Were Classified Docs Given to the American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC) by the Pentago

Interesting Article from the Jerusalem Post today 1 Sept 2004:

The American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC, aka The Jewish Lobby) needs some serious criminal investigation into their illegal and immoral influence peddling ($$$$) in Washington :

Any one up on their latest chicanery? Now's your chance to speak out!

HERE'S THE JERUSALEM POST PRECIS

AIPAC hires lawyers
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Janine Zacharia, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 2, 2004 -------------

The FBI has not contacted AIPAC employees or their lawyers to resume interviews since an initial visit to the pro-Israel lobby's office on Friday, when two staffers were questioned as part of an investigation into whether a Pentagon official passed a secret document on Iran policy to the group, sources familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.

The FBI began questioning the two staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, and made a copy of Rosen's computer hard drive on Friday, sources said. The two then said they wanted to consult with attorneys before proceeding, but have made clear they are ready to continue to cooperate with authorities.

The jewish Lobby has hired Nathan Lewin, an experienced Washington attorney who specializes in white-collar criminal defense work and constitutional law.

Throughout his career he has represented prominent officials, including former attorney general Edwin Meese.

Rosen and Weissman are being represented by Abbe Lowell, one of Washington's most prominent attorneys, who is known as an aggressive, criminal defense attorney. Lowell was the Democrats' chief investigative counsel in the impeachment hearings of president Bill Clinton.

It was not clear why FBI investigators have not resumed questioning of the AIPAC staffers � whether it was a sign that the FBI had all that it needed, or that the investigation had stalled. An FBI spokesman, Bill Carter, had no comment, except to say, "It's an ongoing investigation."

The federal prosecutor handling the case, Paul McNulty, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, has a "very good reputation" as a "hard-core, very aggressive prosecutor," one formal federal prosecutor said.

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Comments, anyone?

Dude, YOU BEAT ME TO THE PUNCH! Good Job.

The AIPAC is the biggest lobby group out there and they are not above these kind of tactics. It will be interesting to see if they let the prosecutor take the gloves off. People still maintain that Isreal is our ally, but Isreal is only allied with Isreal and will use our secrets for anything they feel can help them maintain thier position. Not only do they bite the hand that feeds them, they steal the dinner too!

One wonders what kind of Death Threats this "brave" Lead Prosecutor has been getting since yesterday when this story broke...

I suspect he will "mysteriously drop the case" citing "personal reasons" or some such fiddle faddle.

Let's see if he is as spineless as the rest of those who backed off of AIPAC over the past 20 years !!

Don't let this story die...let's see where it goes (this should be fun!)

Here's today's New York Times article (2 Sept 2004) on AIPAC receiving classified documents pertaining to IRAN from a Pentagon Official (with apparent ties to the israeli Mossad in Tel-Aviv):

I cannot think the US press will carry this story much further (or look into it beyond the surface) since it clearly involves MOSSAD Katsyas (operatives) in the US..

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OFFICIALS SAY US PREPARING ARRESTS ON AIPAC CASE

WASHINGTON FBI agents have met in recent days with two high-level Pentagon officials to discuss the case of a Defense Department analyst who is suspected of turning over a classified policy document on Iran to Israel, according to a senior defense official.

The two officials, Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, and Douglas Feith, the undersecretary for policy, were briefed on the case of the analyst, Lawrence Franklin, who was a lower-level employee in Feith's office who specializes in Iranian Policy issues.

The official said that meetings with Wolfowitz and Feith were more briefings rather than interviews.

It remained somewhat unclear whether either man was asked any questions during the meetings about his knowledge of Franklin's covert activities.

Feith met with FBI agents at his home on Sunday, the official said. It was not clear exactly when and where the agents had met with Paul Wolfowitz.

The meetings were first reported on Monday by The Associated Press.

Pentagon officials said in a statement on Friday that no one at the Defense Department beyond Franklin is suspected of any wrongdoing.

So far, no official charges of espionage in the case have been brought, but behind the scenes government lawyers prepared to make the first arrests by issuing a criminal complaint against one or more figures in the case, government officials said Monday.

A complaint is a relatively quick legal method of charging someone with a crime.

The use of that approach suggested that the government has decided to move quickly to resolve the legal questions in the year-long national security case rather than wait for indictments after a grand jury investigation which might ask embarrasing questions for the White House.

Franklin's legal status is unclear. The authorities believe that Franklin gave a draft policy directive on Iran to officials from AIPOAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or "Jewish Lobby"), who then provided the information to the Mossad, which is the Israeli intelligence Agency.

The group and Israel have "officially denied" that they engaged in any crimiunal wrongdoing.

Efforts to contact Franklin have been unsuccessful, but friends and associates have said that he was a government employee who had little access to senior policy-makers.

Franklin has been cooperating with federal authorities and is thought to be "negotiating a deal" with the US government that could result in leniency in the form of reduced charges in exchange for his information about other people in the case. It is not clear when or even whether he will be charged in the case.

The case has been assigned to the federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, an office that has long experience in prosecuting espionage cases. The office is headed by Paul McNulty, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

A spokesman for McNulty would not comment on the matter.

Along with Franklin, two unidentified officials of AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) suspected of passing information to the Israelis are also under investigation.

Their legal status could depend on what information Franklin has supplied about their activities along with evidence already obtained by physical and electronic surveillance.

Some Justice Department lawyers are said to have expressed reservations about the proposal to make quick decisions about bringing charges, fearing that such a move would force the government to show its hand, disclosing evidence in a case in which investigators have already been forced to move more quickly than they had hoped because news organizations became aware of the inquiry.

Some officials suspect that the case will never reach the level of an espionage matter.

Investigators do not fully understand the secret motivations of two AIPAC-American Israel Public Affairs Committee- officials who they believe were in contact with Franklin.

Moreover, investigators have given up their hope of determining whether Israel regarded Franklin as a Mossa "asset" in a formal intelligence collection operation or as an informal Mossad source.

Franklin worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency for most of his career in US Government until he transferred to the Pentagon policy office in the summer of 2001 to deal specifically with Iranian issues.

In his current job, Franklin is one of two Iran desk officers who work in the policy office's Northern Gulf directorate.

Franklin is one of about 1,500 employees who work under Feith in the policy office.

Franklin is also a colonel in the Air Force Reserve who spent at least one of his annual tours on active duty working in the defense attach�'s office in the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv in Israel in the late 1990s, defense officials said.

Extracted from: The New York Times
2 Sept 2004
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Oh, the plot thickens !!!