serving her country. She is the daughter of Michael Ledeen, the Iran-Contra luminary, AEI scholar, and all-around capo in the neocon mafia. She’s 29, a freshly-minted M.B.A., with little to no experience in war-torn countries. But as an advisor for northern Iraq at the Ministry of Finance in Baghdad, she is, in essence, helping shape one quarter of that nation’s economy … the younger Republicans in Iraq spend much of their time plotting against the Democrats. “Everything is seen in the context of the election, and how they will screw the Democrats,” said one CPA official. “It was really pretty shocking to hear them talk.” “They are all on the campaign trail,” said another official. “They see this as a stepping stone to a better job in the next Bush administration.” “I don’t always know if they are Republicans,” said yet another senior CPAer. “But what is clear is that they know nothing about development, and nothing about transitional economies.” … It’s also driven journalists … to joke: “They don’t call it the Republican Palace for nothing.”
Simone also led at least one campaign to stifle free speech in her Brandeis University, campaigning to ban a left-wing speaker from her College.
Simone’s been rising quickly through the vast right-wing neocon economic apparatus. Once upon a time she worked a cushy job at “telecommunications company Linsang Partners (a big-iron FCC corporate welfare pure play). One prominent Linsang Partner is the delightful James Woolsey (ex-director of the CIA who says the US is engaged in “World War 4″ and who closely missed being appointed Iraq Pro-Consul in place of Bremer or Garner).
Anyway, the valient Simone was promoted to a VP at the improbably named Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises (a classic neocon looney bin lobbying gang that campaigns against open telecommunications, sustainable development and environmental regulation).
Mr Harold Furchtgott-Roth is an ex-FCC Commissioner and, as it happens, Ms Diana Furchtgott-Roth is a resident fellow at the equally looney American Enterprise Institute, where Ledeen’s kooky father Michael Ledeen also holds court (along with such notables as the always-creepy Richard Perle and Lynne Cheney. Ms DFR seems to think that women should be happy they are paid only 74 cents on the dollar compared with men, and that women somehow choose to be underpaid and under-valued.
But back the main topic! Simone was recently privileged enough to attend Bush’s plastic turkey flyby:
Condi Rice and Andy Card were there, too. I met them both- Condi Rice asked if we were really surprised- she was getting a kick out of it. We all said ?Absolutely!? Andy Card repeated my name and said it was nice to meet me … In other news, winter has officially arrived here. The rain has started and all the sand and dust has turned to mud. My pants are perpetually dirty- splattered with mud- and my boots are looking very rough indeed! War is hell … Hillary Clinton is coming here tomorrow. For her sake I hope I don?t see her. I might do something crazy like spit in her direction.
Meanwhile, her Iran-Contra arms-for-drugs-dealing father Michael Ledeen is a pillar of the neocon establishment and continues to write reams of overblown shite about the Middle East, such as this:
In the midst of a heated transatlantic debate over Iraq, one crucial question is on everyone?s mind : how best to catalyze the implementation of an environment of trust, democratic legitimacy and accountability, as the minimal requirements for a functional region fit for the 21st century and global stability.
Tags: Uncategorized by mike
No Comments »
