http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1453849/posts
Sen. Torricelli Played Key Role in Closing Down CIA Ops
NewsMax ^ | BACKSTORY 9/17/01 | Wes Vernon
Posted on 07/30/2005 2:36:27 PM EDT by Liz
WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., led congressional efforts in the mid-1990s that handcuffed the CIA's abilities to recruit spies - a key policy that helped allow the attacks of Sept. 11 to take place with no intelligence warnings. Current and former CIA operatives say that Clinton administration policies, which forbade the CIA from recruiting known terrorists and other criminals, left the U.S. government bereft of all intelligence about such terrorist groups.
In 1995, then-Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., made secrets public at the behest of left-wing activist Bianca Jagger, his girlfriend at the time, according to Newark Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine in the January/February issue of Heterodoxy.
The secrets suggested that the CIA had on its payroll one or more unsavory characters who had been involved in murder.
Torricelli gave away secrets he obtained through his membership on the House Intelligence Committee.
(snip)
From a blogged Tony Snow interview:
Tony Schaffer: "CIA was against it for professional jealousy, said that if the operation 'cutting off the tentacles worked, that'd steal the CIA's thunder.'"
http://therevolutionwillbeblogged.blogspot.com/2005/08/able-danger-interview.html
This seems to confirm that they were working on the same information, but separately:
What is interesting about this information now is that a CIA team, working separately from the Able Danger Team, had set its sights on al-Mihdar and al-Hazmi. The two were already on a CIA terror watch list and still had managed to obtain U.S. visas.
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyNjMmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY3NDQ2OTMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk5
Thanks ravingnutter!
>>>>>In 1995, then-Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., made secrets public at the behest of left-wing activist Bianca Jagger, his girlfriend at the time, according to Newark Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine in the January/February issue of Heterodoxy.
The secrets suggested that the CIA had on its payroll one or more unsavory characters who had been involved in murder.
Torricelli gave away secrets he obtained through his membership on the House Intelligence Committee. <<<<<<
04/19/2001
- ...senator appears on Meet the Press, ostensibly to discuss relations with China. But he ends up being grilled by host Tim Russert about an ongoing federal investigation into the fund-raising practices of his 1996 campaign. Torricelli is forced to concede on the air that, yes, his home was searched by federal agents.
- The New York Times reports in a front-page story that David Chang, a former Torricelli supporter, has told the government that he gave the senator at least 10 Italian-made suits, a Rolex watch, Tiffany cuff links, an area rug, a 52-inch television set and an unspecified amount of cash.
- Torricelli holds a press event in Newark. Torricelli angrily declares, "To challenge my integrity based on the claims of David Chang is beneath contempt."
- Torricelli has not been charged with any crime, and the accusations against him remain unproven. Chang has pleaded guilty to illegally donating $53,700 to the 1996 Torricelli campaign and is now cooperating with federal investigators. In a press statement, Torricelli said angrily, "My reputation is not David Chang's opportunity to get out of jail free."
- He flamboyantly dated Bianca Jagger and Patricia Duff, the ex-wives of Mick Jagger and billionaire Ron Perelman. As the chief fundraiser for Senate Democrats for four years, Torricelli spent long evenings in the living rooms of the mega-rich, raising tens of millions from the kind of contributors who don't think twice about writing $50,000 checks to the party.
- Sen. Harrison Williams and Rep. Frank Thompson went to prison because they could not resist bribe offers from FBI agents masquerading as Arab sheiks. Torricelli's current legal torment does not demonstrate that these ethical questions are unique to New Jersey's political culture.
- Democrat Robert Torricelli, was forced to withdraw his candidacy for reelection over corruption charges