Vince: We Hardly Knew Ye
Part 17
Being a recap of the death, and various ongoing investigations into same, of White House aide Vincent Foster, jr.
(With apologies to his family, who prefer to "let sleeping Fosters lie.")
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With the U.S. about to invade Bosnia in order to promote peace ("War is peace"); with things getting a little hot in Washington (and not just the weather) for that big, lovable clown from Arkansas; with investigations heating up; with the "special people" beginning to panic -- how convenient for the comfortable classes that the situation in Bosnia should heat up just about now.
So that the commissar class doesn't get too comfortable, I thought I'd offer a bit of a history lesson on the death, as well as the on-and-off investigations into same, of Vincent Foster, jr.
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WHY DID VINCE FOSTER DIE?
I recently came across a book called "Slick Willie" II. It gives a good overview of the myriad of Clinton fishiness we have all been having to live with. "Clinton, the 'fishy' President". "There's something 'fishy' about the guy". No, I am not a Republican, in fact since 1972 (but excluding 1992), I have always voted Democratic. Also, I haven't been to church in years, so I'm not the "religious right".
Bill Clinton is a pathological liar. His behavior is enabled by the press, who rarely call him to task for his lies. Again and again, Clinton lies, yet again and again the press features "Clinton's plans", "Clinton says this", "Clinton says that" -- as if the many and enormous past Clinton lies had never happened! The press features Clinton's latest press announcements as if "Sure, he has lied the past 99 times. But this time, let's hear what he has to say."
So anyway, here is my summarization of the last chapter of "Slick Willie" II by Deborah J. Stone & Christopher Manion.
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"Foster knew these people, and he came to the conclusion that he had to resign from life." -- U.S. Rep. James A Leach
January 12, 1994
Foster's was the first major Washington "suicide" since that of Secretary of Defense James Forrestal in 1949. [CN -- However note that, for the record, there are those who dispute whether Forrestal's death was, in fact a suicide.] His death occurred on July 20, 1993. The initial reaction from persons in the administration to the news was surprise. One colleague called his apparent suicide unbelievable. Clinton described Foster as a "Rock of Gibraltar".
Then statements coming from the White House abruptly changed. Expressions of surprise at Foster's "suicide" stopped. Instead, Foster began to be characterized as being stressed out and unhappy with life in Washington. Dee Dee Meyers stated, "People had noticed he was down and were worried about him."
The book quotes an anonymous White House source which the authors call "Deepwater" as saying this change in reaction from the White House was a calculated maneuver; that it was spin control. Former chief of staff Nussbaum reportedly convened a special staff meeting to promote the new line that Foster had been "depressed".
But back in Little Rock, Foster's friends weren't buying it. While acknowledging that pressure may have been a factor, Doug Buford, friend and attorney, stated, "...something was badly askew." Foster's brother-in-law, a former congressman, also did not accept that depression was what had been behind the "suicide": "That's a bunch of crap." And Webster Hubbell, former Clinton deputy attorney general, phoned a mutual friend to say, "Don't believe a word you hear. It was not suicide. It couldn't have been." [See also the Larry Nichols interview where Nichols reports that Foster's body was originally found in the White House parking lot.]
The investigation into the death of Foster, a high-ranking member of the Clinton White House, was unusual. For one thing, it was handled by the "Park Police", rather than by the renowned FBI. Who decided that the Park Police ought to handle it?
The Park Police did not proceed, as is normal, under the assumption that what they were investigating was a homicide. They assumed instead, from the outset, that they were indeed investigating a suicide.
The White House routinely got in the way of investigators. The Park Police arrived at the White House on July 21st in hopes of searching Foster's office. They were denied access by the administration. They returned on July 22, but were made to sit outside Foster's office, in the hallway, while Nussbaum, monitored by FBI agents and Justice Department lawyers, conducted the official search.
When the Park Police tried to conduct interviews of White House personnel, Nussbaum demanded that the interviews be monitored by members of Nussbaum's staff. Park Police spokesman Major Robert Hines declared himself unhappy with the lack of cooperation.
Nine days after Foster's death, our leaders, the creme de la creme of this nation, looked again in Foster's briefcase and discovered they had missed a "suicide note" penned by Vince (may he rest in peace) Foster. The note had been torn into 28 pieces, but the 28th piece could not be found. There were no fingerprints on the note, "a circumstance," according to the New York Times, "that some investigators have found hard to believe."
According to Bernard Nussbaum's then-Executive Assistant, Betsy Pond, "I think Vince wrote the stuff at the beginning and end, but..." and then she clams up. Indeed, the note itself begins in the first person ("I made mistakes from ignorance, inexperience and overwork. I did not knowingly violate any law or standard of conduct."), but then switches to third person for most of its contents, and finally reverts back to first person at the end. "Deepwater" believes that Pond thought the note was a forgery.
The bullet that supposedly killed Foster has never been found.
According to the Boston Globe, Foster was left-handed. Yet the supposed suicide gun, the unregistered 1913 Colt revolver, was placed -- oops, I mean found -- in Foster's right hand.
The chapter in "Slick Willie" II asks other questions, questions that have been asked in previous editions of Conspiracy Nation and its predecessor, Conspiracy for the Day. Why hasn't the autopsy report been released? What about the first medics on the scene who insist that they found Foster laid out "as if in a coffin"? What about Liddy's confidential witness, who has sworn over and over that there was no gun? How could Foster's shoes have been so clean if he had walked through the woods in Fort Marcy park? Why were no official crime scene photos taken?
Coming to you from Illinois -- "The Land of Skolnick"