Why Are We Back In Iraq?

That's the photo of President Bush meeting with Beningo Repeki Fitial, then-Speaker of the House for the Northern Marianas Islands, that John Byrne and I wrote about at Raw Story on Monday.

Fitial, recently elected governor, is tied to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in a number of ways.

As we reported, Bush met with Fitial on the same day and at the same event with two of Abramoff's tribe clients who paid $25,000 each to attend, and it's been reported that Jack Abramoff was there, too, and included in a photograph with the President.

From Friday's Washington Post, Bush Reasserts Presidential Prerogatives, by Jim VandeHei:

According to three people who reviewed half a dozen photos of the men, Bush is pictured at official gatherings and fundraisers with Abramoff and his children. He also attended a White House meeting with some of Abramoff's clients, including tribal leaders and the then-speaker of the House for the Northern Mariana Islands, the sources said. Abramoff has pictures from the event, they said.

Come on, Jim. A link or a mention would have been nice.

Raw Story will have more on this in a few days.

Here's a semi-related article that I wrote for Raw Story yesterday: Studio that scrubbed Abramoff/Bush photo earned $140,000 from 2004 campaign.

Update

Interior Secretary Gale Norton Posed for Photo with Abramoff:

Interior Secretary Gale Norton posed for a photograph with Jack Abramoff in her second encounter with the lobbyist, a brief face-to-face session in her office in 2002.

The photo, made public Friday evening by Interior officials in response to media requests, shows Norton, Abramoff, an unnamed man, Chief Phillip Martin of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the tribe's outside counsel, C. Bryant Rogers.

That was Jennifer Talhelm at the Washington Post, the news organization that filed a Freedom of Information Act request for it. Although Interior spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said they should have released it to the media when they first asked for it.

See it here.

Love the first line on the caption:

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton in one of more than 5,000 photos taken during her tenure. From left to right: Unidentified, Phillip Martin, chief Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Secretary Norton, C. Bryant Rogers, outside counsel for Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and Jack Abramoff. The photo was taken February 5, 2002.

Was that first line written by a White House lawyer or spin doctor?

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 1/27/2006 08:16:00 PM