Exploring the paths of power and influence =

AIPAC case: DC grapevine or = espionage?

By=20 Carol=20 Eisenberg

March 5, = 2008 at=20 10:28am

What=E2=80=99s a little information-swapping between = friends?

America=E2=80=99s most powerful pro-Israel lobby says = that=E2=80=99s the currency=20 of everyday life in the nation=E2=80=99s capital. The = Justice Department,=20 however, is calling it espionage, and will finally get to = make its=20 case next month when two former officials of the American Israel=20 Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), go on trial in federal = court=20 in Alexandria, Va., for allegedly passing classified = information=20 about Iran and Iraq to Israeli officials, colleagues and the = media.

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Steven J.=20 Rosen, former policy director for AIPAC, and Keith=20 Weissman, the lobby=E2=80=99s former Iran specialist, = are charged with=20 violating a World War I-era espionage act for sharing what = the=20 government calls national defense information =E2=80=9Cwith = persons not=20 entitled to receive it,=E2=80=9D according to an August, = 2005 indictment.=20 The names of the recipients are not disclosed in the = indictment, but=20 media reports have identified them as Washington = Post=20 reporter Glenn Kessler and Naor Gilon, minister-counselor = for=20 political affairs in the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

The trial is expected to produce embarrassing revelations = about=20 the tight relationships between influence peddlers and = government=20 officials. AIPAC, which fired the two officials in 2005, has = a=20 particularly close relationship with the Bush=20 White House. The president himself addressed AIPAC members = in=20 Washington on May 18, 2004, and Vice President Dick=20 Cheney spoke to the group last year.

But the group=E2=80=99s ties extend across party lines. A = 2005=20 National Journal survey of lawmakers ranked it No. = 2 in a=20 list of the 25 most powerful lobbies in Washington - ahead = of the AFL-CIO=20 and the National=20 Rifle Association, but behind the American=20 Association of Retired Persons.

And the trial may be even more politically radioactive = coming=20 after publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign=20 Policy, a book which argued that the pro-Israel lobby = distorts=20 the public debate about Middle East policy and which has = stirred=20 bitter debate.

There=E2=80=99s no denying the list of potential defense = witnesses is a=20 Who=E2=80=99s Who of administration officials. Over Justice = Department=20 objections, Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled the defense may call=20 Secretary of State Condoleezza = Rice; National Security Adviser Stephen=20 J. Hadley, deputy National Security Adviser Elliot=20 Abrams, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard=20 L. Armitage, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul=20 Wolfowitz; and a dozen other Bush administration foreign = policy=20 officials.

The defense aim is to show that information-sharing is a = routine=20 part of Washington life, and that the material passed on by = Rosen=20 and Weissman was already known by Israeli officials.

It will argue that the two men simply listened to = Franklin, and=20 repeated information they heard, doing nothing more than = =E2=80=9Cwhat=20 members of the media, members of the Washington policy = community,=20 lobbyists and members of congressional staffs do perhaps = hundreds of=20 times every day,=E2=80=9D according to a defense = memorandum.

The prosecution plans on calling top and former = intelligence=20 officials, including Dale Watson, who headed the = FBI=E2=80=99s investigation=20 of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks; William McNair, the = former=20 information review officer for the CIA=E2=80=99s directorate = of operations;=20 and Brig. Gen. Paul A. Dettmer, assistant deputy chief of = staff for=20 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in the U.S. = Air Force,=20 according to court filings.

The prosecution argues that Rosen and Weissman received = sensitive=20 information from a mid-level Defense Department analyst, Lawrenc= e=20 A. Franklin, a U.S. Air Force Reserve colonel, whom they = met in=20 a series of DC-area restaurants.

Franklin, a Catholic father of five who worked in the = office of=20 Douglas Feith, was a minor player in neocon circles who = sought to=20 build pressure for a more aggressive administration policy = towards=20 Iran, according to The New Yorker. His efforts = included=20 meetings with Rosen and Weissman, officials at the Israeli = Embassy=20 and efforts to reach out to Iranian dissidents.

In 2001, he and Michael=20 Ledeen, a prominent figure in the Iran-contra scandals = of the=20 Reagan administration, met secretly with the Iranian arms = dealer=20 Manucher Ghorbanifar in Italy, the man who had brokered = Israeli=20 missile sales to Iran in exchange for efforts to free = American=20 hostages in Lebanon in the deal that came to be known as=20 Iran-Contra.

Franklin had pleaded guilty to passing government secrets = and was=20 given more than 12 years in prison =E2=80=93 a sentence = likely to be reduced=20 as a result of his cooperation after the upcoming trial. He = is being=20 represented by Plato=20 Cacheris, the attorney who represented Fawn Hall, the = former=20 secretary to Oliver North, a key player in the = hostages-for-arms=20 deal, as well as CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames.

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2 Comments

#1. Institute for Research = 03.05.2008 =

It is difficult to believe that a trial, which is fair = to the=20 defendants, and thorough on the part of the prosecution = team, will=20 actually move forward next month.

1. AIPAC and founder Si Kenen came under extreme = scrutiny by=20 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for operating as=20 unregistered foreign agents in the 1960s, but nothing=20 happened.

2. AIPAC was found by the FBI to have negotiated the = first ever=20 US free trade agreement with purloined International Trade = Organization documents; the agreement was signed anyway. = FBI did=20 not move forward.

3. AIPAC was found to be coordinating political action=20 committees in violation of its tax exempt status. AIPAC = was found=20 to be acting as a PAC, without disclosing donors, the case = made it=20 to the Supreme Court, but no action was taken and even = that=20 decades old case is still in limbo.

4. Co-prosecutor Kevin DiGregory has just abandoned the = case to=20 take a job in the private sector (reminiscent of the = golden=20 parachute of Carol Lam in the US attorney firing scandal). =

5. AG Mukasey has been lobbied publicly by the Wall = Street=20 Journal to toss this prosecution, and likely privately = from many=20 different sides. The case may already be hobbled and = =E2=80=9Cdamaged=20 goods=E2=80=9D in the DOJ, which, like the administration, = would probably=20 rather see this all go away.

History would indicate that this is the type of subject = that=20 doesn=E2=80=99t get a fair hearing in America. (data cited = from the book=20 =E2=80=9CForeign Agents: The American Israel Public = Affairs Committee from=20 the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage=20 Scandal=E2=80=9D
#2. Nathan Hale 03.08.2008 =

They spied on the United States during wartime, passing = secret=20 documents to agents of a foreign power. Even AIPAC itself = dumped=20 them overboard after listening to selections of their=20 conversations with the Israeli government spy. Meantime, = AIPAC=20 must be stripped of its Made In USA camouflage and forced = to=20 register as a foreign agency, if not dismantled = altogether. This=20 dual loyalty crap has got to end, the AIPAC agents must be = completely weeded out of government and subjected to = constant,=20 comprehensive scrutiny by our security agencies and law=20 enforcement.

Leave a = Comment

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