FBI intensively reviewing several high-profile neocons going back 30 years

Spy Probe Scans
Neocon-Israel Ties

by Jim Lobe

...............

At the same time, another Pentagon office concerned with the transfer of sensitive military and dual-use technologies has been examining the acquisition, modification and sales of key hi-tech military equipment by Israel obtained from the United States, in some cases with the help of prominent neoconservatives who were then serving in the government.

Some of that equipment has been sold by Israel – which in the last 20 years has become a top exporter of the world's most sophisticated hi-tech information and weapons technology – or by Israeli middlemen, to Russia, China and other potential U.S. strategic rivals. Some of it has also found its way onto the black market, where terrorist groups – possibly including al-Qaeda – obtained bootlegged copies, according to these sources.

Of particular interest in that connection are derivatives of a powerful case-management software called PROMIS that was produced by INSLAW Inc. in the early 1980s and acquired by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, which then sold its own versions to other foreign intelligence agencies in the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe.

A modified version of the software, which is used to monitor and track files on a multitude of databases, is believed to have been acquired by al-Qaeda on the black market in the late 1990s, possibly facilitating the group's global banking and money-laundering schemes, according to a Washington Times story of June 2001.

According to one source, Pentagon investigators believe it possible that al-Qaeda used the software to spy on various U.S. agencies that could have detected or foiled the Sept. 11, 2001 attack.

more
http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=3478

If its that old, I find it hard to believe it is much of a threat. For less than 100,000 bucks Osama could get something custom designed.

At that time he would have been our "ally" sort of.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

Danny Casolaro? The Octopus? PROMIS? Now? Too bizarre. But I can't help wonder what that software could be, that it is still valuable now.

the potential for predicting what may occur in the near future. PROMIS software makes this possible. As long as it can do this... it will have value for some interests.... certainly not for you and I.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/12_06_01_death_profits_pt1.html

PROFITS OF DEATH -- INSIDER TRADING AND 9-11

>>FTW, December 6, 2001 -- On October 9th, FTW broke a story on insider trading connected to the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center that sparked worldwide controversy. In that story we reported how the Israeli Herzliyya Institute for Counterterrorism had documented that unknown individuals -- with accurate foreknowledge of the attacks -- had purchased an obvious and unusually large number of "put" options on United and American Airlines shortly before the attacks.<<

What will surprise us is when ANY journalist from the mainstream ADMITS that the BFEE exists and lays out the proof which is already on record in the National Security Archives, but few are brave enough to say so.

It tracked where those court cases were and what their "status" was at any point in it's life.

Doesn't this sound like TIA?

FTW, October 26, 2001 - 1300 PDT (UPDATED Nov. 16, 2001) - An October 16 FOX News report by correspondent Carl Cameron indicating that convicted spy, former FBI Agent Robert Hanssen, had provided a highly secret computer software program called Promis to Russian organized crime figures - who in turn reportedly sold it to Osama bin Laden - may signal a potential intelligence disaster for the United States. Admissions by the FBI and Justice in the FOX story that they have discontinued use of the software are most certainly a legal disaster for a government that has been engaged in a 16-year battle with the software's creator, William Hamilton, CEO of the Inslaw Corporation. Over those 16 years, in response to lawsuits filed by Hamilton charging that the government had stolen the software from Inslaw, the FBI, the CIA and the Department of Justice have denied, in court and under oath, ever using the software.

Bin Laden's reported possession of Promis software was clearly reported in a June 15, 2001 story by Washington Times reporter Jerry Seper. That story went unnoticed by the major media. In it Seper wrote, "The software delivered to the Russian handlers and later sent to bin Laden, according to sources, is believed to be an upgraded version of a program known as Promis - developed in the 1980s by a Washington firm, Inslaw, Inc., to give attorneys the ability to keep tabs on their caseloads. It would give bin Laden the ability to monitor U.S. efforts to track him down, federal law-enforcement officials say. It also gives him access to databases on specific targets of his choosing and the ability to monitor electronic-banking transactions, easing money-laundering operations for himself or others, according to sources."

In a series of excellent stories by The Times, and as confirmed by parts of the FOX broadcast, it appears that Hanssen, who was arrested in February, in order to escape the death penalty this summer, agreed to provide the FBI and other intelligence agencies with a full accounting of his sale of Promis overseas. Reports state that almost until the moment of his capture, Hanssen was charged with "repairing" and upgrading versions of the software used by Britain and Germany.

On October 17, two different spokespersons at the FBI's Office of Public Affairs told FTW, "The FBI has discontinued use of the Promis software." The spokespersons declined to give their names.

On October 24, Department of Justice spokesperson Loren Pfeifle declined to answer

more
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/magic_carpet.html

Thanks for that info

I am curious, though how they know that it was "later sent to bin Laden." Hanssen would know about the "delivered to the Russian handlers" part, but is it likely he would know what they did with it? And in fact, if they thought Hanssen did know, then wouldn't he be a co-conspirator of sorts with the terrorists? So this would have been HUGE news. But it sure slipped by me...

Curiouser and curiouser.

from the link

The burgeoning scandal over claims that a Pentagon official passed highly classified secrets to a Zionist lobby group appears to be part of a much broader set of FBI and Pentagon investigations of close collaboration between prominent U.S. neoconservatives and Israel dating back some 30 years.

According to knowledgeable sources, who asked to not be identified, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) has been intensively reviewing a series of past counter-intelligence probes that were started against several high-profile neocons but never followed up with prosecutions, to the great frustration of counterintelligence officers, in some cases.

How convenient then to steal an election... a war on terrah, and all the distractions that come with it.... not to mention that these guys can do no wrong, no matter what they do.


http://billionairesforbush.com/cheney.php
>>There is a long list of accusations against him:
- Overseeing Enron-style accounting at Halliburton
- Halliburton bribery investigations
- The secret energy task force
- Supreme Court cronyism
- Doing business in Iran, Iraq, and Libya
- Arranging no-bid contracts
- Multiple draft deferments
- And more…<<

We shall see, over the course of the next few weeks, whether the Israeli Lobby can intimidate the FBI. The 'Son of Pollard' story is already losing steam. Ashcroft is probably under a lot of pressure to reign in his 'rogue' agents and give them proper instructions on how to salute in the presence of AIPAC officials. Right about now, a few pissed off patriotic FBI investigators are getting real time lessons on Washington hierarchies.

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_11401.shtml

There must be some hard-core agents who are more than willing to buck the brass and continue to investigate AIPAC. Let's pray that other agents are willing to come to the service of the people and support their fellow agents.

it's starting. Don't think it will help us in the election though.

at the airports.

You see, there is a terrorist who goes by the name of Edward Kennedy. :eyes:

Let's look into the BCCI activities. You know the Bank of Common Criminal Incorporated. Talk about funding terrorists, shit.

back 30 years..these neocon maniacs have sold our country down the river and made the world a much more dangerous place.

So the software has been enhanced and modified over the past years and is still valuable.

:kick:

I develop systems that are similar to what PROMIS was originally intented to do, track cases as they move through the courts. This isn't dangerous, but if you think about it, derivatives can be VERY dangerous.

Remember TIA? TIA is supposed to TRACK and LINK information about an individual to see who fits the terrorist profile....PROMIS derivative

FBI probes DOD office (spy probe widens)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=784155

Israel's Mole Inside the Pentagon
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=783161&mesg_id=783161

Charges against Chalabi 'dropped'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x793302

The Pentagon and Israel
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x70931

F.B.I. Interviews 2 Suspected of Passing Secrets to Israel
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x792950

U.S. Says Iran's Nuke Plans Threaten Global Peace
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x793509

2d probe at the Pentagon examines actions on Iraq
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x789987

Israel won't ask U.S. to clarify why official was being tailed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x789840

New spy scandal comes as major blow to Israel, AIPAC
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x70851

Spy in the PENTAGON
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=781913&mesg_id=781913

F.B.I. Is Said to Brief Pentagon Bosses on Spy Case; Charges Are Possible
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x788936

how the hell did they get security clearances for their present jobs? Were objections waived? By whom? Very interesting.

I have a VERY old, foggy memory of some controversy about Israel's transfer of arms, or maybe nuclear technology, to South Africa back when there was an international embargo on such deals. Some said (if I remember correctly) that the US was using Israel to support S.A. indirectly (fear of Russian arms buildup in Angola, etc). But Israel had it's own reasons for helping S.A. according to this article I found by googling (well worth a read):
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Middle_East/Israel_SAfrica.html%20copy

I also found an article at Mother Jones that quotes Dov Zakheim on this issue of Israel's unauthorized transfer of technology. Isn't he also a neo-con?

http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/arms/israel.html

<<The U.S. also fears that Israel's close partnership and resulting knowledge of sophisticated military technology is propelling still-secret American weapons into the wrong hands. The U.S. Arms Export Control Act (AECA) specifically states that no country may sell U.S. "defense articles or service" to a third country (known as unauthorized retransfer) without U.S. approval. From 1975 to 1995, 17 reports went to Congress concerning so-called end-use violations, seven of which pertained to Israel. Yet the U.S. has continually backed down from taking action against Israel, primarily due to enormous pressure from Israel's well-organized congressional lobby. Also, according to Dov Zakheim, former deputy undersecretary of defense under Reagan, "They have never been caught red-handed. It is reasonably safe to say that Israel is not foolish enough to transfer stuff that can be found out."

Two of Israel's alleged end-use violations involve "selling modified versions of our weapons" or "sending technicians familiar with our equipment" to other countries, Zakheim says. In one case, Israel allegedly sold a modified version of the Patriot missile to China in 1992, which led the State Department to send an investigative team to Israel. The team found no evidence to support the claims.>>

What a mess. We've let Israel do a lot of our dirty work for us, and it's coming back to bite us. I don't doubt that a lot of this was approved somewhere along the line. Not that I don't think the neo-cons are slime, but this is VERY complicated. I guess it just burns me to think that Rummy and Cheney may be trying to come out clean by seeming to approve an investigation.

Sorry to have gone off on a bit of a tangent. Thanks for the article. Jim Lobe is one of the best.

The FBI is reportedly also involved in the Pentagon's investigation, which is overseen by Deputy Undersecretary of Defence for International Technology Security John A ”Jack” Shaw with the explicit support of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=25285

DoD Statement on Jack Shaw and the Iraq Telecommunications Contract
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=743997

and thanks for the link:hi:

Now it has been revived, with the Soviet menace easily and smoothly replaced by Islamic terrorism. Once again it is a bipartisan group, comprising forty-one members drawn from Democrat and Republican ranks but with a strong presence of neo-conservative hawks. At its head is James Woolsey, the former CIA director who famously characterised the post-cold war predicament of the United States as a superpower that had slain the dragon but was now living in a jungle full of poisonous snakes <(see an earlier column in this series, “The American army rethinks”, July 2004)>. Its membership reads like a check-list of Washington conservative stalwarts: among them, Kenneth Adelman, Frank Gaffney, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Dov Zakheim and William Van Cleave.

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_11276.shtml



Neocons revive Committee on the Present Danger
Group aims at Islamic terrorism, but next move may be against foreign policy realists.

by Tom Regan | csmonitor.com


It was first founded in 1950 to combat the "red menace" of communism. It came back in the mid-70s for another crack at the Soviet Union. Now a group of lawmakers, academics, and business people has relaunched the Committee on the Present Danger, specifically to fight "Islamic terrorism." Honorary chairmen, Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), along with former CIA director James Woolsey, announced the reorganization of the group at a press conference this week.
James Woolsey, a former CIA director, is chairman of the group, which he says in its third incarnation aims to combat what he calls "a totalitarian movement masquerading as a religion." "We understand very well that this time, the danger that we must address is a danger to the United States but also a danger to democracy and civil society throughout the world, and it is very much our hope to be of support and assistance to those who seek to bring democracy and civil society to the part of the world, the Middle East extended, to which this Islamist terror is now resonant in and generated from," he said.
In an article in The Washington Post jointly authored by Senators Lieberman and Kyl, entitled 'The Present Danger,' the two men say that Islamic terrorism had become the greatest danger to American freedom.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks awoke all Americans to the capabilities and brutality of our new enemy, but today too many people are insufficiently aware of our enemy's evil worldwide designs, which include waging jihad against all Americans and re-establishing a totalitarian religious empire in the Middle East. The past struggle against communism differed in some ways from the current war against Islamist terrorism. But America's freedom and security, which each has aimed to undermine, are exactly the same

more
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0723/dailyUpdate.html

It's taken me over an hour to just SKIM that thread with all the info about Zakheim. Thanks! This first link at ipsnews, though, seems to be the same Lobe article that you started this thread with (but at antiwar.com). Not that it hurt to reread it. It set me to thinking of more questions.

For example, this: "The FBI is reportedly also involved in the Pentagon's investigation, which is overseen by Deputy Undersecretary of Defence for International Technology Security John A ”Jack” Shaw with the explicit support of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld."

What's confusing me here is why Rumsfeld would set Shaw to investigate the neocons. Unless it's CYA and he's trying to pretend he wasn't the one who brought up the idea of attacking Iraq at a meeting soon after 9-11? And there's lots of evidence that the attack-Iraq idea was on the table as soon as *Bush walked into the WH (O'Neill, for one, said this). So it kind of looks like they are all trying to see who to blame for any further Iraq fiasco that might blow up in their faces. Because bad as they are, the neo-cons DID have the support of Rummy-Cheney-Rice and *Bush. Or their separate reasons for wanting to attack Iraq converged, maybe. Augh. It isn't easy to even imagine what is really going on. (I'm also not sure what to think of Shaw--I was inclined to trust FTW on this, but the more I read, the more confused I am.)

And who authorized the FBI investigation? If it was going to implicate people like Rummy or Cheney, there's no way Ashcroft would've let it happen. Or is it possible there are independent pockets of authority inside the FBI that even the AG can't control? Maybe this was called for by the State Department people (like Armitage?) or the CIA or even one of the Congressional oversight committees (no, that's unlikely because they're controlled by repukes)? (I wrote this earlier--and see now that maybe this all got started with the Plame investigation, and clearly it would do more harm than good for the WH or DOD to be seen to try to subvert Fitzgerald's investigation. Hmm.)

Oh, and we know that the CPA and Bremer tried to stop Shaw from investigating in Iraq. So who exactly was Bremer answerable to? And who ordered the raid on Chalabi's office? Were his instructions coming from NSA instead of DOD?

I realize that I am woefully confused about who are in all the factions that seem to be battling each other. And how much power each faction may have. I had imagined that the neocons' tentacles had spread farther than may be so. I was thinking that Bolton was sent to State to keep Powell in line, eg. And that Tenet was somehow "gotten to." But maybe there just aren't enough political appointees in place yet to complete their purge of non-yesmen. One can hope.

This also confuses me:

"In 1992, when he was serving as undersecretary of defence for policy, Pentagon officials looking into the unauthorised export of classified technology to China, found that Wolfowitz's office was promoting Israel's export of advanced air-to-air missiles to Beijing in violation of a written agreement with Washington on arms re-sales."

Except maybe just to make money, why would Israel want to sneak a deal with China against the wishes of the US? (And anyway, aren't the neocons on the side of Taiwan?) Furthermore, isn't the sale of unauthorized technology to China something the Republicans were trying to pin on Clinton? So why couldn't Clinton have dredged up this FBI investigation of Wolfowitz? (Or did Clinton try only to be stymied? Could those be the FBI files the repukes were accusing Clinton of having in the WH??--gross speculation here, I know. I didn't pay that much attention to all the mud thrown at the Clintons back then--assuming it was all lies. But it might have had a seed of truth. And if this was what Clinton was looking for, it wouldn't be surprising that the RW went on the attack.)

I do realize that my questions reveal my abysmal ignorance, but maybe someone will find the time to answer them? or direct me to some more articles, or books?

I am stunned by Zakheim's career--he seems to be everywhere, with fingers in every pie (and every scandal). This is going to take a LONG time to digest. Thanks so much for pointing the way!

by Rep. John Conyers
I write to ask that the Judiciary Committee commence an immediate full investigation and examine substantial and credible evidence that Pentagon officials have engaged in criminal wrongdoing in their handling of classified material and have engaged in unauthorized covert activities.

Press reports have recently disclosed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is currently examining whether a Pentagon analyst, Larry Franklin, illegally passed along a classified document involving the policy of the United States toward Iran. It is not yet known whether Mr. Franklin was acting on his own, or whether he was acting at the behest of his superiors. The fact that a rogue element of the United States government may have been working with a foreign government in possible contravention of current foreign policy is a grave matter that should be of concern to every American.

Unfortunately, based on media accounts, it now appears that these allegations may be only the tip of the iceberg of a broader effort of Pentagon employees working in the office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas Feith, to conduct unauthorized covert activities, without the knowledge of the Central Intelligence Agency. According to press accounts, it also appears that these activities may have involved other disclosures of classified information to foreign governments (1) and the falsification of documents.(2) In addition, these activities may well constitute criminal misappropriation of federal funds.(3) All of these allegations, if true, involve potential violations of federal criminal law and are, therefore, within the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee.

To fully investigate these allegations, I would suggest that the Committee examine the following questions:

(1) Did Pentagon officials illegally give classified information to members of the Iraqi National Congress or to discredited Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi? Were White House officials, including officials in the Office of the Vice President, aware of such activities? Did Mr. Chalabi then pass along such materials, including information that the United States had broken Iran's communications codes, to Iran?

(2) Did Pentagon officials illegally obtain and disseminate false intelligence information to further the (now discredited) assertion that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction? Were Pentagon officials either the conduits for or originators of documents claiming Iraq had made efforts to acquire such records, including fraudulent documents claiming Iraq had attempted to buy weapons grade uranium from Niger? Were White House officials, including officials in the Office of the Vice President, aware of such activities? What role (if any) did officials in the NSC, including Elliott Abrams, have in these actions?

(3) Did Pentagon officials conduct illegal and unauthorized meetings with foreign nationals, including Iranian and Syrian nationals, to plan or direct covert activities against foreign governments? Did Pentagon officials provide monetary or other assistance to such foreign nationals, including a known arms dealer, Manucher Ghorbanifar? Did such meetings involve any foreign intelligence officials, including the head of Italian military intelligence (SISMI), or other foreign military officials? What role (if any) did officials in the NSC, including Elliott Abrams, have in these actions?

(4) Did Pentagon officials obtain information about the covert status of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame? Was such information obtained illegally? Was such information illegally shared with White House officials, including officials in the Office of the Vice President?

While I am fully cognizant that many of these activities may be the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, there is ample precedent that such an investigation does not preclude, and will not be interfered with as a result of, a concurrent congressional investigation. Recently, when allegations were made about the mishandling of classified information in the National Archives by a former Clinton administration official, you and other Committee chairmen affirmed this principle.

I urge you to treat this request with the utmost importance. These matters may well constitute the greatest subversion of our democracy and compromising of our national security since the Iran-Contra affair. It is of paramount importance that our committee begin work on this matter immediately.


http://www.antiwar.com/orig/conyers.php?articleid=3488

Letter from Rep. John Conyers to the Judiciary Committee OK to post in full

talk about Conyer's letter. Where is the follow up in the Media about this? Leslie Stahl where are you?

By ERIC SCHMITT

Published: September 2, 2004


WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 - The Pentagon's policy office, where a lower-level analyst is under suspicion of passing secrets to Israel, was deeply involved in deliberations over how the United States should deal with Iran, its conservative Islamic government and its nuclear weapons ambitions - all issues of intense concern to Israel as well.

The analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, a Farsi-speaking specialist on Iran in the office, participated in a secret outreach meeting with an Iranian opposition figure, had access to classified intelligence about Iran's nuclear program and was one of many officials involved in drafting a top-secret presidential order on Iran.

The authorities say that Mr. Franklin, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, passed to lobbyists from a pro-Israel group a draft of the presidential order, known as a National Security Presidential Directive. But President Bush has not yet approved a final version because the policy questions themselves - including whether to use covert actions to destabilize the Tehran government, and even air strikes if its nuclear weapons program proceeds - remain under intense debate.

"We don't have a presidential directive on Iran," said a government official familiar with the internal debate. "We have an ad hoc policy that we're making up as we go along. And it is to squeeze Iran, using international pressure, to get them to rid themselves of their nuclear program."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/02/politics/02pentagon.h...


Affair May Slow Push for Regime Change in Tehran
By MARC PERELMAN
September 3, 2004

The disclosure this week of an FBI investigation into the activities of a Defense Department official involved in Iran policy is being seen as a blow to advocates of regime change in Tehran.

A key Pentagon supporter of such a policy, Lawrence Franklin, is reportedly under investigation for allegedly passing classified information about American policy on Iran to Israel through officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Analysts said the development could tilt the balance toward advocates of a softer approach to Iran, even if President Bush is re-elected.

News of the FBI probe comes as the administration is re-evaluating its policy toward Iraq in light of harsh congressional and public censure regarding intelligence failures and mistakes in planning for the postwar period. Many of the problems have been blamed on the Pentagon.

"Coming after Iraq, this could take away momentum for a regime-change policy in a second Bush term," Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East affairs specialist with the Congressional Research Service, said of the disclosure.

more
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=perelman20040901931


WP: Spy Probe Expands/Linked to NSC Probe
For more than two years, the FBI has been investigating whether classified intelligence has been passed to Israel by the American Israel Political Action Committee, an influential U.S. lobbying group, in a probe that extends beyond the case of Pentagon employee Lawrence A. Franklin, according to senior U.S. officials and other sources.......

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice and her deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, were apprised of the FBI counterintelligence investigation of AIPAC as a possible conduit for information to Israel more than two years ago, a senior U.S. official said late yesterday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54494-20...

I can't help wondering if the leak of this investigation might have come now as a just-in-time attempt to derail some stupid move on Iraq this fall. The Katzman remark (Forward article) implies it.

What's stunning about all this is the way the scandal seems to tie so many separate-seeming crimes together. It would be satisfying (as a good novel is satisfying) if it weren't so real, and so appalling. And, of course, if one could be sure it will end well.

More probably, it'll be a few press releases and a token name here and there- with no arrests and nothing politically embarrassing to Bush allies and whatnot. The Bureau has proven itself to be corrupt or inept, or, corrupt and inept, time after time.

by Juan Cole
published by Informed Comment
Spy Scandal's Roots are Deep



Earlier, rumors swirled of an FBI investigation of how the Pentagon Office of Special Plans, set up by Doug Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, skewed intelligence on Iraq and may have illegally engaged in intelligence-gathering. In fact, that investigation was being conducted by the Senate Intelligence and House Judiciary Committee staffs, not by the FBI. They are also looking at the possibility that Pentagon employees pursued unauthorized contacts aimed at preparing the way for overthrowing the governments of Iran and Syria. This according to the Boston Globe:


' Senate Intelligence and House Judiciary Committee staff members say inquiries into the Near East and South Asia Affairs division have found preliminary evidence that some officials gathered questionable information on weapons of mass destruction from Iraqi exiles such as Ahmed Chalabi without proper authorization, which helped build President Bush's case for an invasion last year.

The investigators are also looking into a more serious concern: whether the office engaged in illegal activity by holding unauthorized meetings with foreign nationals to destablize Syria and Iran without the presidential approval required for covert operations, said one senior congressional investigator who has longtime experience in intelligence oversight. ' A pattern of illegal payments for such information is also at issue. Laura Rozen says she
has evidence that Pentagon officials asked that Manuchehr Ghorbanifar be paid for documents he provided.

By the way, I personally do not expect any dramatic developments from all these investigations. AIPAC has powerful protectors on Capitol Hill, and past charges that it was involved in espionage for Israel have always been buried. As for the Neocon cult in the Pentagon, even if they did something illegal, they will not suffer much because of it. Look at where the Iran-Contra criminals are, who subverted the US Constitution and stole arms from the Pentagon to sell illegally to Khomeini. One Iran-Contra figure, who lied to Congress, now serves in the National Security Council as the person in charge of the Israeli-Palestine issue. That is Elliot Abrams, who was pardoned by Bush the elder and now sets White House policy on among the more important issues affecting US relations with the Muslim world. Bush may as well have just appointed Ariel Sharon to advise him on how to deal with Ariel Sharon (though to be fair, Sharon is probably more pragmatic than and to the left of Abrams).

Moreover, if Sharon and AIPAC decide that they need the US government to take military action against Iran, it is likely that the US government will do so. They can mobilize the US evangelicals in favor of this step, putting enormous pressure on Congress and the executive. Many Iranian expatriates are extremely wealthy and well connected, and they want such military action. And, firms like Halliburton, which find work-arounds allowing them to make money in Iran (and did so when Dick Cheney was CEO), would love to get rid of the mullas so they could make the big bucks, and more straightforwardly. So it isn't that AIPAC can snap its fingers and make something happen in Washington. But it can put together powerful coalitions and leverage its influence through policy allies, which does tend to make things happen.

more
http://progressivetrail.org/articles/040902Cole.shtml

:kick: