AIPAC Treason Trial

Obama's advisors article should be coming up in the near future.

Meanwhile, in the land of the Yoo Ess of Ey, safely away from most major newspapers and any prying reporter cameras, we have this is happening.

Lets delve into the story, in Forward, dated Fri. Jun 20, 2008 and then with Forward, dated Thu. Jun 26, 2008.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., upheld the standard of proof set by a federal district court in the case of Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, who were indicted in 2005 for communicating classified information. The two former Aipac officials are accused of receiving classified information from Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin and passing it on to Israeli diplomats and journalists.

So, Messrs. Rosen and Weissman, dare I guess Jewish-Americans (I dare), are accused of getting classified documents from a Pentagon analyst, Messr. Franklin, and then passing those documents to Israeli "diplomats" and "journalists".

Now, let me interject my AG analysis here.

This is normal, happens all the time, spying.

Stuff like this happens all the time, with a country's "journalists" and "diplomats" recruiting in a target's country's personnel.

The following describes how spying works in the real world, and how boring, mundane and ultimately tragic it is for the targeted individual.

No James Bond stuff here; just real life.

A classic example is that of a Russian (or a Soviet, back when USSR existed) diplomat, working under diplomatic cover say in an American city, chatting up a clerk of a powerful Congressman.

Yada yada, lets go for some coffee, lets tell a few jokes, and then schedule another meeting.

Meeting two, yada yada, hey, can you write some articles for me, and I will pay you a lot of money. Nothing illegal, just a few articles on what you think on a political issue that we are interested in (and incidentally, that your employer, the Congressman works on, say a Defense committee).

A few meetings later, the requests from a "diplomat" for the topics are getting a bit more specific, but the money is getting bigger, and the target realizes that he/she is being used in an espionage case... But, the "diplomat" reassures the target that really, this is nothing illegal, and that really, even if the target is caught, which won't happen anyway, but in case, then what can they prove - writing articles for a foreign newspaper is not illegal.

Yada yada, few meeting later, would the target be so nice as to get us a few papers from the Congressman's safe? Well, they are not top secret or anything (OK, they might be, but so what, says the "diplomat"). OK, this is now spying, but after all, dear target person, you have already spied for us, and you must have surely realized it, and you accepted money from us, soooo if you don't go one step further we will discontinue the money, and the local police or investigative reporter might find an anonymous voice mail on his answering machine...

And there, at that moment, the target is fucked, the "diplomat's" veneer changes, the mask is off, and the "diplomat" is no longer a friend to the traitor, but a superior, his boss. His word is law.

And, at this point, the money that is paid to the spy decreases dramatically...

I have used a Russian "diplomat" as an example, but one can use Chinese, Israeli, South Korean, or a myriad of other nations "diplomats" and "journalists" who spy on us.

So, sorry for the interlude, back to the AIPAC trial.

I have no idea if the classic scenario above was used to entrap Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman into spying for Israel, but for my money, it wasn't needed, and was not used.

You see, AIPAC is an organization whose main, sole, and only function is to promote Israel and Israeli goals in American life - including the TV, radio, newspapers - but also, perhaps most importantly, exerting great pressure on our elected (and yet to be elected to other, more powerful positions) politicians.

The power of the Israel Lobby is profiled in the John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

It is also profiled in a myriad examples on my blog, in the Neocons and Israeli Lobby in the USA section to the right.

But perhaps the easiest way to make you realize how powerful AIPAC is, and what power it wields, is this: Obama and the common treason article on this blog:

A mere 12 hours after claiming the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama appeared before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee yesterday -- and changed himself into an Israel hard-liner.

He promised $30 billion in military assistance for Israel. He declared that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force has "rightly been labeled a terrorist organization." He used terms such as "false prophets of extremism" and "corrupt" while discussing Palestinians. And he promised that "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."

Vowing to stop Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon, the newly minted nominee apparent added: "I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally, Israel. Do not be confused."

Obama felt it was necessary for his chances to become the president of the USA to pander to a foreign country's lobby, an organization which represents Israeli interests (and by definition, not America's interests, unless you are stupid enough to buy the propaganda off the TV "experts" who say that Israeli and American interests are the same) - and this was done 12 hours after Obama secured his party's nomination for president.

This was the first thing Obama did after he became the Democrats great white errrr black hype.

And Obama is not an isolated example, not by a long shot.

To be invited to an AIPAC treason-fest is a great honor for American politicians - it means that you are now a big time player in America, that you matter.

To be pandering to Israel at an AIPAC meeting, means that you have arrived in American politics.

It means you are big time.

Lets look at AIPAC's own page, boasting of its 2008 conference:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Republican Leader John Boehner addressed the closing session of AIPAC's 2008 Policy Conference

.
See?

Both parties' politicians must declare their undying love and devotion, dare I say servility, to Israel and its goals.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, pledged his support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship during the closing session of AIPAC’s 2008 Policy Conference. "We know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security," Sen. Obama declared.

Yes.

I want an American president to never, ever compromise when it comes to American errrr Israel's security.

Splendid.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was the opening speaker for AIPAC Policy Conference 2008 in Washington, D.C.

McCain said that Iran must be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons and reaffirmed his support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. “My friends, as the people of Israel know better than most, the safety of free people can never be taken for granted,” McCain said. “And in a world full of dangers, Israel and the United States must always stand together.”

Yes, Israel and America must always stand together - regardless if it is in America's interest or not.

And regardless, if, say, Israeli policemen (actually, secret policemen, the Shin Bet - Israel's version of the old Soviet Union KGB) torture and humiliate a newspaper reporter - and an 80 year old Jewish Holocaust survivor (story is here, if you care for the sordid details).

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) affirmed her support for a strong U.S. Israel relationship during the closing session of AIPAC's 2008 Policy Conference, noting that support "for a strong American-Israeli relationship is essential to our interests."

Sen. Clinton emphasized that the United States "can never let Iran obtain nuclear weapons...This is not just in Israel’s interest; it is in America’s interest and the world’s interest."

But mostly, I would guess, this is in Israel's interests, especially since Sen. Clinton was speaking at AIPAC.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday morning addressed more than 6,500 pro-Israel activists at AIPAC's 2008 Policy Conference. America's top diplomat praised AIPAC for the work it does to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship: "It’s always a pleasure to be among friends here at AIPAC,

It's great to have friends like the pro-Israel crowd at AIPAC.

After all, Condoleezza Rice is a Zionist, right? (snicker)

I can't resist bringing this paragraph from the AIPAC web page on the 2008 shindig:

A fascinating panel of leading Jewish intellectuals addressed AIPAC Policy Conference delegates on the changing face of Zionism and the evolution of Israel’s place in the world.

Isn't it great that an organization, which officially is NOT a foreign power lobby group (AIPAC, you see, is all American and not classified as a foreign power lobby group) concerns itself with Israel's place in the world?

Jeez, a political Lobby group should concern itself with something that is dear to Americans' interests - I don't know - guns, abortions, the economy, the mortgage crisis, the oil bubble speculation - but a foreign country?

And just to ram the point home, from my http://americangoy.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-americangoy-anti-semite.html article:

Symbols are important. And one of the most important symbols of the Jewish State is Hatikvah. The anthem of the State of Israel.

“The 2000-year-old hope, To be a free People in our Land, The Land of Zion and Jerusalem”.

We are also proud Australians and properly have no difficulty in singing Advance Australia Fair, of course.


Wait, wait wait.

You do not have a problem singing the Australian national anthem, but this is stated as a by the by, offhand remark. I get the feeling that the author cares more for the national anthem of Israel, and his being an Australian citizen is somewhat of an afterthought. As in "I don't have a problem with ALSO singing the Australian national anthem".

Oh, sorry, this quote is from the Australian Jewish News, and here I am concentrating on the America first point of view.

But, it is inconceivable that the issue of Jewish dual loyalty - profiled in my article here - is not just an AIPAC phenomenon, but is happening around the world?

Not all Jews, but enough to make AIPAC in America and other organizations in other nations (but not powerful to the extent that AIPAC is in America - no other nation is that stupid) care not about their country of residence, but care for, support and identify Israel as their primary political cause.

That is what Zionism is all about (go ahead, call me an anti-semite, racist, bigot, but for fuck's sake don't discuss the examples and sources I cite!).

That is what my Dual Loyalty and the viewpoint that perhaps this tribal feeling is a normal human behavior in my Dual Loyalty - another example article.

And last but not least...

Rosner's Blog, from Ha'aretz (Rosner is the Israeli paper's chief USA correspondent), dateline February 26, 2006:

The 4,500 participants at the annual AIPAC policy conference, which begins next week, will be singing both "Hatikvah" and "The Star Spangled Banner." The Israeli national anthem was not sung at the conference last year, provoking criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee from all sides.

Last year's decision to skip "Hatikvah" has been linked to the investigation at the time into senior AIPAC officials and a desire to avoid any suspicion of dual loyalties.

The tradition of singing the Israeli national anthem at AIPAC gatherings began many years ago, and it was upheld at a large convention of the organization's activists held in Los Angeles a few months ago.

So, the national anthem of the state of Israel is sung at AIPAC conferences, and it was only stopped in 2005, because... of the two AIPAC spies being arrested by the FBI, and singing an Israeli national anthem when two AIPAC high ranking members were tried for betraying USA's secrets to Israel... well, there is only so much chutzpah that AIPAC has.

But the Americans are uninformed about this trial, AIPAC and the role of the pro Israel Lobby, and so the singing of the Israel national anthem was resumed at AIPAC conventions, and Americans continue to die and come back without arms, legs, eyes, fingers... from Iraq... and soon Iran.

Why did I go on this wordy rampage at all?

Simply to tell you that, in my opinion, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman were probably not entrapped, perhaps not even paid by Israel.

You see... AIPAC is sort of a cult, where only the correct viewpoint of the world, Israel, Palestinians is allowed to flourish and is promoted. No questioning of the cult leaders and the organization is allowed.

And so, Israel is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

So the two American "patriots" passed classified Pentagon documents for the simple reason that they are Jews first (and, more importantly, AIPAC supporting Jews) and that means that they are supporters of Israel first, Americans (or Australians, or French, or Romanian, or...) second.

But there is even more to this narrative than that.

When one sees Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House), Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader), John Boehner (House Republican Leader) stand at the AIPAC podium, and all saying the same thing "Isreal is America's greatest ally", "Israel is our friend", and my favorite quote from Obama, "We know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security", perhaps the impression is given that Israel really is America's greatest friend, ally and needs to be supported in every way.

So when an Israeli "diplomat" or an Israeli "journalist" chatted up Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, there was no reason to give them money, to do the standard entrapment routine that is used by intelligence services around the world.

Because, like many other (non-political) cult members around the world, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman were (and are?) true believers.

So that taking classified, secret documents from the Pentagon, and passing them to Israeli spies, is not treason - it is simply helping out an ally.

Taking classified, secret documents from the Pentagon, and passing them to Israeli spies, is not treason - because American and Israeli interests are the same.

And you know what is the funniest thing in all of this?

The kicker to this story?

It is that the American Court system agrees.

From the Jewish Daily Forward, dated Fri. Jun 20, 2008:

In the earlier district court decision, Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled that in order to make the case that Rosen and Weissman had broken the law, the prosecution would need to prove a series of assumptions, among them: That the defendants knew the information they were relaying was classified national defense information, that they knew it was unlawful to disclose the information and that they “had a bad-faith reason to believe the disclosures could be used to the injury of the United States or to the aid of a foreign nation.”

Did you catch all this?

Lets take it point by point.

What we have here is two Americans (Jewish-Americans if anyone is paying attention) passing secret documents from the Pentagon to their Israeli spy handlers.

There is no fucking "alleged" here - they were caught red handed - hence the trial.

The judge in this case, one T.S. Ellis III, has ruled that to prove the two traitors (oh sorry, "alleged" traitors) guilt, the prosecution would have to prove:

1) "the defendants knew the information they were relaying was classified national defense information"

Of course the two had no clue what they were carrying, perhaps they just took some toilet paper from the Pentagon? The big "top secret" stamps on the documents were there for a joke, haha!

2) "that they knew it was unlawful to disclose the information"

This is great to know.

I will now go to the nearby Boeing company HQ, ask a friend of mine to open a safe which has some juicy weapons systems plans, photocopy them and then I will sell those plans to the Chinese "diplomats" for, say, $200,000.

Now, I will be innocent, because, you see, I didn't know that it was unlawful to disclose the information.

Do you see how absurd this is, how this cannot be proven by even the best prosecution team in the world?

After all, when the two traitors will undoubtly say that "gee, we didn't know that passing top secret documents from the Pentagon to Israeli spy handlers was illegal", what can the prosecution do (perhaps cry)?

And finally, the judge has ruled that to prove the two traitors guilt,

3) "that they “had a bad-faith reason to believe the disclosures could be used to the injury of the United States or to the aid of a foreign nation.”"

Well, this is unprovable.

You see, the defense team can point out to the 2008 AIPAC meeting, and show a few short films showing Obama, Clinton, McCain, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner all saying the same thing - that Israel is America's greatest friend.

Well then, since Israel is America's greatest friend, giving our greatest friend and ally, the best thing to happen to the world since sliced bread was invented, a few measly "top secret" documents stolen from the Pentagon, is not treason, nor can it be proven to cause injury to the United States.

Because Israel is our greatest friend and ally.

Because American and Israeli interests and goals are the same.

Because we will ALWAYS support Israel, no matter whom its security officials torture, jail, kick on the ground, starve, spit on... according to Obama, McCain, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, and EVERY OTHER Congress and House member, save perhaps for Ron Paul, Mike Gravel and Kucinich.

The 1, 2 and 3 are unprovable by ANY prosecution team.

Case closed.

America loses.


Bonus Material
You have to realize that this trial is a saga.

It has been going on for a while...

CNN.com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two former employees of a pro-Israel lobby organization have been charged in an ongoing federal investigation alleging the illegal disclosure of classified Pentagon information, a U.S. attorney said Thursday.

Check the dateline.

Thursday, August 4, 2005.

Checking the keywords "Steve Rosen Keith Weissman" on the CNN search engine, we get that article and 2 others: Pentagon analyst, lobbyists plead not guilty from Tuesday, August 16, 2005.

The third article is The Situation Report, dateline August 16 (I am assuming A.D. 2005), as the article contains the following:

A trial date was set for January 3, 2006.

It is now 2008.

What happened?

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2008:

According to the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) for Dec. 6, 2007, the trial of former American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) officials Steve Rosen, foreign policy director for the Israel lobby, and Keith Weissman, AIPAC’s former Iran specialist, has been definitively set for April 29, 2008.

The new date for the trial of Rosen and Weissman marks the fifth time that federal Judge T.S. Ellis postponed the trial.

Perhaps the strategy is to let the scandal die down, and then for the guilty (err, sorry, "alleged" spies) to go free?

FOX news: Feds to Appeal Ruling in AIPAC Case, dateline Friday, March 21, 2008:

The ruling issued this week by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III is sealed, but a lawyer for one defendant portrayed prosecutors' decision to appeal as the latest in a series of setbacks to the government's case.

Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, were accused in 2005 of illegally disclosing sensitive national defense information. Their trial originally was set for 2006 but will now have to be rescheduled an eighth time _ the latest date had been set for next month.

"It's now pretty clear that the government does not want to try this case," said Rosen's lawyer, Abbe Lowell. "They filed these charges without thinking them through, and there appears to be no one in government with enough authority or courage to admit they made a mistake."

Yes.

Arresting people spying for Israel is a mistake.

And why is that?

What is the defense strategy that Mr. Abbe Lowell, the lawyer for Messr. Rosen, will be using?

Over prosecutors' objections, Rosen and Weissman have already won the right to subpoena Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top administration officials. The defense believes their testimony will support their claim that the United States regularly uses AIPAC to send back-channel communications to Israel.

Lets re-read this, for maximum impact.

"Over prosecutors' objections, Rosen and Weissman have already won the right to subpoena Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top administration officials. The defense believes their testimony will support their claim that the United States regularly uses AIPAC to send back-channel communications to Israel."

Splendid.

Many of you reading my blog live in the suburbs, where it is fashionable to have an American flag and to raise it on some occassion or other.

Mainly the flag is put up to fly proudly during the 4th of July, American Independence day.

This time, do not raise the stars and stripes.

Rather, buy an Israeli flag, and raise it to celebrate the holiday.

This country is no more - it has been hijacked.

Good luck to us, and (atheist that I am) God save us all.