"The harder they come, the harder they fall"

- Jimmy Cliff

This hot story has been sizzling in the corporate media for the last 2 weeks - all the way from the"respectable" media to the porn sites. It's the brand, spanking new DC sex scandal. The government and corporate media served up Randall Tobias as Madam Palfrey's first victim. He was the head of foreign aid programs for the Bush regime who quit his job after the media revealed his name as a client of Madam Deborah Jean Palfrey's prostitution ring in Washington DC. Palfrey is accused of running her $400/Hr prostitution ring for over 13 years in Washington from her home in Vallejo, California. The ring has employed over 130 women. She's also been charged with a multiple-count racketeering and money-laundering indictment.

Yes, it's a bit tiresome, these crusty old politicians getting caught with their pants down again in the midst of carrying on the business of the world's "superpower". But there are a few trysts in this road that make it a little more interesting. The corporate media put Tobias on the block first but he wasn't the first to be named by Madam Palfrey.

According to court documents, Dr. Harlan K. Ullman was the first name provided to authorities by Madam Palfrey. It's little wonder if you've never heard of him. Harlan likes to work in the background and based upon our lengthy search for his photos, he appears to be a little camera-shy too.

Who is Dr. Harlan K. Ullman? 

Mr. Shock & Awe

Ullman, Mr. "Shock and Awe" himself, is one of the Neoconservatives who planned the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He's a retired U.S. Naval Commander who is known as the mastermind behind the U.S. "Rapid Dominance" strategy used in the bombing of Iraq in April, 2003. Indeed, he coined the phrase, "Shock and Awe". He is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Atlantic Council. One of his books, a product of the National Defense University, promotes the doctrine of shock and awe. It technically is known as "rapid dominance" and is a military doctrine based on the use of "overwhelming decisive force", "dominant battlefield awareness", "dominant maneuvers", and "spectacular displays of power" to "paralyze an adversary's preception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight".

"Bloodless Victory"

According to Global Security, "Mr. Ullman says shock and awe and its use of targeted, finely orchestrated attacks on specific military targets is the way to take out the enemy leadership, which can lead to an early, relatively bloodless victory. He says we'll know soon enough whether this will happen with Operation Iraqi Freedom."

"Incomprehensible Destruction"

In his March 20, 2003 Incomprehensible Destruction, Sandy Tollman described Ullmann's plans for Iraq: 

"The Pentagon's plan for these first 48 hours of strikes on Baghdad are expected to incorporate a military doctrine known as "Shock and Awe": an estimated 3000 bombs and missiles, nearly one every minute, streaking down on the Iraqi capital. The doctrine is fathered by Harlan Ullman, a veteran military strategist whose 1996 book, "Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance", recommends 'nearly incomprehensible levels of massive destruction" to achieve an 'overwhelming level of Shock and Awe against an adversary on an immediate or sufficiently timely basis to paralyse its will to carry on'. The impact of the current strikes can be better understood through a close reading of the book, which cites the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as successful past examples of "shock and awe".

"It suggests civilian casualties will be far higher than Pentagon officials had previously calculated. Moreover, it appears administration accusations against Saddam Hussein using "human shields" may be part of a campaign to shift the blame for a large civilian death toll in Iraq. And, it raises serious questions over the strategy of democracy by invasion: after such devastation, how would American troops be seen as liberators? In their 1996 book, published by the National Defence University, Ullman and co-author J P Wade lay the groundwork for the current Pentagon thinking on Iraq. The paralysis of the enemy's will, they write, would render him 'totally impotent and vulnerable' through 'total mastery achieved at extraordinary speed and across tactical, strategic, and political levels', which would 'destroy the will to resist'."

The "Hiroshima effect"

Veteran Journalist John Pilger wrote 3 months before the invasion of Iraq:

"A military strategist named Harlan Ullman told American television: 'There will not be a safe place in Baghdad. The sheer size of this has never been seen before, never been contemplated before.' The strategy is known as Shock and Awe and Ullman is apparently its proud inventor. He said: 'You have this simultaneous effect, rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima, not taking days or weeks but minutes.' What will his "Hiroshima effect" actually do to a population of whom almost half are children under the age of 14? The answer is to be found in a 'confidential' UN document, based on World Health Organisation estimates, which says that 'as many as 500,000 people could require treatment as a result of direct and indirect injuries'."

A Member of the Club

Unlike Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and the other neoconservatives who planned the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Harlan Ullman maintains a low profile when questions about Palestine are raised. Middle East Realities (MER), an analytical website on the state of Israel has this to say about Ullman:

"When it comes to situation with Israel Ullman treads very lightly. He hardly mentions Israel until near the end; and then he does so very much in the Kissinger/Brzezinski mold never even mentioning aid and arms to Israel or the Israeli/Jewish lobby; only hinting very obliquely at the need to bring Israel into line even with U.S. policies and interests while putting most of the burden on the occupied Palestinians and the Arab regimes to do what they are told and to accept whatever they are offered."

Indeed, Ullman's only strong opinion Palestine and Israel found in our extensive review of his writing was this:

"This is not a question of who is right and who is wrong. This is a question of preventing that part of the world from exploding. So that will require very aggressive, very forceful diplomacy in a country which is very much pro-Israel, in which Congress is very pro-Israel and in which the public is and so that is going to require a statement and a position which I think is going to be very difficult, if not impossible for the administration to be able to assume. So therefore while you say there is an opportunity, and I agree, the sort of aggressive dynamic diplomacy may be beyond any administration, and particularly this one."

"The harder they come"

No, there can be no doubt that he is a solid member of the neocon club that carefully laid the plans for the U.S. invasion dating back at least to the early-nineties. His bio reveals he is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); director of the Political-Military and Strategy Programs; consulted with a number of Fortune 100 companies; elected to the board of the Wall Street Fund;  formed his own company, the Killowen Group, a consulting firm with broad financial interests; served on the boards of several related investment and venture capital companies with holdings in Asia; a senior partner and vice chairman of two companies in the high-technology area; currently chairman of the advisory board of two companies engaged in Smart Zone Management and homeland security; chairs the Senior Seminar at the Center for Naval Analyses; serves at the National Defense University and is on the Senior Advisory Board of the U.S. European Command and the NATO Defence College." The CSIS provides "Strategic Insights and Policy Solutions" to the U.S. government. 

"The harder they fall"

Now it is Mr. Ullman who is experiencing his own little piece of "shock and awe" by the bomb Madam Palfrey dropped when she named him first and called him one of her "regular customers". Ullman's pain is of course, not to be compared with the brutality he inflicted upon the good people of Iraq; sufficient payback to this "gentleman" will forever be an impossibility.

Ullman denied being a client of Madam Palfrey

Ullman refused to talk about the Palfrey's revelation last week when he spoke with The Associated Press in a phone call. All he had to say was, "the allegations are beneath the dignity of a comment." Bush Whitehouse fake journalist and male prostitute, Jeff Gannon joined Harlan Ullman for the lunchtime "Q&A Cafe discussion series" at Nathan's Restaurant in Georgetown according to The Examiner in Washington. When asked about his use of Palfrey's prostitution service, Ullman told interviewer Carol Joynt: “The allegations are outrageous and do not dignify a response,” Ullman also told the crowd at Nathans, “My wife and I view this as most bizarre. ... It’s like being in a bad Franz Kafka novel.” When Joynt asked him if he'd ever met Palfrey, he replied, "absolutely not,” adding “I have no idea why lightning happened to strike me.” - The term, 'Kharma' comes to mind.

On March 22, 2007, the elitist The Denver Forum headlined, "The Denver Forum Proudly Presents Dr. Harlan Ullman" when Ullman spoke on "America's Promise Restored: Preventing Culture, Crusade and Partisanship from Wrecking Our Nation". The  Corporate Sponsor of the event was Lockheed Martin. 

Madam Palfrey says Ullman is "only one of dozens of such officials" who will be shocked and awed. Palfrey says she will expose dozens of officials and that she has "46 pounds of phone records that could expose thousands more clients" - as many as 10,000. Her attorney said that they turned the phone records over to ABC, seeking help in identifying her clients who might be called as witnesses. A search of ABC's website reveals many reports on Tobias, but only one report on Arlan Ullman. These reports are frequently updated on ABC and subject to change. Speaking of Tobias, Palfrey is quoted on ABC's website, "I'm sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone four to eight years, because I'm shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever. I'll bring in every last one of them in if necessary".

Perhaps Harlan Ullman can take a little solace in knowing that he is not alone among those names given up by Madam Palfrey. Perhaps he can even find some comfort in the damage control exercised by the corporate media. But he will never find refuge from a world that knows about the millions whose lives he has destroyed and all the misery and death his mind has wrought for generations to come.