Who Was Joanne Herring?

Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, we cannot help wondering who his designated replacement will turn out to be. Long rumored to be ill or dying, Osama's time had come to be removed and a more robust substitute appointed in his place, more worthy of the "Enemy" moniker. The best place to look for this replacement is among bin Laden's former friends in Texas--Houston, to be more precise--among the oil community frequented by the beautiful socialite referred to in the article from 2009, which follows the New York Times obituary of one of Joanne's many husbands, Robert R. Herring:

HOUSTON, Oct. 12 [1981]— Robert R. Herring, chairman of the Houston Natural Gas Corporation, died yesterday in St. Luke's Hospital after a long illness. He was 60 years old.

Mr. Herring became president and chief executive officer of the company in 1967 and was elected chairman of the board in 1973. He served as director of the American Gas Association, Texas Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, the Proler Steel Corporation, Texas Commerce Bank and the Independent Petroleum Association of America. 

He became a trustee on the Rice University board of governors in 1972 and its chairman in June. He also served as a trustee of the University of Houston Foundation.

Mr. Herring is survived by his wife, Joanne King Herring, a former television personality; three children, Diane, Robert Jr. and Randolph, and two stepchildren, Beau and Robin King.

Funeral services are scheduled for tomorrow.

AFGHAN BLOWBACK FROM “CHARLIE WILSON’S WHITEWASH”

CIA’s Former Darling Hekmatyar Still Gunning For Power

©Jan. 25, 2009 by Arthur Kent

 Hekmatyar in 1988: truths revealed in book whitewashed from Hollywood film treatment

The movie

The disturbing legacy of the CIA’s covert military aid to Afghanistan during the Cold War strode into a Muslim community hall in London this past week, in the person of Ghairat Baheer – the brother of one of America’s most violent enemies, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar received much of the CIA’s Afghan arms and money in the 1980’s. He now proclaims his allegiance to al Qaeda. In 2003, the U.S. government listed Hekmatyar as a "specially designated global terrorist."