Huff Post: McCain Transition Chief Aided Saddam

Whilst the right wing talk machine is fanning the flames of Obama’s supposed lack of judgment in having a tangential relationship with former Weather Underground member, William Ayers, the Huffington Post currently has an exclusive on the McCain presidential transition chief’s connection to Saddam Hussein.

According the the Huff Post:

William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.

The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein’s government.

During the same period beginning in 1992, Timmons worked closely with the two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, on a previously unreported prospective deal with the Iraqis in which they hoped to be awarded a contract to purchase and resell Iraqi oil. Timmons, Vincent, and Park stood to share at least $45 million if the business deal went through.

Timmons’ activities occurred in the years following the first Gulf War, when Washington considered Iraq to be a rogue enemy state and a sponsor of terrorism. His dealings on behalf of the deceased Iraqi leader stand in stark contrast to the views his current employer held at the time.

Wow. Just… Wow…

The information in the article is pretty damning. Timmons claimed he didn’t know that the lobbyists he worked with were tied to Saddam, even though testimony from one of them to a federal prosecutor indicates that Timmons was specifically told of this. According to the lobbyist, Samir Vincent, Timmons was told that “we were talking to the leader of Iraq, and in essence we have access and assure [Timmons] that any messages we were relaying between Iraqi and Tariq Aziz and anyone else, it was being transmitted to the president, Saddam Hussein, in Iraq.”

The other lobbyist connecting Timmons with Hussein noted that within days, everything Timmons was doing on the campaign was ‘within days conveyed by Vincent to either one or both of Saddam’s top aides, Tariq Aziz and Nizar Hamdoon,” and that “Vincent also testified that he almost always relayed input from the Iraqi aides back to Timmons.

What the hell is John McCain thinking appointing someone like this to be his presidential transition team chief??