Lack Of Intelligence (And Good News From Africa)

The plot thins. Porter Goss's resignation as CIA director is rumored to be the result of one of two scandals. The first one involves Kyle Foggo, the agency's executive director; apparently defense contractor Brent Wilkes, a longtime friend of Foggo, provided prostitutes, limousines, and hotel suites to a congressman from California who took bribes from Wilkes and others in exchange for contracts with the government, according to Katherine Shrader of the Associated Press. The second one involves a CIA officer who had unauthorized contacts with the media and was fired with the blessing of the White House. The agency, of course, denies a connection between Goss's exit and these two stories. The main issue, it appears, was the inability of Goss to work as a subordinate within a fifteen-agency network to National Intelligence Director (and unindicted war criminal) John Negroponte. Goss had been an undercover agent in the sixties and was irked by the Central Intelligence Agency not being so "central" anymore.

But enough about aging double-O zeroes and right-wing racist go-betweens from the Central American wars of the eighties. Here's some good news to report: Sudan and the rebels in the Darfur province have agreed on a peace deal. The Sudanese government is required to give the population of Darfur a greater role in the country's power and wealth, the rebels will be integrated into the Sudanese armed forces, and the government-backed Janjaweed militias will stop harassing the locals and the supporters of the rebellion. The hope is to stop the conflict before it not only tears apart Sudan but spills into neighboring African countries. Will this plan work? Let's hope so.