Cronyism & the Pres. Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board

Robert Bryce has a good article up on Salon.com about the latest cronies that Bush has appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board: Top-secret cronies

Evidently Bush doesn't want anyone pointing out bad intelligence when it comes his way, so he's stacked the Board with pals from the "Halliburton-Texas Rangers-oil business crony club."  (see below)

With Scowcroft out, Bush's cronies are in. Last month, the White House announced that Dallas oil billionaire Ray Hunt, one of Bush's biggest financial backers, was reappointed to the PFIAB. So was Cincinnati financier William DeWitt Jr., who has backed Bush in all of his business deals going back to 1984, when DeWitt's company, Spectrum 7, bailed out the faltering entity known as Bush Oil Co. The new appointee of note to the PFIAB is former Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, a Bush confidant since his days in Midland, Texas.

(Other notable appointees to the PFIAB include Netscape founder Jim Barksdale, former Reagan White House counsel Arthur Culvahouse, and former U.S. congressman and 9/11 commission vice chairman Lee Hamilton.)

Ray Close, a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group that has been critical of the Bush administration's handling of intelligence matters, doesn't mince words when discussing Bush's latest appointments to the PFIAB. "It's unbelievable," says Close, who worked for the CIA for 27 years as an Arabist. "I can't imagine anyone who has the president's interest in mind allowing him to do this. With the notable exception of Lee Hamilton, most of the choices look very weak, and several scream of cronyism."  

Bryce points out the the PFIAB "has long been stocked with people close to the president in office," but Bush has reached a nader in terms of the qualifications and expertise of those he has appointed.  Big surprise!

I suppose I should stop being taken aback by the gall Bush exhibits when he continues to appoint crony after crony, despite public criticism of it.

The articles goes on to detail the connections between PFIAB member Ray Hunt and .... you guessed it!  - Halliburton.