Kirk Admits C.I.A. Connection

[chiburb]

Mark Kirk (Republican, 10th District – Illinois) admitted on the floor of Congress that he has been working for the Central Intelligence Agency at the same time he is serving in Congress. Lee Goodman, Kirk’s Democratic opponent, called for Kirk’s resignation from Congress. “The conflict of interest is blatant and appalling,” said Goodman. “Congress has been struggling to investigate intelligence failures by the CIA and now it turns out Kirk is working for the CIA. No wonder Kirk voted not to investigate these failures after 9/11. He is working for the people who didn’t want to be investigated. Any high-schooler who has studied the separation of powers in U.S. history class would recognize the problem.”

Goodman pointed out that until this revelation, Kirk had concealed his CIA connection. “Up until now, all he said was that he was a Navy reservist who was spending some weekends at the Pentagon. Now it turns out he is working with the people who conduct covert operations. Is there any way an agent of the CIA can be expected to function as a legitimate representative of the people in his district? The CIA is an organization that depends on secrecy. Congress is supposed to operate under public scrutiny. The two just aren’t compatible.”

Goodman also said Kirk has a conflict in the ongoing inquiry into the CIA’s role in torturing prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. “Congress has been looking into prisoner abuse, and Kirk is working for the agency that wrote a manual on torture and that may have been instrumental in the perpetration of these atrocities,” said Goodman. “Now we know why Kirk publicly condoned the torturing of prisoners. If Congress is to have any credibility in these matters, they should toss this guy out on his ear.”

http://www.leeforme.com/news/070204.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Holy cow

You should post this is GD.

Kirk was a US Congressman and a CIA agent at the same time?

Just tell me what time he's turning in his resignation?

[chiburb]

3. It IS posted in GD...

But sinking like a stone.

[madrchsod]

2. where is the 10th

district? illinois republicans never ever fail to amaze!!!!

[chicagojoe]

5. The GOP in Illinois is self-destructing.

These clowns are on their way down the drain. I would love to hear of a scandal involving that hog Dennis Hastert.

Go Obama ! Go Kerry/Edwards2004 ! Go Edwards/Obama2012 !

[zbdent]

4. Bet he would have screamed about treason if he had been outed

instead of admitting it himself.

[chicagojoe]

6. More GOP scum from Illinois. They must be "deleted" !!!

[KharmaTrain]

7. Get Ready To Flame Me, But...

Right now, the CIA is our friend. They're the ones who fed Hirsh the info for Abu Gahbril, outed Chalabi and leaking all sorts of details embarassing to the regime. I'm not sure the time is now to ruffle those feathers, and not sure how it flies.

Kirk is in a district that is one census from becoming solidly Democratic and he has been riding on Porter's coat-tails the last two elections. I'm not sure if that "magic" still applies.

Just like the 8th, that is a tough district to crack as it's expensive to target with media advertising (Chicago radio & TV costs are astronomical) and few local events (other than carnivals) where a candidate can reach a large number of locals. It's all door-to-door, name recognition and who you know.

I'm hoping one day that the Kennedy that runs the Merchandise mart runs...hell, I'd physically pick up my house and move it to the district to vote for him!

Honestly, I don't think Kirk's CIA connections hurt him. He's always run as a military/intelligence type and that's worked well for him. This is just validating that reputation. I think it'd be better to go after him, and all Repugnicans, for their support of this regime and it's war policies. There Kirk can't hide behind the flag and actually have to justify why he supports this regime and the invasion/war. Any candidate that gets their Repugnican opponent on that track this fall is going to win a lot of fresh votes!

[Nailzberg]

8. This is the wrong attack to make against Kirk

Kirk is an asshole. I hate him. I vote against him every two years.

But he has been very upfront about the fact that he is a Naval Reserve Officer working for Navy Intelligence. The fact that our intelligence communities share info is a good thing. Kirk isn't in the CIA, and he is not employed by the CIA.


Kirk should be sequestered from any Congressional inquiries into US intelligence activity due to prevent any possible conflict, but I hardly think his one week-end a month is reason for resignation.

He's a hard-right asshole posing as a moderate, but he's not a spook.