Seattle television station KIRO-TV reported Wednesday that an incident similar to the Secret Service scandal in Columbia occurred in March of last year in El Salvador just prior to President Obama’s arrival in that Central American country. The station said it based its report on an unnamed government contractor and a San Salvador strip club owner. The strip club owner also told the station that his club routinely takes care of high-ranking employees of the U.S. embassy in San Salvador as well as visiting FBI and DEA agents.
Here is an excerpt from the KIRO-TV station’s report:
__This source witnessed the majority of the men drink heavily ("wasted," "heavily intoxicated") at the strip club. He says most of the Secret Service "advance-team" members also paid extra for access to the VIP section of the club where they were provided a number of sexual favors in return for their cash.
__Although our source says he told the agents it was a "really bad idea" to take the strippers back to their hotel rooms, several agents bragged that they "did this all the time" and "not to worry about it." Our source says at least two agents had escorts check into their rooms. It is unclear whether the escorts who returned to the hotels were some of the strippers from the same club.
And here are some of the brilliant reactions by some of our nation’s leaders:
__When asked what should be done about the association of federal agents with prostitutes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid joined Sen. Collins and Rep. Maloney by saying, "Hire more females."
__On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee that what happened in Colombia was an isolated incident and that if there were a broader problem, "that would be a surprise to me." She said that the Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility had received no complaints of misconduct similar to what happened in Cartagena in the past 2 ½ years, and officials are reviewing all records of complaints.
__Rep. Peter King, R-NY, responding to the El Salvador allegations, said there were no complaints of such misconduct in the Secret Service agency files.
__And President Obama reduced the scope of the scandal to “A couple of knuckleheads.”
Hire more females? Let me repeat that while boys will be boys, girls in law enforcement will be boys too. Women in law enforcement want to accepted as part of the team and they are neither likely to stop their male colleagues from cavorting around and they are not likely to rat them out either.
Broader misconduct would be a surprise to Napolitano? For someone who is responsible for all federal law enforcement officers, Napolitano, from her lofty perch at the top, seems to be totally ignorant of the downtime drinking and partying done by the rank-and-file.
No complaints of misconduct? Duh...Of course there are no complaints. These acts were committed in foreign countries where cavorting with prostitutes is a common practice. No Secret Service agent in his right mind would file a complaint citing that he and his comrades had hooked up with hookers. The only reason the Columbian scandal came to light was because one ‘knucklehead’ stiffed the prostitute he was with and she made a complaint to the authorities.
Finally, as to the president’s statement that only a couple of knuckleheads misbehaved, my thought is that only a knucklehead would turn a blind eye to the hard drinking and partying that is common to the law enforcement community.
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