I Question The Timing Of This Leak

Fans of Sandy Berger will join me in bitterly denouncing this shameless attempt by partisans unknown to embarrass Bush by leaking news of an ongoing investigation just before his convention - "Pentagon Official Suspected of Giving U.S. Secrets to Israel".

Bah! My hearts not in it - because this follows the "leak bad news on Friday" rule, and because plenty of Republicans don't like the neo-cons, this could have been leaked by anybody. And the politics are a minefield - spying on the US is bad, but bashing Israel is bad, too. And we know the AIPAC likes Bush!

A detail which half-identifies the subject of the investigation:

The Pentagon analyst who officials said was under suspicion was one of two department officials who traveled to Paris for secret meetings with Iranian dissidents, including Manucher Ghorbanifar, an arms dealer.

More on the not-so-secret meeting; the candidates, please:

The senior administration official identified two of the Defense officials who met with Ghorbanifar as Harold Rhode, Feith's top Middle East specialist, and Larry Franklin, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst on loan to the undersecretary's office.

This would all be embarrassing if these guys were subject to that emotion.

Comments

[Jrice]

We will have to wait to see if the investigation reveals anything. That will take time. By releasing the story before any satisfactory conclusion, CBS may actually have innocently released a scoot with no motivation. I doubt it, but this article might be in play.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2981.shtml

I realize these people are delusional. But so is CBS and so are the protesters.

[Papalaz]

Pah! If America and Israel are planning a joint strike on Iran's nuclear installations, what would be more distracting than an alleged spying incident at the heart of the Pentagon. Jews pulling the strings in America?! - just the stuff to get the western left and islamofascists believing the US government is now officially angry with the Israelis. Except they are not, and the joint strike goes ahead.

[Jazz]

If anyone is going to question either the timing of this leak or, in a more abstract sense, why Josh Marshall would fail to question it...

Take a look here.

Apparently Josh has been working for some time on an article for Washington Monthly on this very subject. I wouldn't be so foolish as to say that Josh wouldn't pass up an opportunity to jump on something that would embarass Bush, but let's not get carried away. The information is out there, and as a journalist you get the opportunity to cover it. What would you do? Do you tell them, "Oh, the spy story is pretty good, but I think I'll wait till Nov. 4th to cover it so people won't question my timing?"

Hardly.

[ed]

Hmmm.

Announcing an investigation into something that people aren't even sure is a crime. That's positive?

And what about the illustrious Sandy Berger?

Amazing how that story fell off the airwaves and the newsprint.

Well. Not so amazing really.

[J_Crater]

This is real bad politics.
Just who in their right mind would remind Jewish voters that AIPAC loves George W. Bush in the mainstream media ? I know, only someone stupid enough not to remember all those Jewish voters in Florida (and New York).
Only those hard Left folks who really hate Israel and their Arab buddies get any real joy from this. What an opportune moment to remind Jewish voters that John Kerry's friends on the Left will be running the US government should Kerry win.

[bw]

man oh man, this is such an interesting story. Just think if this was any other nation but Israel, think how different things would be. the NYtimes is even leaving this story alone. I really think that this is a moment for the blogosphere to shine, because I know for sure that the mainstream media will not follow up on this one.

go to it Bloggers!!!

[The Kid]

Wow! We’ve got mid-level Pentagon employees Franklin (“the go-to guy on Iran issues for Wolfowitz and Feith”) and “polyglot Middle East expert named Harold Rhode,”, not to mention Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar, Luti, and Ledeen - even Chalabi! Some number of these folks met in late 2001 in some location – two out of three reports say Rome, with NBC the odd man out.

MSNBC:
Among these activities was a series of meetings that Franklin and one of his colleagues, Harold Rhode, had in Paris in late 2001 with Manucher Ghorbanifar, the shadowy Iranian arms dealer made infamous during the Iran-contra scandal of the 1980s.

LA Times:
Sometime after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Franklin took a secret trip to Rome with Harold Rhode, another civilian official in the Pentagon, to meet with Iranian dissidents who reportedly promised to provide information to them that would aid the U.S.-declared war on terrorism.

The Washington Monthly:
The first meeting occurred in Rome in December, 2001. It included Franklin, Rhode, and another American, the neoconservative writer and operative Michael Ledeen, who organized the meeting. (According to UPI, Ledeen was then working for Feith as a consultant.) Also in attendance was Ghorbanifar and a number of other Iranians. One of the Iranians, according to two sources familiar with the meeting, was a former senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who claimed to have information about dissident ranks within the Iranian security services. The Washington Monthly has also learned from U.S. government sources that Nicolo Pollari, the head of Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI, attended the meetings, as did the Italian Minister of Defense Antonio Martino, who is well-known in neoconservative circles in Washington.

The Washington Monthly focuses more on Rhode and on the angle that the late 2001 meeting in a European capital “typifies the out-of-control bureaucratic turf wars which have characterized and often hobbled Bush administration policy-making.” I guess they’ve been working on that story for some time.

MSNBC underscores the political damage Bush could suffer from any arrest and enhances that mood by mentioning Jonathan Pollard.

The LA Times seems to have a few more details on the espionage case itself.

[ParseThis]

"I remember secret meetings, ginned up intelligence, and infiltration of Likud sympathizers in the government that the Communists could only imagine in their wet dreams. We plotted regime change, land annexation and control over critical resources. And this the President said was unauthorized. I have that memory, which is seared - seared - in me."
- Douglas Feith

[ed]

Hmmm.

I'm curious to see how this turns out. My guess is that there won't be any charges at all nor will they find anything illegal.

*shrug* but what the hell. We'll see.

[Al]

News out today, this investigation has been on-going for a minimum of a year! Also this needs to move on the blogs:
This is just the beginning of the Nam POW's and MOH recipients coming out against Kerry. Their documentary will be released around Sept 15, it will be devastating. Note: Col Bud Day was McCains cellmate in Hanoi...

FM: Classact.com///Buds Web

Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 3:25 PM
Subject: Classact Group: Col. Geo. "Bud" Day,Hanoi POW/Medal of Honor Recipient Statement

Requests are coming to Class Act to validate statements attributed to Col George "Bud" Day related to the on-going Kerry Vietnam press announcements.

Below is the latest written statement Col Day has released on the issue.

If you are not interested in the statement, then please delete at this point.

Harry Riley, Class Act Group Rep

-----------------------------------------

"The major issue in the Swiftboat stories is, and always has been, what John Kerry did in 1971 after he returned from Vietnam.

Kerry cast a long dark shadow over all Vietnam Veterans with his outright perjury before the Senate concerning atrocities in Vietnam. His stories to the Senate committee were absolute lies..fabrications..perjury..fantasies, with NO substance. That dark shadow has defamed the entire Vietnam War veteran population, and gave "Aid and Comfort" to our enemies..the Vietnamese Communists. Kerry's stories were outright fabrications, and were intended for political gain with the radical left..McGovern, Teddy and Bobby Kennedy followers, Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, and the radical left who fantasized that George McGovern was going to be elected in 1972. Little wonder that returning soldiers from Vietnam were spit upon and castigated as "baby killers". A returned war hero said so.

Kerry cut a dashing figure as a war hero, lots of medals, and returned home because of multiple war wounds..even a silver star. His Senate testimony confirmed what every hippie had been chanting on the streets.."Hey hey LBJ..How many kids did you kill today"????? He obviously was running for political office in 1971.

Until Lt. John O' Neil, himself a Swiftboat commander, spoke out before the 1972 elections against Kerry's outright deceptions, there was no one from the Swiftboat scene that could contradict Kerry's self serving lies.

I was a POW of the Vietnamese in Hanoi in 1971, and I am aware that the testimony of John Kerry, the actions of Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, and the radical left; all caused the commies to conclude that if they hung on..they would win. North Vietnamese General Bui Tin commented that every day the Communist leadership listened to world news over the radio to follow the growth of the anti-war movement. Visits to Hanoi by Jane Fonda and Ramsey Clark gave them confidence to hold in the face of battlefield reverses. The guts of it was that propaganda from the anti-war group was part of their combat strategy.

While the Commies were hanging on, innumerable U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Air Force members were being killed in combat. Every battle wound to Americans after Kerry's misdirected testimony is related to Kerry's untruthfulness. John Kerry contributed to every one of these deaths with his lies about U.S. atrocities in Vietnam. He likewise defamed the U.S. with our allies and supporters. His conduct also extended the imprisonment of the Vietnam Prisoners of War, of which I was one. I am certain of at least one POW death after his testimony, which might have been prevented with an earlier release of the
POWs.

My friend and Hanoi Hilton room mate Senator John S. McCain denounced the Swiftboat video by John O'Neil. I have a different take on the Swiftboat tape and disagree with my good friend John.

John Kerry opened up his character as a war hero reporting for duty to the country with a hand salute...and his band of brothers..of which he was the chief hero. Most of his convention speech was about John Kerry..Vietnam hero, and his band of brothers. John Kerry's character is not only fair game, it is the primary issue. He wants to use Bill Clinton's "is", as an answer to his lack of character.

The issue is trust. Can anyone trust John Kerry?? "Never lie, cheat or steal" is the West Point motto. When a witness perjures himself at trial, the judge notes that his testimony lacks credibility. Should we elect a known proven liar to lead us in wartime??

I draw a direct comparison of General Benedict Arnold of the Revolutionary War, to Lieutenant John Kerry. Both went off to war, fought, and then turned against their country. General Arnold crossed over to the British for money and position. John Kerry crossed over to the Vietnamese with his assistance to the anti-war movement, and his direct liaison with the Vietnamese diplomats in Paris. His reward. Political gain. Senator..United States. His record as a Senator for twenty years has been pitiful. Conjure up, if you will, one major bill that he has sponsored.

John Kerry for President? Ridiculous. Unthinkable. Unbelievable. Outrageous."

Col. Geo. "Bud" Day, Medal of Honor, Vietnam POW 1967-1973,USMC- USA- USAF- Attorney 1949-2004 850-243-1234

CMS Al Kauses,USAF,Ret
Mary Esther Fl 32569

[The Kid]

Suspicious of the timing – you may have been right. From today's (8/31/04) American Spectator comes this:

SABOTEURS
Some senior members of the Kerry campaign were aware of the FBI investigation into the possible passage of U.S. documents related to Iran to Israel by a U.S. citizen. "It's not a coincidence that this story dropped on Friday, three days before the Republican convention," says a Kerry adviser in New York. "If the Republicans can do it to Sandy Berger, we can do it to them."

No word on where the leak originated.

That the leak may have short-circuited an ongoing investigation seems to matter little to the Kerry campaign, which has recently been declining national security briefings because it can't find the time to build them into Sen. John Kerry's travel schedule. Other briefings have been delayed or canceled over wrangling about how many Kerry staffers would be allowed to participate in the briefings.

Speculative, but Kerry’s tight schedule is a recurring theme, but can’t he even skip one day’s windsurfing, especially when there’s no wind?

Becalmed and bemused sits the skipper,
Caught up in his lies, he’s not chipper.
Swift boats found their target,
In nautical argot,
They deep-sixed the flopper and flipper.