DC Madam Says Iraq War Strategist Was A Customer

'D.C. madam' names a purported customer

Story Highlights

• Escort-service operator describes man as a regular client
• Harlan K. Ullman says "allegations do not dignify a response"
• Ullman a leading theorist behind "shock and awe" strategy in Iraq war
• Name dropped during hearing on changing lawyers

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The alleged "D.C. madam" dropped a name in court documents filed Thursday, but the man named bristled at being accused of hiring the high-end escort service run by Deborah Jean Palfrey.

Government prosecutors say Pamela Martin and Associates was actually a prostitution ring that Palfrey operated in the Washington area for 13 years. Palfrey denies that her business provided sexual services to its customers.

In her motion to reconsider appointment of counsel, Palfrey named Harlan K. Ullman as "one of the regular customers" of the business.

Ullman is one of the leading theorists behind the "shock and awe" military strategy that was associated with the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"The allegations do not dignify a response," Ullman told CNN. "I'm a private, not a public, citizen. Any further questions are referred to my attorneys."

Ullman -- a former Navy commander and "a highly respected and widely recognized expert in national security whose advice is sought by governments and businesses," according to his Web site -- also said he is considering "some sort of legal action."

His attorney, Marc Mukasey of Bracewell & Giuliani in New York, declined to add to his client's comment.

Palfrey's civil defense attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, told CNN that it was his understanding that Ullman used the business' services but did not engage in sexual activity with the escorts.

Palfrey is fighting a multiple-count racketeering and money-laundering indictment. Her attorneys have been engaged in a battle with the court over documents that list the names and personal information of her clients.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler has restricted access to the documents, but Sibley argued that the order applies to the originals of the documents, not to copies.

Copies have already been given to a media outlet, he said.

The motion filed Thursday asks the judge to install Sibley in place of the public defender Palfrey has been assigned for the criminal case, and to order the government to continue to pay for her defense. The government has seized her assets, and she cannot afford to pay on her own.

Sibley is Palfrey's attorney in a civil case against one of her former employees.

Supreme Court Rules Against Whistle-Blower

Court Rules Against Whistle-Blower

Tuesday March 27, 2007 4:46 PM

By MARK SHERMAN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court made it harder Tuesday for whistle-blowers to share in the proceeds from fraud lawsuits against government contractors.

The court ruled 6-2 that James Stone, an 81-year-old retired engineer, may not collect a penny for his role in exposing fraud at the now-closed Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant northwest of Denver.

Writing for the court, Justice Antonin Scalia said Stone was not an original source of the information that resulted in Rockwell International, now part of aerospace giant Boeing Co., being ordered to pay the government nearly $4.2 million for fraud connected with environmental cleanup at the Rocky Flats plant.

Rockwell must pay the entire penalty anyway. The only question before the court was whether Stone would get his cut.

The company, backed by defense, energy and pharmaceutical interests, wanted the justices to restrict when an individual can collect for suing on the government's behalf.

The Bush administration sided with Stone, arguing that it was in the government's interest to encourage whistle-blowers, even though the government keeps more money now that Stone has lost.

The False Claims Act allows individuals, acting on the government's behalf, to file fraud suits against companies that do business with the government. If they prevail, they receive a portion of what the contractor must pay the government. Lower federal courts ruled in Stone's favor.

The case turned on whether Stone provided information that a jury eventually used to find fraudulent claims.

Once allegations are disclosed publicly, often by the media, individuals face a higher hurdle in bringing fraud suits on the government's behalf. Otherwise, people could read a newspaper account or an indictment and then rush to the courthouse to file suit.

The major exception to this rule is if an individual is an original source of the information, which Stone said he was.

The company said his claim was implausible, since Stone was laid off the year before Rockwell began submitting false claims saying it was meeting goals of treating low-level radioactive wastes at the former atomic weapons plant.

Scalia agreed. ``Stone did not have direct and independent knowledge of the information upon which his allegations were based,'' he said.

Justice John Paul Stevens, in a dissent joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said whistle-blowers should have to show only that their information led the government to the fraud, not that the claims ultimately proved to a jury must also have come from them. Justice Stephen Breyer did not take part in the case.

The lower courts said Stone demonstrated that he provided information on which the allegations of fraud were based.

Rocky Flats is designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund cleanup site. It is an Energy Department-owned cleanup and closure site.

In nearly four decades, some 70,000 plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs were made at Rocky Flats. Production was halted in 1989 because of chronic safety problems, prompting a raid by FBI agents. The Cold War ended before production could resume. In 1993, the Energy Department announced that the facility's mission was over.

State and federal regulators signed an agreement in 1996 on the cleanup, including demolition of what was termed ``the most dangerous building in America'' because of leaks, spills and a fire that drove radiation levels off the charts.

The case is Rockwell International v. U.S., ex rel Stone, 05-1272.

The Strange Hire of Monica Goodling

While everyone's attention is focused on Monica Goodling's invocation of the Fifth, emails and Executive subornation of an objective process in how the DOJ selects its targets for prosecution, the larger point - Executive appointments, job qualifications and how failing to meet those qualifications lead to mistakes.

For starters, we all know that she went to the hithertofore unheard of Messiah College, which, judging from its website, is on the social conservative frige.

Messiah College

At Messiah College our mission is to educate men and women toward maturity of intellect, character and Christian faith in preparation for lives of service, leadership and reconciliation in church and society.

I guess Monica kinda missed the lofty goals of that statement, but that is pretty much what conservatives do - talk big in order to achieve personal gain.

So anyway, we learn from the Regent U. website that Monica is a 1999 graduate of that law school.

We also know that Regent is operated by nutty social conservative Pat Robertson, and is definitely not imbued with a mainstream curriculum.

Now for the fun part - she goes on to be the DOJ spokeswoman - as a 1999 law graduate. Here's an example of her work, her public face on the Hamdi case:

Scolds Supreme Court

Finally, at the time all hell broke loose, this seven year lawyer (?) was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' senior counsel and White House liaison.

I'm trying to square these appointments with the notion of competent governance. The fevered pronunciations of doom by this administration would dictate that an important slot like this be filled by someone with experience and gravitas, someone of proven competence whose advice could be relied on by the AG - not some inexperienced, weirdly trained neophyte whose law credentials are weak and who was selected in order to toss a banquet of bones to the noisy fringe of the party.

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