotapes showing the interrogation of two Al Qaeda members, as doing business with a brother of Congressman Silvestre Reyes, the Democratic chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

A Reyes staffer has told me that the story “is absolute fiction” and that Rodriguez has never had any discussions about doing business with any member of Reyes’s family. “There’s absolutely no truth to” the story, the staffer said. He said Reyes’s planned a “rigorous inquiry” into the destruction of the videotapes and that, “We are going to follow the facts wherever they may lead.”

I have retraced my steps in reporting the story and it’s clear that what I wrote was wrong. The responsibility is mine alone. I regret the error and apologize for it. That section of the story has been eliminated from this version of the post.

.....

Wonder if this was a covert attempt by Silverstein's two sources to create unfavorable attention to Reyes for some purpose... hmmmm.

[EFerrari]

8. seafan: Did you see that Jeremy Scahill said Blackwater

wants Rodriguez to work for them?

[seafan]

9. I haven't seen what Scahill reported, but the OP story also refers to Blackwater:

From the clip in the OP:

In the fall of 2006, I (Ken Silverstein) reported that Rodriguez, who was then still at the agency, was being recruited by Blackwater. He has a number of close friends at that firm, including Rick Prado, with whom he served in Latin America. I’ve been told that Rodriguez may still end up at Blackwater but with all the bad press that firm has been getting any definite plans were put on the back burner until the dust settles.

But, what is VERY CURIOUS about the *correction* to this Silverstein story today is that these references to Rodriguez's ties to Blackwater are now missing in the corrected version.




Here is the http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:pj-TDE1OOdAJ:harpers.org/archive/2007/12/hbc-90001879+where+is+jose+rodriguez+silverstein&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us">cached version of the original story from yesterday.

[LeftCoast]

11. So even though the article is wrong and retracted you're still going with the idea?

Hmm...

[EFerrari]

14. The article may have been wrong about Texas but it was right

about Blackwater -- and that's been scrubbed, too.

[LeftCoast]

15. No. He writes:

I have retraced my steps in reporting the story and it’s clear that what I wrote was wrong. The responsibility is mine alone. I regret the error and apologize for it. That section of the story has been eliminated from this version of the post.

It's pretty clear that he's saying the things that were wrong were removed. The blackwater portions were removed because they were wrong.

[EFerrari]

17. Jeremy Scahill reported the Blackwater portion independently

so, we know that part is right. He was on Amy's show yesterday.

[LeftCoast]

19. Was Scahill reporting independently or based on the now corrected report?

I don't know about Scahill. I was only addressing the linked story + correction.

[EFerrari]

21. Scahill didn't name a source that I recall. But he did say it

with confidence and he's pretty careful. Hard to know, even though Scahill probably knows more about Blackwater than anyone else.

[LeftCoast]

22. Hmm...will be interesting to see if this turns out to be something

The story's pretty hard to follow at this point.

[EFerrari]

23. It is hard to follow because it keeps changing. First they say

Rodriguez acted alone, now that the CIA lawyers signed off on it. Hayden says they destroyed the tapes to protect CIA interrogators, now the agent that headed up the team says they contracted out the torture.

Spin city. I seriously doubt the intelligence community is willing to go down for yet another bad White House decision.

[seafan]

20. I read that as the section on "the business ties" was wrong. The rest of the article stands.

Silverstein reported last year on Rodriquez's ties to Blackwater:


September 12, 2006

Meanwhile, there's talk at the agency that Blackwater is also aggressively recruiting Jose Rodriguez, the CIA's current top spy as director of the National Clandestine Service. Rodriguez has a number of former agency friends at Blackwater, most notably Rick Prado, with whom he served in Latin America and who is now Blackwater's Vice President of Special Programs.

It's curious why he would now scrub this from his corrected piece, unless it's getting too hot to handle.


I think we are going to find extensive covert activity by Blackwater in this CIA torture debacle.



To add, Silverstein is who reported http://harpers.org/archive/2006/09/sb-revolving-door-blackwater-1158094722">last year on Erik Prince's ties to the CIA:

.....

Robert Young Pelton, author of the new book, Licensed to Kill , says that an early Blackwater contract—a secret no-bid $5.4 million deal with the CIA—came in 2002 after Prince placed a call to Buzzy Krongard, who was then the CIA's executive director.

A CIA source with whom I spoke said that Prince is very tight with top agency officials and has a “green badge,” the security pass for contractors who have access to CIA installations. “He's over there regularly, probably once a month or so,” this person told me. “He meets with senior people, especially in the D.O.” (The D.O., or Directorate of Operations, runs covert operations; last year, it was absorbed by the newly created National Clandestine Service.)

Prince's visits are probably one reason that the revolving door to Blackwater keeps turning. Last fall, Rob Richer resigned from the post of Associate Deputy Director of Operations; he immediately took a job as Blackwater's Vice President of Intelligence. Richer is a former head of the CIA's Near East Division and long served in Amman, where, for a period beginning in 1999, he held the post of station chief. For years he was the agency's point man with Jordan's King Abdullah, with whom he developed an extraordinarily close relationship. “There have been some ups and downs in our relationship with Jordan, but the king has always been on good terms with the CIA,” said a person familiar with the situation. “The king's primary relationship is always with the CIA, not the American ambassador.”

The CIA has lavishly subsidized Jordan's intelligence service, and has sent millions of dollars in recent years for intelligence training. After Richer retired, sources say, he helped Blackwater land a lucrative deal with the Jordanian government to provide the same sort of training offered by the CIA. Millions of dollars that the CIA “invested” in Jordan walked out the door with Richer—if this were a movie, it would be a cross between Jerry Maguire and Syriana. “People are pissed off,” said one source. “Abdullah still speaks with Richer regularly and he thinks that's the same thing as talking to us. He thinks Richer is still the man.” Except in this case it's Richer, not his client, yelling “show me the money.” (Richer did not return a phone call seeking comment.)

[EFerrari]

24. Someday we're going to find out that Blackwater is Air America

on steroids.

[seafan]

16. I don't have any reason to believe OR doubt the correction... but what I find curious is

....the deleted info on Rodriguez's ties to Blackwater and the deleted details of Rodriguez and Reyes' personal relationship that appeared in the original story.


For the record, so it won't fall down the memory hole, here is more from the cached original version re Reyes and Rodriguez's ties, other than business:

.....

Reyes has ten brothers and sisters and I’m not certain which brother has been working with Rodriguez. But Silvestre certainly has entrepreneurial family members. One brother, Jesus, has worked as his campaign manager and is a political fundraiser who has raised money from companies and individuals with interests before Reyes’s committee. International Microwave Corp., a contractor which that been backed by the congressman, hired his daughter, Rebecca, and his son, Silvestre Reyes Jr.

Last August 16, shortly before he retired, Rodriguez was honored by Reyes at a border security conference in El Paso. “I consider him an American hero, Reyes said before presenting Rodriguez with a flag flown over the Capitol to honor his service at the CIA. (Reyes also said that Rodriguez’s real-life exploits inspired “24,” which based on recent revelations is an interesting observation.)

We have an individual here that Mike Delaney tells me was the impetus to—I hope all of you are familiar with the TV series “24.” This gentleman that I’m about to thank was really the genesis—with a few liberties that Hollywood takes—the exploits of Jose Rodriguez are documented in the series “24.”

.....

Rodriquez's ties to Reyes are quite interesting.

[LeftCoast]

18. Please see post #15

[EFerrari]

12. This stinks to heaven. Who else is at Blackwater that has been

involved in torture? I was looking up Blackwater's connection to white supremacists and found out that they've recruited thugs from the old Apartheid regime in South Africa (who tortured) as well as I think guys from Colombia (who also torture).