Helgerson, his IG office, and those who oppose torture vigorously

Kappes and Sulick (and potentially Kiriakou and/or Grenier), who I am guessing are in-between

Porter Goss and his cronies–which may or may not include Crazy Pete Hoektra, who were ardently pro-torture and were closely aligned with Cheney

I say there are three factions, because the split between the pro-torture and anti-torture crowd is very pronounced (we’ve had a lot of stories about that split), and the split between Kappes and Sulick and the Gosslings is very pronounced (we know taht Kappes was very popular before and still, so we should assume a distinct lack of continuity between Goss’ tenure, particularly as it relates to alliance with Cheney and hackery, and Kappes’ tenure.

I’m not sure where Rodriguez falls, but for a lot of reasons I lump him with the Gosslings.

What’s unclear is where those two different splits come down on the two pressing issues–the torture tapes, and the NIE. Though we know that Kappes is one of the people that vetted the NIE, and he has proven his willingness to make a stand on principle before, so I’m betting he is one of the people–if not the primary person–who was ready to go public with the NIE results.

That said, it’s unclear where the Kappes crowd is with torture.

Laura Rozen reported that John Kiriakou was the executive assistant for Robert Grenier. Now, I wouldn’t automatically assume that Grenier and Kiriakou are the same faction. You’d think a top spook would get to choose his Exec Assistant, but Grenier made some claims during the Libby trial that suggested there was some operational space between him and Kiriakou–which may or may not have been a true claim. That said, Grenier was reportedly fired because 1) he was not Goss’ man, and 2) he wasn’t tough enough (the Europeans translated that as “he didn’t like torture). Which suggests Grenier may have been fired bc he was solidly in the anti-torture crowd. Given Kiriakou’s ambivalent reports–”torture is bad but it did work,” I might put him in the Kappes crowd. That is, in a position where people for legal, moral, and efficacy reasons disavow torture, but where they also want to make sure none of the guys who did the torture are held legally liable.

So I suspect that there are two somewhat amorphous positions (between those who would leak to expose torture, adn those who want to make sure no one is held legally responsible but also want to be done with torture), as well as the distinct crowd of the Gosslings, under whose authority the tapes were destroyed. In any case, the Kappes faction appears ascendant now (though Helgerson looks like he’s heading for a win on the torture issue), and I do think they were responsible for the publication of the NIE.

BushCo (i.e., Halliburton, Carlyle Group, Enron, Blackwater, the House of Saud, etc.) are planning on “leaving the rest of us behind.” As they move thier repective bases of operation to Dubai (for tax-free safekeeping and minimal oversight), do they care if the Saudis and Iranians work together? They will already own the oil distribution deals from Iraq.

It is kind of like when Boeing left union-friendly Seattle for Chicago. Who is going to complain in Chicago about outsourcing Seattle jobs? The major difference is that Bush has burdened the US with debt used to fund his start up venture. The dollar will be weak, and the US will become a growling toothless old dog.

But BushCo will have raw materials with a distribution deal. He will be the wealthiest ex-Presidente ever. And Cheney will be richer and meaner still. The only fantasy they won’t realize is being crowned grand ayatollahs.

So why should they really care about Iran. They are more than willing to pander to them, ultimately granting them legitimacy, as long as they are granted power and freedom to operate thier financial empire from Dubai. After all, haven’t the republicans proven that American religous leaders can be kept in line with sex scandals? Why won’t the same work with the mullahs?

CIA lost a lot of career people under Goss and it has been reported that Hayden was having a tough time replacing people. I think between Cheney’s continued pressure to mix it up with Iran (as if he hasn’t fucked up enough already) and a genuine desire to not go to jail because of “other people’s incompetence”, some folks at CIA are fighting back. This will most likely effect the Cheney run enterprises such at torture, Iran, and Pakistan, as opposed to the mess over a DoJ which seemed to be more of Rove’s handiwork.

come on, no thread on the caucas ???

Josh has some of the funniest political headlines I’ve ever seen

the mittster figures if nobody shows up, he wins:

If Republican turnout today is 80,000 or above, Mitt Romney’s campaign could be in trouble, according to Doug Gross, Mr. Romney’s Iowa campaign chairman.

fredo is stamping his foot and screaming “I am too relevent”:

Is Fred Thompson really going to quit the race before New Hampshire if he posts a weak showing in Iowa, as an anonymous adviser said this morning?

“That is absolutely made up out of whole cloth,” said the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee.

probably find some scrapes of that cloth in fredo’s campaign headquarters, if you could find fredo’s campaign headquarters

and it looks like kkkarl rove’s wet dream candidate is gonna finish third

so much for inevitibility and shit

so why we bothering with this mixed message propaganda from the repuglitards ???

what’s next, is Boykin gonna tell us that their God is bigger than our God ???

these fuckers are just throwing shit against a wall to see what sticks

we don’t have to play that game

we could watch the repuglitard follies instead

who wants popcorn ???

OT — MN-USA Paulose replacement named.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Magill has been chosen to replace Rachel Paulose as U.S. attorney on an acting basis, according to a Senate staffer.

The staffer, who requested anonymity so as not to upstage the Justice Department, said Thursday that Magill is expected to take over the office in the next day or two.