Murtha's Challenger

I couldn't find one single poll for Democratic congressman John Murtha's re-election. Murtha's Republican challenger is Diana Irey, a Washington County Commissioner. I don't know where she's polling, but she's way, way behind in campaign cash.

Not much attention has been given Irey, which is obviously bad for her. But if this actually turned into a race, Irey might then have to answer some questions about her husband's business dealings in Iraq. According to an Associated Press article, Diana's husband, Bob, partnered up with an old school buddy named Dale Stoffel to make money in Iraq.

Stoffel's company, Wye Oak Technology, had a hard-to-get federal license allowing him to import weapons. His former schoolmate Robert Irey, head of a Canonsburg, Pa.-based firm called CLI Corp., had years of construction experience.

Together, according to the plan, the international arms dealer and the small-town engineering company would get Iraqi military contracts and make lots of money.

Robert's brother, Bill, who did construction work for Disney World in Florida, also signed on, which was how Joe Wemple entered the picture. "I knew Joe from Disney," said Bill Irey. "He was the project manager for Shades of Green, the Army resort" near the amusement park.

All parties agreed that much of the money earned in Iraq would go to Stoffel, according to Irey. Stoffel had the weapons knowledge and he had made the contacts, including hiring a lobbying firm that also represented Chalabi's exiled Iraq National Congress.

So, Bob's buddy, Dale Stoffel, was going to Iraq to take old Iraqi weapons, refurbish them, and sell them back to Iraq. He got the $300 million contract. Things went well, except for one hitch, they weren't getting paid. So, Stoffel hired lobbyists who previously worked for Iraqi National Congress head Ahmed Chalabi. Chalabi is of course the man who fed our too-willing Bush Administration the bullshit intelligence used to start the Iraq invasion. Stoffel also met with reps. from Senator Rick Santorum's office. Santorum contacted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. So, things got better, right? Nope. Upon returning to Iraq, Stoffel was shot dead.

Bob is still trying to collect more than $2 million he claims he is owed for work done. Of course, if the United States pulls out of Iraq, Bob and Diana could forget ever seeing that money. I hate to be a cynic, but is that possibly in the back of her mind when she says things like;

I am standing up to Jack Murtha. And I'm doing it for all of the citizens and all of our soldiers throughout the United States.

she might be thinking about her money? I know, it's only $2 million. I'm sure she has no problem just blowing that off.