Posted on 10/23/2002 1:01:19 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Your tax dollars at "work": The State Department incompetent who was forced to retire because her office allowed most of the Sept. 11 hijackers into the country has received a $15,000 bonus for "outstanding performance."
"The bonus to Mary Ryan, the former head of the State Department's consular service, was awarded for the period beginning April 16, 2001 — nearly five months before the suicide attacks — and ending April 15, 2002," the Washington Times revealed today.
'Serving Their Country'
State Department flack Richard Boucher had the nerve to make this statement, apparently with a straight face:
"The performance of people is examined very carefully by committees, and they determine who gets the pay benefits.
"People get these performance awards based on things that they've done and how they've performed in their jobs and met the needs of the service. It's a sign that they performed well in terms of serving their country and their government."
The congressional General Accounting Office noted just this week that 13 of the 19 hijackers were handed visas without ever seeing a U.S. consular official. The GAO warned of continuing laxness in visa procedures.
Secretary of State Colin Powell ousted Ryan, a Clinton appointee, because of the insane "Visa Express" gimmick that let terrorists and other Saudis apply for visas over the Internet with no questions asked.
"Thomas Furey, who was consul-general in the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and helped establish the '"Visa Express,' also received a bonus," the Times reported.
'Fairness' to Terrorists
If your head has not exploded yet, get a load of this:
Even after Sept. 11, the moronic Ryan ordered keeping procedures for "Visa Express," though the name was quietly dropped.
"In keeping with the spirit of American justice and fairness [pre-Sept. 11 rules] must be followed," she decreed.
Those terrorist-friendly rules have since been tightened (at least in theory) - finally.
P.S.: Under Bill Clinton's regime, Ryan received two presidential Distinguished Service awards.
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